Eurodam Nov 17-24

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I was on this sailing with you and I concur with most everything you said. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it all.

 

Sorry to hear HAL dropped the ball on your transfers. Taxis are definitely the way to go in Ft Lauderdale. We stayed at the Riverside Hotel and it was a $15 taxi ride for four of us to the port. No waiting for shuttles to load, go when you want. We gave $20 to the taxi driver and we were all happy.

 

Speaking of hotels, I highly recommend the Riverside Hotel. We've stayed at various places in Ft Lauderdale, including Embassy Suites, and the Riverside is our favorite so far. Such a classy hotel surrounded by many dining options. We won the hotel on Priceline for $90 and it is a bargain at that price.

 

The staff on the ship was top notch, just as you said. The only problem we encountered was dining in the Pinnacle on day 1. The service was horribly slow. Dinner took almost three hours. The food was great, but they seemed understaffed since our waiter told us he was "pulled in" to serve just for that night.

 

My wife and I cruised with her parents and this was their first cruise. They also said they were disappointed by the "unfriendliness" of other passengers. I didn't notice it myself and blew their comment off as them choosing to see only what they wanted to see, but after reading your confirmation maybe their observation was valid.

 

My mother-in-law was also nauseous during the first couple of days. My wife went to the front desk for some meds and they said many people were feeling ill. She never got sick, but I think the ride to Grand Turk was rougher than normal and got to her. After that, she was fine.

 

The airport at Ft Lauderdale is always a madhouse on the weekends. When we arrived on Saturday, I noticed there was standing room only when we got off the plane. The scene was the same when we returned for our flight home. I would love to see them come up with a way to alleviate this, but with the cruise lines making ships bigger and bigger, I only see this problem getting worse before it gets any better.

 

Thanks for the hotel tip, and glad you had a good cruise also. It's funny, neither I nor my DH had ever felt "queasy" on a cruise ship but this one. We only felt that way on the two sea days. Really strange, because the seas didn't seem too rough. Only one night (I can't remember which) I woke up and the ship was rocking and rolling pretty strong. Yes, I noticed quite a few people with a "bad attitude" on this ship, which I found strange because when folks are on vacation, they usually are pretty happy. I witnessed some complaining/whining and comments like "Princess does blah-blah-blah better than Holland" type of chatter that I never noticed when I did the Zaandam in Alaska. Folks were pretty cheery on that ship. This bunch has some sourpusses on it. Rude behavior, some brisk retorts, lack of courtesy, selfish behavior, was all evident at one time or another. Not everyone, mind you, but there were a few that needed charm school or a happy pill. What really bothered me was when people would bark orders at the staff like they were dirt. Felt bad for them. I would try to make up for it by being extra nice to them when I had contact. And where did this happy bunch go after the cruise? That's right, Fort Lauderdale airport.....where the "fun" continued in a inadequate venue. I am glad someone else noticed this besides me and DH. I thought maybe I was overly sensitive or didn't get out of the house enough ;). All in all, I think we had a wonderful cruise and I am glad you got to enjoy it with your family.....thanks for your comments. :)

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

Thanks to all who posted for their good wishes. Good to travel, good to be home! :)

[510picker]

Thanks for your report. Is riverside in area 2 or 3 ? If you remember.

 

I went back and checked my email confirmation and we got this room through Hotwire, not Priceline. I believe it was listed in the Las Olas - Downtown area on Hotwire.

[510picker]

What really bothered me was when people would bark orders at the staff like they were dirt.

 

We have actually noticed this on all of our cruises. Some people just seem to have this sense of entitlement that is very rude. Drives me crazy when I see people treating the crew like that.

[luv2travel06]

I was on this sailing with you and I concur with most everything you said. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it all.

 

Sorry to hear HAL dropped the ball on your transfers. Taxis are definitely the way to go in Ft Lauderdale. We stayed at the Riverside Hotel and it was a $15 taxi ride for four of us to the port. No waiting for shuttles to load, go when you want. We gave $20 to the taxi driver and we were all happy.

 

The staff on the ship was top notch, just as you said. The only problem we encountered was dining in the Pinnacle on day 1. The service was horribly slow. Dinner took almost three hours. The food was great, but they seemed understaffed since our waiter told us he was "pulled in" to serve just for that night.

 

My wife and I cruised with her parents and this was their first cruise. They also said they were disappointed by the "unfriendliness" of other passengers. I didn't notice it myself and blew their comment off as them choosing to see only what they wanted to see, but after reading your confirmation maybe their observation was valid.

 

My mother-in-law was also nauseous during the first couple of days. My wife went to the front desk for some meds and they said many people were feeling ill. She never got sick, but I think the ride to Grand Turk was rougher than normal and got to her. After that, she was fine.

 

We were also on this sailing, the second week of a b2b. I do not recall experiencing the rudeness you mention. We, like OP, try to be extra polite and friendly to the staff. Hopefully that helps make up for any rudeness by others. We recognized Hilman, a dining room supervisor(?), from one of our prior cruises on the Maasdam and chatted with him a bit. The pax on the second week (Eastern Carib) seemed to be an overall younger crowd than the first week. +/- 650 did the b2b Western/Eastern. We heard that +/- 250 stayed on for a b2b (Eastern/Western) when we disembarked.

 

Taxi to airport was $12 for us.

 

The Eastern leg of the b2b was definitely rockier than the Western, though the seas did not seem particularly rough. I seem to be a little more sensitive since our Bermuda cruise last year when the first hurricane of the season made its way up the East Coast.

 

If people are a little surlier these days, it could be because of lapses in service throughout the travel process, which there seem to be more of these days. Cutbacks in staff, corporate penny pinching... Our return flight from FLL to Cincinnati had to stop in Knoxville for fuel because they didn't fill the tank to save fuel, but ran into unexpectedly high headwinds...so they said. This resulted in a plane full of people with missed connections that had to be re-booked. We were re-booked on a flight that was scheduled to get us to our final destination 9 hours later than our originally scheduled time, but were able to get on another delayed flight that got us, but not our luggage, home only 4 hours late. We had to go back to get our luggage or have it delivered the next day.

 

So if a boarding passenger experiences flight problems, hotel or shuttle problems, then possible issues with the embarkation process, any added service issues reinforce their belief that everything is going wrong and it will be a lousy vacation, which will continue when disembarkation does not go smoothly or the Customs/Immigration line is very long and moving very slowly. Then they get to deal with the airline again.

 

On our Bermuda cruise, a woman said at the Mariner lunch that HAL wasn't doing a very good job...partly because "it rained on Tuesday." :rolleyes: So that is a joke in our family now. "Did it rain on Tuesday?"

 

We try to be very flexible, and very much enjoyed our Eurodam cruise.

Edited November 30, 2013 by luv2travel06
grammar

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

Glad that you had a good time despite your travel woes getting home. I agree, getting there (and back) is definitely not half the fun like it used to me many years ago. At least your luggage was delayed but not lost entirely. My sincere sympathies on this. It was a nice cruise, and the seas (2nd week) did not seem rough to the eyes, but maybe to the stomach for some folks at times!:) (including me!!!:o who never felt queasy on a cruise before!!)

Thanks for your comments!!