BrianTom

Hey Iowa Guy,

 

We will be there. Brian and Tom and our friends Cecil and Michael.

[quote name='RuthC'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=royalblue]On the bright side, though, that answers the question whether or not the robes are washed at turn-over time. :) [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#4169e1]IMO, that doesn't deserve an angry thumbs down. An unhappy face, maybe, but not all the way to [COLOR=red]red[/COLOR]. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Just as I am walking out the door from the HAL boards I learned one more thing; that it is an angry thumbs down. I look at the thumbs down as a "bummer" or " could have been better" It is good to know for future use. I thought the worst was the red unhappy face.

Thanks RuthC.

After all the negative review comments (and I have a whole list of my own), I thought I'd throw in a positive one. The room service was terrific! We could have set our clocks by them. Having breakfast on your own balcony in the middle of the Caribbean in your jammies can't be beat.

 

I would say room service was great too. They delivered breakfast every morning by the time you specified on the breakfast card. I would call in the evenings and it would take 45 minutes to an hour, but that is typical of any cruise ship. The food was always good. Though I must mention, you can not assume they will bring appropriate condiments with what your order. If you want cream or sugar with coffee you must state it. If you want ice water you must state it. If you want ketchup, mayo or mustard....you get the point. But I can not blame them. It is wasteful if they do bring something on the chance you could use it and don't.

 

Tom

You had to request a robe in your cabin? HAL doesn't provide them on Eurodam?

 

They were in my cabin (an SS) on the 2nd day and the remainder of the cruise.

 

Tom

Tom,

 

Great to meet you and Brian... Heather & I enjoyed hanging out with you all.

 

Looks like HAL really dropped the ball on some of the Premium services such as the Retreat Cabanas. Wow they should have been ensuring that those we SERVICED well. You guys were almost paying the price of half a cabin for those.

 

Sorry your experience was not up to your expectations. I guess we were lucky as our service was much better than yours (40 minute wait for service in the dining room would have sent me into orbit!). This raises an important issue... Consistency! It scares me that if we cruise HAL again are we going to get some of the staff that you had and receive BAD service also.

 

Even if you don't plan to cruise HAL again please take the time to send your comments to HAL. It may light a fire under them so that we may not share your bad experience in the future.

 

I'll try and get my review up soon.

 

Mike,

 

Great meeting you and Heather and Phil,

 

We had fun on board as you know. Since you did a great job organizing the meet and greet for CC, I will send in my review to HAL. What goes around comes around. Looking forward to your review.

 

Tom

What are the peak times generally?

 

Also what is the latest you can have room service breakfast delivered?

 

Thanks.

 

Peak Times are breakfast and Lunch. Dinner is not very crowded. I don't know about the latest room service breakfast can be delivered. I always had it delivered by 9:00 am.

 

Tom

I am very surprised and disappointed to read that you experienced such poor service on the Eurodam. Sounds like HAL's reputation for wonderful service is going by the wayside on this ship.:confused: I hope you sent a copy of your review to the company (HAL/Carnival). If I had read reviews like this months ago, I would never have picked the Eurodam for my first time on HAL. :(

Cindy

 

Hi Cindy,

 

I did read reviews that talked about problems, but everyone chalked it up to a new ship ironing out the wrinkles. I guess it was bigger than that. I have not sent them my review. I could not be bothered trying to make their ship better. I wasted to much time on my vacation doing it I have no interest now that it is over. They know the problems. If I were you I would just get on the ship knowing that service will stink and every time it does not you will be pleasantly surprised :) I least your expectations are realistic now.

 

The ship is beautiful and no one can take away the sunshine, the pools, the ocean breeze and the ports. You should have a good time.

 

Tom

I agree as well 100% with Tom&Brian! We run into many problems as well and just things who shouldn't be!

 

Tom I wished I would have been with you at the Pinnacle, while the 1st time was wonderful the 2nd time for Dannys Birthday it was one of the worst experiences we have ever encountered on a ship!

 

By the way I tried to find your e-mail, but couldn't find it! Can you e-mail me please munichmarcus@yahoo.com !

 

I will be writing a detailed review and will send a letter as well to Seattle, as soon as I get the time do do it!

 

I though I had your e-mail and dont. Will e-mail you now. Let me say this about Pinnacle Grill; the wine steward was not very good and if it was not for Fix the waitress who gave us great attention, I think it could have headed for disaster. We were just happy to have attentive service, so I really did not get into it or I would have sounded like a real complainer.

 

I did not write HAL with my review. I can not imagine how they could convince me to ride HAL again unless the posters that have experienced the same service I have rides Eurodam again with no problems. HAL knows the problems they have and after 5 months they should have been addressed by now. Since they have not been fixed I think it is a bigger problem that we realize. My observation from these boards is that most posts from people that are seasoned cruisers and have been on Eurodam have not been happy.

I hate to hear the Retreat Cabana service was poor. Did you receive all the amenities that is suppose to come with a Retreat Cabana? Robes, ipod, Evian mister, fruit, ice cream, etc? Also, what hours is the Retreat open?

 

On the fourth day I was offered an IPOD. Never got an Evian Mister (wanted one), No ice cream offered. We did get fruit and water bottles every day. A few days we had chocolate covered strawberries, though they did not always have enough for every cabana. Two out of the 7 days we were offered a glass of champagne. The menu was a white paper printed from the computer, copied and stuffed in plastic protector cover. They did have these battery operated hand held fans with the HAL logo. They were gimmicky. This concept could be stellar, but they have a long way to go.

Unfortunately, there were others on the ship that ran into the same experiences. At least no one can say I am complaining without merit to do so :)

I am just wondering if anyone has been on the Eurodam since the first review? A great review I might add, by the way. We are looking at a Gem of the Baltic cruise in June of 2009. But if the service is still bad we could switch ports and ships. I am not hard to please, but rude is another thing. You do not paid this kind of money to have rude service. Bad service is one thing, that is sometimes fixable with good training. But you can not fix a rude outlook...

 

The rudeness was not from everyone, just certain staff members. This is just one example; I was waiting in line to get breakfast food in the Lido and there were a lot of items that were empty. There were three staff members behind the buffet just standing there. I asked if one of them would mind refilling the fruit bins , they all stood there silent staring at me. Finally one turned and walked into the kitchen with out acknowledging me or my request. I just assumed he was doing it. Then I decided to keep moving down the line only to find the cheese plate was empty. When I asked for more cheese I was told by another staff member that there no more. I asked if there was no more anywhere or just for breakfast. He ignored me and continued on his way. Then an officer in a white coat noticed all the missing items and told the 2 standing around to go into the kitchen and refill the missing items, they agreed and walked towards the kitchen door until he was out of site and they turned around and went back to just standing around, ignoring the passengers requests to fill the items. Finally, the first one, whom I asked to refill the fruit, arrived with some and I took my share and left. 15 minutes later I passed by the station to get more water to find a full cheese plate. Not that it is a big deal, but add them up and you feel like you are an inconvenience to them. On other ships in situations like that I have found staff happy to go the extra mile and help out, find me what I like or try to make me happy. In fact, I had buffet staff offer to go down 10 decks to the main kitchen to get me peanut butter, which I gratefully declined, but they were happy to make things work. That attitude seemed to be missing from the Restaurants.

 

In the other areas of the ship my "service" complaints would be about the staff being rude, but rather not enough help to make things work properly.

 

Bottom line if a ship's service is important to you, this may not be the ship for you.

Thank you so much for your review Brian/Tom. It makes me a little nervous though because it seemed some of the important parts were a negative ie: cabin steward, waiters, I just have never experienced that before and we are sailing the Eurodam in May and I have bragged about HAL to my friends and this is their first HAL cruise. But again thank you for your review.

Kathy

 

It is all about expectations. If you warn your friends that there were mixed reviews and that service could be not up to typical HAL expectations than they may not find it such a big deal.

Great Ship + Great Itinerary + Spotty Service = a great time. It really is not about the service, it is just that HAL had such a reputation for top notch service that is was surprising to see it. But if you could find another ship with a similar itinerary on HAL I would change it to that other ship until you hear the Eurodam gets into the right groove. If not, you could still travel the Eurodam and have a nice time, IMHO.

BrianTom

If you still have your daily program's handy -- what were the times of the production shows and what were they?

Thank you.

 

Hi Krazy Kruizers,

 

I don't have my programs anymore. There is sooo much "mail" that comes to the rooms I read it tear off the "at a glance and put it in my pocket for the day. At the end of the day i toss it. I remember some of the shows were at 7:00 and 9:00 pm. I did not attend any shows so I can not attest to quality. I wish I could help.

 

Tom

Hi DFD1,

 

I am happy to hear that you did not have a issue with the service. It makes your vacation time that much better. You say you were traveling with "ladies in your party". Did those ladies happen to be your cousins? and did those cousins hang out at the Piano bar on Halloween night?

shipcafe,

 

I already did when I saw your post on the earlier review. So I beat you to it!

 

Tom

Here is my review. Any questions let me know. Thank you Mike for the great meet and greet.

 

 

 

The Eurodam is a beautiful Ship from the inside out. Public rooms are beautiful, guest rooms are excellent, but the service fell short of meeting my expectations and MANY other passengers that I had spoken with during the cruise.

 

Lido Restaurant was always crowded during peak hours. The service in this buffet type restaurant was the worst of any ship I have ever been on. Many of the Lido Restaurant Staff were rude and one particular Lido Pool Bar bartender was particularly offensive.

The Green House Spa was great. After my treatment there was a very strong sales pitch to buy product. I thought it was tacky to be pressured to buy after spending $200.00 for the treatment. It would be different if they showed the products used and asked if we had interest, but to be overcoming our objections was a bit too much. It was the most sales pitchy I have seen on a ship. Elemis must have really tightened up their sales training regarding objections to purchasing their products.

The Thermal area with the thallasotherapy pool, heated loungers and steam rooms that you pay extra to use was well managed and constantly being picked up after and they needed it because it too seemed to be smaller and busier than most of these areas I have used on other ships.

The pool areas, especially the stern pool area, looked as though a bomb went off everyday and there were few staff members around to clear towels, straighten chairs, pick up empty glasses etc. It was around sunset that someone would start picking up the area.

Terrace Grill had LINES at peak hours, of lets say 20+ people. Not worth waiting.

We did not use Canaletto, the free Italian alternative dining venue, but an Italian Chef, who I became friendly with onboard said it was excellent! He highly recommended it.

We booked a Cabana in the Retreat for the week and while the concept and physical set up is excellent, the service was horrible. The attendants did their best but they were so understaffed and their resources were so scattered around the ship we could hardly find a staff member when we needed them.

The Crows Nest and Explorations Café were beautiful and the space felt like an upscale Barnes and Noble. It was always filled with people and felt very lively without being overcrowded like the Lido Restaurant. Service was prompt and pleasant.

The Silk Den was the nicest bar on the ship and it was sadly unpopular. Every time we went there, there were only one or two other party’s in it causing everyone to talk at lower volumes.

Tamarind Restaurant was excellent and the service was on par of what I would expect on a cruise ship.

I did not see a show in the Main Stage, but I went to a couple of hosted gatherings there and the service was HORRIBLE. I never expect good service in the Main Theater of any ship but this was awful. I saw waiters standing around while many of us were flagging them down and it appeared as they were ignoring us.

Ocean Bar was very nice area, but there was a smoker at the bar so we chose to go to the Explorers Lounge instead and did not go back.

We had dinner in the Dining room that was fixed at 8:00pm at table 59. The Service was HORRIBLE the first night and it improved as the trip went on, but I have never seen such poor service in a dining room (with the exception of Bernardo the waiter who seemed to be carrying the team and over compensating for the lack wait staff). Explorers Lounge was tastefully well done and a great place to meet for a before dinner drink. It is a good non-smoking alternative to the Ocean Bar.

Pinnacle Grill had excellent food once again. I don’t know why their steaks taste better than Capital Grill or Ruth’s Chris, but they do. Service was up to par.

Pinnacle Bar is very cool to look at but it is so strangely uncomfortable no one ever seemed to be in it. We tried 4 tables with a group of 4 that turned into six and decided that it was not comfortable enough to go back.

The Northern Lights/Casino Bar/Casino area seemed to be where the nightlife ended up. It was lots of fun in that Area.

The Piano Bar was great. Bob the Pianist was excellent and fun and knew so much music. Bar service in this Piano Bar was EXCELLENT! The way it should have been all over the ship.

The food was great everywhere we went!! A welcome surprise when it finally arrived ;) The presentation was always great too. Holland America did an excellent with the food. Food is definitely their strongest arm on this ship.

 

It is rare that I see rudeness or offensiveness on any ship and when it has happened I put it in the “be kind to them because you never know the battles they are struggling with” file. I can only imagine the struggle of living on a ship, friends and family 5000 miles away, dealing with working 18 hours a day for months on end along with the social pressures of living with the people you work with in the hull of a ship.

 

It was my feeling as well as the rest of the gang that we were traveling with that there was disdain and contention towards the passengers from many of the crew. It was not overt, but it was there. In my opinion the crew on the ship was not trained or given the tools to service the guests in a manner that many cruise ship passengers are accustomed to. As a result, you have the passengers frustrated with the service and over time the crew builds resentment towards the guest. A bad cycle that is difficult to stop.

 

More…The enhanced Version

 

There were rumors circulating among the passenger that 60 to 125 crew, depending on whom you asked, were missing from the ship. The reasons they were missing varied from crewmembers abandoning ship in Fort Lauderdale in the first few days to San Juan later in the cruise due to a poorly managed ship. Another rumor was that a plan coming from Indonesia not make it to Florida for the departure time or the government held up their paper work and could not board in time. Whatever the reason, it was clear that they did not have he staff to service the guest properly. I don’t believe any of the rumors. When I finally found an officer to voice my dissatisfaction he told me he has been fighting with corporate Holland America to get more human resources he needed but they refuse. That seemed like the most likely frank and likely reason.

 

Embarkation: Arrived at the port at 11:30 am and stood for about an hour in the biggest line I have ever seen for a cruise embarkation that snaked past the building and down the street. They were not boarding or checking in passengers and rumor had it that it was due to an inspection with the authorities. This rumor was foreshadowing of the trip to come. Once the line started moving, the check in process went quickly and smoothly, especially since we already checked in on line.

 

We finally were on board at 1:00 pm and went to our rooms to put our carry on bags down. The fire doors from the elevator lobbies to the room hallways were shut and a crewmember was policing the lobby stopping anyone that was wanting to go to their room. The crewmember told us the rooms were not ready and that we could not go down to our rooms. I asked politely if I could just drop off my bags and since my room was only two doors down from the hallway and he kindly conceded. I think if my room were far down the corridor he would have firmly resisted. We put our bags down and headed off to the Lido Restaurant….

 

The Lido Restaurant; it is a mad house on embarkation day. It was over crowded with people and carry on bags sitting at tables waiting for their rooms to be ready. With all the crowds not leaving after they ate we were not able to find a table to sit and eat. After wandering for about 15 minutes we found a table. When we saw the crowds we wanted to head to the dining room to eat but we were told that it was closed (only to find out later they were having a small travel agent luncheon). It was not until they announced over the P.A. system that the rooms were ready that some tables freed up. As for the restaurant itself, it was very crowded during peak periods and difficult to find a table. There we always long lines for the salad bar , omelet station and the entrée station during peak hours. The lines were long enough for us to skip those and go to the less crowded food station with less desirable food. ). Otherwise, the process would take too long; to fight for food and then a table consumes a lot of time. It was not uncommon for someone to ask for something such as “do you have sour cream?” to be either ignored or not looked at and utter something while turning away. I once asked at the sandwich station what cheeses they had and the answer was “blah blah blah and yellow.” When I said “excuse me I did not hear the first choice” I was told “regular and yellow.” I then requested regular, he ignored me, rolled his eyes at the person next to me (which they kindly informed me because they were getting a bad attitude also) I could go on and on about encounters with this type of attitude in the Lido.

 

The rooms were great. I had 6085 SS on starboard (right) side of the ship. It is two cabins from the mid ship exterior glass elevators. When I booked I was concerned that the glass elevators would invade the privacy of my balcony. I can happily report that privacy is not an issue and I would recommend this location. The rooms were VERY nicely appointed and they had the best beds I have had on a cruise ship. The sofa in the room was VERY comfortable, surprisingly so for a pull out sofa bed. The TV was great. There was PLENTY of storage space. The in room mini-fridge never cooled properly and neither did any of our friends mini fridge cool properly. The balcony was large with a table and two chairs for eating and two other chairs with ottomans. It was the nicest balcony furniture I have seen on a ship.

 

One of my favorite parts of cruising is the Captain’s Log, which is a dedicated channel on the t.v. It is the channel that reports ships itinerary, ships position, wave height, wind over the bow etc.. This channel worked the first two days and broke. The remainder of the cruise it was down and not reporting. It was very disappointing. I like to see where we are going and where we have been. It helps in identifying islands and landmasses etc. along with wave height. It is one of my favorite things of cruise ships. I was disappointed.

 

Our room Steward was great. I think he was over worked but great. He somehow knew when we left the room and then snuck in and fixed it up. When we arrived back to there room we would have fresh white towels in the room for the first two days. Then after that we were getting white hand towels and the light blue going ashore towels as bath towels for the rest of the trip. My friends who had the adjoining cabin 6083 had the same experience except for some weird reason they received a light blue going ashore beach towel with dried vomit on it. It was very weird and not a pleasant find. My friends on the deck below did not see a room steward for the first two days. No new towels, no beds made, no vacuuming etc. They did complain and on the third day they found a clean room and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with an apology note. They did not have any trouble after that.

 

On the first evening in the dining room, we waited 40 minutes before anyone approached our table for a drink or food order. The dining room staff never introduced themselves and we never knew who was working our table with the exception of Bernardo. He was running all over the dining room. Also, the Dining room felt VERY crowded. We had a back table of six overlooking the promenade deck and it was tight getting in and out of the chairs. In addition, it was very warm in our area of the dining room, uncomfortably so. As the week went on it got better but the dining room seemed to need more staff. An observation we made was that we did not see one woman working in the dining room in the evenings. There must be a very interesting reason for that.

 

As mentioned, we rented a Cabana in the Retreat for the week along with our friends renting an adjacent one. The concept is great but the service is horrible. We also felt there was a huge language barrier with the wait staff too. In addition, they did not have the resources to properly service the area. There were two staff members that worked their tails off but missed the mark in every way. All the inhabitants of the Cabanas were frustrated with the service too. It became a joke. We were always on the look out for one of the staff members and the phrase “have you seen them? When you do see them please send them to us” was the most popular saying. They really lost a lot of revenue because most everyone in the Retreat wanted bottles of champagne or wine or drinks but we never ordered them because the staff was not around to serve us. One day we ordered a sandwich off their special Retreat menu and it took 1 hour and 10 minutes. Then another 10 minutes to get the ketchup and mayo. But to HAL’s credit the fries were piping hot when they arrived and the sandwich was very good. The next day it took an hour to get our food. The other days it was 45 minutes. We started joking whenever we had to wait for something because we felt that after being in the Retreat we could handle anything. My friend in the adjacent Cabana finally got frustrated with the service and went down to the front desk to ask who they to talk to to spiff up service because it was really getting EVERYONE down and it was all anyone could talk about in the retreat. The front desk was cold and rude and told him all he could do is fill out a comment card. The Retreat is not included in the cost of the cruise. We paid $300 more for the week. The front desks response made his mind up about whether or not to choose Holland America again. I finally found the officer in charge of the area on the last evening in the Pinnacle Bar. I approach in asked if he had a moment and explained to him the problems and the general mood in the retreat. He was a gentleman and thanked us for our input and gave his explanation of why the service was so bad. He did credit us some of the cost of the Cabana to offset our dissatisfaction so that was good. But the Retreat is a really good idea. The privacy, the breeze, the shade, the lounge chairs and pillows, and the central gathering space with the big sofa’s, tables and chairs were awesome. They need to execute it better with a dedicated waiter for drinks, one for food and the other two to help and manage. Oh, and put a restroom in the space. It was weird walking into the Explorers lounge to use their restroom facilities in a bathing suit and flip-flops.

 

Regarding the ports, we went to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay.

I think HAL has a home run with Grand Turk. What a nice port facility. What a great setting. It really is something to look forward to. The island was a mess from the hurricane. It is too bad, but you would never know it by the looks of the cruise ship port. Every tree was replaced and everything was operational with the exception of the flow rider.

 

I really liked HAL porting the Eurodam in San Juan Puerto Rico in the morning and staying until 11:00 pm at night. It really made it enjoyable for us. We were able to do so much more in town during the day and evening with out feeling rushed. Old town seems to be getting nicer and nicer by the year. The evening sail away departure was beautiful. A very nice touch for HAL.

 

St. Thomas for us is a beautiful beach day followed by a brief shopping stint in town. I am not a fan of the Crown Bay port location and prefer Havensight, but it is not that big of a deal.

 

Half Moon Cay was beautiful. HAL really created a beautiful spot. It was executed beautifully from tendering out, the lunch on the island and the tender back. The water and the beach are spectacular. It is one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Some passengers were stuck in a tropical down poor late in the day but that is the Caribbean for you. They had everyone on board and they sailed a bit early.

 

On the last night, up in the Explorers lounge as we sailed away watching Half Moon Cay disappear, our group was talking about how we were not ready to leave this ship. It was a testament to the fact that despite all the service problems we still had a great time. The Eurodam is a beautiful ship struggling with service problems. My expectations of HAL as a premium service for the big ship lines were let down. I hope they get their act together for the future cruisers and the HAL fans. I would not choose this ship again. There are too many ships on other lines that I have had a better experiences with. I would not take the chance to cruise the Eurodam again and find the same service problems.

For a "complainer's" thread it at least is nice to see all of the suggestions, and no real complaints. I wonder if RCCL would think that they were doing a pretty good job keeping customers happy.

 

What is wrong with "complaining"? Why are people so offended when loyal cruiser's expectations are not met and they choose to write on the boards about it? Seems silly that we have to talk about all the great things. There is much that RCCL can improve upon in my opinion.

Yes, there is...

 

Overweight women in tiny bikinis:eek:

 

We see more of those than we ever do men in banana hammocks.

 

5. More tables for two in the main dining room. Message to Royal, we don't all enjoy sitting with strangers for dinner every night. Some of us actually enjoy a romantic table for two.

 

6. Add self service laundry facilities. Some of us don't mind throwing in a load of laundry during a long cruise. It saves us money and helps us pack a lot lighter. Other cruise lines give their passengers this option. Why not Royal and Celebrity?

 

DITTO!!!!! I totally agree with this.

I think they should have a TRUE 24 hour buffett. The Windjammer was closed between lunch and Tea and between Tea and Dinner. Also, if you are hungry late night the only option is room service which is a pathetic menu and that Coffeebar/Cafe in the promenade that serves finger sandwiches and soggy pizza.

 

In addition, they should have a poolside grill for hamburgers and hotdogs etc..

 

I think of all the cruise lines RCCL has the worst food venues to choose from.

Tom, currently the "Jade" is the Pride of Hawaii, soon to become the Jade. Some of us have been wondering what her new paint job would look like. That sure looks like Jade to me! :)

 

I am not a fan of the colorful paintings on the hulls of NCL's Ships. I think the ship would be better looking if they painted them not so big and boldly.

Did anyone else notice this?

 

http://www.ncl.com/csimages/43/32/jade_ship_web.jpg

 

What was I supposed to notice in the photo? I missed it. Would you mind explaining what I should look for?

Now to figure out who is a cruise junkie and who is a ship addict.....two different species...although I fit into both categories.....does that mean I am Bi? LOL

 

Yes, I am a 6 on the Ship Addict and a 3 on the Cruise junkie, that is on the Kinsey Scale. My partner and I are in Fort Lauderdale.

 

BTW, we just had friends buy a home in Brooksville. It is the home they want to retire to in 20 years. I thought the same about Brooksville too.

 

Tom