ZGSCL live from the Eurodam - 7 Night Alaska Explorer - May 13, 2023

[zgscl]

Disembarkation Day! 

All too soon it is time to get off. Things moved very smoothly and at 9:15 they were making a final call for people to please get off (although they were very nice about it). I misread the letter and missed the Pinnacle Breakfast so I went up to the Lido instead. 

 

Disembarkation was quite easy. I got off at 9:20, there was a bit of a line for the elevator to go down but no wait for the escalator (if you don't need the elevator stay to the right and walk past the line of people waiting). We were next to Royal Princess again and the two share a hall for luggage and customs (separated by a low barrier). While our ship had very few bags left, and only a short wait for customs - the Royal Princess side was still completely filled with bags, and had people streaming down the escalators. I think the wait for a customs officer was a bit longer too. 

 

Overall it was another great HAL cruise. I mostly wanted to relax and take it easy and this trip fit the bill perfectly. I skipped the entertainment almost entirely. Jill Kimmel is quite funny but I just saw recently on another ship and the sets are the same so I left after just a few minutes. There was a bit more variety of evening shows which is nice to see. Also glad that Step One finally has another show, although I didn't see it - it is good to know there is at least some change coming. I also noticed that the evening entertainment was very light on the Glacier Bay/Icy Strait Point night. Absolutely nothing going on after people get back on the ship - no casino, no music, no dancing with the hits - nada. The food and service were great throughout the ship. 

 

Lido cabana was also lovely. I will probably make a separate thread on them, but a short summary of my thoughts are as follows. 

Pros: 

• Higher ratio of servers to cabanas than in the retreat - you have 2 beverage runners for 8 cabanas instead of 2 or 3 for 14 in the Retreat or 3-4 for 22 cabanas on the Pinnacle Ships. 
• You are very close to the Lido and Dive in. Food comes much faster and is hotter when it comes. 
• The lido deck is usable the entire cruise thanks to the closing roof. For non-tropical climates this is a huge plus. On my last Alaska cruise we used the cabana exactly 2 times. This time I was there every day. 
• I like the day bed much more than the lounge chairs. Some folks may feel differently and prefer the two lounge chairs that they have in the Retreat. 
• Because you don't have the retreat the cost is lower - $199 instead of $399 for the Retreat. 
• Close to the pool - if you plan on using the pool and want to have reserved deck space nearby this is 100% the way to go. 

 

Cons: 

• Less private - the cabana stewards had to shoo people away multiple times. One day as I came up one of our cabana hosts was kicking people out who had made a home in my cabana and were settled under the blankets on the day bed. They started keeping the curtains closed when not in use a lot of the time which helped for the rest of the cruise. 
• The wall between cabanas is just a curtain that does is not fixed at the bottom. On windy days this completely blows up and around the cabana. You can also hear through the curtain and the noise from the lido deck is louder than the retreat area. 
• There are permanent lights that shine on you from above. This can be a bit annoying if you want to take a nap
• They only have them on Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam

 

Would I book it again? Yes - in Alaska or another colder environment I absolutely would. For the Caribbean or Mexico or other warm environments I would probably go with The Retreat instead. 

 

Side note - has anyone seen Major Fourth? I skipped both shows and my mom is dying to know what type of music they do. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oakridger]

Very nice review (as usual!!).  You were certainly lucky with the weather.  I'll watch for when you are next on board!

 

~Nancy

[Florida_gal_50]

Thanks for another great and informative thread.  I enjoyed it.  It’s so rude when they make you leave 😛.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

What gorgeous weather you experienced. I can only hope I will have the same in August on the Eurodam. Thanks for your excellent reporting.

[Nola26]

On 5/20/2023 at 3:00 PM, zgscl said:

Side note - has anyone seen Major Fourth? I skipped both shows and my mom is dying to know what type of music they do. 

 

Yes, I saw both shows. I left the first one about half way through; I wanted to catch the trio playing on Ocean Bar on 3. They were doing some Pop music, not all of which I recognized. After I left they did a rendition of Purple Rain. The Friday show was early, 5pm and that one was better than the first show, different music, better costumes and songs suited voices well. Not the best Major Fourth group (staffer told me this) but still pretty good.

 

I was on the May 20th sailing, just home today.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Nola26