The Not to Late Cruise Review of the Eurodam, 11/19-12/3/17

Hi y'all, Redneck Bob Hear!

Before I start I wish to thank all of you for your positive response to whether I could do this review. The following review is my opinions only, do not reflect all of you, maybe stretching the truth a little bit and names have been changed to protect me.

After careful consultation with the Misses we decided to go on another Holland America (HAL) cruise; though we had strayed away from HAL during the past years. But we learned though this cruise experience why we always come back to HAL. We decided to book a Caribbean cruise and chose the Eurodam, originally booked a 7 day cruise starting 11/16/17 and several months later added another 7 days starting 11/19/17; thus a b2b.

Bottom line about this cruise, "It was best cruise ever on HAL to the Caribbean". Now the specifics.

SHIP: I was a little concerned how expensive this cruise was going to be since the boat was named after an expensive foreign currency; the Euro. But my misgivens were nullified after I learned a little bit about the naming of the ship. A person at HAL Guest Services told me that years ago when HAL was planning this luxury boat the President of the Company went to Italy to solicit, bids of course. The President of a major Italian boat building company met with HAL's President and said,

"Mr. HAL President, this newer ship you want is gun of cost you $500 million Euro !"

HAL's Presdent replied, "I be damned".

Thus the name of the ship was bourne, Eurodam.

The ship was stunning.

EMBARKATION: We drove to Ft Lauderdale the morning of 11/19/17, and arrived at the terminal by 11 AM. It was a very efficient boarding process. With our status we were put in this waiting area on the 2nd floor of the terminal with all the coffee you could drink and all the cookies you could eat. What a deal! But while we were waiting, there was this young couple that came up the escalator carrying these two huge portable fans. Apparently they were returning the ship on there second leg of a b2b. I asked them what the fans were for which they replied, "to help cool down the cabin". Oh MY, I told the Misses not to worry, if the cabin is warm we can keep the door of the refrigerator open to keep the cabin cool. At about noon the elite/high end/ special people/ of lets just call it suites and 4/5 star mariners were allowed to board.

CABIN: We had booked one of those Signature Suites on Deck 6. Now I don't understand HAL. Half on the suites on the ship are named for a large planet that orbits the sun and the rest after a signature of what. I didn't have to sign in on the entry door like in the old days on "What's My Line" when those celebrities would "Sign in Please" with their signatures. Why not name the cabin the Gala Suite or the Glamorous Suite or just the Sweet Suite. I may not be a celebrity but I do eat a lot of chocolate. Well we entered the cabin all I can say and I quote from the movie that the famous line was "You had me at Hello"; actually HAL, "You had me when I saw that 55" flat screen TV; as long as everyday Judge Judy and The Price is Right was on. Bottom line, the suite was awesome. We had one of the best cabin stewards ever. And what was amazing was the cabin steward remembered us from a 14 day Alaska cruise on the Statendam in 2014 ! He was very nice and very appreciative and also worked his b--t off.

DINING: This is usually the favorite part of the cruise for me and it was fantastic. As a disclaimer I know that the taste and presentation of food and service are subjective so you can take my word with a grain of salt; actually just believe me. We decided to do something that had never done before; dined 9 of 14 nites in the Speciality Restaurants. The only problem I had was late in the cruise I needed a shoe horn to get me into a chair at the dining table. And by Day 14 of 14 when we dined at the Pinnacle Grill all I could eat was a shrimp cocktail, a 10 oz filet and a scoop of ice cream. HAL Had WON ! I was amazed how empty the restaurants were except for last nite of cruise; usually half full. It seemed no one wanted to pay extra for their meal.

Now the MDR was very special. Our first nite (Gala) to dine in the MDR was the 3rd night. When we arrived at the MDR at 5:30 PM and there at the entry was our favorite waiter, Suta, from 3 prior cruises who now was part of the management staff in the MDR. Not only did he remember who we were, but had saw our names on the ship's manifest and had reserved a table for 2 for us as on prior cruises. When we arrived at the table it was set up with the drinks and rolls we liked even though we last sailed with him 13 months earlier on the Koningsdam. Simply amazing.

Bars: My favorite is the Ocean Bar but it is not the same as years ago. Now there is limited dancing and afternoon tea is served at the Ocean Bar. One night I was seated by myself at the bar and these two attractive ladies came up to the bar and sat next to me.

I looked at them and said "Welcome Aboard, where are y'all from." They replied:

"RedneckBob, we are from Ottawa, Canada" for which I asked,

"How do you know my name?" she replied,

"Everyone on the ships knows RNB" for which I stated, "I be dogged"

Then I asked, Ms A, "Are you enjoying your cruise?"

She replied, "How do you know my name?"

For which I said, "Doesn't everything from Canada begin with "A"

Back to the original question about likeing the cruise.

Which she replied, "Not so far"

I said "Why Not?"

She replied, "We had this goal on this cruise and that it had not been met."

"What was that?"

"Ms. A stated, "We hoped to met an old man with a lot of money"

For which I replied, "Would you settle for just old?"

(Please dont tell the Misses about this or I maybe in hot water!)

Oh no I need to leave now so I will be back to finish.

RedneckBob signing off.

:D (y)

Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story.

Maury

Thank you RedneckBob for your review.

Can't wait to read more.

So glad you went ahead with your review. It really isn't that late!

I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks Redneck Bob I always enjoy your reviews.

Very interesting start! Will be following.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I'm following this.

Keith

Really enjoying this, thanks for doing it!

Really enjoyed the first part, looking forward to hearing the end of that story, keep um' coming.

Allan

Great start.

Thanks for the response. Having hard time seeing.

Dialated eyes (not from moonshine) :D

Will finish tomorrow the review

I like it Bob!! HEHE!

Looking forward to reading the rest!

Dilated eyes or not...I'm dieing to read part 2 and more........

Joanie

Loved sailing the Eurodam last September - but not nearly as much as RNB!

Looking forward to reading the rest!!

RedneckBob is back and I can see clearly now (Thanks Johnny Nash). google it if you dont understand.

Let's continue.

When I left the building we were in the middle of a conversation with Ms A from Canada and she was looking for something real special on this cruise and had not found it yet. It was apparent I was not her solution for she did not talk with me anymore. Just Kidding. She was a delightful lady. In fact all people I have met from Canada on cruises over the years are wonderful people and I still have friendships with them who live in Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Toronto.

Got off track. Next topic:

Entertainment: The entertainment on HAL ships has gone through many changes over the years. There are less professional performers in the showrooms; only two during the first seven days of the cruise and first and last nights only one show; one nite only a movie. I believe this is due to the new music venues of BB King, Billboard and Lincoln Center. Though the music if very good I have found that on longer cruises the performers repeat the same show/music every 4-5 days. I was amazed how good the band was in BB Kings considering that the individuals are put together through the BB King Company and are not a band on land and are contracted to stay on the ship 4 months.

Ports of Call: We had wonderful weather for the entire cruise. All the ports except one I had been too many times. That port was Punta Cana. It was beautiful. The only problem was tendering. It was very rough and I could see this port of call could not be done in the future, We went to a private beach where snacks and drinks were included. White sand, long swaying palm trees, crystal blue waters, topless bathers (of course only male) and falling coconuts. That's right, falling coconuts. I was laying in my lounge chair underneath a coconut tree with a thin shade cloth above me and all of a sudden here comes this coconut right for my head, hits the cloth, rolls off and lands 6 inches from me. Thanks goodness I was wearing two swimsuits :eek:. We were able to stop on St Thomas and there was still lots of damage. The beach we usually go to was damaged badly.

Disembarkation: This was not very good starting with the 3 AM wake up call the day of disembarkation with the Fire Alarm going off and then the PA announcement; "This is your Captain Speaking" (I thought his name was Captain Scott), we had a fire in the dishwasher and it has been taken care of". Thank goodness for that; I prefer to enter Port Everglades in a cruise ship and not a life boat. Getting off the ship was smooth, 8:10 AM for us but when we got to the terminal; Oh My. Two Customs agent, one dedicated for Global Entry and the other for the rest of us. In addition there was a separate non US line so the longest line like you see at Disney World was US citizens. I thought about putting signs out along our line like you see at Disney; "30 minutes from this point", "45 minutes from this point" and "Sometime Tomorrow from this point" :eek:. Well we got through in 35 minutes.

In closing and as I stated yesterday, This was the best Caribbean cruise I had taken.

I'm Redneck Bob and I see it like I tell it I mean tell it like I see it!

Very nice report: glad you decided to write it! Nice side note about Canadians, eh!

Would be interested in reading more about your thoughts on the dining, Caneletto, Tamarind, Pinnacle.

Great and funny review. Looks like you had a great cruise. Amazing story about your cabin steward and waiter in the MDR.

Great and funny review. Looks like you had a great cruise. Amazing story about your cabin steward and waiter in the MDR.

That's something I wanted to mention: I think our Bob must be quite a character to have the guys remember him so well!

Thanks for finishing the review.

Glad the falling coconuts didn't hurt!

That's something I wanted to mention: I think our Bob must be quite a character to have the guys remember him so well!

I know my reviews include both light and goofy humor but in real life I am the same person.:eek: I enjoy meeting and talking with the crew. I show them respect and try to make them laugh; they are away from their home and family for months and they enjoy having conversations with the passengers. As far as crew that remember me I forgot to mention that on this cruise the Pinnacle Manager remembered me though I had not remembered him. The room stewards probably remember me because we keep our cabin clean throughout the cruise. The only trash you will find is in the trash cans. Even the Misses will take dirty dishes back to the Lido if we brought food to the cabin to help out the cabin steward. This makes the work easier for them and they appreciate it. The other thing I do is after every cruise I write a letter to HAL and let them know how great the cruise was and I personally recognize in the letter each staff and crew members who exceeded our expectations and give specifics. I know this gets passed on to the staff & crew.

One more interesting story. 15 years ago we were on a 10 day cruise. We ate in the MDR at the same table for 8 every nite; Had the same waiter named Dodie. He was incredible. One nite he showed his other skill; he was a great singer and performed an Elvis song, "Can't Help Falling in Love" while delivering our food. We gave him a standing ovation. Now fast forward 10 years later. Just boarded the ship and went to an area outside the MDR to make reservations. They standing at the podium was Dodie. He remembered me. Dodie was now the Assistant Restaurant Manager at fixed seating. I told him we were at anytime dining and hope he would come down and see us. I also told him that the Misses had a birthday in three days. Well, not only did he come down to our dining table on Day 3 but he brought her a birthday cake and sang to her Happy Birthday. Is HAL crew great !

I know my reviews include both light and goofy humor but in real life I am the same person.:eek:

One more interesting story. 15 years ago we were on a 10 day cruise. We ate in the MDR at the same table for 8 every nite; Had the same waiter named Dodie. He was incredible. One nite he showed his other skill; he was a great singer and performed an Elvis song, "Can't Help Falling in Love" while delivering our food. We gave him a standing ovation. Now fast forward 10 years later. Just boarded the ship and went to an area outside the MDR to make reservations. They standing at the podium was Dodie. He remembered me. Dodie was now the Assistant Restaurant Manager at fixed seating. I told him we were at anytime dining and hope he would come down and see us. I also told him that the Misses had a birthday in three days. Well, not only did he come down to our dining table on Day 3 but he brought her a birthday cake and sang to her Happy Birthday. Is HAL crew great !

Great story!

Very nice report: glad you decided to write it! Nice side note about Canadians, eh!

 

Would be interested in reading more about your thoughts on the dining, Caneletto, Tamarind, Pinnacle.

Dined 9 nites over 14 days at the Specialty Restaurants. I was amazed that most restaurants were less than half full even though HAL offered 25% discount at Tamarind and Cantello on first night of cruise. Only last night of cruise was it crowded at Pinnacle Grill

Taramind: dined there twice; both times service was excellent and food outstanding; favorites were soup called jewel of the sea, fried shrimp appetizer, and main course lobster and filet.

Canaletto: dined there twice; both times service was very good and food was very good. Favorites are cheese stuffed ravioli, veal and cannoli

Pinnacle Grill: dined there four times: excellent food and service; favorites are 10 oz filet, jumbo shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque and rarely make it to dessert

Sel de Mer: dined once; disappointed. Food just ok. Misses Dover Sole was terrible

MDR: ate there only on 4 Gala Nights and Thanksgiving. All dinners were very good and service excellent. Probably helped that our favorite waiter, Suta, from pass cruise and now MDR management was managing our area

With our Mariner status and how we booked our four dinners at PG were free; well maybe I have payed for it along the way :D. I prepaid/prebooked all the restaurants and had a major problem getting back proper credit. After cruise I had to write HAL's accounting in Seattle to substantiate the credit I was owed. My final statement had forty (40) separate entries trying to reconcile debits/credits for 4 PG dinners :eek:

Over all wonderful dining experiences on this cruise!

Thanks for the detailed description of your dining experiences. Some nice choices there!

The accounting: oooh, how familiar does this sound to me? Never had to go as far as dealing with Seattle, but I know how this goes.

Second last cruise, booked under two booking numbers came out with some really interesting accounting for our complimentary Pinnacle dinners,(4 each) and the others at 50% off. How strange to see a charge of $12.50 and a credit of $7.50 for one meal, another charged at $7.50 and credited at 12.50 and.....on and on. Whenever I printed out the a/c many of the numbers changed. With the final A/C I added up both columns and, lo and behold, they came out correct. Such a relief! We were lucky; you weren't, unfortunately.

Glad you got everything straightened out!

I will never pre book dinners again! We booked our four Pinnacle Grill dinners, four Sel de Mer, four Tamarind, and four Canaletto. We were travelling with our daughter and her husband, and wanted to sample all the dining options.

The day after boarding, I went to the front desk to confirm the reservations. The day after each reservation, I went to the front desk about the bill. My husband and I are five star mariners, and so our dinners were complimentary. It was truly a frustrating experience. We had paid in American dollars and I wanted to be sure everything was correct and we wouldn’t be paying extra. I spent more time with the Front Office and still don’t feel satisfied with the outcome. As the previous poster said, $7.50, $12.50 etc were appearing in the columns, but never the full amount per person.

The excuses were always the managers, the night auditor etc.

From now on, we’ll take our chances with reservations once we are onboard. It was not worth the frustration!

About my post on dining, just to be clear, only the

Pinnacle Grill dinners were complimentary, but by prebooking, we were charged the full price. That was the issue.:(. However, there is always a problem at the Front Office with having the charges for the PG removed.