We all know food is subjective.  We fully enjoy fresh well-prepared food.  We like fancy, does not have to be.  We like inventive, does not have to be.  It just has to be good.  On a cruise, we completely understand that the ship is serving thousands of meals daily and to expect five star dining is setting one up for disappointment. That said, a deterioration in the food product and selection from our prior preferred line caused us to stray.  So here we go with our first cruise dining experiences with the Holland America.

We booked this Baltic cruise early and added Club Orange.  As a result, our Have It All package included two specialty restaurant dinners and for breakfast and dinner each day, the Rotterdam (and all Pinnacle Class ships) has a separate Club Orange dinning room…see below.   We tend to eat the vast majority of our meals in the dining room.  We like to be seated and table service.  It lends to our enjoyment of vacation.

In all our years of cruising, a separate dining room was never an option.  It simply did not exist on Princess until the Sphere Class ships.  So, this was new to us and I am here to say, I am a fan.  The main dining room is stunning and we did eat lunch here on one sea day.  Here is a picture of the main dining room.

The Club Orange dining room is a relatively small space with a variety of sized tables and an open kitchen that is used to do some of the cooking, mainly omelets and other breakfast items in the morning and the Club Orange entrée in the evening.  The menu is the same as the main dining room except at dinner there is an added entrée that is solely for Club Orange.  The staff was extraordinary and plentiful.  They get to know you immediately and many of your preferences due to its size.  It felt like coming back home each night or going to your Country Club.   Already have it booked for our 2027 Wild British Isles cruise.

To give an idea of the food in the dining room, here is a sample of first courses: fried cod slider, caesar salad, Asian ribs, escargot and burrata melon salad.

An example of a true cruise staple: prime rib.  Loved the plate of accompaniments for the beef and potato!

Lastly, an example of a Club Orange entrée, short rib in a mole sauce and the starter was a crab cake.  Very good and even more fun to watch Diana the chef in the open air kitchen make the short rib dishes.

We are not fans of buffet dining.  Not specifically to Holland America but rather in general.  We did partake at lunch a few days as the salad station is set up with either premade salads or they will put together a salad to your liking on the spot.  It had many topping options and all done by staff so no germ filled utensils.  Well done Holland.  The casual options on the Lido deck of NY Pizza & Deli and Dive In burgers were both very good for a quick bite especially when returning from port and in need a nosh. 

Overall, we were pleased with the included food options we tried on the Rotterdam.