Trip Report: Eurodam Southern Caribbean and Panama Canal

[Machta]

Hello all!  We had a wonderful 10-day cruise on the Eurodam.  I wanted to make sure to caption my photos within the body of my trip report, so I made a PDF document instead of manually copying everything.  Please let me know if you have questions or thoughts, and please go cruise on a HAL ship soon!

 

Liz

 

HAL Panama Caribbean trip report Jan 2022.pdf

[oakridger]

Hi Liz, I really enjoyed reading your trip report!  I could picture myself being there and the pictures were good illustrations for the story.  Stay warm in Colorado!

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

[doone]

What a great review and your pictures were wonderful, I too felt like I was sailing along with you..  I love the Eurodam and look forward to sailing her on the Panama Canal soon……

[Dunmore2]

I enjoyed reading about your cruise. Thanks for including all the details. 

[AKJonesy]

11 hours ago, Machta said:

Hello all!  We had a wonderful 10-day cruise on the Eurodam.  I wanted to make sure to caption my photos within the body of my trip report, so I made a PDF document instead of manually copying everything.  Please let me know if you have questions or thoughts, and please go cruise on a HAL ship soon!

 

Liz

 

HAL Panama Caribbean trip report Jan 2022.pdf 13.52 MB · 92 downloads

That was a nice report, and I do have a question.  I was under the impression for some reason that HAL was testing everyone on ships for sailings over 7 days, but you did not mention that.  Was there any additional testing for your voyage other than the 2 day prior to embarkation?  

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Wonderful report! Thanks or writing it.

[Machta]

2 hours ago, AKJonesy said:

That was a nice report, and I do have a question.  I was under the impression for some reason that HAL was testing everyone on ships for sailings over 7 days, but you did not mention that.  Was there any additional testing for your voyage other than the 2 day prior to embarkation?  

Hi, we had heard that as well, but I called before we left and was told that there is no onboard testing except if you have symptoms or need it to get back in to your home country.  We did not see or hear from anyone who had symptoms or was tested during the voyage.  

[ETinCA]

We are taking this same trip in late March and are struggling with what to do for the day at Gatun Lake. Do we take an excursion, and if so what should we do? Or should we just stay on the ship for the operations? Any input from those that have done this is appreciated.

[Sushicat]

41 minutes ago, ETinCA said:

We are taking this same trip in late March and are struggling with what to do for the day at Gatun Lake. Do we take an excursion, and if so what should we do? Or should we just stay on the ship for the operations? Any input from those that have done this is appreciated.

Looks like we will be on the same trip (March 20-30?) and also are wondering about excursions that day. We're leaning towards taking a pass.

[ETinCA]

Yep, same one. I don't like missing "new" places like Panama and such, but yah, thinking of enjoying the onboard day watching things too. 

[ETinCA]

16 hours ago, Machta said:

Hello all!  We had a wonderful 10-day cruise on the Eurodam.  I wanted to make sure to caption my photos within the body of my trip report, so I made a PDF document instead of manually copying everything.  Please let me know if you have questions or thoughts, and please go cruise on a HAL ship soon!

 

Liz

 

HAL Panama Caribbean trip report Jan 2022.pdf 13.52 MB · 153 downloads

Can you tell us which nights were the "elegant nights"? 

[ottahand7]

Thank you for your report of your cruise.  It truly seemed like you had a relaxing vacation away from the cold in CO.   We had an aft NS when we did the Panama Canal.  They are great for seeing much more of the action.  We were there in March and it was really hot and it was nice to go inside and cool off a bit and then back to watching the action.   

[Djb4CC]

So thanks for the report.  Doing the same trip in Mar 20-30 on the Eurodam… and did the same trip back in February 2020 [just before everything changed].

 

In t regards to what to do in Panama, I would recommend doing some sort of excursion… my reason is that you are going to be up early to see the ship through the locks first thing.  It is very interesting and I always watch things when we have done the locks on other cruises.  But, it is not really any more interesting or different going back out so not sure you will miss anything.  Plus there is already 5 sea days to enjoy the ship activities.

 

I have done the RAINFOREST & GATUN LAKE & LOCKS CRUISE tour and it is very enjoyable.

[SUESEABE]

Liz,

Thank you for the great trip report. It does give me a little more peace of mind. We are booked on the Eurodam February 27, 2022 Panama Canal Sunfarer. This will be a family cruise taking my daughter, her hubby and granddaughter. I sure hope we all test negative and will be enjoying a wonderful 10 day cruise on the Eurodam as you did. 

Suzie

[Bucketlist22]

On 1/28/2022 at 9:34 PM, Machta said:

Hello all!  We had a wonderful 10-day cruise on the Eurodam.  I wanted to make sure to caption my photos within the body of my trip report, so I made a PDF document instead of manually copying everything.  Please let me know if you have questions or thoughts, and please go cruise on a HAL ship soon!

 

Liz

 

HAL Panama Caribbean trip report Jan 2022.pdf 13.52 MB · 226 downloads

Thank you for all of your photos and information. We will be on board March 30th for the 11 day (Cartegena) added in. It seems that extremely few people post from the Eurodam. Most posts are from other ships. Are the hot tubs on deck actually hot? What nights were Gala night? What deck were you on? We’re on 8 and I’m a little concerned about movement. Thank you again. 

[Bucketlist22]

On 1/29/2022 at 5:50 PM, Djb4CC said:

So thanks for the report.  Doing the same trip in Mar 20-30 on the Eurodam… and did the same trip back in February 2020 [just before everything changed].

 

In t regards to what to do in Panama, I would recommend doing some sort of excursion… my reason is that you are going to be up early to see the ship through the locks first thing.  It is very interesting and I always watch things when we have done the locks on other cruises.  But, it is not really any more interesting or different going back out so not sure you will miss anything.  Plus there is already 5 sea days to enjoy the ship activities.

 

I have done the RAINFOREST & GATUN LAKE & LOCKS CRUISE tour and it is very enjoyable.

That’s the excursion that we are looking at. Did you book through HAL or an outside tour? Was it a long wait in Colon for the ship to arrive? If so was there a “safe” place to pass the time/shop?  Thanks 

[Djb4CC]

3 minutes ago, Bucketlist22 said:

That’s the excursion that we are looking at. Did you book through HAL or an outside tour? Was it a long wait in Colon for the ship to arrive? If so was there a “safe” place to pass the time/shop?  Thanks 

The ship was already there when we got there… you are dropped off at the port shopping centre and it was totally safe… there were benches through the inside and if you made a purchase, you got the password for the wifi.  I sat there while the others in my party did some “duty free” shopping.

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, Bucketlist22 said:

That’s the excursion that we are looking at. Did you book through HAL or an outside tour?

 

Only HAL shore excursions are allowed from Gatun Lake.