HONEST Holland America Rotterdam Food Review | CruiseReport
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- Опубликовано: 1 дек 2022
- In this video I will tell you what we liked, and what we did not like about our food and dining experiences aboard Holland America Rotterdam.
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We sailed on the Rotterdam last month and the food was the best of any cruise ship we have been on. My wife ordered a lobster tail (main dining room) and it was both HUGE and delicious. Folks at our table took pictures of it :) The buffet was a real surprise. Again food quality was well above par. I love focaccia bread and they had it fresh almost every day. We ate at Tamarind and Pinnacle and both were excellent, though we favored Pinnaccle. Great memories=future plans!
Their breads were all very good.
I LOVE the food on the ship! Tamarind is one of my favs!
we just got off rotterdam and we were very pleased with the food. We dined in mdr for the 3 'dressy' nights, and did the rest in lido. I had a couple of really good tenderloin meals, also got the lamb chops on one of those nights. And on Christmas, I had goose with some cranberry/cabbage type hot slaw. I really liked all of it. On the lido I had excellent prime rib and other really good meats. I can't fathom how a person would consider this awful. We did not do any upgraded dining, but still found plenty of great food to eat.
i so agree with you about Canaletto! Our favourite specialty restaurant on Holland America and one we go to several times on every cruise.
Fun to hear your take on Rotterdam's food. We were on Nieuw Statendam last month, and had some really excellent meals. Very sorry to hear about your experience at Pinnacle Grill. We had lunch and dinner there on NS, and it was wonderful. My filet there was truly the best I've ever had. Hoping for a better experience for you when you return to HAL!
Thank you for making thorough, good quality videos. They're very helpful with meal planning before going on a cruise (personal preferences aside).
Always love the food on HAL
Had a terrific filet in the Pinnacle grill. Enjoyed CALLALETO AS well.
I was on that same ship on January 14th this year. My favorite ship
You do a great job . I am a avid cruiser. This food report is enticing me to get back on another Holland American ship. I 100% agree with being served at buffet . Just got off 14 days on a ship with free for all at buffet . We would serve our selfs than sit and put hand sanitizer on before eating . Thank you 🙏
Oh my gosh, we did the same!
We were pleased with the food at the buffet on a recent cruise on the Konigsdam.
We, like you, ate at Tamarind twice. The Tom Kha Kai soup was more delicately flavored than what I make. It was to be slowly savored!
We also ate at Rudy's twice. The smoked salmon appetizer was to die for! 😋 It would be my "one thing". The Duck a l'Orange was for two, but it was a large whole duck. There was easily enough for four people.
The mashed potatoes, which I had at Rudy's twice and at the buffet twice, were so very, very good! I looked up their recipe when I got home 😋 😋
The salmon at the buffet was perfectly cooked. Moist and succulent. The curry dish - wow.
We will be back for the same cruise next October (Rhythm and Blues #39) and I am looking forward to the food!
This is all in contrast to our Alaska trip on NCL. The food was so meh that I lost 8 lbs with the activities in just one week! If you're going to Alaska, take one of the older, smaller Princess ships. Excellent food and smaller ships get into nicer bays.
I just got off the msRotterdam on 1 December (Southern Caribbean), and I must say that your video is spot on. I was slightly disappointed with the Pinnacle Grill for the reasons you outlined. On all previous HAL cruises I've been on the cuisine at the Pinnacle Grill was exceptional. Unfortunately, I think HAL changed the vendor for the menus. I hope they go back to the previous vendor! Everything else you discussed really matches my dining experience as well. HAL is truly a first-class operation, and the Rotterdam is a magnificent ship. Thanks for your video.
I concur with your review of Tamarind in general. But I especially agree with your assessment of the Panang Curry. Fabulous. We eat there 2-3 times while onboard, our favorite dining experience on HAL. Several but not all of their ships now offer Tamarind. Rudi's- Best bread on the ship- bar none! My first time here, thank you.
Love Dive In!
Went to the Caribbean in November on Nieuw , and loved it. Loved the food.
Thank you for this very informative video! We are planning a HAL trip through the Panama Canal next year, and have decided on Rotterdam. This information is great to have! I just subscribed to your channel. Thanks again!
Glad it was helpful!
Your dining reviews are excellent; please keep posting food reviews!
We plan to.
Thx for a great review. Heading out on Rotterdam in a few weeks - our first HAL cruise - and excited to try all of these food options. Fingers crossed for a better experience at Pinnacle Grill.
Rudi's and Tamarind were real standouts for us.
My recent trip on Holland America-- the food was excellent--at all the venues.
Loved Tamarind as well!!
Went on Rotterdam in January. In Pinnacle, my mother loved her lobster bisque and scallops. My lamb chops were the best I've ever had. In Tamarind, she loved her Panang red curry coconut chicken and I loved my Thai basil Szechuan shrimp. No regrets on anything. I wish we could have done the sushi bar.
I agree the red panang chicken curry was some of the best I have ever tasted !!
Thank you for your review! I'm booked on the Rotterdam for next spring. To avoid paying a la carte for several items you mentioned, I purchased the 'I want it all' upgrade.
New subscriber here,
I love your review. this year we go on a cruise to Norway, Iceland, Scotland on the Rotterdam. We shure take some of your advice.
We sailed on Rotterdam mid-October. Pinnacle served the best ribeye I’ve ever had, and the crab cakes are to die for.
I was disappointed by Dive-In. The hot dogs were no better or worse than any average land-based joint (originally from Chicago, hot dog snob). The burgers? Dry meat circles that at least had lettuce and tomatoes on it.
At Tamarind I had the best shrimp tempura in my entire life. And the service was impeccable.
Rudi’s was a lovely experience from atmosphere, service (Jun and Genesis) were like old friends by the end of the evening, and presentation (chef a true artist. Plates were amazingly decorated with a “seafood face” designed by Chef) to the multiple courses.
NY pizza was ok. Light and chewy crust. Mediocre toppings. Breakfast was the bomb: I got a toasted Berry Bagel and ordered sides of scrambled eggs and bacon. Constructed my own sandwich. Perfection.
This was our first Holland America cruise, and can’t wait to book with them again.
Thats a good report, I would rename yourself "the hotdog snob" or I may take it, former Chicago suburb kid.
Great reviewing! Leaving on the Koningsdam in about three weeks for a long 25 day cruise. It's been about 25 years since we cruised on HAL. Hoping for a nice time.
I am sure you will have a great cruise.
We are also boarding the Koningsdam on January 7th for Mexico and Hawaii.
Just came across your channel today. Nice Job
I very much enjoyed your video.
Greatest review
Thank You .
Nice, comprehensive video. I wish you would’ve reviewed club orange. We love Tamarind. Our last cruise on Rotterdam was April on a transatlantic. We found a little disappointment in our experience at Rudi’s. They’ve taken away a few of the perks. Won the lovely starter champagne cocktail. I hope they bring it back!
We aren’t big breakfast eaters so we like Holland’s room service. Usually get juice and coffee every day and sometimes cereal, yogurt, and a continental. The scrambled eggs and bacon are good too.
Thank you for this! Rotterdam in April 2024!
Going transatlantic on April 13 2024. 21 days altogether (Northern Europe, Scotland and Norway Fjords. Maybe we will meet on ship.
I just got off an Alaska cruise on Koningsdam. I too was disappointed in Pinnacle Grill. That said Tamarind was a very pleasant surprise. My two meals there were the two best of the cruise.
I was a first time cruiser on Royal Harmony of the Seas in November. I was quite pleased with the food situation, although I have zero other ship experience to compare it to. But it sounds like cruise ship pizza everywhere is doomed to be thin and uninspired. Also, there was a ton of seafood options, but fewer options for someone like me who doesn't do seafood.
Love your perspective. Love HAL but overall criticism is so negative lately I worried about my next cruise. Now, looking forward to it.
Your food reports are great,I’ll love a food report of Royal Caribbean Oasis Class
We would love to review Royal Caribbean. It has been far too long.
Chris We had a 9 day cruise on the Rotterdam in November and a 10 day on Nieuw Statendam in December. ( with another on the Rotterdam coming in March ) Concerning your reviews of the different dining options I fully agree the Tamarind Asian restaurant was AWESOME !!!! We enjoyed a sunset meal with sushi, lobster and other items and as you said the Red panang chicken curry was spectacular ( my favorite ) and they even filled the bowl to the top with the curry. We will dine there a few times on the next cruise. The Lido buffet is one of our favorites with the huge variety and the Indian foods were amazing. I LOVE the salad bar and have 2 - 3 a day. The Grand Dutch cafe has to die for apple pie. The Pinnacle grill this time was awful, tough filet and the lobster was over cooked. Canaletto was very good. The Dive In was a disappointment as the hot dogs were not fully cooked. NY Deli & Pizza was not the best this trip as the pizza was not very tasty and the hot wings were not crispy and way to much breading. ( I will try the breakfast option as I can never get crisp bacon on the Lido. We have skipped the main dining room the last10-12 cruises as it just takes to long to eat and we enjoy other options. Great dining review and you hit all the high points !!
I don't have a bad word to say about the food in any of the cruises I've been on. Food on MS Zandam was delicious!
Hope to see u ❤ again 💕 on Nuiew amsterdam
New subscribers here. We love sailing HAL and agree that the food is great and those breakfast sandwiches in the NY Deli and Pizza are the bomb! The hidden gem is the Indian and vegetarian menus in the Main Dining Room. On the Rotterdam, they would bring us that menu every evening and you didn't have to order a day ahead. We really HATED losing lobster on the regular menu and REALLY hate seeing it at a cost on the "Indulge" section of the menu where you now have to pay for it. Tamarind is our go-to for specialty dining. It's our favorite specialty restaurant out of any cruise line.
I will have to remember about the Indian menu.
@@CruiseReport We were on the Noordam for 3 months, and I had nothing but Indian food for the first month. It was that good!
I don’t know when you went but we found the food excellent at the dining room and did have surf and turf night. Didn’t go to specialty restaurants.
We were on the same cruise, have no complaints about the food. My filet mignon snd lobster tail at the Pinnacle Grill were outstanding, better than Ruth Chris! We especially love the Tamarind, are there twice. Canaletto was solid, as always. We always eat in the buffet for breakfast, because we are always in a hurry to get our day going 😂. We only ate in the MDR once for dinner, was only ok.
Good to know!
Leaving on the Rotterdam 18 more days, can't wait!!!!!!!!!
It was ok. The Pinnacle was very good. The food in the dining room and buffet was often cold or lukewarm.
Hello we hooked on a norwegian cruise in 2024 on HAL New Rotterdam in Neptune suite do you have information or vidéo on that? Thanks Willy
Holland America was our first cruise decades ago... they spoiled us related to the food from the very beginning!
Best food was had on HAL and serve was very fast and food came out hot
Those eggs were medium. And I’ve never had anything less than fabulous MDR breakfast.
Pinnacle Grill does seem to have gone down
Tamarind restaurant food and service on Rotterdam is the best.
Agree with you about the Pinnacle Grill. Just kinda of meh. We celebrated our anniversary and nothing special acknowledged. Even service seemed distracted.
Happy Anniversary!
we had a bad experience at Rudi's on the Koningsdam. they were advertising king crab, instead we got small crab legs water logged and super salty. it was a very expensive meal that went bad. never eating there again
I had a less than wonderful experience at Rudi's on Nieuw Statendam, but completely different on Rotterdam.
They loading crab when in Alaska.and use them wherever they are in the world.Taste different
Overall what cruise line do you feel has the best food? I not a fan of curry & can’t have spicy 🌶 hot food. Any ideas? We love HAL & are considering a cruise to Alaska next. We just returned from a Mexican Riviera cruise on Carnival & didn’t care for it. Too large & we don’t enjoy long lines.
Holland America is one of the best for food, IMO. Viking is also excellent.
My Konigsdam experiences:
1) The pizza at the New York Deli was the worst that I had on any cruise line. Even when prepared to the order, it was little better than frozen. Also, when they run out of things in teh dinner, they will noiot makes you one (salads, in particular).
2) I liked the MDR breakfasts as there are so many international options - Pan-Asian, Japanese, British, Indian. Some of the seafood options are great.
3) As for the buffet, I do not like being served. It slows down service. I like to try 20-30 items on a buffet and the employees only give you LARGE portions even when I asked for a small portion. Also, in the evening, the buffet looks like the crew mess as 40% of the people eating there are crew.
4) The MDR food was generally very good but slightly below Celebrity.
Completely agree with you on the pizza.
Hello. Would you say the Dutch Cafe rivals Cafe Baccio on Celebrity? Ty
I doubt it. The Dutch cafe does not have many selection for desserts. Maybe 3 choice like apple pie, cream puff and forgot the other. Doesn’t celebrity have so many choices for bakery at the cafe? Ham and cheese our children liked from the Dutch cafe but that is not dessert. Pea soup was descent. Some of the things on the menu was not available like fried cheese item served after 4:30pm. The server said he has been working there for 7 months and has not seen it.
Probably not a fair comparison. Cafe Baccio would probably rate higher in my estimation.
I'm sad to hear your review of pinnacle grill. we are going in august and prinnacle grill is what I"m looking forward to. Like you we have been there many times. I hope its better when I get there. :(
We could have just been there on an off night. It has always been good on previous sailings.
I just got off the Rotterdam for a 10 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean . I was very disappointed in the quality of the food and service in the dining room. Very tiny portions too. Will definitely not cruise on Holland America again. This was my second cruise with them and the worst cruise I’ve gone on.
I would spent plenty time at Dutch Cafe 😅 therefore dont have travel to holland fro Australia😂
I always get the filet mignon at pinnacle and never disappointed. Ribeye is not great anywhere..lke comparing apples to oranges
RibEye on Viking is perfection. At Crown Grill on Princess it was prettier good too.
Does this cruise line have all inclusive, as well?
So…….if you can’t eat spicy food at all……is there anything at Tamarind that is eatable?
Absolutely.
I just came back from Koningsdam Mexico cruise last week. The ship was full with 400 kids cuz of Thanksgiving.
I was disappointed with food overall because I was expecting great food from other RUclipsrs.
Buffet: similar quality as 2-3 star hotel in Vegas. Carvery is good. Pho had Thailand food soup base. Asian beef were all too hard. Prime rib first night was low quality. Second night was tender and good so I guess depends on which batch you get. Same thing everyday except different kind of meat. Mash potato and gravy is good.
NY pizza - pizza not good. Sandwiches good if you ask for extra meat.
Dutch Cafe - just ok for food and desserts. Nothing great.
Main Dining Room: generally good. Shrimp cocktail were medium size and not hard every time. Coconut shrimp salad was bigger shrimp and more fresh. NY steak was low quality both times. Some appetizers were good. Cheap desserts same as buffet.
Room service - cheap quality. Club sandwiches were just mainly bread both times but the third time ordering it, descent amount of meat and veggies. Beef sandwich was a left over meat from meat carvery ( I am being serious)
Dive-in - hamburgers were ok to good. Hot dogs were good. Fries were excellent and crunchy.
Overall I was very disappointed at overall food quality. Buffet was a little bit better than a good cafeteria food. I thought Holland was a premium cruise line? Maybe because it was a full ship?
I think it can vary greatly from one ship to the next, and even crew changes can make a difference.
Premium lines start with Oceania, and include Regent, 7 seas, and similar small ships, all inclusive, often like 6-8K per person. Hal is considered a really solid upper tier mainstream line. Carnival is making a lot of cutbacks, but it sounds like it hasn't hit Hal too badly (except for maybe that low quality steak). We're going on Rotterdam later this month and expect it to be fine, but we're generally fine with good cafeteria food, wedding food, 'event food'. You'd possibly like the Oceania level and above cruises better.
@@monkeyb1820 thanks! I thought Regent was ultra luxury cruise line at the highest level?
@@lukejohnson5195 I haven't priced them out, but I'm not sure if Regent is way above the others. And I forgot Silversea, Viking (featured in other vids on this channel). But it can still be a bit of a crapshoot, where you could pay 3x what you'd pay to go on Hal, but it's not for certain that the food will actually be a whole lot better. Financially, you'll come out ahead, and have access to a larger ship, more 'events' if you do Celebrity, Hal, Princess and spend a few hundred dollars on upgraded dining. My parents and others like to feel that they are not cruising with the 'vulgarians' of the more mainstream lines (so they do the fanicier lines, but mostly I don't see the point--except that smaller ships can often do more interesting itineraries).
@@monkeyb1820 There is not a direct relationship between the price you pay and the quality of the food. Some of the best food we have had on cruise ships was on Carnival, and some of the worst was on 6-star luxury lines.
Just got off N statendam and gave up having raw eggs Benedict and gave up on dining room. Ate in pinnacle on N amsterdam in alaska and it was dreadful . We agree with everything you say.
Take a break evelybudy who come on board use the hand sanitizing cream so you are safe.
If only people did
Just got back from Nieuw Statendam in Caribbean. We were truly disappointed the food was mediochre. The grand dutch cafe had lovely cappacino butbthe sweet
The cafe dessert options were totally blah, cookies, muffin or bundt cake.
Our experience in the buffet was not great either lots of waiting in line, food was lukewarm. Our dining room experience was just okay menu choices compared to other lines I've been on.
Entertainment was just okay, very limited. I was really looking forward to their music walk but honestly if you didn't want really loud rock and roll or blues there was nothing to do. Two evenings we tried the movie screen on the pool deck and it was american football games. Sorry but I cannot recommend Holland America based on this experience.!
@@jeanetteday8187
Thanks, more room for us!
My last cruise was on Maasdam to Alaska and the food was so bad I could not eat anything but mediocre pizza and veggie bergers by the pool. I wrote a letter to Holland America and got offered a 50% discount on my next cruise which I would not use. In fact, I would never take another Holland America cruise.
Interesting. We have not sailed on the smaller HAL ships. Sorry to hear about that experience.
😡 no face!!! Food yes!📷 🎥
Just got off Koningsdam. Honestly food was mostly not very tasty
Interesting.
Pro tip. This guy needs Cialis
You call yourself President.wow
If you're going to do food reviews and the value you really have to tell the prices that you paid. We are Princess people but the prices I see on the Rotterdam are way too high for what you're showing. But having said that I think you should keep encouraging people to go to specialty dining. By paying 100 to $170 for a dinner that you already have included in your price in the main dining room help subsidize those of us who are looking for value rather than getting ripped off within our experience since COVID are definitely substandard meals in every specialty dining restaurant on Royal Caribbean Princess and Holland America. Princess by far is the best deal and specialty dining of all cruise lines.
The reason we tend to avoid prices is because they change so frequently and there are so many packages available. However, I am going to cover pricing in my upcoming Celebrity food and dining review.
The food on Celebrity is so much better.
The food on Celebrity is very good.
A friend heard that the food on Celebrity is better than HAL so he took a cruise on Celebrity (Equinox) in September. He was terribly disappointed.
@@pipo5933 We may be going on Beyond in January, so we will definitely compare.
@@CruiseReport 👌
Long time Celebrity cruiser, but just got off the Koningsdam. Found the food and service consistently better than Celebrity. And we usually cruise in the Retreat class, which has become over priced for what it offers.
Just finished a 21 day on the Rotterdam, worst ever ! Worst dining room, we only ate there a few times. Many other cruisers agreed with us on this, 2 couples cruised on the Rotterdam in Spring, went from good to bad in a few months, crew change ?
Buffet layout was terrible, took forever to get food, wait on one person in line to serve you. Of course the premium eateries were very good, and they better be, at extra cost. Rotterdam had the absolute worst entertainment ever……yeas the magician and one comic was good, and the house bands, the rest was high school talent show level.
HAL has cheaped out on everything, will NEVER cruise Hal again. This was our 4th cruise this YEAR, so losing out on good customers.
Just finished an 11 day Caribbean cruise on the Rottendam, and yes the food at the trough (lido) was truly awful. What saved the eating experience for us was the upgrade to Orange Club restaurant -- which served great food with fantastic service. Agree about the "entertainment" too, and about never taking a HAL cruise again. There are quite a few other negatives than this ones mentioned so far.
My guess is you didn't pay for this cruise!
Not enough shrimp? Ask for more.
What’s wrong with asking for more? Less waste. You’re talking a lot here. It’s just one sentence: could I please have double the shrimp?
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50% of Americans are overweight or obese...it cracks me up that some could be afraid they're not going to get enough to eat 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This guy complains a lot.
Hence the term cruise "critic"
Beetje verwend....