Charge for second meal
 

Holland America is now experimenting with charging $10 for anyone ordering a second dinner meal in the Main Dining Room. My information suggests this is being done on 4 of their ships now. We will be boarding the Eurodam shortly and will know first hand, as this is said to be one of them. So much for surf and turf? Ordering a second meal and sharing it with your significant other. Will have to see what happens if you just don't like the first one. Steak too tough? Food cold? I ordered it without the ______? Can I have 2 more lamb chops please?

Anyone aware of another cruise line doing this...or similar? Experience with HAL and this policy?

My guess is you are the exception to the rule about 2nd meals, and that most who order them are in fact overweight gluttons (or perhaps "Over Enthusiastic Food Consumers".

We have given up on HAL, so no stake in this. However, I have a relative on the Eurodam now, and will reach out to see if there has been implementation.

The ad-hoc ordering option allows the cruiseline to make up for horrible courses that they serve: Hate the mahimahi or strip steak on your plate, no problem-- now, just order something else. I can only imagine the future arguments that will ensue when a piece of trash meal is now replaced with an additional meal that costs another $10, Wow...the profit motive is becoming clear.

Will this changed be rolled-out to all-inclusive lines as well? HAL owns Seabourn. I fear eventual standardization. Oh, I guess I do have a stake in this!

I hope there's pushback on this. Either that or sit-down dining will soon enough become for-pay (and the buffet will not have a commensurate increase in seating capacity). That's sort of the case at Aida, the German-market sister line. At least wine and beer are complimentary.

If meal is sent back because it is improperly prepared, unappetizing or unsatisfactory in any manner then there shouldn't be a charge. But if the meal is consumed and the diner demands another for no apparent reason other than to fill their face then perhaps a charge is in order.

On a cruise (not HAL) we were seated in the MDR with a couple of substantial girth who on the first night ordered three entrees apiece, polished them off and proceeded to order multiple desserts. We arranged to be moved to another table for the rest of the cruise.

Would you think a business would change their dining policy because of a couple of outliers? If there was a charge for multiple meals, then those people would just switch to the Lido and perhaps eat more?.

We share a hamburger at Red Robin for lunch. On the road we have share a 12 inch subway, and drink most of a bottle of wine. We are 74 and seldom eat as much.

On the one gala night they have lobster tail, we often will ask for a second. We seldom have lunch on a cruise, and find that the 4-5 oz. tail now served is not much different from the 10-11 oz one they served some years ago, only when you order two. We only have rice with it.

I, not my wife, have been known to ask for another short rib on that night, but not another meal. The deserts are too rich, so we normal each have ice cream. Most of the people on HAL, at least the longer cruises, are even older that we are (on average perhaps another 5 years). It is seldom I have seen anyone ask for a second meal, except when the first one was poorly done, or not as advertised. The everyday steak is often to tough for me to eat.

HAL must have observed more of what you saw, than what I have seen to take such a drastic move. Maybe on the shorter cruises, with many more younger people multiple orders are more common? We are 4 star with HAL and have just not seen this as a problem. More we have seen HAL service eroding, and there offering degraded. They have allowed there ratings to fall off seriously. Are they becoming Sears on the seas?

Some on cruise critic have hypothesized it's due to those using social media (Instagram, blogs and the like) who are ordering dishes just to photo it and not eat it. I still think it is the (whipped) bean counter theory as you surmise. I can see the mass-market lines in the future just offering a menu with a choice of one of each category, like at French restaurants, with supplements for various dishes (the latter of which I understand some cruisecos have tried in the past).

I am just amazed how the whole "cruising product" continues to deteriorate with a new business model that nickels and dimes people to death. Been on 137 cruises since my first at age 21 and yes in my younger days I might have ordered 2 entrees at most. But it was just nice to know you could do so. Now I've had enough, no more for me. Cruises once were a relatively all-inclusive product (other than drinks and gratuities) but now prepare to have your pockets picked from the moment you've made your reservation!

Either the fares go up or the amenities go down. You can't have both as the airlines have shown.

Requiring gluttons who order multiple entrees to pay a little extra to stuff their faces doesn't seem unreasonable.

Adjusted for inflation, the price of cruising has gone down over the decades. For as much as people complain about cruising, they sure don't complain about the lower prices. Generally, when a company makes cuts, they cut something that is only utilized by a few, but has a disproportionately higher cost. The best victim statement people can make here is "cruising no longer will have an appeal if I can't try a bunch of dinner at no charge, and finish none of them". Excuse me as I shed a few tears. These poor cruisers have nothing to eat.

A few cruises ago, I sat next to a large, gluttonous family who ate multiple dinners each night. One night, I made the mistake of quickly glancing at the young boy who was eating 2 bowls of ravioli after eating 3 appetizers. I was immediately berated by his mother. This would be doing them a favor.