A strongly worded Sel de Mer review - short version, don't bother

[MogeyMan]

So very disappointed. Our starters were escargot and calamari. The calamari was good. Of course, my local sports bar makes good calamari. The escargot, were sadly smothered in a green herb, I don't recall the menu description, but it overtook the delicacy of the escargot, and they were overcooked and tough. I had the bouillabaisse and my partner the sole. And here's where everything fell to crud. The waiter, who's competency we questioned from the start, poured the hot broth over the seafood and fish in my dish. And then my dish sat. And sat. While he tried very hard to debone the sole. The result was very overcooked seafood. I got 2 tiny mussels, 2 tiny clams and ONE shrimp. And now, having sat while he struggled, my seafood was cooked to death. My partner said the sole was just "meh." At the start of the meal, he handed me the bread, just handed it to me,  wrapped in a napkin. Very strange. And I will say, the lobster tails we saw coming out of the kitchen (we chose not to have lobster) on that silly hanging rack, (ridiculous) looked just barely legal size. We didn't bother with desert. And again, if one ordered a pre-dinner drink, the poor waiter has to go to the bar there by the Pinnacle, where there were a lot of people drinking, and wait on line for a bartender. I didn't dare order a second. We won't be back. We appreciated the 4* discount, but simply not worth it. They did send choco strawberries by way of apology the next morning. (they did call that night to see how we liked the meal, we were blunt.)

[oakridger]

1 hour ago, MogeyMan said:

(they did call that night to see how we liked the meal, we were blunt.)

 

That's sad. What ship are/were you on? What was their response on the phone when you told them how you felt?

 

Thanks for the review,

~Nancy

Edited November 5, 2023 by oakridger

[MogeyMan]

Kdam. They apologized. 

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, MogeyMan said:

Kdam. They apologized. 

We were on the Kdam over the past New Year and celebrated our anniversary on NYE at Rudi's. You make me very happy that my husband did not give into my cajoling to have the sole! He had either catch of the day or sea bass, and it may say something that neither of us remembers which. I had lamb because I always have lamb where available. I think we had one each of the hot and cold smoked salmon for first course and something-something (not the souffle) for dessert.

 

Not a particularly notable dinner, even without your disasters! One and done.

 

PS, the best lamb on the ship was in Canaletto. Where the officers prefer to eat.

[Laminator]

We met a couple on the Rotterdam this evening who were very disappointed with their meal at Rudi's.

[Mary229]

I would complain bit more and get a refund. Thanks for the heads up though.  I have always steered away from that venue worried about issues.

[kazu]

9 hours ago, MogeyMan said:

And I will say, the lobster tails we saw coming out of the kitchen (we chose not to have lobster) on that silly hanging rack, (ridiculous) looked just barely legal size.

 

Just for clarifications sake, those are NOT lobster.  They are Langostino and part of a seafood dish with scallops, shrimp, salmon IIRC.

 

Koningsdam Sel de Mer was a bust for me as well in mid December.  And I did complain.

 

The entree was so overcooked I could only eat one bite.  Service deplorable.  I blamed it on me being solo at the time.  That’s a real shame that you too had a poor meal there.

 

I just got off the Rotterdam and 5 of us dined at Sel de Mer.  Everything was delish.  The Fruits de Mer (with lobster claws) was absolutely cooked to perfection.  I don’t understand how the experience can be so different on the two ships.  It shouldn’t be.

 

[albingirl]

I would have walked away when things were going downhill. No need to spend another minute in anger. This is not why you cruise. Sad this happened 

[horseymike]

4 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We were on the Kdam over the past New Year and celebrated our anniversary on NYE at Rudi's. You make me very happy that my husband did not give into my cajoling to have the sole! He had either catch of the day or sea bass, and it may say something that neither of us remembers which. I had lamb because I always have lamb where available. I think we had one each of the hot and cold smoked salmon for first course and something-something (not the souffle) for dessert.

 

Not a particularly notable dinner, even without your disasters! One and done.

 

PS, the best lamb on the ship was in Canaletto. Where the officers prefer to eat.

Where did they catch the catch of the of the day ? Off the back deck ? 🤣

[cbr663]

Chocolate covered strawberries seem to be HAL's go to when things go awry.  We had them show up during our Alaska cruise also when we encountered problems in our suite.  We tried Rudi's and felt it was over hyped.  

Edited November 5, 2023 by cbr663

[Heartgrove]

I'm wondering if the "Pop Up" Rudi's are better than the stand-alone Rudi's on the Pinnacle-class ships. The staff may be more apt to try and impress. What a shame if Rudi's has gone the way of the "Pinnacle Grill."

 

Never thought about it since until this thread but we had an issue on the Koningsdam back in 2021 where the waiter double-charged us on (I believe) the bottles of wine. My one and only trip to Guest Services on HAL to get it straightened out.

[kazu]

33 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

I'm wondering if the "Pop Up" Rudi's are better than the stand-alone Rudi's on the Pinnacle-class ships. The staff may be more apt to try and impress. What a shame if Rudi's has gone the way of the "Pinnacle Grill."

 

 

Honestly my pop ups on the Prinsendam & old Rotterdam were very good.

 

they would have put last December’s Koningsdam Sel de Mer to shame.

 

thankfully the Rotterdam sailing I just got off made up for the experience on the K. 😊 

 

[Real NHDOC]

I personally have never been impressed with the Sel-de-mer (I have a clever nickname that involves adding de to the end of the name).  I was surprised to see the OP mentioned getting the 4* mariner discount on their dinner.  My understanding was the Sel-de-mer is not part of the loyalty program, am I wrong about that?  My underwhelming past experiences, combined with the lack of a mariner's discount has discouraged us from returning over the past few years. 

[Real NHDOC]

I just looked...it looks like the latest incarnation of the mariner's discount gives 25% off of the $65 PP charge for 4 and 5* mariners.  So it's basically $60PP after the 18% service charge and discount applied. 

 

I think originally it was part of the 50% off then was completely removed and now it is 25% off. 

 

Still not worth it because IMHO not any better than any other restaurant onboard and amounts to about the same cost as two dinners in Pinnacle (with 50% off) as one in Rudy's and the experience is never worth that much more to me.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[Horizon chaser 1957]

44 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

 

Honestly my pop ups on the Prinsendam & old Rotterdam were very good.

 

they would have put last December’s Koningsdam Sel de Mer to shame.

 

thankfully the Rotterdam sailing I just got off made up for the experience on the K. 😊 

 

Interesting. We were on the K’dam for the first time in August. Our Pinnacle experience was awful. The clothesline bacon was half cooked and slimy, my medium rare steak was well done, and the asparagus was well past its prime. The small casual food venues however,  were excellent.
Maybe fine dining isn’t K’dam’s strong suit?

Actually, while it’s a pretty ship, the whole onboard experience was less HAL, more Carnival. Our recent time on the Eurodam was back to HAL standards and excellent food, even though it was a discounted repositioning cruise where corners tend to be cut.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Horizon chaser 1957

[Mary229]

The K seems to have an ingrained restaurant issue.  I am sailing again in February , with great trepidation.  I will be sure to note my experiences on this board. 

[mocruzer]

Thanks for the heads up @MogeyMan.  Rudy's used to be our favorite restaurant on HAL.  @crystalspin unfortunately I don't think they have the lamb chops in Canaletto's anymore?  

[HappyInVan]

1 hour ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Interesting. We were on the K’dam for the first time in August. Our Pinnacle experience was awful. The clothesline bacon was half cooked and slimy, my medium rare steak was well done, and the asparagus was well past its prime. The small casual food venues however,  were excellent.
Maybe fine dining isn’t K’dam’s strong suit?

Actually, while it’s a pretty ship, the whole onboard experience was less HAL, more Carnival. Our recent time on the Eurodam was back to HAL standards and excellent food, even though it was a discounted repositioning cruise where corners tend to be cut.

 

I agree. IMHO, the management on K'dam (3 cruises) was poor. The staff wasn't under control. Runny scrambled eggs in the Lido. Club Orange meals was so-so.

[Crew News]

25 minutes ago, mocruzer said:

Thanks for the heads up @MogeyMan.  Rudy's used to be our favorite restaurant on HAL.  @crystalspin unfortunately I don't think they have the lamb chops in Canaletto's anymore?  

Lamb chops are one of the Canaletto specials during longer cruises on days 8, 9, or 10 (chefs choice).  I enjoyed probably the best lamb chops ever on my Panama Canal cruise last month jn the Canaletto.

 

[Pickalily, Wilts]

We visited Rudi's on Nieuw Statendam in May.  I don't think we'll bother again.  I can't say the meal was poor, but it wasn't particularly memorable.  It seems to be more about 'theatre' than it is about food.  On the other hand, our two experiences of Canaletto on that cruise were most enjoyable - and I can remember what we ate.  Also enjoyed Pinnacle Grill and Tamarind, but they were included in HIA.

[OlsSalt]

For the record, K-dam -Christmas 2022 cruise Set de Mer was perfectly awful for us too, as previously reported. I sense a pattern here -what went so wrong so consistently on the K-dam in this time period? Pinnacle was not great either, but Canaletto did shine. 

 

Hanging in there for at least the venerable "Sallzburger Knockerel" dessert -who could screw up eggwhites? But what we got was a flattened, baked "claufuti'  doughy thing, with some blazing micro-waved  hot berries, that were dangerous to even try to eat. 

[iceman93]

We had such a good experience at Rudi's on the NS earlier this year that we went back for a second dinner later in the cruise.  Our server would have fit in at a land-based fine dining restaurant, and every single food item we ordered was delicious.

 

The restaurant that we were super-disappointed in?  Nami Sushi up in the Tamarind area.  In fact, the service and food there were so bad that we cancelled our later-in-the-cruise Tamarind reservation.  Tamarind seems to get universally praised here at CC, so we were especially disappointed.

[St Pete Cruiser]

I will say that Rudi's on the Rotterdam, same sailing as Kazu, was very well received by our friends who dined there.  I asked if I could "trade" my Pinnacle meals for Rudi's and pay the difference and was politely declined.  The fresh seafood on the Rotterdam in the MDR was excellent as well.

[aliaschief]

Sorry to hear about your dining experience. Hope that is an isolated issue as Rudy’s has been a favorite.

[pedirn]

We too were not impressed with Rudi’s on the Rotterdam when we sailed in March.   Meal and service were just okay.   We will not be returning when we sail later this month.  We will definitely be doing Pinnacle and Tamarind again.   Both meals and service were excellent.   Although we did try hanging bacon and just can’t see the appeal.