MS Eurodam 22 day Med and Passage To America..Our Experience

[aliaschief]

We just disembarked the Eurodam this morning, Nov 19 and we had a fantastic cruise experience.

 

While we await our flights home I will share some of our experiences. I have not been on CC for almost a month so excuse if I bring up old news.

 

During the second leg the Lincoln Center was closed and renovated. Several folks were disappointed but the changes should improve future performances. They boarded the place up from the walkway and construction crews were in rooms directly below. They took out the old bar and basically reversed the viewing direction so the venue will better accommodate audiences.

 

This was our first cruise since last October and we enjoyed the many changes on the Eurodam since her major renovations. Gallery Bar and Music Walk were welcomed additions. Personally, we miss the regular piano bar venue but the dueling pianos were popular with the passengers.

 

We had booked a guarantee SC but we're upgraded for free to a SA. The remodeled suites are really nice and we enjoyed the new TV and intra-net services. Was nice to have our own coffee/espresso machine and the bathroom remodeling with backlit mirrors, backsplash and ceiling night light were appreciated.

 

Being in a Suite we enjoyed our breakfast in the Pinnacle and was surprised to see a new breakfast menu. Items such as Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict, Some skillet dishes, Swedish pancakes and coffee was served in French Pressed Coffee servers. The new menu is packed in checked luggage and I will add more later. The new menu was three weeks old. One shocker on Pinnacle dinner menu; was caviar was now $70.00 extra.:eek:

 

This was our fourth cruise on the Eurodam and with the newly renovated public areas and new crew uniforms we felt we were on a new ship and line for the first time.

 

I was asked to check about in room breakfast menus. In suites SA,SB SC

the menu remains the same but according to Culinary Ops Officer the new menus in other cabin categories are limited and one cannot order substitutes.

 

Complimentary Sparkling Wine was offered in Neptune upon embarkation and the Hotel Director had a good laugh when I asked if it was available entire cruise!

 

Many nice changes aboard the Eurodam such as new outdoor glassware at Sea View Pool. No longer the plastic water tumbler but different glasses depending on type drink ordered. Unbreakable yes but these expensive replacement glasses gave one the feel of having a beverage in a real glass.

 

One thing that has not changed on the Eurodam is the wonderful crew. Last night at 9:30 in the Show Room they played an upbeat crew video of the different departments and like days of old as many of the officers and crew came on stage to wave good-bye. No singing but very appreciated and received by the passengers.

 

We hosted two Meet & Greets and enjoyed meeting many new Cruise Critic members.

 

The Eurodam is freshly varnished and ready to face Health and Coast Guard inspections. I'm confident this well run ship will again receive a 10 score for the 11th time in a row.

 

More thoughts to come but time for travel.

Edited November 19, 2016 by aliaschief

[Mtn2Sea]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts regarding your cruise. Looking forward to hearing more details. Have a safe flight home!

[kftw]

Thank you for checking in & looking forward to any additional info you might share.

[ski ww]

Thank you for the write up. We will be on the Eurodam on 31 Dec., looking forward to all the changes.

Allan

[POA1]

Welcome back, and thanks for the report.

[kazu]

Thanks so much for the review.

 

Sounds like you had a good cruise :)

 

Many thanks as well as to touching on the breakfast menu.

 

Welcome home :)

[CruiserBruce]

I am hoping Eurodam gets 100s on it's inspection. Not sailing on it if it's gets a 10.

[aliaschief]

I am hoping Eurodam gets 100s on it's inspection. Not sailing on it if it's gets a 10.

 

Good point. A missed zero can make a big difference!:o Thanks

[rkacruiser]

Welcome Home, Chief! Thank you for your interesting comments. I'm looking forward to more when you have time.

[freestyling]

Thanks for your review. I always thought the caviar at the old price was a heck of a deal!

[sambamama]

I was on the 15 day TA, and had a different experience. I booked this cruise specifically to sail on my first TA and to see how Lincoln Center was different from Adagio. You can't imagine my disappointment upon checkin finding out there was no Lincoln Center the entire cruise. Indeed, I would have booked the Oosterdam TA, where my friends were sailing had I known. And the Lincoln Center musicians were aboard! Did anyone book an Adagio duo in its place? Did anyone consider waiting on the renovation until the Eurodam began its,weekly Caribbean cruises today instead of a cruise with 9 sea days? No. Many, many people were very disappointed with the entertainment on the cruise. The BB King show did not play at least 4 nights. The new TV system is great, but it is going to need many, many more movies. There are not very many, and some are so old or so popular that they will have been seen many times,before. They had Game of Thrones on, but only Season 4 and 5. There was a total of 5 episodes of Chopped. Very few of the lectures were topics I was interested in. For instance, I don't want a lecture on "best tv commercials." And they are getting rid of the library as well. It seems the things I really

 

like about HAL are being eliminated.

 

I love meeting people at a large table at fixed dining and that is what I requested. I ended up at a table for six, but only 1 couple sat there and they stopped coming to dinner at theYes 9th night. I don't go on a cruie to sit at a table alone. Yes, the food and service was good, but there is no conversation alone. I met fewer people on this cruise than any of my previous,ones despite the extra sea days.

[sambamama]

I was in a VA cabin on the 5th deck. I ordered room service breakfast just about every day. It came promptly (usually 10 minutes before the earliest time) and I did write in items. I wrote in for grapefruit, waffles, sausages, and chocolate croissants and all of those requests were complied with.

 

The weather was great, and the crew super. My big problem was with the entertainment, and especially the lack of notice of the Lincoln Center, and that absolutely no replacement was booked. I loved the Tamarind Bar, but most of the decor of the rest of the ship was not to my particular taste. Also, there is no place to jog outside on this,ship, which I did bot realize, and it seems to have less outside space-possibly because of the retreat.

 

I will say that NYC Slice, the pizza place, has the best thin crust pizza I have had in 10 years.

[rkacruiser]

Did you have the new Room Service Menu for breakfast?

 

The Silk Den Bar is a great venue and, at least when I was aboard Eurodam, largely undiscovered by others.

 

I agree with your view of her decor. That Atrium sculpture looks to me like a stalagtite that stopped forming.

 

Thanks for your comments, sambamama.

[sambamama]

Yes, I did, which is why I posted. I really don't like it at all. I usually order an omelet, but I am very picky about my eggs, so I did not try that. It was interesting how 1 and 2 came through. Sometimes 1 was one croissaint, somwtimes it was 2, sometimes 2 croissants was 4. The same with wafflles. If I ordered sausages, they usually came alongside the waffles, but once 2 sausages became 4 on two plates,eacg with hasg brown patties and fruit on each plate. Once they brought coffee because they were sure I forgot to order it ( I don't drink it), and once my waffles came with strawberries and cream. The ee took those back and came back within 5 minutes within 5 minutes! I have absolutely no complaints with the room service, and the dishes were always removed quickly- something that has not happ3ned on other cruises. I was not in a suite, just a balcony. The weather was nice enough to eat breakfast out on the balcony most every day, and nice enough to spend time on the balcony every day for quite some time.

[aliaschief]

We had 8:00 PM upper fixed dining. Service was great and many a night we were finished and headed out NLT 9:15. Our Wine Stewards were knowledgeable and their services prompt.

 

They now bring out the soup orders in small pitchers that are poured into bowls and they were always hot.

 

The in room TV's were nice but we did miss that the theater featured movie of the day was no longer available for replay in the room. The new entertainment system consist of about 200 available movies for viewing and I was told they frequently change the movie menu.

 

ESPN and ESPN International were unavailable for most of the crossing. The MSNBC, BBC AND Fox News are not the best stations for getting news and due to time zone differences the "the daily paper" was not available until late morning but delivery got earlier as we got closer to Eastern Time.

 

Entertainment had the usual good and blahs. Paul Pappas, pianist was great, Mercy Boys from Liverpool featured 50's Rock and IMO disappointing. Live Wire-couple playing Celtic music and a ventriloquist that has been performing to long on Dam ships. Was not impressed with ship singers and dancers. Excellent BB King Blues Band on this contract. Though Lincoln Center was closed the performers were still on-board but their contract did not allow them to play in other venues. :confused: A Contractor on-board, working on the Lincoln Center rebuild said the changes were demanded by the Lincoln Center for whatever that means.

 

The weather on this cruise was great. Mainly smooth seas with a little chop the last two days and the temperatures allowed outdoor activities and pool side enjoyment.

 

Long day of travel so will add more thoughts tomorrow. Will try and answer any questions you may have.

 

More to come...

Edited November 20, 2016 by aliaschief

[sambamama]

Most of the people I spoke to were very, very disappointed in the entertainment. The weather was amazing, and there were some nice new menu changes. It's great to be able to have a big glass to drink from. I do really miss having the sunrise and sunset times published on the newsletter. The crew are still up to the same wonderful and extremely friendly HAL standard we all love. This ship did something I have never seen done. One night the cabin stewards stayed up and redecorated the Lido pool area with all sorts of amazing towel animals, both big and small-some of which I have never seen!!

[puppycanducruise]

Welcome back.

Thanks for posting your comments, looking forward to reading more.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Back.

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise. Thanks for your comments on the ship.

[aliaschief]

The first big change we witnessed was when we arrived for our first dinner in the upper dining room. No Purell!:eek: One officer stated "we don't use it anymore because it's not effective after using three times". Well, a few days into the cruise they started dispensing Purell when entering Dining Room. So I'm not sure of the logic of on-board Purell usage.

 

We attended several wine tastings and specialty dinners such as Master Chef, Sommelier's Dinner and a new dining experience. Dining With The Officer's In The Tamarind. It was really nice affair. Between each service the officers would switch tables. Our table had the Captain, the Hotel Director, Chief Engineer, Culinary Operation Manager, Guest Relations Officer and Safety Officer join us between courses. Nice evening and I would imagine only offered on longer cruises.

 

The first days of our cruise were Port extensive so when we started the crossing we did a lot of reading, lazing in the sun and watching the world go by from our Verandha. We do not require much entertaining but we heard from a few that they felt there was not enough to do on-board. Having eight consecutive Sea days may not be for everyone but the majority of folks we talked to were enjoying the cruise.

 

The demographics of this cruise revealed the average age of passengers to be 69. That definitely will be lower this holiday week as there are 300 children on-board!

 

This review has pretty much jumped around but I knew yesterday when we disembarked that if I didn't proceed in posting my thoughts it was not going to get done. The usual post cruise unpacking, restocking, etc. is further complicated in prepping for Thanksgiving as the first of our children arrive tonight!

 

Time to restock the fridge and pantry.

[kazu]

I've never seen the "Dining around with the Officers" before. That sounds very interesting. We've certainly done longer cruises so wondering if it is new or if it is restricted to ships with a Tamarind?

 

We'll see if we hear anything about it next year.

[Cruizer Bill]

We had a fun cruise, visiting interesting ports of call and meeting our friends from Cruise Critic. Bruce and Susan ran two excellent Meet and Greets, as well as leading many fun excursions.

 

Almost all of us were very dissatisfied with the entertainment on board. We were openly unhappy with it. I let HAL know in my feedback and I hope they make some changes.

 

The ship is in fine shape and the Captain was simply amazing the way the took us extra-South to avoid storms and enjoy warm weather on trip home. It was very warm and many of us went swimming.

[brainyblonde]

We were on the 15 day transatlantic, very happy to enjoy old and new cruise critic friends. Thanks to Bruce and Susan for great organization for the roll call, etc.

 

Lincoln Center being closed was HUGE for us, as we had loved the venue during our 24 Day April/May Eurodam trip. Not satisfactory that another musical option was not substituted somewhere else on the ship. If these musicians were contractually not allowed to play, hire a supplemental classical music duo from the old Adagio players. Had we been notified ahead, we would have changed our booking to the Oosterdam. The piano bar players were dreadful, for us spoiled by Stryker and Jimmy Maddox.

 

Our Pinnacle Dinner was disappointing, the steak was only marginally better, the crab cakes appropriate but not luscious, the shrimp a tiny bit larger than the main dining room, and the volcano cake tasted like thick pudding. All this for $70 per couple more. We were not romanced with great service, had a mediocre table in the middle of the room within hearing range of the other people in the room, and felt underwhelmed. Since we are four star, we paid $35 and will not dash back.

 

I can see why some passengers were bored, the lectures were either very frivolous or on boring subjects. The lack of poolside entertainment, the old Hal Cats for example, no sail aways with local food, and no special events other than the $10 Sale poolside. Two stations of a Mongolian BBQ at lunch one day was it.

 

A positive was the gym, the new orbital machines were always available.

 

The Bridge instruction and duplicate bridge games were another huge issue. We were told the "instructor did not show up." Fortunately aboard were passengers who came as a group to play Bridge. One took over all the logistics of running a sanctioned game and another gave lessons. That's plain crazy that passengers should "work" so that we could have our promised Bridge instruction and games.

 

We did not put down money for a future cruise credit this time, despite our 470 days with HAL. While TAs are deeply discounted, that is not a reason to scrimp on the product. We saw a huge difference in our two Eurodam cruises this year. A crossing should be when Hal shines, extra activities, a buzz should be created so that one anticipates the next cruise.

[EDLOS]

We were on the 15 day transatlantic, very happy to enjoy old and new cruise critic friends. Thanks to Bruce and Susan for great organization for the roll call, etc.

 

Lincoln Center being closed was HUGE for us, as we had loved the venue during our 24 Day April/May Eurodam trip. Not satisfactory that another musical option was not substituted somewhere else on the ship. If these musicians were contractually not allowed to play, hire a supplemental classical music duo from the old Adagio players. Had we been notified ahead, we would have changed our booking to the Oosterdam. The piano bar players were dreadful, for us spoiled by Stryker and Jimmy Maddox.

 

Our Pinnacle Dinner was disappointing, the steak was only marginally better, the crab cakes appropriate but not luscious, the shrimp a tiny bit larger than the main dining room, and the volcano cake tasted like thick pudding. All this for $70 per couple more. We were not romanced with great service, had a mediocre table in the middle of the room within hearing range of the other people in the room, and felt underwhelmed. Since we are four star, we paid $35 and will not dash back.

 

I can see why some passengers were bored, the lectures were either very frivolous or on boring subjects. The lack of poolside entertainment, the old Hal Cats for example, no sail aways with local food, and no special events other than the $10 Sale poolside. Two stations of a Mongolian BBQ at lunch one day was it.

 

A positive was the gym, the new orbital machines were always available.

 

The Bridge instruction and duplicate bridge games were another huge issue. We were told the "instructor did not show up." Fortunately aboard were passengers who came as a group to play Bridge. One took over all the logistics of running a sanctioned game and another gave lessons. That's plain crazy that passengers should "work" so that we could have our promised Bridge instruction and games.

 

We did not put down money for a future cruise credit this time, despite our 470 days with HAL. While TAs are deeply discounted, that is not a reason to scrimp on the product. We saw a huge difference in our two Eurodam cruises this year. A crossing should be when Hal shines, extra activities, a buzz should be created so that one anticipates the next cruise.

 

I agree with all of the above, Entertainment, music venues, lectures were poor to terrible. First and last T/A for me , a 4 star HAL cruiser.

[jerseygirl3]

I was on the 15 day TA, and had a different experience. I booked this cruise specifically to sail on my first TA and to see how Lincoln Center was different from Adagio. You can't imagine my disappointment upon checkin finding out there was no Lincoln Center the entire cruise. Indeed, I would have booked the Oosterdam TA, where my friends were sailing had I known. And the Lincoln Center musicians were aboard! Did anyone book an Adagio duo in its place? Did anyone consider waiting on the renovation until the Eurodam began its,weekly Caribbean cruises today instead of a cruise with 9 sea days? No. Many, many people were very disappointed with the entertainment on the cruise. The BB King show did not play at least 4 nights. The new TV system is great, but it is going to need many, many more movies. There are not very many, and some are so old or so popular that they will have been seen many times,before. They had Game of Thrones on, but only Season 4 and 5. There was a total of 5 episodes of Chopped. Very few of the lectures were topics I was interested in. For instance, I don't want a lecture on "best tv commercials." And they are getting rid of the library as well. It seems the things I really

 

like about HAL are being eliminated.

 

I love meeting people at a large table at fixed dining and that is what I requested. I ended up at a table for six, but only 1 couple sat there and they stopped coming to dinner at theYes 9th night. I don't go on a cruie to sit at a table alone. Yes, the food and service was good, but there is no conversation alone. I met fewer people on this cruise than any of my previous,ones despite the extra sea days.

 

That is not correct that HAL is getting rid of the library. I happened to be at Customer Relations desk when a very irate passenger ranted to the rep about "why are they getting rid of the library?" The rep assured the passenger they were not discontinuing the library; they were simply discontinuing the "librarian" position. The library will remain intact.

[jerseygirl3]

We had 8:00 PM upper fixed dining. Service was great and many a night we were finished and headed out NLT 9:15. Our Wine Stewards were knowledgeable and their services prompt.

 

They now bring out the soup orders in small pitchers that are poured into bowls and they were always hot.

 

The in room TV's were nice but we did miss that the theater featured movie of the day was no longer available for replay in the room. The new entertainment system consist of about 200 available movies for viewing and I was told they frequently change the movie menu.

 

ESPN and ESPN International were unavailable for most of the crossing. The MSNBC, BBC AND Fox News are not the best stations for getting news and due to time zone differences the "the daily paper" was not available until late morning but delivery got earlier as we got closer to Eastern Time.

 

Entertainment had the usual good and blahs. Paul Pappas, pianist was great, Mercy Boys from Liverpool featured 50's Rock and IMO disappointing. Live Wire-couple playing Celtic music and a ventriloquist that has been performing to long on Dam ships. Was not impressed with ship singers and dancers. Excellent BB King Blues Band on this contract. Though Lincoln Center was closed the performers were still on-board but their contract did not allow them to play in other venues. :confused: A Contractor on-board, working on the Lincoln Center rebuild said the changes were demanded by the Lincoln Center for whatever that means.

 

The weather on this cruise was great. Mainly smooth seas with a little chop the last two days and the temperatures allowed outdoor activities and pool side enjoyment.

 

Long day of travel so will add more thoughts tomorrow. Will try and answer any questions you may have.

 

More to come...

 

I, for one, would not be happy if my entire dining experience was completed in just over an hour. Didn't you feel rushed?