That Dam Ship...

[wlfpkgirl]

...was WONDERFUL!

 

Our first time with HAL (Eurodam) and we absolutely loved it! Was it perfect? No, but it was pretty close!

 

We booked last minute (March 5 for March 27 sailing) so I didn't get to "research" as much as I should have beforehand, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it all turned out!

 

HAL is our new standard. :D

[sail7seas]

So happy you enjoyed Eurodam so much. We think her a beautiful ship and were surprised the first time we sailed her. We thought we would find her too big and crowded but that was not the case. We liked her so last year, we returned for more cruises on her this year. Avery beautiful ship IMO

 

[sr5242]

good to hear. we just returned from our 1st HAL cruise. we were on the ryndam, we wanted so much to love it but.... there were just so many issues. we're not ready to dismiss any future HAL cruises, so we may be willing to try the eurodam.

[trophy_23]

We also found the Eurodam fantastic last fall on our 2wk Canada/New England cruise. What a beautiful, clean, new ship!!! Everything about it was great. Glad you enjoyed as well.

[joshuamg]

good to hear. we just returned from our 1st HAL cruise. we were on the ryndam, we wanted so much to love it but.... there were just so many issues. we're not ready to dismiss any future HAL cruises, so we may be willing to try the eurodam.

 

I'm on the Ryndam on Sunday this coming Weekend. My first cruise was last June on Ryndam. Been really excited about being on her after drydock. Was blown away by the service and "luxury" of the Ryndam (perhaps cruising in general).

 

What did you find undesirable on your recent cruise?

[Krazy Kruizers]

...was WONDERFUL!

 

Our first time with HAL (Eurodam) and we absolutely loved it! Was it perfect? No, but it was pretty close!

 

We booked last minute (March 5 for March 27 sailing) so I didn't get to "research" as much as I should have beforehand, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it all turned out!

 

HAL is our new standard. :D

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Hope you got to try the Tamarind.

Are you going to write a full review?

[sr5242]

I'm on the Ryndam on Sunday this coming Weekend. My first cruise was last June on Ryndam. Been really excited about being on her after drydock. Was blown away by the service and "luxury" of the Ryndam (perhaps cruising in general).

 

What did you find undesirable on your recent cruise?

 

I suppose if this was my first cruise I might have been impressed.

 

There were positives- the room size and amenities were nice. The food quality was good.

 

The negatives:

shows were dull and boring- some nights they did not even offer a show, just a movie.

 

very overcrowded- I am still trying to figure this one out- ship's registry says there is a maximum capacity of 1266, but the captain stated in his welcome speech that there were 1382 guests on board (???). due to the small size and big crowd for spring break week, it felt like the only place I could go to get away from the crowds was my own cabin.

 

service was not exceptional: for at least one breakfast in the MDR, it took 25 minutes just to get our FIRST meal item (fruit plate). there was no self service in the lido, so there were long lines at every food station. getting an entire meal was an ordeal- first you had to stand in line to get your juice (which was in these tiny glasses so you had to make multiple trips to get more juice), then a line for eggs, then a line for fruit, then a line for silverware- get the picture?? I was also disappointed that for lunch and dinner they only offered ice tea and water as free cold drinks. On RCCL they also offered lemonade free, which was more child friendly.

 

our room steward seemed to lack common sense: on the first night, he put a broken ladder on the pull down bed (it was obviously broken, it was missing one of the hooks on top so it could not be latched to the bed). when I called to ask for a new ladder, maintenance brought us a perfect one- so why would our steward put a broken ladder on our bed in the first place? also, our steward used a wet, used towel for a towel animal, so I had to sleep with a wet comforter- who uses a WET towel for a towel animal?

 

there were multiple maintenance issues on the ships. toilets that would not flush- ours and others. I met multiple guests who had flooding in their rooms. on our deck alone there were over 10 rooms with dehumidifiers to dry out the rugs.

 

the staff are apparently chain smokers. we were on deck 4, and right by the stairwell that led to the crew quarters. just walking by the stairwell you were engulfed in cigarette smoke- it was gross. I sent some clothes to the laundry service, and they came back stinking of cigarettes. when I complained to the front desk I was told "sorry, too bad."

 

the tender procedure was a joke. there were guests on HAL excursions that were supposed to meet on shore not on the ship, so they did not get any priority or assistance tendering. I saw people with HAL excursions getting tender tickets in group 7, while those with no excursions were ahead of them. HAL's solution was that they would hold the tour until the people go there- is it better to hold up a tour than to give those people priority tendering in the first place. we were in group 1, but instead of calling one group at a time, they called groups 1-3- with 20 people in each group- so all 60 of us dash at once for the tender- like a scene from the amazing race. the tender held 150 people and was half full with "priority" people from HAL excursion when we got there- so even being in groups 1-3 did not assure you would get on a tender. it was so crazy. and when people with HAL excursions complained to the young girls passing out tickets, one of the girls then sat there loudly bad mouthing those people- very unprofessional.

 

I was also disappointed that the culinary arts center only offerred ONE cooking class the entire trip, and it was at 11am the morning we were in roatan- it would have been nice to have the opportunity to take a cooking class without having to miss a port of call.

 

sorry it's so long, but those are just a few of my thoughts.

[wlfpkgirl]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Hope you got to try the Tamarind.

 

Are you going to write a full review?

 

Never got in to the Tamarind for dinner (we booked last minute) but it didn't bother ME because I do not care for that type of food. The others in my group finally got in for lunch while we were at HMC, so I had the island bbq and then went back to the ship on my own afterwards and hung out by the pool.

 

To be honest I did go to CC section where a review can be submitted but it was just so overwhelming to me, I didn't. I just came back to HAL message boards and started this thread. Maybe I will post a "mini-review" on a new thread...

 

Writing is not my strong point. ;)