Two Midwesterners escape winter on the Eurodam.

[ottahand7]

Hello.  We are Nancy and John and we will be boarding the Eurodam on January 3 for 52 days at sea.  We have strung a 10-day with 2 21-day Collector voyages traveling the Caribbean and some Central America.  We usually do one HA cruise per year and have never documented our trips. This time rather than just walking the ports and shopping we are doing a lot of shore excursions thanks to HIA and some we had previously booked.  Therefore we will be able to share more than just food porn. 

We began our journey on December 30 driving from Michigan in a three day road trip.  First stop was Bowling Green, KY, a great stopping point drive time wise but a very congested area.  To miss driving I-75 through Atlanta we take I-65 through Alabama and spent the night in the small city Dothan, Alabama.  Last night we stayed on the outskirts of Orlando in Lake Nona, just in time to check in and find our way to a bar with the Ravens - Dolphins game.  Happily the Ravens won.  I, Nancy,  lived in Maryland for 23 years.  

Now we are at the Renaissance Hotel on 17th Street, our usual base in Fort Lauderdale,  watching the Michigan game.  Go Blue! 

We dined at our favorite seafood place nearby, Kelly's Landing, for some Ipswich clams, clam chowder and John has a lobster grilled cheese.  Just the beginning of a lot of food photos that will come as our journey progresses.  

Please follow along and I will try to answer anything I can discover and of course photos of our excursions and dining.  A first for us and a first on the Eurodam.  Happy New Year! 

[gizmodog]

We will be on Eurodam in June, so looking forward to your review

[canadarocks]

Have a wonderful cruise!! 

[CNSJ]

We will see you onboard in a few weeks.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Have a great cruise.

[esimon]

Oh my. I love eurodam.  What a great ship.  Interested in hearing about your trip.  Not sure I want to cruise for that length of time as I have family and friends at home I would miss and I feel like those state room cabins shrink a little overtime lol. Thanks for taking the time to Phyllis in on your details.

[travelholics]

Another great journey to follow! We hope you have a wonderful trip and look forward to reading all about it! This is certainly going to be a Winter of adventure for all of us, with so many interesting, and very different, journey logs to read each day.

[cat shepard]

I will be following Nancy & John! Happy trails!

Those Ipswich clams look delicious!

 

Ann

[cruising sister]

Have fun!

[StLouisCruisers]

Nancy our Wolverines won in overtime!  I'm hoping you saw the ending.  Enjoy your day relaxing tomorrow.

[NCTribeFan]

I board Carnival Magic on the 7th, then we disembark in Miami and drive up to Port Everglades to board Eurodam on the 13th.  Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Well, other than the fact that you're Ravens and Michigan fans.  What can I say.  I'm originally from Cleveland. 😁

 

I sailed Eurodam solo in November 2021 when she first arrived from Europe.  It was my first post-Covid sailing and we only had 500 passengers.  It was fabulous.  Everyone was just so happy to be sailing again and with so few passengers, the service was phenomenal.  I'm really looking forward to sailing her again.  Loved the ship.

 

Bon voyage!

[ORTravelGal]

Sounds like an amazing adventure! Looking forward to following along & thank you in advance for the food porn. 

[ocean sounds]

Have fun!  I’ll be following along. 

[oakridger]

This Nancy is going to be reading along as well!  Thanks for sharing your time to create these posts!

 

~Nancy

[kazu]

Bon Voyage Nancy and John!

 

I hope you have an absolutely fantastic time 🙂 

 

[wdw1972]

Love food porn - thanks for sharing your upcoming journey!  Eurodam is a great ship. We spent 11 nights on her in late November.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[ottahand7]

Good morning from Fort Lauderdale!  We can see the Mouse.  

[ottahand7]

9 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

I board Carnival Magic on the 7th, then we disembark in Miami and drive up to Port Everglades to board Eurodam on the 13th.  Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Well, other than the fact that you're Ravens and Michigan fans.  What can I say.  I'm originally from Cleveland. 😁

 

I sailed Eurodam solo in November 2021 when she first arrived from Europe.  It was my first post-Covid sailing and we only had 500 passengers.  It was fabulous.  Everyone was just so happy to be sailing again and with so few passengers, the service was phenomenal.  I'm really looking forward to sailing her again.  Loved the ship.

 

Bon voyage!

We were on the Nieuw Statendam in February 2021 and there were 1200 on board.  Heaven!

[albingirl]

Have a wonderful cruise!

[kopykat]

OMG- I’m from Michigan originally , now upstate NY, and your post sounded like one I would write. I don’t have the luxery of sailing for that many days however and usually fly to FLL. Kelly’s Landing is my favorite restaurant and have stayed at the Renaissance several times. I’m a big Michigan f

[kopykat]

Just now, kopykat said:

OMG- I’m from Michigan originally , now upstate NY, and your post sounded like one I would write. I don’t have the luxery of sailing for that many days however and usually fly to FLL. Kelly’s Landing is my favorite restaurant and have stayed at the Renaissance several times. I’m a big Michigan fan and an alum. Go Blue! Was very happy with the win last night. 

 

[shippmates]

Nancy and John.  I am looking forward to following along for a few weeks as I will be joining you on the 24th for 10 days.  Have a great cruise.

[Lessa123]

We'll be boarding her at the end of March. Excited to follow along!

[ottahand7]

Our first voyage itinerary.  Originally we were going to Key West but Bimini has been substituted.  It's okay we have never been there. I cropped out Roatan Honduras by accident. 

Edited January 2 by ottahand7

[NCTribeFan]

I had a stop in Bimini on an MSC cruise.  I didn't do anything; just rode the free trolley around to get an idea.  Not built for "tourists" in that there isn't a bunch of Authentic Island Crafts and Chain Bars at the pier, so there will be folks who claim there's nothing to do.

 

That was a couple of years ago and very few cruise ships were calling there, so it may be more developed.  I know Virgin has a private beach for their pax.

 

Oh, and speaking of Michigan, not only am I an Ohio State fan, but my Alma Mater is Appalachian State University.  The little NC mountain college that, at the time, had won two consecutive national titles in whatever the 2nd tier of NCAA Football is called (bowl subdivision?).  They went to Ann Arbor, blocked that last-second field goal and and beat Big Blue.  I was so proud of them!

 

Anyway, I've started walking through the house and when I see something I might need to pack, it goes in a pile in my bedroom.  I fly to Miami on Saturday, so I won't pack until Friday morning, then will get my nails done that afternoon.

 

I haven't sailed since I did 26 nights on Rotterdam in the spring (which was fantastic).  I feel like it's been as long as we were grounded during Covid!

 

I need some food porn!!