Eurodam Sea of Cortez Review

[Loreto]

 

My DH and I cruised the Eurodam Sea of Cortez  Nov. 29-Dec. 9.

Embarkation:   We drove to San Diego Nov. 28, staying at the Best Western Yacht Harbor, where we left our car.  We have used this hotel a number of times and have been pleased.  There are restaurants across the street.    It was raining hard on sailing day and embarkation was chaotic.

The Eurodam:  We sailed her in 2009 and found her to be just as beautiful this cruise.  She is in excellent condition throughout.  Thank you to Kakalina for organizing a huge Meet & Greet!

Stateroom: We were in an SS Suite and appreciated the spacious accommodations and large verandah.  Stewards Agung and Dian quickly learned our routine.  We used Room Service for breakfast everyday and were pleased to have the original a la carte menu. The room was on the cold side which was fine for me, though DH complained.  The last sea day I changed the thermostat and we both got allergy symptoms. (Cruise Crud?)....we felt great the entire cruise, though.

Dining:  We chose early fixed seating this cruise and were assigned the table I always wanted:  #77 table for 2 on the railing overlooking the lower dining floor.  It was a great location and stewards Dede and Farthurmuin kept the service flowing, sometimes we finished in just over an hour!  Wine Steward Evelyn tried hard to sell us a wine package (which we always purchase, but decided to forgo this time.)  To please her I did order a glass of wine one night.  We ate in the MDR 6 nights and were pleasantly surprised with the menus and variety.  There were no chilled soups (always my favorite) on the menu.  This was our 3^rd HAL cruise this year and the menu seems to be more streamlined with each cruise.  I stuck with fish and some excellent Mexican offerings and was pleased.  DH ordered duck and was amazed at how good it was!  First Gala night had my favorite escargot.

We ate at the Dive In on a sea day and it is always great.  Didn’t really use the Lido due to our port intensive itinerary:  6 days in a row.   I did make a point of having bread pudding with ice cream.  I had to ask where it was located…the ice cream server prepared it from the covered dish behind the ice cream station.  

We used our 5 Star Mariner benefit to dine in the Pinnacle twice.  It is so disappointing; we have rarely been impressed with the noisy ambiance or cuisine.  I ordered Crab Legs, which were terrible.   At least I enjoyed crab cakes and the lemon tart.  King Salmon the first night was perfect.

We dined twice at the Tamarind, which was fantastic!  DH commented it was the best steak he ever had on a ship.  Each time we had the same table and wonderful servers: Ing Ing and Linda.  The maitre’d is Linda, who was so warm and welcoming.

Excursions:  my goal was to snorkel as much as possible on ship excursions.  Chileano Bay in Cabo, Balandra  Bay in La Paz and Las Calletas in Puerto Vallarta.  We took our favorite excursion in Mazatlan: Estuaries and Bird Watching highly recommend   this one. We walked around in Loreto and enjoyed lunch on the plaza.  Same for the 2^nd day in Puerto Vallarta.  Also visited our favorite shop:  Indigina . This was our 8th time to Mexico.

Entertainment:  3  Show Cast performances were good…imaginative  choreography and set design.  Ventriloquist Mike Robinson was outstanding…I have seen him on other ships.  He is very talented and funny.  Singer Karen Grainer was good, as was comedian Bud Anderson.  Mike Siegel , not so good. Mexican Ambassador Edgar gave excellent talks, and dancers performed by the pool several times.

 Disembarkation: the smoothest ever from San Diego!  There were a few annoyances, but overall it was a great cruise!

 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

21 minutes ago, Loreto said:

 

My DH and I cruised the Eurodam Sea of Cortez  Nov. 29-Dec. 9.

Embarkation:   We drove to San Diego Nov. 28, staying at the Best Western Yacht Harbor, where we left our car.  We have used this hotel a number of times and have been pleased.  There are restaurants across the street.    It was raining hard on sailing day and embarkation was chaotic.

The Eurodam:  We sailed her in 2009 and found her to be just as beautiful this cruise.  She is in excellent condition throughout.  Thank you to Kakalina for organizing a huge Meet & Greet!

Stateroom: We were in an SS Suite and appreciated the spacious accommodations and large verandah.  Stewards Agung and Dian quickly learned our routine.  We used Room Service for breakfast everyday and were pleased to have the original a la carte menu. The room was on the cold side which was fine for me, though DH complained.  The last sea day I changed the thermostat and we both got allergy symptoms. (Cruise Crud?)....we felt great the entire cruise, though.

Dining:  We chose early fixed seating this cruise and were assigned the table I always wanted:  #77 table for 2 on the railing overlooking the lower dining floor.  It was a great location and stewards Dede and Farthurmuin kept the service flowing, sometimes we finished in just over an hour!  Wine Steward Evelyn tried hard to sell us a wine package (which we always purchase, but decided to forgo this time.)  To please her I did order a glass of wine one night.  We ate in the MDR 6 nights and were pleasantly surprised with the menus and variety.  There were no chilled soups (always my favorite) on the menu.  This was our 3^rd HAL cruise this year and the menu seems to be more streamlined with each cruise.  I stuck with fish and some excellent Mexican offerings and was pleased.  DH ordered duck and was amazed at how good it was!  First Gala night had my favorite escargot.

We ate at the Dive In on a sea day and it is always great.  Didn’t really use the Lido due to our port intensive itinerary:  6 days in a row.   I did make a point of having bread pudding with ice cream.  I had to ask where it was located…the ice cream server prepared it from the covered dish behind the ice cream station.  

We used our 5 Star Mariner benefit to dine in the Pinnacle twice.  It is so disappointing; we have rarely been impressed with the noisy ambiance or cuisine.  I ordered Crab Legs, which were terrible.   At least I enjoyed crab cakes and the lemon tart.  King Salmon the first night was perfect.

We dined twice at the Tamarind, which was fantastic!  DH commented it was the best steak he ever had on a ship.  Each time we had the same table and wonderful servers: Ing Ing and Linda.  The maitre’d is Linda, who was so warm and welcoming.

Excursions:  my goal was to snorkel as much as possible on ship excursions.  Chileano Bay in Cabo, Balandra  Bay in La Paz and Las Calletas in Puerto Vallarta.  We took our favorite excursion in Mazatlan: Estuaries and Bird Watching highly recommend   this one. We walked around in Loreto and enjoyed lunch on the plaza.  Same for the 2^nd day in Puerto Vallarta.  Also visited our favorite shop:  Indigina . This was our 8th time to Mexico.

Entertainment:  3  Show Cast performances were good…imaginative  choreography and set design.  Ventriloquist Mike Robinson was outstanding…I have seen him on other ships.  He is very talented and funny.  Singer Karen Grainer was good, as was comedian Bud Anderson.  Mike Siegel , not so good. Mexican Ambassador Edgar gave excellent talks, and dancers performed by the pool several times.

 Disembarkation: the smoothest ever from San Diego!  There were a few annoyances, but overall it was a great cruise!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your review on one of our fav ships! Done several Sea of Cortez cruises and then they stopped! Glad to see them up and running now.

Glad you had a great cruise.

Denise😊

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and got to do a lot of snorkeling.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Enjoyed your review. We have done the Sea of Cortez several times and always liked the ports. On the Mexican Riviera cruise on the Osterdam,  last February, the Mexican Ambassador gave several talks and I found those a nice addition to the cruise.

Edited December 12, 2018 by SJSULIBRARIAN

[Himself]

Nice review.  Enjoy your cruise on this fine ship.  The Signature class is my favorite class of ship. 

[kazu]

Great review!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us 😄 

 

I missed the chilled soups too in May, this year.  Sorry to hear that they haven't been brought back. 

[OlsSalt]

We had a chilled soup on our recent Maasdam - I ended up ordering it for dessert. Only on one occasion, but we sent back  the message how much we enjoyed them and missed them. 

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[DAllenTCY]

It would be helpful if you could tell me more about your "chaotic" embarkation.

 

Was it due to the rain?  If so, how?

 

What time did you arrive at the pier?

 

I'm pleased to hear that disembarkation went well, it has for the past 2 - 3 years here in San Diego.

 

David

Edited December 13, 2018 by DAllenTCY

[kacurl]

We will be staying at the BW yacht club as well. Do you remember names of any restaurant you enjoyed?  Thanks Cathy

[canadianbear]

12 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

It would be helpful if you could tell me more about your "chaotic" embarkation.

 

Was it due to the rain?  If so, how?

 

What time did you arrive at the pier?

 

I'm pleased to hear that disembarkation went well, it has for the past 2 - 3 years here in San Diego.

 

David

I’m not sure how their embarkation went but we were watching from our balcony at the Wyndham.  The winds were wild and it was torrential rain.  The traffic was crazy and I’m sure it took much longer than normal for anyone in an Uber, taxi or shuttle.  We did not even attempt to embark until after 1 and by then we just walked on-the rain had stopped thankfully.

 

I felt sorry for those we saw walking pulling their luggage I assume from

hotels close by.  I can only imagine the scene inside.

 

Disembarkation was an absolute breeze-wish all were as easy as that.  Originally we were going to get off later  (4&5* could get off anytime) but we decided to leave around 08:45 and walked right off, got our luggage right away and walked across the street  to the Wyndham again.

[WeLoveCruising]

Our embarkation was chaotic, too - but not once we were at checkin.  It was more related to the drop off area and luggage porters.

 

Our taxi driver tried to drop us at the main street.  We had 4 suitcases, my husband not fully recovered from back surgery, and it was pouring rain.  I had to ask him to drive is INTO the pier area, which he didn't want to do.  He tried to claim they wouldnt let him in (no one even questioned it).  Once he drove us in, it was very difficult to pull up and find a porter.  Some of it was the small area, and some was the weather.

 

Once we were inside the building and in the check-in line, it was smooth.

[Loreto]

8 hours ago, kacurl said:

We will be staying at the BW yacht club as well. Do you remember names of any restaurant you enjoyed?  Thanks Cathy

Hi Cathy,

The name of the restaurant is Pizza Nova but they had a lot of variety with their menu menu, not just pizza.  I had a Thai wrap sandwich which was huge.  My husband's club sandwich was also very generous.  There is a pricey steak house on the waterfront where we have dined before, but this time decided to try Pizza Nova.  Great experience and we walked along the waterfront before returning to the hotel.  There were seafood restaurants along the waterfront as well.  First time we ever stayed at the BW  Yacht Harbor we ate at the restaurant at the Holiday Inn next door...would definitely NOT go there.  Pizza Nova was reasonably priced and delicious!

 

We have stayed at the BW 3 times and been very pleased with hotel and shuttle.

 

Karen

[Loreto]

20 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

It would be helpful if you could tell me more about your "chaotic" embarkation.

 

Was it due to the rain?  If so, how?

 

What time did you arrive at the pier?

 

I'm pleased to hear that disembarkation went well, it has for the past 2 - 3 years here in San Diego.

 

David

Hi David,

The hotel shuttle dropped us off around noon and it was raining.  There was a tent and in the past the porters have been been there to immediately take the luggage, no one in site this time.  We did not want to leave our luggage there so we crossed the street to the entrance to the terminal where many passengers with luggage were just standing around.  We spotted a porter with a cart and wound our way through the crowd.  DH tipped the porter and he loaded our bags on the cart an we went inside.  The line was long to present passports prior to going through security.  Once through security our 5 star check in was quick.

 

When we got to the escalator, the HAL rep at the bottom  was not allowing space between groups going up the escalator, resulting in a very dangerous situation at the top.  At the top we couldn't get off the escalator because passengers were not moving, so we were now at the top of the moving escalator with no  place to go.  We had to shout to people to please move forward.  Very scary situation.

 

Onboard we heard of passengers whose luggage and clothes got soaked/ruined from the rain.

 

Once on board everything went smoothly.  The problem was not enough porters and the torrential rain. Disembarkation was the quickest we have ever experienced in SD.

 

Karen

 

 

[DAllenTCY]

Thanks for the additional information.  

It rains 23 days a year in San Diego on average.  Weren't you "lucky'?  

 

As I've mentioned before on CC, 1/2 of the porters take their lunch break about 11:15 and the others just after noon.

 

David

 

 

 

 

[57redbird]

We were part of the 'wet clothes' group ---- had things hanging from the robe hooks, towel bars & shower clothes line --- glad we had plenty of skirt/pant clip hangers in the closet.

[kacurl]

Thanks Karen!!!     Cathy