Eurodam - March 23 Eastern Caribbean

[LovesToRead]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]We departed the Eurodam Saturday after the 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. All in all, we had a very enjoyable experience. There were a number of highlights, and some things that were disappointing.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]DH and I are in our early 60s. We’ve been on 13 cruises together. We’ve sailed on Regent, Crystal, Royal Caribbean, and Cunard. This was our third HAL cruise: we sailed the Veendam to Bermuda in 2010 and the Eurodam to Canada/New England in 2011. We feel very fortunate to be able to take these cruises, which give us so much pleasure. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]The highlights and positives included:[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Our cabin, which was an SB (Neptune) suite. It was spacious with an excellent layout and lots of storage. The two sinks were a treat.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Cabin stewards Ishlah and Agus were terrific. They were pleasant and very efficient, and kept the cabin in excellent shape.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Concierges Roxy and Chris. They were very helpful and always patient. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]The ports. We enjoyed Old San Juan, where we just wandered for most of the day. In St.Thomas, we took the St. John Island National Park Island tour. We had never been to St. John before and were amazed at the beauty of the island. We also enjoyed Half Moon Cay, although we wished that HAL had done a better job of publicizing the availability of clamshells; these were all taken when we learned about them.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Tamarind. We went for lunch and dinner and found the staff and food excellent. It is clearly the best managed restaurant on the ship.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]The Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. We enjoyed having this privilege. The service was good and the setting delightful.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]We also liked the BB King performances. We only had one dinner in the main dining room, where the service was fine. We had dinner at the Lido twice; we found this to be extremely pleasant.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]We found these areas [SIZE=2]lacking[/SIZE]:[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Condition of the ship. I realize that, with the extra cleaning needed, the first day was probably a very tough one for the crew. However, I found that three stalls in the public ladies’ rooms on the Lido were dirty (one at lunchtime and two at dinner) . In addition, the table tops on our balcony were clearly damaged.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]MDR choices. In general, we found the choices to be lacking; this prompted us to dine at the Lido on several occasions. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Canaletto. We found the service and food to be poor (I had spaghetti and meatballs and DH had pasta). At one point, within 2 minutes, 4 servers came to the table to ask how things were. The ice cream contained chunks of ice.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Symbol][SIZE=3]·[/SIZE] [/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Pinnacle Grill (regular menu and Le Cirque). We had dined at the Pinnacle on our previous cruises. On this cruise, the food was generally good (and for Le Cirque, very good). However, the pacing seemed off (a little rushed). And for our Le Cirque dinner, there were several problems. The first was the wine steward. He only came to the table after we ordered our food and told the server which wine we would like. He then was unfamiliar with the wine we requested (which was on the list). He never came by to pour after he initially served us. Fortunately, Fernando, the wine manager, did stop by to see how we were doing, and he was terrific. He spoke with the steward, who apologized. The next night Fernando found us in the MDR to confirm that we had received our leftover wine. There was also confusion about our desserts: I had ordered the soufflé, but was brought crème brulee. When I mentioned the soufflé, it appeared as if the server was unaware that I had ordered it.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I realize that by noting these items I might seem fussy, but our experiences on the Veendam in 2010 and the Eurodam in 2011 led us to expect a uniformly high level of service and a ship that was in superior shape. During this cruise, it felt as if the service on and maintenance of the ship had declined. We will think twice before we sail with HAL again.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[cruz chic]

I don't know what is wrong with the wine stewards but they don't seem to be good lately. In my mind they shouldn't be that busy in the Pinnacle that that can't keep up.

[LovesToRead]

Just noticed that I had the wrong date in the title. We boarded on March 16.

[kazu]

Sorry to hear the cruise didn't meet your expectations.

We've been lucky with our wine stewards I guess but we haven't been on a ship as big as the Eurodam for several years - wondering if that makes a difference?

Glad you enjoyed the Tamarind - this is one venue that HAl has really gotten right IMO.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and welcome home:)

[sppunk]

I agree re: Pinnacle. Eurodam has the "worst" one we have been to in the fleet by a healthy margin. We instead double up on Tamarind.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[foodgirl]

I agree about the Pinnacle on the Eurodam. We also do Tamarind twice and forgo the Pinnacle altogether. We tried it and both times both the food and service were not good. We had such a great experience on the Oosterdam so it was surprising. Whoever is training the Tamarind staff needs to work with the PG. They have it together. :)

[YBA]

Thanks LovesToRead for the review. Sorry to hear that your experience wasn't as good as you would have hoped.

The Tamarind is BY FAR our favourite place to eat. Service and food are always excellent. We were on the NA in January and out of 14 days we ate at the Tamarind at least 6 times. I've learned that my favourite main course is the Teriyaki Wasabi Crusted Tenderloin :) My son was 2 years old at the time and they brought him rice and shrimp chips as soon as we got there every time since he wouldn't last more than 2 mins without having his chips so they remembered after the 1st time.

As for the wine stewards, I agree that I haven't been impressed with the service over the last few years. The 1st time we sailed with HAL (on the Noordam) we met "Walter" our wine steward and he was fantastic! Since then, we haven't had anyone as attentive or as "friendly" as Walter was. It's a shame and I hope that it gets better sooner rather than later.

Loved our trip on the Eurodam back in 2009 and we hope one day we can sail with her again although we LOVE the Nieuw Amsterdam and we look forward to our 4th trip with her in January 2014.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for sharing the review.

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Thank you LovesToRead[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Sorry I missed your review before.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Sorry that you did not have a good experience.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Hope what ever cruise line you choose in the future will be better for you.[/SIZE][/FONT]