When did Pinnacle Grill start charging for appetizer?

[Murray's Pop]

On 9/1/2022 at 9:49 AM, mrspeck said:

Here is the current menu from the Zuiderdam Pinnacle.  There’s additions of beyond meat dishes and the crab legs are gone.

Am I seeing this right?? $70 for caviar?  

[Crew News]

15 minutes ago, Murray's Pop said:

Am I seeing this right?? $70 for caviar?  

Yes.  There has been a caviar supplement for many years.

[Murray's Pop]

4 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Yes.  There has been a caviar supplement for many years.

I know that there is a supplement for caviar, but is it now $70??

[oakridger]

Depending on the serving size and quality of the caviar, that seems like an ok price to me.  What was the price previously?

 

~Nancy

[AFNavigator]

1 minute ago, Crew News said:

17 minutes ago, Murray's Pop said:

Am I seeing this right?? $70 for caviar?  

Yes.  There has been a caviar supplement for many years.

I found that brand online for equivalent of about $60/oz.  Considering most wine and spirits bottles HAL sells for onboard consumption are marked up probably 5-7 times retail, a $70 surcharge for the caviar is probably a reasonable price.

[Crew News]

13 minutes ago, Murray's Pop said:

I know that there is a supplement for caviar, but is it now $70??

It has been $70 since at least July 2021.  A few years ago it was only $45.

[Murray's Pop]

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

It has been $70 since at least July 2021.  A few years ago it was only $45.

I think that's about the price I remember.  Our last cruise was 2019.

[happyglobetrotter]

5 hours ago, Murray's Pop said:

I know that there is a supplement for caviar, but is it now $70??

The good news is that you do not have to purchase it. 

[BigMattT]

On 9/2/2022 at 9:55 AM, RedneckBob said:

Her name was Abigail and we had her again on the Eurodam in June 2022 to Alaska. Once again service was excellent!

 

Abigail and Siri were both phenomenal on our Eurodam experience 8/20 also. The service staff was universally lovely. It was just the food ingredient quality and some of the preparation that was truly bad.

 

Even our caviar service on Koningsdam vs Eurodam 3 months apart was like night and day. Koningsdam was superb, whereas on Eurodam the blinis accompanying the caviar were not recognizable as blinis for caviar nor were they edible (raw on the inside).

 

The foie gras on the Rudi's night was definitely NOT goose or duck liver. They had clearly substituted something else or cut it with chicken liver. It was also a single bite versus an appetizer portion. Again, baffling attempts to deliver something they're not capable of doing at the moment.

 

To me, its a sign of GOOD hospitality to remove something from menus if you can't deliver good quality. They're better off removing the lobster and delmonico steaks from the Pinnacle if they can't do them right. Charging more and still being unable to deliver was doubly bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LocoLoco1]

If one was to do a ‘Blindfold Test’ of a Lido PrimeRib meal with sides of YOUR choosing vs. a Pinnacle meal of comparable portions, how much more would the Pinnacle’s ambiance, service  and quality be worth lately? Five bucks?? Fifty?? I dunno… After dining at each over 3 decades I now prefer sitting with a great view at the Lido and then selecting exactly what I want to eat. I didn’t used to be so inclined. 

[richstowe]

9 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I now prefer sitting with a great view at the Lido and then selecting exactly what I want to eat. I didn’t used to be so inclined. 

Maybe the "joy" of a two hour or so meal has gone .

[Florida_gal_50]

15 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

If one was to do a ‘Blindfold Test’ of a Lido PrimeRib meal with sides of YOUR choosing vs. a Pinnacle meal of comparable portions, how much more would the Pinnacle’s ambiance, service  and quality be worth lately? Five bucks?? Fifty?? I dunno… After dining at each over 3 decades I now prefer sitting with a great view at the Lido and then selecting exactly what I want to eat. I didn’t used to be so inclined. 

I hear what you are saying and don’t disagree with what you are saying.  I just don’t enjoy a cafeteria.  The pinnacle is easily my least favorite lately more for the service than the food.  Some of the food is really excellent, other food not so much.  It would have no value if this nickel and dime bit doesn’t stop.  Give me sel de mer or Canaletto any day.  

[LocoLoco1]

1 hour ago, richstowe said:

Maybe the "joy" of a two hour or so meal has gone .

I’ll save a nice 3/hr. meal with a Barolo wine for my favorite Restaurant in Rome. 

[oakridger]

11 hours ago, BigMattT said:

 

To me, its a sign of GOOD hospitality to remove something from menus if you can't deliver good quality. They're better off removing the lobster and delmonico steaks from the Pinnacle if they can't do them right. Charging more and still being unable to deliver was doubly bad.

 

Be careful what you ask for!  I was just informed on another thread that Pop up Rudy's and Pinnacle Gala Night are being paused indefinitely on all the non-Pinnacle ships!!  See the email from HAL in post #20!!

 

"Pinnacle Gala and Rudi’s Sel de Mer have both been paused indefinitely."

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by oakridger

[canadarocks]

My guess is that HAL underestimated how popular the Have it All program would be. With all the free Pinnacle dinners that includes, they probably don't have the availability to use the Pinnacle for anything other than its regular format. 

[oakridger]

@canadarocksYes, that makes some sense but I'm disappointed anyway. We'll see how it goes. Like everything these days, we travelers need to be really flexible.

 

The news didn't sit well partly because it's so damn hot here (currently 99 F/37 C) in my house, that I'm really cranky today!! 

🥵

[KroozNut]

7 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Give me sel de mer or Canaletto any day.  

 

Well...., maybe Sel De Mer. 😉

[VMax1700]

12 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I now prefer sitting with a great view at the Lido and then selecting exactly what I want to eat.

The evening Lido dinner has been top notch on Rotterdam.  Almost always repeating the mains courses from MDR with the options of lots mixing and matching and also the Asian counter with two cooks hand preparing a stir fry if requested.

Last night the Lido had the Tangerine glazed duck, the tenderloin with shrimp and, wait for it, L'escargots. 

[cruisemom42]

19 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

If one was to do a ‘Blindfold Test’ of a Lido PrimeRib meal with sides of YOUR choosing vs. a Pinnacle meal of comparable portions, how much more would the Pinnacle’s ambiance, service  and quality be worth lately? Five bucks?? Fifty?? I dunno… After dining at each over 3 decades I now prefer sitting with a great view at the Lido and then selecting exactly what I want to eat. I didn’t used to be so inclined. 

 

It's not all about "comparable portions".  I do think people -- at least some people -- find that the acting of eating is not the same as the act of dining, and we "dine" with more than our stomachs.  It is worth something to me to dine in a quiet setting, in a space that is designed for a focus on food and service. I do not enjoy getting up and down multiple times to collect and juggle various items of food and beverage and hope they are all still the appropriate temperature when I can finally sit down and eat.  

 

I also feel that food that is kept sitting on a warming tray or under lights on a buffet line does not taste the same as food prepared and plated in a kitchen and then served to me (preferably on nice china, with appropriate silverware for each course and nice stemware to drink from).

 

 

 

[Wakepatrol]

19 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I’ll save a nice 3/hr. meal with a Barolo wine for my favorite Restaurant in Rome. 

Once upon a time people enjoyed eating a 3hr meal, dressing up and sitting at a big table with family or friends. Reading a book on a deck chair was heaven. This was way back when, when they used to call it “Cruising”

 

[Hlitner]

On 9/7/2022 at 2:40 PM, Wakepatrol said:

Once upon a time people enjoyed eating a 3hr meal, dressing up and sitting at a big table with family or friends. Reading a book on a deck chair was heaven. This was way back when, when they used to call it “Cruising”

 

We still resemble all your remarks and still love "cruising" and "dining."  If that makes us old fashioned than so be it 🙂

 

Given the state of current dress, which means some are happy with baseball caps, wife beaters, and shorts on a formal night we no longer will take our tux on HAL.  

Hank

[QM2 Cruiser]

This thread is so disappointing. I've been cruising on other cruises lines since the Covid "re-opening", and I haven't been paying much attention to HAL until now. I have an upcoming 14-night cruise on the Rotterdam. 

 

 I always order an appetizer, then the lobster bisque, a main, and dessert in the Pinnacle. I don't mind a higher price for the cover, but having to pay an extra $7 to have soup after my appetizer is enough to make me stick to other dining options. That's a major turn off to me. I have been ordering an appetizer and then soup for more than 20 years, and I'm not going to stop now.

 

I have reserved Rudi's once, and now will be doing Tamarind twice. Does anyone know if these other venues are going to charge $7 if I want an app & soup, or soup & salad, etc? I know that that $7 is paltry, but any extra fee for a bowl of soup or some lettuce is going to keep me in the main dining room on my own principle. 

[HALcruiser2001]

On 9/6/2022 at 9:30 AM, BigMattT said:

 

Abigail and Siri were both phenomenal on our Eurodam experience 8/20 also. The service staff was universally lovely. It was just the food ingredient quality and some of the preparation that was truly bad.

 

Even our caviar service on Koningsdam vs Eurodam 3 months apart was like night and day. Koningsdam was superb, whereas on Eurodam the blinis accompanying the caviar were not recognizable as blinis for caviar nor were they edible (raw on the inside).

 

The foie gras on the Rudi's night was definitely NOT goose or duck liver. They had clearly substituted something else or cut it with chicken liver. It was also a single bite versus an appetizer portion. Again, baffling attempts to deliver something they're not capable of doing at the moment.

 

To me, its a sign of GOOD hospitality to remove something from menus if you can't deliver good quality. They're better off removing the lobster and delmonico steaks from the Pinnacle if they can't do them right. Charging more and still being unable to deliver was doubly bad.

Foie gras, is Foie Gras simple.   It is duck or goose liver and there are no "mixers". The technique used to produce foie gras is gavage.  Anything else is Pate.

It is just like Champagne vs Methode Champenoise.

Sounds like HAL is serving Pate and calling it Foie Gras, there is a HUGE difference and selling pate as foie gras is completely misleading.  They could call it Pate de Foie Gras, which is only true if it is indeed ONLY duck or good liver produced using gavage.

 

 

[KroozNut]

2 hours ago, bdd123 said:

Foie gras, is Foie Gras simple.   It is duck or goose liver and there are no "mixers". The technique used to produce foie gras is gavage.  Anything else is Pate.

It is just like Champagne vs Methode Champenoise.

Sounds like HAL is serving Pate and calling it Foie Gras, there is a HUGE difference and selling pate as foie gras is completely misleading.  They could call it Pate de Foie Gras, which is only true if it is indeed ONLY duck or good liver produced using gavage.

 

 

 

Okay.. do you have a point here?

 

[paulvdb1]

On 9/2/2022 at 2:49 AM, mrspeck said:

Here is the current menu from the Zuiderdam Pinnacle.  There’s additions of beyond meat dishes and the crab legs are gone.

hmmm. same menu on all their ships. Had PG last week on Noordam and generally very good service. I made the mistake of ordering the 15oz ribeye - lots of meat but LOTs of gristle the remove. My wife had the Filet Mignon and it was perfect. The Baked Alaska was good but family-sized. I only got through a 3rd. My daughter had the candied bacon and it was perfect. My lobster bisque was very ordinary. HAL do this thing with a bunch of scraps on the bottom of the bowl with soup poured over - no decent chunks of anything. Must be for the clientele they attract.