Eurodam 12/10 cruise through new eyes

[GRACECRUISE]

We are 4 star mariners who decided to take my 20 year old niece on her first cruise ever. Picked up after final exams in Knoxville at UT and headed to Ft Lauderdale. We decided to go 4 to a room, had an outside cabin on main deck by theatre.

 

Taking this with her made me reappreciate HAL and their elegance. As 4 star we got to leave the line and go to the suite area. She got to wear the speacial 'S' tag. Once checked in they gave her a priority boarding tag. We went up to boarding area, they were not boarding yet. Saw her Priority tag and escorted us right on. She was very impressed. (As were we)

 

Dropped off bags in room and took her on a little tour. Had lunch in main dining room. She loved it. All of the servers paid her alot of attention and she ate it up.

 

This was the first time I have seen a cooking demo at 2:00 embarkation day. Crab Cakes! We spent the afternoon exploring the ship. Sail away was great. The Allure left ahead of us. It was enormous. SHe loved the festivities and fun.

 

The room was fine for all 4 of us. The bunk worked well. Showers were not a problem, there was plenty of storage space.

 

We did more on this cruise since she was with us. We did a cooking class, it was great. Chef Shawn was new and young and having fun. We had lunch and dinner at the Tamarind and dinner at the Pinnacle. We actually had dinner at the Tamarind the last night and then hoofed it to the main dining room for the Master Chef dinner since she had never seen it and wanted baked alaska. We had cocktails with the Captain, Mariners Mimosas, Champagne toasts, all of it. Through her eyes, we saw HAL in a new light. She made us see formal night as a chance for elegance rather than a chore.

 

She loved the mutli appeitizer and entree meals so she could try everything. Our server Deden was great with her. They had fun. She came home with lots of email and facebook addresses. Had fresh fruit every morning, some the biggest sweetest strawberries. She even made money in the casino on the slots. (Told her she was a lucky one)

 

She has a ninja turtle tatoo on her shoulder. What a conversation piece. The photographer took a pic of it. Many people talked to her in the Lido about it.

 

The ports were fun, Grand Turk - beach, Puerto Rico - zip lining

St Thomas shopping and private island - all day on the beach.

 

Weather for that week was perfect, ship was decorated for Christmas, absolutely beautiful and food was wonderful. Normally, we do not do 7 day cruises, we usually take longer ones, but this 7 day was one of the most special we have been on. I realized there are alot of things and people we would take for granted on the cruise. SHe opened our eyes to how good our vacations are because of the great HAL staff.

 

SHe can hardly wait to go again and to tell the truth, I can hardly wait to take her!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home

 

How wonderful of you to take your niece with you on your cruise.

 

Glad that you all had a wonderful time.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

[IRL_Joanie]

Awesome to read this review!!!

 

Think you could get your niece to write something from her point of view in her words, such as why she felt the elegance and ... Maybe this is the touch some of us need:)

 

Joanie

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[kazu]

Very nice review. How nice of you to take your niece and how even nicer she enjoyed it:) My nieces were on the Eurodam for the first time this year and had an absolute blast:)

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for sharing. I have often thought when reading certain negative reviews by requent cruisers that the reviewer had become to used the good things that a cruise provides and had begun to just notice the negative. When I cruise now, I make certain to mentally observe all the good things that are still being enjoyed.

[cruiseapril]

Thanks for the review. You had 4 people? You had a bunk and the sofa?

[Silverwing]

It's so good to read this. Many of our friends don't understand our love of cruising, never mind why our children love coming with us (in case you're wondering, it's not just because Dad is paying!!)

 

We had two wonderful cruises on the Eurodam earlier this year - one in the Mediterranean on our own, then a 12 night Baltic itinerary with our children who are 20 and 25. They love HAL as much as we do and really appreciate every minute spent on the ship.

 

We have a couple of HAL cruises booked for 2012, but sadly DD's work committments and DS's having been accepted as a volunteer at the Olympics mean they won't be joining us on either occasion.

 

I am a great advocate of family cruising; it's a great way of ensuring quality time together.

[GRACECRUISE]

We were 4 to a cabin. We had the beds set up as twins. They set the bunk up at night and put it away in the morning. Same with the sofa bed. When the sofa was made into a bed, it was actually bigger (wider) than our twins beds.

 

It was not much difference than 3 in a room. I was surprised but we actually were not on top of each other.

[seadrifter]

Thanks for your review. We are on the Eurodam next week (1/7/2012) and are really looking forward to it. We have booked Tamarind for two nights and Pinnacle Grille for two nights. Though we have cruised many times and have never had a bad experience (a few missed ports, some rough seas - but nothing all that terrible), I will go into our Eurodam cruise with a new appreciation of cruising - thanks to your description of your niece's experience. We cruised the Baltic with our son and my mother in 2005 and that is one of our best memories.

[Loucat]

We are also on the 1/7 sailing and thanks so much for your great review. This is our first HAL, so no Mariner treats for us.

Glad you and your niece had such a good cruise.

[aliaschief]

Glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[Himself]

It was good to hear such a positive report on a great ship. Thank You for sharing it. I am glad it was a good cruise for you and your loved ones. The Eurodam is a nice ship.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

[seashell]

Thanks for the review. I hope i have the same feeling after i go on my cruise with my niece and nephew. no 4 star mariner, only 2. Hope they have the same great time.

2 questions. how's the sofa couch? if it's bigger maybe i should take it. and how was the zip line excursion. the kids want to go on that. not me. I have the feeling the week will fly by.

michelle

[Typhoon1]

Glad you had an enjoyable time. What a great way to introduce a young cruiser to the Signature of Excellence.

[GRACECRUISE]

The week did fly by. The sofa bed was very comfortable. My mom took that one and loved it. It is a nice size. I will have to see if I have a pic of it and the bunk. She enjoyed the zip line. The 'rapelle' at the end is actually just them lowering you down. My mom was going to go with her but the word rapelle in the description turned her off. I believe she said there were 8 canapy lines, so long so short but it was fun.

[gelo7]

Thanks for sharing.

[WNcruiser]

It's so nice to see a good review of Eurodam, Im glad you enjoyed your cruise as much as we did (we were on the same sailing).

 

We absoulutely loved the "E", the crew, the service and the food. I just can't understand some the negative reviews about vibration, rooms being too cold, a splatter of paint on the balcony, etc. I just wouldnt let that affect the enjoyment of my cruise, but I know everyone is different.

 

It would be hard for me to find something to complain about. Looking forward to Westerdam in June.

[78232]

I was amazed to see that your server was Deden. He was our server on the Zuiderdam three years ago. We will be on the Eurodam in three months. We would love to have him again...maybe the dining room manager can arrange it.??

Marcia

[canadianbear]

Would love to see photos of how the room was set up for 4. It's so nice to read that your niece loved the cruise.

 

The first time we ever went on a cruise we took our adult kids (they were 22 & 24) and it was so special. We had a deluxe verandah on the Ryndam and we were all so shocked at how beautiful the suite was. They loved having the use of the Neptune lounge which was right across from our room. I had only one rule-I wanted us all to eat dinner together in the main dining room (no Lido) and we all truly enjoyed ourselves especially on formal nights.

 

It makes great memories and you probably have now created a monster in your niece-she will be addicted to cruising! (Our kids have more sea days than us now!)

[white lake]

Thanks for sharing your review on the Eurodam. We are on the 2/18/12 Eastern Caribbean with our daughter and son-in-law. This will be her first cruise and I'm sure she will enjoy it as much as your niece did. We are also 4 star mariners and are looking forward to some good times. Our 22nd cruise with HAL and never had a bad cruise. :)