Eurodam 1/8-1/15 Review

[Kre8tiv1]

Hi,

Back from a most wonderful cruise on the Eurodam :D

And so goes my reivew...

 

Background

This was a mother/daughter trip. I’m 48 and my daughter is 23. I an a nativer NYer (Brooklyn), but have lived in southern NJ for 22 years.

The past few months had been very hectic and stressful for us both and we were really looking forward to just relaxing…which is exactly what we did!

We are well traveled, tho usually take land vacations. This was my 7th cruise (previous lines were Carnival, Celebrity and Princess) and my daughters 3rd cruise.

My review is just my personal experience/opinion. And at the risk of sounding nasty, I always hesitate to post reviews because it really bugs me when others feel the need to contradict or challenge me. Not that I think my opinion is right, it’s just that everyone has a right to their own opinion…and this is simply mine.

Embarkation

Arrived around 2pm. There was a short line, which moved very quickly.

Check in took less than 5 minutes. Shortest embarkation ever.

Cabin

We had Cabin #6144 – It was an inside cabin on the Upper Verandah deck, Aft.

The cabin was the smallest that I’ve ever had, but that didn’t pose any problems.

We liked the location, as it was convenient to the Lido and MDR.

Our stateroom attendants, Budhi and Suherman were wonderful. We didn’t have a lot of requests but whenever we did, they were promptly taken care of (such as removing all the beverages from the fridge). They picked up on our routine and our cabin was always clean when we returned. There was always ice in the ice bucket. It makes no difference to me whether or not I have a towel animal on my bed, but I must admit I was simply tickled by the towel creations Budhi and Suherman made. They were amazing! The last night we actually had a towel monkey hanging from a hanger in the middle of the cabin when we returned from dinner. We couldn’t stop laughing :D. They were in the hall and heard us laughing and they were delighted that we were delighted!

Food

We all know that food is subjective, so this is my opinion only. Take it as you wish.

Lido - I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Lots of variety at Breakfast. I highly recommend the Granola French Toast. A bit more limited for lunch. I do not eat meat, but the fish that I ordered was always cooked perfectly -- not dry, correct temp. I didn’t care for the sushi. . It was always quite crowded and we did have to hunt around for a table. The food servers were very pleasant. Found the wait staff to be fairly efficient and always friendly. Never ate dinner there.

MDR - We had AYWD. No major issues. Only had to wait in a long line the first night. We usually dined at a large table with others and the wait staff was always careful to serve everyone at the same time. We’d occasionally ask for a menu item to be prepared a bit differently, or wanted to taste an entrée that we did not order as a meal. Our requests were always honored with no problem. We ate breakfast in the MDR 3x, dinner 4x and lunch 1x. We really enjoyed our meals there. IMHO, it was the best food I’ve ever had on any cruise.

Only twice was the service off. The 2nd Formal Night we were given a table for two (not our choice, but that’s all that was available). The table was only partially set. We waited a long time for water and bread. Our waiter seemed frantic (he was visibly sweating!). However, the food was excellent. I’ve eaten many a lobster tail and this was one of the best…tender and sweet. The second experience was at breakfast on the last full day. The waiter seemed annoyed that we were there. Although we were all seated pretty much at the same time, our breakfasts were not served that way. We were not offered the bread/Danish tray until we asked for it. I ordered scrambled eggs with cheese and received plain scrambled eggs. When I politely pointed this out to the waiter, he got nasty with me.

Canaletto - Dinner. Our waiter, Gelato, was a delight and we tipped him extra. We really enjoyed the antipasto. I had the penne vodka. Not the best I’ve ever had, but it was certainly good. My daughter had the veal and really enjoyed it. We both got a kick out of the gigantic plate of cotton candy :eek: that is served at the end of the meal.

Room Service - Breakfast was delivered right on time with everything requested. Ordered dinner from the MDR menu on the 1st Formal Night. We were told it would be 45 mins. - 1 hour (which we expected). However, our food arrived in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the Halibut was really dry and over-cooked. That was my only disappointing meal of the entire cruise.

Ordered snacks at various other times and always received our food in a timely manner with no mistakes.

Desserts - Again, a very subjective topic and the only reason I’m commenting is because the subject comes up pretty often. Yes, the desserts are not what Americans are used to. Compared to Molten Lava Cakes, Triple Fudge Brownie Supremes and Fried Cheesecake Burritos, one might consider the desserts on board to be bland. However, I do not care for overly fussy or very sweet desserts, so I found them to be a very enjoyable finish to a lovely meal.

Chocolate Extravaganza - I’m not sure why they called it the Chocolate Extravaganza, as most of the desserts were not chocolate. It seemed as though they served the same desserts they usually do, just all in one place and all at the same time. The exception would be the candy apples and chocolate fondue. It was nice, but not quite the Extravaganza that I thought it would be.

Pool

We usually took up residence at the Sea View pool, It was crowded, but we somehow always managed to find a lounge chair. There were plenty of waiters walking around toas there were more lounge chairs and it didn’t feel as closed in as the Lido pool. take drink orders. Yes, there were chair hogs. But honestly I have never been on a cruise or land vacation where there weren’t.

Staff

Without a doubt, the most pleasant staff and accommodating of any cruise I’ve been on. We were greeted genuinely by everyone. It was a pleasure. Didn’t see the Captain or Senior Officers walking around at all. Not that it matters, just an observation and it was different from other cruises I’ve been on.

Onboard Activities/Entertainment

We really enjoy lying on the deck, reading and listening to our iPods. The only thing we wanted from this cruise was to relax, so we really didn’t do much in the way of activities. We did attend a chocolate seminar, which was pretty lame and very disappointing as it turned out to be just a chocolate trivia game. The person who coordinated the event was late and unprepared. I hope the rest of the onboard activities were not run that way!

I will say that compared to other cruises, this seemed to have the least amount of activities that I would have even be remotely interested in. Again, it didn’t matter because I’m happy on a lounge chair by the pool. However, if the weather hadn’t cooperated, I think I might have been hard pressed to find something to do. There were computer classes, but I am extremely computer literate, and those classes tend to be geared toward beginners. I’ve also got a degree in Graphic Design, so any Photoshop or Digital Photo class would too elementary for my knowledge level. I guess the cooking classes looked sort of interesting, but not enough to make me leave my perch on the deck. To me, most of the activities were really sales pitches in disguise…the art auctions, talks about shopping in port, gemstone “seminars”, etc.

We only went to two evening shows…the magician and the ventriloquist/comedian. For the life of me, I can’t remember their names. I think the magician’s last name was Cielen and the ventriloquist was Robinson. However, we really enjoyed both shows!

Although in “real life” I rarely go to the movies, or even watch them on TV, I enjoyed the DVD rental. Our routine was usually to go to dinner, wander around the ship a bit, then retreat to our cabin and rent a DVD.

Ports of Call

Grand Turk – We went to a little place on the beach called Jack’s Shack. Rented lounge chairs for $5/each. Jack has a Labradoodle named Topher (his full name

is Christopher Columbus) who hangs out on the beach. He kept us company and we really got a kick out of him (we have 2 poodles at home). The water was beautifully clear, and I brought my gear to snorkel, but it was a bit too chilly for my liking (comfortable water temp for me is when I see steam rising from the surface ;)).

Puerto Rico – I’ve been there before, but never spent any time in Old San Juan. We took a one hour tour for $10/each. It was fine, but not very interesting for someone who’s already been to the area. We walked around, ate Mofongo at Raices, drank a Pina Colada at Barrachina and did some shopping. We wanted to tour the Forts, but since the stores closed at 7pm and we wanted to shop, we felt there wouldn’t be time to do both. Plus, I really needed to buy a pair of shoes, as I had a bit of a shoe emergency (I had bought a new pair of dressy sandals for the trip, and when I went to put them on the first night of the cruise, found that I somehow wound up with two right shoes….and I don’t have two right feet!). We had a lovely day exploring OSJ….and I bought a pair of shoes suitable to wear in the MDR. LOL

St. Thomas - We went to Emerald beach and rented lounge chairs for $6/each. Emerald Beach is right by the little airport, and you do hear planes coming and going, but we didn’t find it to be bothersome. The beach was not at all crowded when we arrived, but jam packed by the time we left. The water was warmer than Grand Turk, so I actually went in. However, it wasn’t very clear, so I didn’t even try to snorkel. We ate lunch at a little place on the beach. The food was ok -- basic stuff like hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken. I had fried chicken (3 pieces), French fries and a bottle of water. My daughter had a burger (which was huge) fries and a drink. The whole meal cost only $20, which I thought was very reasonable considering the prices on St. Thomas. Taxi to Emerald beach was $4 per person. After we left the beach, we took a taxi downtown to do some shopping ($4/each). Bought some t-shirts and headed back to the ship. There were lots of other ships in port, and downtown was very crowded.

Half Moon Cay - Unfortunately, we missed this port due to unfavorable weather conditions. We were disappointed, as we had heard how lovely the beach was. We had booked a “snorkel with the Stingrays” tour, which obviously didn’t take place. The charge never appeared on our bill. Instead we lounged by the Lido pool, which we hadn’t done before. The chairs were more comfortable, but we still preferred the openness of the Sea View pool.

Fellow Cruisers

There were all age groups represented on this cruise however, the majority was definitely in the 50 and older range. There were very few children and the majority of children we did see were not yet school aged. Everyone was well behaved (you know how those 50 and older folk can be! LOL).

Overall Impression

• By far the best crew and food of any cruise I’ve been on.
  
• Smoothest Embarkation/Debarkation.
  
• Ship wasn’t as “fancy” as others I’ve been on, which is not a big deal. Still trying to figure out the décor tho.
  
• I would have liked a food venue that served lite fare throughout the day (other than the buffet). On a recent Princess Cruise, they had the International Café which served a variety of food depending on the time of day….the best was the selection of olives, cheeses, and tapas type food in the late afternoon.
  
• Would like to see more variety of onboard activities.
  
• Really liked Happy Hour at the Crow’s Nest bar (once I figured out how to get there).
  
• Took two bottles of wine on board with no problem.
  
• Chose unlimited laundry for the week. I think the cost was $49. I found it to be well worth it. They say that pressing is extra, but my clothes were always returned pressed and on hangers.
  

HAL has made a fan out of us and we wouldn’t hesitate to cruise with them again.

Thanks for reading my long two cents! :)

[funkygirl2]

Thanks for the great review! I appreciate the time you took and the detail you provided! It's nice to hear others' opinions as we prepare for our first cruise!

[Carol28]

We were on this trip last year and had such a good time, we are returning for the same cruise in about a month. For lighter fare, I believe the spa serves breakfast and lunch. We loved the Asian restaurant and returned several times. Lunch is free. The fortune cookie dessert was the BEST!

 

And, we are returning to the Eurodam later in the year for the Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale.

[traveler1980]

Thanks so much for your review. We will be on the Eurodam in March. Do you by chance still have your daily planners? We are planning a meet and greet on the first sea day but didn't want to plan it at a time with too many activities going on.

 

Do you know if they had daily happy hours? Also, were there any mixology classes or pub crawls? Wow...that all sounds bad in one line!

 

Thanks again!

[canadarocks]

Thank you so much for your GREAT review! I knew when I read this:

 

And at the risk of sounding nasty, I always hesitate to post reviews because it really bugs me when others feel the need to contradict or challenge me. Not that I think my opinion is right, it’s just that everyone has a right to their own opinion…and this is simply mine.

 

That I would be a big fan of everything that was to follow!! ;)

[Kre8tiv1]

Thanks so much for your review. We will be on the Eurodam in March. Do you by chance still have your daily planners? We are planning a meet and greet on the first sea day but didn't want to plan it at a time with too many activities going on.

 

Do you know if they had daily happy hours? Also, were there any mixology classes or pub crawls? Wow...that all sounds bad in one line!

 

Thanks again!

 

Yes, they have happy hours, mixology classes and pub crawls. I have to dig out the daily planners (they are in my daughter's suitcase, and of course she didn't unpack yet). When I find them, I will post more specific info.

[Kre8tiv1]

Thank you so much for your GREAT review! I knew when I read this:

 

And at the risk of sounding nasty, I always hesitate to post reviews because it really bugs me when others feel the need to contradict or challenge me. Not that I think my opinion is right, it’s just that everyone has a right to their own opinion…and this is simply mine.

 

That I would be a big fan of everything that was to follow!! ;)

 

 

ROTFLOL Thank you for that. I mean really.... ;)

[Himself]

Thank You for your quality review. I also have sailed on the Eurodam and would do it again in a heartbeat. It is a fine ship.

[canadarocks]

ROTFLOL Thank you for that. I mean really.... ;)

 

Okay, now that we're friends.... ;) .... how did you end up buying two right shoes? :p

[lvz2cruz]

I think your review was very good and fair.

 

I did laugh though, because I looked for you the whole week because our daughter is just a little younger than yours and never met you. She is a graphic design student too which I wondered if was your thing from your screen name. We were at both Jack's Shack and Emerald Beach. I bet we did pass and never knew it. Maybe if we had made it to Half Moon Cay...

 

We were also first timers to HAL and enjoyed it so much we booked same time next year.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

 

I no longer write reviews -- you can write 20 positive items and 1 negative item and people will jump all over you here for that one negative item.

[kazu]

Thanks very much for your complete review. Much appreciated :)

[Aruba]

Thanks for the review. You'll have to try HAL again on another itinerary that stops at Half Moon Cay. I was there on the Nieuw Amsterdam just one week before your cruise -- HMC is my favorite Caribbean island; you'll love it.

[Kre8tiv1]

Okay, now that we're friends.... ;) .... how did you end up buying two right shoes? :p

 

Hi new BFF Canadarocks!

Long story….hope you’re not sorry you asked….:D

 

I saw the infamous shoes on Thursday (1/6), but decided to shop some more, intending to go back Friday to buy them if I didn’t find anything else (which I didn’t).

 

We were originally scheduled to leave Philadelphia on Saturday (1/8). On Friday (1/7), it snowed here and snow was predicted again for Saturday (the day we were leaving). We flew Southwest and they allow one change if there’s a weather advisory for the airport you are flying out of, or in to. So I quickly scrambled on Friday morning to change our flight and find a hotel. I was able to get us out on last flight from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night. I spent the rest of Friday frantically wrapping things up at work, etc. However, I still needed to buy the shoes. So I called the store, asked them to pull the shoes and have them ready for me. I ran in, paid for them and ran out. Got home, took the shoes out of the box, threw them into the suitcase and left for the airport. Well, apparently no one at the store checked the shoes :eek:!!!

And that is the story of how I wound up with two right shoes….

 

As for those who are reading this and saying “why on earth did she originally book a flight that arrived the same day the cruise departed...especially in January!?” Well, all I can say is that I must have been temporarily out of my mind when I made the flight arrangements several months ago :o.

[Kre8tiv1]

Hi Becky,

I can’t believe we were like two ships passing in the night!

Where were you at Emerald? We weren’t at the big hotel, we were at the one next to it. But Jacks… there was hardly anyone there! How could we have missed you guys? :confused:

However, I did notice what appeared to be a few of mother/daughter duos on board. What do you guys look like?

I hear ya, Krazy Kruisers.

It’s unfortunate that some of us really hesitate, or no longer choose to write reviews, because inevitably we’ll get raked over the coals by someone who disagrees with our opinion. There’s lots of info to be shared, and those who criticize really ruin it for everyone else because ultimately it’s a deterrent for folks wanting to post reviews. No one wants to be “beat up” for sharing their experiences/opinions! :mad:

Sometimes I read repsonses to reviews where folks defend the cruise line as if it were a member of their own family! This I cannot understand for the life of me.

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[ironin]

It’s unfortunate that some of us really hesitate, or no longer choose to write reviews, because inevitably we’ll get raked over the coals by someone who disagrees with our opinion. There’s lots of info to be shared, and those who criticize really ruin it for everyone else because ultimately it’s a deterrent for folks wanting to post reviews. No one wants to be “beat up” for sharing their experiences/opinions! :mad:

So true, unfortunately. On any bulletin board on any subject, there is always a subset of overly aggressive posters who make on-line conversation difficult. Given that opinions will always differ due to a variety of factors such as personal experience and expectation, one expects to encounter disagreement but that is no excuse for being rude and insulting in the process.

Sometimes I read repsonses to reviews where folks defend the cruise line as if it were a member of their own family! This I cannot understand for the life of me.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that the persistent critics of just about anything/everything to do with a particular cruise line can be just as annoying as the "cheerleaders" for that same line. (I've found that almost no board on CC has a shortage of either faction.)

 

Aside WRT 2 right shoes: LOL! Had that happen to me once. Bought a pair I didn't need at the moment on sale. Didn't discover the packing error until 3 months later. Ended up donating them to a local charity that provides shoes to people with only one foot.

 

P.S. Enjoyed your review! Thanks for taking time to write it.

[Cruizer Bill]

Thanks much for the review! We are cruising on the Eurodam in May and June and appreciate the feedback.

Bill :)

[TheTGB]

I was also on that cruise and was right down the hall from you guys! (6022) I probably made a little racket at night passing by making people laugh, and if so I apologize! :)