Review of my first cruise ever aboard the MS Eurodam, 11/12/11

[BugsyCruiser]

Well hello everyone. I thought I would share with you my review of my first ever cruise. Sailed aboard the MS Eurodam to the eastern Caribbean on November 12th. I was part of the National Review group(yes, I'm a political junkie, figured I warn you in advance) and had a good time. I'd like to share my experience with you, the good and the bad. I'll also share some pictures from each day of the cruise. I hope you enjoy the pics. I probably could have taken more although my friends thought I was nuts for taking 300, but what the heck, it's my first ever cruise. I know there are things I should have taken pictures of but I have two cruises coming up next year so I'll definitely take more pictures :D

 

The Eurodam is a very nice ship. Overall I was impressed with it. There are some minor complaints and some things that maybe as a first time cruiser I was surprised by, which I will share with you as the review goes along.

 

Anyway, departure day. We were delayed getting to ship from the Hilton Marina but still got on with plenty of time to pick up my NR credentials and lunch at the lido.

 

I'll be posting more here so bear with me, hope I do this right :)

[BugsyCruiser]

Just some more pictures from departure day which included watching Oasis and Liberty of the Seas leave before us.

[BugsyCruiser]

Dinner that night in the main dining room the first night with some of the people from the NR group. It was nice as a solo traveler to meet so many people and make some new friends. On the menu that night was probably some of the best prime rib I ever had and that sentiment was echoed by many. It was shame it was never offered again during the cruise. And yes, that's me in the fifth picture. Just call me baldy... :p

[BugsyCruiser]

First full day at sea and start of the NR sessions. Got to meet both former Senator Fred Thompson and NH Governor John Sununu in the first session. Second panel that morning discussed who they thought would be the GOP nominee and why. Very good session but I respectfully disagree with their pick :D

[BugsyCruiser]

One thing I noticed every day on the cruise. HAL needs to do some serious improvement to their coffee. Not sure what brand they use but I never enjoyed it once.

[BugsyCruiser]

Question... how can I go about making the pictures larger? I'm not sure how but I know I can do better than what is showing up right now.

[kazu]

Thanks for your review. Your pics are great. I haven't even figured out how to do that yet - so you are way ahead of me:D Glad you had a good cruise :)

[BugsyCruiser]

On the afternoon of day one we had more sessions, including Ambassador John Bolton and then an excellent panel on the economy,

[BugsyCruiser]

Thanks for your review. Your pics are great. I haven't even figured out how to do that yet - so you are way ahead of me:D Glad you had a good cruise :)

 

Thanks Kazu! I'll post more when I can. Sometimes my job will get in the way of posting :D

[BugsyCruiser]

Sunsets on day one of the cruise. We arrived in Grand Turk the next day. Last but not least for the first night was the night owl session featuring James Lileks, Michael Walsh, S.E. Cupp and Andrew Klavan... all taking jabs at our current President.

[BugsyCruiser]

More pics and posts to come later my friends. Promise!

[djhsolara]

Enjoying your review so far...looking forward to more!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Himself]

Thank you for sharing. Iwill look forwad to more posts.

[erewhon]

Thank you for sharing your photos.

Pleased that you enjoyed your cruise.

[bet410]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and your pictures. Sounds like an amazing experience!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

 

Kirk

[BugsyCruiser]

Second day. Arrived in Grand Turk. It's a nice place but I should have went further inland. I'll take that advice next time I go there. Had a great session in the morning before going ashore. It was on foreign policy with some brilliant minds like Bernard Lewis, Victor Davis Hanson, Andrew McCarthy among others.

 

Had lunch at Margaritaville. I highly recommend the spicy Conch soup. It was excellent

[BugsyCruiser]

Some more pics of our stop at Grand Turk here

[BugsyCruiser]

At this point I'm really enjoying the cruise. I did notice that HAL does cater to an older crowd. I'd say 70 percent of the passengers were in their mid 50's to late 70's. Maybe that is why things seem to close up rather early on the ship. Even the casino seemed to be pretty much done by midnight.

 

The lido buffet is good and they have a wide variety of choices. While it would get very busy at times, they always seemed to be able to get the lines moving fairly quickly so there wasn't a long wait for food. One complaint was at breakfast. I like my scrambled eggs to be done and they always seemed to serve runny eggs every morning. Just doesn't look appetizing to me.

[BugsyCruiser]

We set sail at 3pm for San Juan. This afternoon we got to see Mark Steyn. He got a standing ovation and deservedly so.

[BugsyCruiser]

Usually around 10pm we had informal get togethers at the Crow's Nest. Now I really liked that bar. Those servers were on top of everything. Even memorized what everybody's favorite drink was. Never had to tell them what you wanted after the first couple of drinks on the first night

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for your review, can't wait for more!

[maxout]

Question... how can I go about making the pictures larger? I'm not sure how but I know I can do better than what is showing up right now.

 

Host your pictures at a site like photobucket and link them back here using IMG code option.

[BugsyCruiser]

Host your pictures at a site like photobucket and link them back here using IMG code option.

 

Thanks Maxout. I'll give that a shot

[BugsyCruiser]

Day three. We start our scenic cruising into San Juan. Got a great shot here of the old fort. I have some thoughts on San Juan which I'll post a little later