Just off the Eurodam Sailing date 11.22

Hello Everyone, Just off the Eurodam sailing date was 11.22. We had an awesome time. It was my husband and myself, we have sailed with Royal Caribbean twice, and Princess once before. We booked a guarantee verandah cabin and our cabin assignment was 8094. No problem, except noise one morning at 630 am, not sure what was going on, we called information, and it stopped with 5 minutes, so who knows.

We flew in a day early and stayed at Lago Mar it was a beautiful resort, close to the port. Unfortunately we couldn't really enjoy it because it poured rain the entire day, and the day we sailed. No fault of the resort.

Boarding was very efficient, boarded the ship, dropped off our luggage, and went to the Lido for lunch.

Food wise, very very good, I did not go hungry. Their tacos, YUM on the lido deck for lunch. I do not see how people complain about the food, because I honestly thought it was delicious, and we are from the Philadelphia area, where we are foodies. Best Dish, I can't honestly pick, because of them were really good, and right now I am going through cream brûlée withdrawal, :(.....

The staff were excellent. My husband even remarked on that, they were super polite, and everybody greater us with a huge smile.

First Stop was Half Moon Cay, We arrived at the beach, we booked a clam shell, very nice, but it poured the second half of the day, so we missed the picnic lunch and returned to the ship.

We reserved the Green House Spa Resort Hydrotherapy Pool, and Loungers the first day we boarded. The rate was $249 for two adults for the whole week,and we did make plenty of use to it. Oh what can I say about that Hydrotherapy Pool, I wish I was there right now. Oh and those warm ceramic loungers, oh I just loved it.

Second Stop was Falmouth Jamaica. We booked the Culinary tour privately through Jamaica Culinary Tours. It was a wonderful tours, really enjoyed it, Just honestly don't know if I would return to Jamaica. Please do still get off the ship and walk around. It is just culture shock once you walk out of the gates at the port. With the tour honestly everybody stayed away from us, but I did witness people smoking week, which honestly that is what I expected anyway. Book this tour, it is 100% worth it.

Third Stop was Grand Cayman. Our fault we did not get off the ship until 1130 am, we arrived at 10 am, but with tenders we didn't leave until 1130. We decided to go to Royal Palms from what I read on here. Huge mistake, We arrived at the resort via taxi, paid the money, and walked to the beach, and it was chaos, no loungers, nobody to even help rent a chair from. We walked over to the pool, sat down on a chair, and then were told there is a minimum charge of $50 to sit there. I kind of just got a little aggravated and just left. We went back to the port and walked around for an hour, before walking towards Eden Rock. We ate lunch at a restaurant next to it, I am sorry I can not recall the name, but it was delicious. Walked over and rented gear from the Eden Rock Dive shop. They are 100% professional, and climbed down the ladder to a beautiful stunning reef. Husband snorkeled also, and managed to see a ray.

I will continue on later. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks so much for sharing your comments and information with us. Did you get a chance to dine at Tamarind? We are really looking forward to sailing the Eurodam.

Honestly we did not get the chance to dine with them. It wasn't due to lack of not wanting to, but honestly we just never got the chance. I did hear rave reviews about it, and the menu looked amazing. We ate primarily in the dining room, formal nights we opted out of, I just do not like to get dressed up other than just regular business casual clothes. Formal nights we did the Lido Buffet, which was wonderful. Also I am extremely picky on hamburgers, and I thought oh their burgers are going to be nasty, but I was shocked, they were delicious, the Dive In on the Lido Deck. Actually wishing I had another burger right now.

Enjoying your review.

Honestly we did not get the chance to dine with them. It wasn't due to lack of not wanting to, but honestly we just never got the chance. I did hear rave reviews about it, and the menu looked amazing. We ate primarily in the dining room, formal nights we opted out of, I just do not like to get dressed up other than just regular business casual clothes. Formal nights we did the Lido Buffet, which was wonderful. Also I am extremely picky on hamburgers, and I thought oh their burgers are going to be nasty, but I was shocked, they were delicious, the Dive In on the Lido Deck. Actually wishing I had another burger right now.

We also liked the Dive In. I've read that the Eurodam is going to have top-grade suites enhancements (furnishings, colors, amenities, USB outlet, LED lighting, interactive TV system) in December 2015.

Honestly we did not get the chance to dine with them. It wasn't due to lack of not wanting to, but honestly we just never got the chance. I did hear rave reviews about it, and the menu looked amazing. We ate primarily in the dining room, formal nights we opted out of, I just do not like to get dressed up other than just regular business casual clothes. Formal nights we did the Lido Buffet, which was wonderful. Also I am extremely picky on hamburgers, and I thought oh their burgers are going to be nasty, but I was shocked, they were delicious, the Dive In on the Lido Deck. Actually wishing I had another burger right now.

I thought formal nights bit the dust and were replaced by Gala Evening attire which does not require suit/jacket or tie for men?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

We will be on her this Oct in The Mediterranean.

It was nice to read your review and how you both had a wonderful time.

Denise :)

We were also on the Eurodam for 1 week from Nov. 22 - Nov. 29. We had been on the ship this past spring and loved it so we booked it again. This trip was a bit easier for us since we live in Florida and could drive to the port in 1.5 hours. I found an off port parking service and they were wonderful. Very reasonable pricing and they were amazingly efficient. They know when the ships will be returning so they were waiting at the shuttle service spot when we disembarked. We are not really Caribbean people so I was not expecting very much. We just wanted to get away for Thanksgiving.

The Ship - I know the ship is going into dry dock on Dec. 7 and was expecting that there had been major changes for the worse since we were on in May. Truthfully, the ship looked great. It was spotless and did not look the least bit worn to me. Maybe I'm just oblivious to my surroundings but it was wonderful.

The Food - we ate all of our breakfasts in the Lido and thought the food was terrific. So many selections and they will prepare pretty much anything that you want. My DH always gets the omelets and they were hot and fresh. I have read on previous threads that custom sandwiches are no longer made. I can't address what they do on other ships but that is not true on the Eurodam. While they do have pre-made sandwiches they always have someone there to make fresh sandwiches. As far as dinner - we ate in the MDR for all but two nights and the food was excellent. Prime Rib was offered on the first Gala night and lobster on the last Gala night. We ate at the PG one night which was just superb. The last night we ate in the Lido where they served perfect Prime Rib again. We thought the food on this trip was even better than on our previous trips.

The Entertainment - this is the area that truly disappoints. We went to the production show one night and that was the only time we went. They are truly amateur productions but I did hear other people say they loved them. The BB King Blues group were fabulous. But, to be honest, we spent most of our time in the casino. We knew several of the staff from our last cruise and met a wonderful group of people at the three card poker table. It wasn't cheap (our own fault) but we had a blast.

The Service - HAL has to have the best trained service staff in the industry. I was amazed that there were several people in the Lido that remembered us from our cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam 2 years ago and greeted us with hugs. They made us feel like family. We had the same experience with several people in the casino. I still don't understand how they can remember people when they move thousands thru the ship on a weekly basis. We're not very demanding but they couldn't stop asking if there was anything in particular we wanted. It was a lovely experience.

We are booked on an 11 day Sunfarer cruise on the Zuiderdam leaving Jan. 4. We've never been on this ship so I look forward to it. I'm sure we'll have a fabulous time!!

Helen

Enjoying your review/report.

Keith

One last point that I am sure will be important to many. On the 7 night cruise the casino was non-smoking for 2 nights. I'm sure many people were happy about this but from a business perspective I can tell you that there were a lot less people in the casino on those nights. It was quite empty early in the evening, became more crowded when the show let out and then quiet again at a pretty early hour. They have never done this on my 2 previous HAL cruises. Curious to see what they do on the 11 day cruise in January on the Zuiderdam.

Helen

Comparing cruise lines is very problematic, I believe, as what is being compared is really someone's experience on various cruise lines and the itineraries, time of year, age of ship, passengers, and many other things make comparing cruise lines difficult.

My wife and I might have said we prefer a particular cruise line, but after a good bit of discussion we find that we like longer cruises to places further from the continental U.S., and maybe, just maybe, the cruise lines we do not seem to like as well might be different in our thoughts if we had taken them on longer cruises to faraway places. In any case, there seems to be so much difference in peoples' impressions, opinions, etc that it is amazing to me.

We were on this November 22 sailing of the Eurodam. My thoughts, particularly as they relate to the OP's impressions:

Food: We thought the food was pretty good, not great. We did eat in the Tamarind and also did the de Librije dinner. Appetizers, early courses in Tamarind were quite good, the main dishes disappointing. The same was generally true in the Pinnacle for de Librije. An interesting note: I thought the crème brulee was the least good on this ship than on all the other 27 cruise I have been on. The food area is just so subjective.

Crew/Staff: I thought the crew was perhaps the friendliest I have experienced; at least as friendly as any I have experienced. We were greeted often and well by many crewmembers, and any request we made drew a swift response. Kudoes to the crew from my wife and I. Interestingly, we heard from a lady on board that she thought the crew was not friendly, worst she had experienced on any cruise. As I said, the difference in opinions always amazes me.

Hydrotherapy Pool and Suite: Very Good. We enjoyed the pool and heated chaise lounges every day. We do this on most cruises. This experience was about as good as it gets for us.

Formal (now called Gala) Nights. Most interesting to me was that on the second Gala Night, the Surf and Turf night, the clothing in the Main Dining Room ranged from Tuxedo to shorts (actually a swim suit) and flip-flops. I was really surprised. Generally we found that most anything was apparently OK in the Main Dining Room most nights, but the shorts and flip-flops was a real surprise.

Entertainment: We found the two production shows to be outstanding. Also, we thought the BB King Blues Band was very good. We heard differing opinions from people on the cruise and there are differing opinions on this thread.

The Ship: overall in good shape, but lots of areas that are very dark and fewer ocean views from various places on board than on many other ships. The sliding cover on the pool is a great thing on all Holland America ships. Our cabin -- too dark in the closet area and all the doors are less practical than open areas for clothes found on other cruise lines.

Final thoughts: Overall, a pretty good cruise with lots of things Positive. The Cruise Director said Holland America is trying to appeal to a younger crowd, but not having much luck yet. I agree. Pretty good ship, older crowd, needs a bit more pizzazz. Yes, I would sail Holland America again if the itinerary and price were right, but would likely sail other lines if the price and itinerary were the same.