Impressed with HAL

[TriumphGuy]

We are 1st time HAL cruisers (formerly Princess) and just completed a 7 day Alaska cruise on Eurodam. Almost everything about this cruise was exceptional, but the best thing was the crew. Every crew member was friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about their job. Smiles everywhere. This is a happy ship, no doubt about it.
We had an aft wake-view cabin, which was wonderful. Best of all, it had a loveseat! Princess removed the solitary barrel chair from their standard balcony cabins which is why we will no longer sail with them.
The food was excellent, much better than Princess, as was the variety. We ate in the Pinnacle Grill, Lido Market and the pop up seafood boil. We did not do the MDR, as the food choices seemed to be the same as the Lido buffet and we're not into 2 hour dinners. The Lido was just fine for us. I especially liked being served our choices in the Lido versus the chaotic buffet on Princess. 
My "complaints" are few: there should be a dedicated area at the Lido bar for walkups and they need more staff. The Dive-In, while good, took a LONG time to get our burgers, around 35 minutes. Again, probably a staffing issue.
Our biggest complaint was the smoking area right outside the Lido buffet. The starboard seating area in the Lido Market near the Seaview Bar area stunk of cigarette smoke constantly and we could occasionally smell it wafting over onto our balcony. I don't want to start a war with the smokers here (I am an ex-smoker myself) but I wish they would just ban smoking completely. Just my opinion, I'm sure it won't happen in my lifetime.
All in all though, it was a great experience and we will definitely be booking future HAL cruises.
 

[aliaschief]

We were on the Eurodam repositioning cruise prior to yours. Agree great cruise. Thanks for your report.

[DaveOKC]

Nice to heat some very positive comments on the Eurodam (we were on her twice this year and do agree that the crew is the best!).  I think that us long time HAL cruisers complain due to now missing features that we have become used to, like no daily chocolates on the bed at turndown, or the lack of slippers in your cabin.  I am afraid that many of these small items are gone forever - new cruisers to HAL do not know about them, so its not an issue for the,.

[Loreto]

So glad to hear you enjoyed the Eurodam, TriumphGuy!  We will sail her for the 3rd time in September/Alaska...hope the crew are still upbeat 🙂.

[hikergirl]

We were on the Koningdam. I agree with you about the smell of cigarette and cigar smoke in the Lido pool area. It was gross. We had an aft cabin and found a cigarette butt on it. Which means someone probably tried to drop it into the ocean. (Which can be deadly too sea animals who swallow it). The smoke can get bad in the casino too. I don’t know why they still allow this as the majority of passengers do not smoke.

[Lido deck main]

21 minutes ago, TriumphGuy said:

We are 1st time HAL cruisers (formerly Princess) and just completed a 7 day Alaska cruise on Eurodam. Almost everything about this cruise was exceptional, but the best thing was the crew. Every crew member was friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about their job. Smiles everywhere. This is a happy ship, no doubt about it.
We had an aft wake-view cabin, which was wonderful. Best of all, it had a loveseat! Princess removed the solitary barrel chair from their standard balcony cabins which is why we will no longer sail with them.
The food was excellent, much better than Princess, as was the variety. We ate in the Pinnacle Grill, Lido Market and the pop up seafood boil. We did not do the MDR, as the food choices seemed to be the same as the Lido buffet and we're not into 2 hour dinners. The Lido was just fine for us. I especially liked being served our choices in the Lido versus the chaotic buffet on Princess. 
My "complaints" are few: there should be a dedicated area at the Lido bar for walkups and they need more staff. The Dive-In, while good, took a LONG time to get our burgers, around 35 minutes. Again, probably a staffing issue.
Our biggest complaint was the smoking area right outside the Lido buffet. The starboard seating area in the Lido Market near the Seaview Bar area stunk of cigarette smoke constantly and we could occasionally smell it wafting over onto our balcony. I don't want to start a war with the smokers here (I am an ex-smoker myself) but I wish they would just ban smoking completely. Just my opinion, I'm sure it won't happen in my lifetime.
All in all though, it was a great experience and we will definitely be booking future HAL cruises.
 

Thanks for taking the time for the review.  For future reference you can use the Navigator APP very similar to the Medallion and use the order now area to preorder your Dive in meal from anywhere on the ship.  No need to wait in line.  Glad you had a great cruise.

[OlsSalt]

Thank you for your review.Indeed, the "ship of smiles" makes HAL ships across the board a friendly cocoon when cruising to distant ports. Always feels good getting back on board a HAL ship.

 

However, from our own experience the Main Dining Room dinners (late-fixed) today do not "take 2 hours", unless one by their own choice wants to linger. We found them to be much closer to  under an hour - probably as a result of small changes over time - no separate appetizers and soup courses, and pre-ordering dessert. Do I dare say dinner in the MDR is now almost too fast?

 

There was a time when indeed they did stretch out as lengthy affairs, but that has not been our recent experience.

[aliaschief]

56 minutes ago, hikergirl said:

We were on the Koningdam. I agree with you about the smell of cigarette and cigar smoke in the Lido pool area. It was gross. We had an aft cabin and found a cigarette butt on it. Which means someone probably tried to drop it into the ocean. (Which can be deadly too sea animals who swallow it). The smoke can get bad in the casino too. I don’t know why they still allow this as the majority of passengers do not smoke.

Eurodam Casino was no smoking.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Welcome to the Holland America club.

We use to sail other lines 

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

Every crew member was friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about their job. Smiles everywhere. This is a happy ship, no doubt about it.

 

I was on Eurodam in January, and I agree, happy ship. The cabin stewards worked long days, but always had a smile and "Good morning/evening. How are you?"

 

2 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

The starboard seating area in the Lido Market near the Seaview Bar area stunk of cigarette smoke constantly and we could occasionally smell it wafting over onto our balcony.

 

I've never had smoke smell blow down onto an aft balcony, but I agree about the Lido Market. There are two doors between the Seaview bar area and the Lido market. That creates a sort of air lock to block the smoke. But one set of doors was usually propped open, and when the other doors opened, the smoke smell blew in. 

[Oakman58]

I'm so glad everyone seems to have positive things to say about the Eurodam.  We will be cruising on her mid-June.

@TriumphGuy we will never cruise with Princess again either because of the lack of seating in a standard balcony cabin.  A Princess balcony cabin sleeps two but seats one. 😄  And there is no way I would book one of those infinite balcony cabins they have on the newer ships.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Oakman58

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

I'm so glad everyone seems to have positive things to say about the Eurodam.  We will be cruising on her mid-June.

@TriumphGuy we will never cruise with Princess again either because of the lack of seating in a standard balcony cabin.  A Princess balcony cabin sleeps two but seats one. 😄

We spent a lot of time on the Eurodam

[slidergirl]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Nice to heat some very positive comments on the Eurodam (we were on her twice this year and do agree that the crew is the best!).  I think that us long time HAL cruisers complain due to now missing features that we have become used to, like no daily chocolates on the bed at turndown, or the lack of slippers in your cabin.  I am afraid that many of these small items are gone forever - new cruisers to HAL do not know about them, so its not an issue for the,.

Hmmm.  I was on the Apr 29th Eurodam AK cruise.  I got a chocolate every night, my steward made sure I always had 2 bottles of Aqua Panna and even got 2 towel animals.  Sounds like a little inconsistency in service.  I wonder if it was cabin type/location-dependent?

[albingirl]

I agree with everything you say. The smoking was a fierce topic here for a long time and quite contentious. It's a tough topic for many but I am one who generally doesn't care until its drift into dining areas. But, I live in a state where they allow it in outdoor dining. Usually those are dive bars. Love them or leave them. 

[Oakman58]

For the most part smoke doesn't bother me.  As a kid I used to love the smell of pipe smoke.  Cigar smoke is the only smoke I could do without, but I have a live and let live attitude about smokers.

[DaveOKC]

12 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Hmmm.  I was on the Apr 29th Eurodam AK cruise.  I got a chocolate every night, my steward made sure I always had 2 bottles of Aqua Panna and even got 2 towel animals.  Sounds like a little inconsistency in service.  I wonder if it was cabin type/location-dependent?

We were in a Neptune so unlikely that was the issue.  More likely the room stewards.  Guess I should ask for my extra tips back!

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

19 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

We were in a Neptune so unlikely that was the issue.  More likely the room stewards.  Guess I should ask for my extra tips back!

 

 

It might be the stewards. I was in an aft veranda and I got chocolates most nights, and a towel animal on dressy nights. I always tip cabin stewards. When he found a Eurodam tile for me after the ship sent out the letter that said tiles were suspended, his tip got bigger.

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

It might be the stewards. I was in an aft veranda and I got chocolates most nights, and a towel animal on dressy nights. I always tip cabin stewards. When he found a Eurodam tile for me after the ship sent out the letter that said tiles were suspended, his tip got bigger.

I got a 150 anniversary tile, did you get that one also?

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, slidergirl said:

I got a 150 anniversary tile, did you get that one also?

 

No, just the previous Eurodam one, which I'm pleased to have because it's more like the others I have. I'm not sure the 150th ones were on any of the ships in January. 

[TriumphGuy]

OP here. We did receive two 150 Anniversary tiles. They were on our bed when we came back to our cabin. 
Our 1st tiles!

[Colorado Klutch]

On 5/14/2023 at 3:08 PM, Lido deck main said:

Thanks for taking the time for the review.  For future reference you can use the Navigator APP very similar to the Medallion and use the order now area to preorder your Dive in meal from anywhere on the ship.  No need to wait in line.  Glad you had a great cruise.

 

Something in the Navigator App actually works?

[billbunger]

Please take the smoking comments to the proper smoking thread.