New to Holland - is there escargot served every night?

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Not just you 😛😉.

Yuk. Just yuk.

Not yuk you, Florida_gal_50, yuk the slimy little creatures.🫣

Edited July 2, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Haljo1935]

7 minutes ago, highscar said:

Sorry. Senior moment.  TRIPE. 

That stuff is just nasty. Sorry to those who enjoy it, but (no pun intended) I just can't stomach it. Heave...🥺

[mcrcruiser]

On 6/30/2023 at 10:03 AM, skoeper said:

Excellent point!   We are having to make a decision of a forward or an aft (neither which we want) on a Celebrity for the dates we are free vs a better located cabin on another cruiseline for that timeframe.  First world problem, I know!   So now trying to compare other cruiselines we haven't been on.     Still love Celebrity the best!

We are Elite Plus on Celebrity .We once could fly to any cruise destination but now my DW can not fly because she has a ear problem . Celebrity rarely sails from Calif ports .They have done it & we were on B2B in March from San Pedro ,:os Angeles area  .We are both 84 & the parking problems there are quite bad & they charge in open air parking $20 per day  . so we can't sail Celebrity because they don't sail from San Diego  ,our home port ,28 miles door to door   .If Celebrity were sailing from San Diego that is the cruise line I would pick   .you would be very disappointed in Holland America  vs the quality  mvariety ^ service in the MDR & buffet  . Celebrity has  shows every day in the Theatre ,Holland america has dancers & nights BBC movies if you call that entertainment . Holland Has a Music Walk on Pinnacle  class ships  .  Believe me I rather sail Celebrity than Holland America .We have now come down to  trivia games with no prizes , music walk , dome paper making skill . So if you are not into swiming or hot tubs ,gym time ie ,holland can be quite dull  We are also 3 star Mariner with holland & close to 4 star . so what I am telling you is quite candid 

 

   BTW ,Celebrity had no problem with Lobster but HAL does .Others can explain that one to you

 

   Good luck 

 

 

[Deelag]

On 6/30/2023 at 11:05 AM, skoeper said:

We are looking at Holland Amsterdam and wondering if they are like Celebrity with escargot on the menu every night in the MDR.   My only chance to get escargot, so we usually stick with Celebrity but......willing to try out Holland if they do the same thing!    Anyone know if they do?

I am a 5-star mariner with HAL.  Not every night.  But I think you can get escargot in the pinnacle grill every time and on gala nights.  You can also make requests if the chef has them in stock.  My husband loved escargot.  He also loved moules.  France served them.  I was on the 2023 World and the dining room had filet just about every night.  What makes HAL so great is the crew!!!!!!!  HAL is a network and we are all a big family.  

[TMaine]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:56 PM, OlsSalt said:

Might want to stick with Celebrity - they deliver what you expect and want. Why switch?

We are looking to switch from Celebrity as well.  Celebrity is dropping in quality at a rapid rate.  And no longer serving escargot every night!  We were very loyal Celebrity cruisers and have one more booked for August but will jump ship if things haven't improved. 

[skoeper]

1 hour ago, TMaine said:

 And no longer serving escargot every night!  

Nooooo!!!   Say it ain't so!!!!!!

[OlsSalt]

36 minutes ago, skoeper said:

Nooooo!!!   Say it ain't so!!!!!!

 

I hear Carnival is serving gummy bears instead.

[ExpatBride]

On 7/1/2023 at 10:45 PM, Pickalily, Wilts said:

 

 

My garden is plagued with the things!  I'll gladly send you a bucketful.  On a regular basis. 🙂

My SO has always been enterprising. When he was 11 or 12, he got the idea to collect snails in the nearby forest and ask the French restaurant in town if they wanted to buy them. It turned into a pretty lucrative business for a bit. Some of the descendants of his enterprise still live in his parents' garden, or so the story goes. Fortunately, he successfully completed med school and got out of the snail business before I met him. 

[Haljo1935]

30 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

My SO has always been enterprising. When he was 11 or 12, he got the idea to collect snails in the nearby forest and ask the French restaurant in town if they wanted to buy them. It turned into a pretty lucrative business for a bit. Some of the descendants of his enterprise still live in his parents' garden, or so the story goes. Fortunately, he successfully completed med school and got out of the snail business before I met him. 

Maybe @Pickalily, Wilts lives next door to his parents, lol!

[Pickalily, Wilts]

14 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Maybe @Pickalily, Wilts lives next door to his parents, lol!

I suspect that I do 😀.   Even though they're a flaming nuisance, I don't like to kill them so I throw them into the field behind our house.  One day I'll put a dab of nail polish on their shells and then I can track how many of the critters come straight back again! 🙃

[terrydtx]

I had the escargot on the Celebrity Equinox last month and I have to say they must have been using baby snails as mine were 95% garlic butter and 5% snail. Like lobster on a cruise ship, if you want good ones get them at a good land restaurant. Last year in Italy we did a Celebrity cruise followed by a HAL cruise and hands down the MDR food on HAL was way better than the Celebrity MDR. If you look at my signature below, we have a mix of Celebrity, HAL and Oceania for our upcoming cruises over the next two years. We no longer have a loyalty for any one cruise line we sail now for itinerary comparing them to Celebrity, HAL and Oceania. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by terrydtx

[Haljo1935]

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

...Last year in Italy we did a Celebrity cruise followed by a HAL cruise and hands down the MDR food on HAL was way better than the Celebrity MDR...

Not having been on Celebrity (and no real plans to change that, but plans are just plans), I am happy to see you report something positive about HAL MDR. It sure seems to be getting kicked a lot. We have 2 HAL cruises leaving from Rome coming up later this year, so definitely nice to hear the food was good.

[Haljo1935]

35 minutes ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

I suspect that I do 😀.   Even though they're a flaming nuisance, I don't like to kill them so I throw them into the field behind our house.  One day I'll put a dab of nail polish on their shells and then I can track how many of the critters come straight back again! 🙃

You have way too much time on your hands.

Or you've inhaled too much nail polish.🤔

Either way, very funny and please do report back your findings.🤭🙄

I prefer pie charts over bar graphs, and certainly no excel sheets, so please consider that when presenting your findings.🤭

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Not having been on Celebrity (and no real plans to change that, but plans are just plans), I am happy to see you report something positive about HAL MDR. It sure seems to be getting kicked a lot. We have 2 HAL cruises leaving from Rome coming up later this year, so definitely nice to hear the food was good.

We love Celebrity but this year they are doing a lot of things that are driving many of the loyal customers to look at other cruise lines. All started by raising cabin prices 30-40%, then charging for all room service in less than a suite, then raising drink prices 20%, then drink packages 30%, then raising specialty restaurants 20%, then limiting MDR and evening buffets offerings  and this week a sizable increase in daily gratuity charges. Many of my Celebrity friends are booking with Viking Ocean and Oceania to find alternatives to Celebrity.

[OlsSalt]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We love Celebrity but this year they are doing a lot of things that are driving many of the loyal customers to look at other cruise lines. All started by raising cabin prices 30-40%, then charging for all room service in less than a suite, then raising drink prices 20%, then drink packages 30%, then raising specialty restaurants 20%, then limiting MDR and evening buffets offerings  and this week a sizable increase in daily gratuity charges. Many of my Celebrity friends are booking with Viking Ocean and Oceania to find alternatives to Celebrity.

 

You raise a good point I am sure most cruise lines are struggling with: raise prices to offer former service standards; or cut corners just to tread water at prior rates.  Actually, that is the choice passengers have too.

 

I personally  am willing to take less for close to the same prices myself, understanding the very unique nature of post-"covid" business realities cruise lines are facing.  I honestly do know know how or when  cruise lines will dig themselves out of this massive operating debt burden inflicted upon them over "covid".

 

But we are doing our own part - continuing to cruise, but a lot less frequently and certainly not expecting what we called "normal" in the past, Just get me there, fed and bedded since we are low demand "destination" cruisers; not high demand on-board entertainment cruisers. 

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

You raise a good point I am sure most cruise lines are struggling with: raise prices to offer former service standards; or cut corners just to tread water at prior rates.  Actually, that is the choice passengers have too.

 

I personally  am willing to take less for close to the same prices myself, understanding the very unique nature of post-"covid" business realities cruise lines are facing.  I honestly do know know how or when  cruise lines will dig themselves out of this massive operating debt burden inflicted upon them over "covid".

 

But we are doing our own part - continuing to cruise, but a lot less frequently and certainly not expecting what we called "normal" in the past, Just get me there, fed and bedded since we are low demand "destination" cruisers; not high demand on-board entertainment cruisers. 

We wanted to cruise around South America in 2025. We looked at a Celebrity Equinox 14-day cruise from Santiago to Buenos Ares in a Sky Suite. We compared it to an 18 night Oceania Marina cruise in their highest-level concierge Verandah from Santiago to Buenos Ares. The Oceania cruise was $200pp less than the Celebrity Sky Suite but it had 4 more days and 3 more ports, so we booked the Oceania cruise. HAL did not have an itinerary we liked. An acquaintance from CC who is on the Apex with us in September after talking with me canceled his Equinox South America cruise to join on the Oceania cruise.  

[shipshape sam]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We love Celebrity but this year they are doing a lot of things that are driving many of the loyal customers to look at other cruise lines. All started by raising cabin prices 30-40%, then charging for all room service in less than a suite, then raising drink prices 20%, then drink packages 30%, then raising specialty restaurants 20%, then limiting MDR and evening buffets offerings  and this week a sizable increase in daily gratuity charges. Many of my Celebrity friends are booking with Viking Ocean and Oceania to find alternatives to Celebrity.

Celebrity must have changed since January or maybe we were lucky on our sailing as we had escargot every night on Beyond in January 2023.  I will say that they were smaller.

 

Celebrity may like others are flushing the 'old loyal customers' with memories of what once was.  We sail much less now overall.  If the CC Elite Plus drink benefits go away, we have no reason to sail Celebrity and over weight for Celebrity will be negated.  Maybe that would be a good thing for us as on a recommendation from our TA, we tried Rotterdam and loved it and are now booked again on Rotterdam.

 

Think  we will check out Viking, Ocean, Oceania, and Virgin.  Virgin intrigues me with being all adult and lots of restaurants.  We actually now seem to spend more time on board ship vs excursions at each port of call.

[Haljo1935]

13 minutes ago, shipshape sam said:

...Think  we will check out Viking, Ocean, Oceania, and Virgin.  Virgin intrigues me with being all adult and lots of restaurants.  We actually now seem to spend more time on board ship vs excursions at each port of call.

The adults only aspect of VV appeals to us, but from what I've seen and read, it takes partying in a direction that at 60+ yo we have no interest in going.

For foodies, VV does look to have some pretty good menus.

Their drink prices are crazy through-the-roof, over-the-top high!!

Although we continue to receive some incredible offers, after following a few Live threads and reading various posts, we don't think we will be booking on VV.

Would be interested in others feedback and certainly wish them well, as I think they have a place in the industry. Although, this is probably not the place for that convo...

Edited July 4, 2023 by Haljo1935
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