Eurodam HA balcony cabins info

[CarolZaga]

My husband, who is disabled, and I are thinking about booking on the Eurodam in one of the HA cabins with a balcony. Specifically, we are looking at cabins VD4131(aft) or VD4051 or 4052(forward) on the Upper Promenade deck. Can anyone comment on these particular cabins, the room size and how the 'jut-out' shape (sort of V or triangle) of the balcony affects the size of the cabin, movement around the cabin and placement of bed, etc. Given the jut-out of the balcony, is there a sitting area in the cabin with a small sofa. How is the cabin for ease of movement with a wheelchair? Any comments would be very much appreciated.:)

[AZ Walking Stick]

I was on the Eurodam in November 2010 in VD4131. I used a mobility scooter and there was just enough room between the beds and the cabin wall to get by and go out onto the balcony. There was no sitting area in the cabin. This HC cabin was smaller than other HC cabins with other cruise lines.

[CarolZaga]

Thanks for the info AZ. I'm surprised that they don't have a small sitting area. I there just a chair then and no sofa. :)

[VioletHorse]

In 2008 my DD and I booked an HH Gty on the Noordam, and were assigned a category H HC cabin about 14 days prior to sailing. We are not HC and did not request an HC room, and could not get another room as the cruise was sold out.

 

What we found is a room that had the wardrobes in the entryway removed in order to accomodate a WC. The loveseat in the room was also removed, and in it's place was one wardrobe which definitely was not adequate for 2 ladies on a 10 day cruise, especially since 1 shelf in the wardrobe is dedicated to the safe! Also, the desk was considerably smaller than usual in order to allow access for a WC. This caused us to store shoes, totebags, camcorder, makeup etc. on the floor where a WC would be stored.:(

 

There was no additional seating save for the stool at the desk.

 

Underbed storage was also a bust for me, since my underbed "drawer" stored extra linens. My DD was able to utilize hers which was empty, but I pretty much had to use my suitcase to store the clothing that would not fit in the wardrobe.

 

I'd suggest that anyone who needs an HC room on HAL book either a Superior or Deluxe Suite. Those rooms are much larger to begin with, and it will be a lot easier to move around with a WC or powerchair. Both my late parents were HC, and I'm very familiar with the amount of room that is needed to navigate in a WC. Our room on the Noordam (at that time the ship was only 2 years old) showed the wear and tear from not having enough room to maneuver - dents in the walls, damaged moldings, lots of damage to the edge of the desk.

 

The HC room that we had was no larger than other rooms in the same category - all HAL did was remove furniture to make it accessible. As far as I'm concerned, this does a great disservice to the HC pax who book a room like this. They pay the same price as AB pax, and get less of a room.

[xxoocruiser]

HAL has both fully HC accessible Cabins and Modified HC Cabins. Sounds like OP had a Modified FC cabin.

[uppitycats]

In 2008 my DD and I booked an HH Gty on the Noordam, and were assigned a category H HC cabin about 14 days prior to sailing. We are not HC and did not request an HC room, and could not get another room as the cruise was sold out.

 

What we found is a room that had the wardrobes in the entryway removed in order to accomodate a WC. The loveseat in the room was also removed, and in it's place was one wardrobe which definitely was not adequate for 2 ladies on a 10 day cruise, especially since 1 shelf in the wardrobe is dedicated to the safe! Also, the desk was considerably smaller than usual in order to allow access for a WC. This caused us to store shoes, totebags, camcorder, makeup etc. on the floor where a WC would be stored.:(

 

There was no additional seating save for the stool at the desk.

 

Underbed storage was also a bust for me, since my underbed "drawer" stored extra linens. My DD was able to utilize hers which was empty, but I pretty much had to use my suitcase to store the clothing that would not fit in the wardrobe.

 

I'd suggest that anyone who needs an HC room on HAL book either a Superior or Deluxe Suite. Those rooms are much larger to begin with, and it will be a lot easier to move around with a WC or powerchair. Both my late parents were HC, and I'm very familiar with the amount of room that is needed to navigate in a WC. Our room on the Noordam (at that time the ship was only 2 years old) showed the wear and tear from not having enough room to maneuver - dents in the walls, damaged moldings, lots of damage to the edge of the desk.

 

The HC room that we had was no larger than other rooms in the same category - all HAL did was remove furniture to make it accessible. As far as I'm concerned, this does a great disservice to the HC pax who book a room like this. They pay the same price as AB pax, and get less of a room.

 

Did you ask your steward if he could 1) return some furniture to the room; 2) clean out the underbed drawer so you could use it? They're usually pretty accommodating. I often have them take out even more furniture..so I suspect some stuff was available to you, if you asked.

 

I've not cruised on HAL yet, but find most handicap accessible rooms on other ships have adequate space for a person in a wheelchair, and adequate storage space. But then, other than my chair, we pack pretty light!

[VioletHorse]

The wardrobes are on HAL are permanent fixtures, so those could not be restored to that HC room. Same applies to the desk.

 

The only place that the loveseat could go was where the one and only wardrobe was located. There was no room to bring in a loveseat unless they took out a bed. Please understand that this room was a normal size for its category which is why I found this room to be so below par being configured for HC use. HC pax deserve more room and normal room amenities like adequate storage and seating. Maybe it would have been an acceptable room for a solo cruiser, but I'm not sure that many HC pax cruise alone.

 

As far as having the extra linens removed, I did ask our not-so-stellar steward several times to do so but it just never got done. We also told him 2x about the floor drains in the roll-in shower being very slow to drain. Nothing was fixed until the drains became totally blocked, resulting in a few inches of water running directly into the room. I called the front desk and they sent a plumber, but that took about 45 minutes until he showed up. And no one came that day to vacuum up the water that had soaked into the carpeting - it was done the next day.

 

Now after all this doom and gloom with the accomodations, you might think that we didn't enjoy the cruise. Not so. We actually had a great time. It was a wonderful itinerary, and we met lots of fellow CCers at the M & G. I just thought I'd give everyone a heads up about the HC rooms on HAL - they are not necessarily larger than similar non HC rooms in the same category.