RevNeal's LIVE Eurodam Report

[cruz chic]

AMEN!! After all the title of this thread is "RevNeals's Live Eurodam Report" not "Everyone's chance to give their opinions to HAL about what they feel should happen with the Cabanas".

JTL513 had some great advice on how to avoid postings that you may not want to read. It would probably be helpful to you as well since it seems to bother you so much.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Well, the cabana issue is just too good not to chat about until Greg comes back!!!

 

And he'll love that it's one of those rare times where there is mass agreement on an issue!!! I was laughing just reading all these posts:D .

 

Rochelle, you're not alone. My very first thought was they look like the red light district and there should be a lady of the night stretched out on each one. They're simply hysterical!!! Can't wait to see what transpires over the next few weeks or months.

 

Can you imagine those things crossing the Atlantic in a gale? Guess they're removeable .... that's a good thing in more ways than one;) .

[cruz chic]

Well, the cabana issue is just too good not to chat about until Greg comes back!!!

 

And he'll love that it's one of those rare times where there is mass agreement on an issue!!! I was laughing just reading all these posts:D .

 

Rochelle, you're not alone. My very first thought was they look like the red light district and there should be a lady of the night stretched out on each one. They're simply hysterical!!! Can't wait to see what transpires over the next few weeks or months.

 

Can you imagine those things crossing the Atlantic in a gale? Guess they're removeable .... that's a good thing in more ways than one;) .

Heather....you are too fuuny:D . As usual I'm in agreement with you. I always find your posts enjoyable:) .

[Sir PMP]

Heather....you are too fuuny:D . As usual I'm in agreement with you. I always find your posts enjoyable:) .

 

I have a suggestion: let's move the cabanas to the Northern Lights, that will enhance the atmosphere.....

[RevNeal]

Those cabanas are horrid IMO

 

I can't imagine anyone would want to spend a day in one.

That valuable deck space is needed for better use.....like a place to eat one's breakfast or lunch. Are there no tables and chairs around Lido pool now? If one goes to the taco bar late afternoon, where can you sit and eat your snack? Do you have to go into Lido?

I have no problem with them being creative trying to find new revenue streams. I realize they have to but this is one of the worst ideas I've seen.

 

JMHO........

 

Judy, there are a lot of tables and chairs on the Lido ... one side is tables and chairs, and there are plenty of lounges by the pool. HOWEVER, they didn't off-set the loss of tables and chairs along the port side of the Lido pool area with more tables and chairs elsewhere, hence making for a net loss in the number of tables and chairs.

 

As for the Eurodam as a whole ... I've never said one word about booting her out of the fleet. The ship truly is lovely and the crew is trying very hard to make things right, to get things together, and to make this a big success. HAL is doing a great job with this new-build, even though some aspects may not have been very well thought-through prior to implementation.

 

In short, we're being very patient. 40 minutes for the first course at dinner without a whine or any wine is patient, if you ask me. :D

[RevNeal]

I sure hope this gets better for you because I am sure you spent alot of $$$ for this cruise. I always thought the best of the best were the chosen crew on a new ship. It sounds like the service you are receiving would never be acceptable on any cruise line. I can't imagine 23 days of this; thank goodness you have alot of friends to visit with."[/Quote]

 

FloridaGram: Many of the staff on this ship ARE the best of the best. As I've already said, I've seen more than 12 staff members whom I've come to know and respect and appreciate on other ships. They're all excellent, hand-picked people. But, any new build take a while to "shake down." The Noordam took a while. So will the Eurodam. We're allowing for that, I believe, and trying to be positive and give the staff time. However, the delays in service are real and the problems are amplified by the over-crowding of many of the venues.

[RevNeal]

jtl513 wrote:

Given that 80% of the crew is experienced and it is so much like a Vista, I would have thought things would go much smoother

 

John, given the differences between the Vista and the Signature class -- and those differences are real -- and given the nature of this cruise as a prelude intro/promotional cruise for Travel Agents and Line executives, etc., I'm surprised that the crew is doing as well as they are! Truly, now, it's not THAT bad. Yes, service is slow. Yes, sometimes the bar tenders and stewards don't make it around to you. They're still learning how to work together and work with the particulars of this ship. I think we're giving them time ... and, I pray we'll be seeing much better in terms of service as the weeks slide on by.

[Sir PMP]

Judy, there are a lot of tables and chairs on the Lido ... one side is tables and chairs, and there are plenty of lounges by the pool. HOWEVER, they didn't off-set the loss of tables and chairs along the port side of the Lido pool area with more tables and chairs elsewhere, hence making for a net loss in the number of tables and chairs.

 

As for the Eurodam as a whole ... I've never said one word about booting her out of the fleet. The ship truly is lovely and the crew is trying very hard to make things right, to get things together, and to make this a big success. HAL is doing a great job with this new-build, even though some aspects may not have been very well thought-through prior to implementation.

 

In short, we're being very patient. 40 minutes for the first course at dinner without a whine or any wine is patient, if you ask me. :D

 

 

You sound kind of 'positive', so we should be 'patient' and watch the rest of your adventure..

[RevNeal]

ger_77 wrote:

I've just been a lurker on this thread, but must say thanks for the photos - it's wonderful to see a new ship. Could you post a photo of your cabin; I've never seen the ones with floor-to-ceiling windows. I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your journey.

 

Does the menu in the dining room appear to be the same across the fleet, or are there special offerings for the inaugural voyage?

 

I'll post a photo of a G cabin when I get the chance. I took a few when I first got aboard and the beds had yet to be be separated into twins. Having the beds arranged as twins makes for a slightly different feel in the room.

 

The dining room menus, thus far, have been identical to what we've had on other HAL cruises. Nothing new here.

[RevNeal]

Growler wrote:

As a recent convert to this site, though, I was wondering if there's any history of 'live from' threads from inaugural HAL sailings that I and others could read to gain a comparative view of how your current woes stack up against what's gone before. In particular, I'm wondering whether HAL really haven't learned from previous experiences, or whether the current teething problems are just that - teething problems - associated with getting a new team all singing off the same hymn sheet.

 

You can search for my "Live From...." Thread from the Noordam's Inaugural, back in Feb/March 2006. I'm not sure when the last post to it was made. On that you'll read about some of the problems that plague any inaugural voyage. This time there are a few extra twists ... like presence of the "As You Wish" system of dining ... which are causing problems. Also, yet again, HAL has built a ship with a larger passenger capacity her predecessors but without any increases in public space and ... indeed ... some rather notable decreases in those spaces. THAT seems to be the biggest problem, and not just for us passengers -- I gather that the staff are frustrated by the limitations of their resources and deck space relative to the numbers of people they're being required to serve.

 

As a couple of examples, your description of the 'breakfast bottleneck' on the Eurodam is something I experienced last year on the Ryndam, so I'd perhaps be a little reticent to lay the blame for such crowds on the presence of the cabanas, as my guess is it's just a numbers issue, and that over time the 'breakfast rush' will spread out a little such that everyone manages to get seated. I may be completely wrong of course! (wouldn't be the first time, and for sure I'm not there to observe directly!). One other thought occured to me too - are the 'Canaletto' tables available for breakfasting lido diners, or are they permanently 'cordoned off'?

 

The "breakfast bottleneck" was worse yesterday than the day before. At least, that's what I was told by those who tried to negotiate it. The problems are that the number of chairs and tables that are available for use on the Eurodam have DECREASED from what they were on the Noordam, while the number of passengers they're being asked to serve in the same number of minutes has INCREASED. The problem is that area that was once available for people to sit and eat is now GONE ... half of the window galleries -- those on the starboard side of the Lido deck pool area -- are cordoned off for the cabanas ... and the dining area that is dedicated to Canaletto in the evening is nice, well-apointed, and less crowded than before, hence reducing the number tables and chairs available here. Also, the forward-center dining area of the Lido on the Vistas is HALF the size on the Eurodam. Those dining areas have not been replaced with other breakfast dining areas aboard ship, while the number of mouths wishing to be fed have increased by several hundred.

 

True, I've occasionally experienced temporary seating "bottlenecks" on other cruises (on S, R, and Vistas). However, never to this extreme. I was told by a ship's staff person that if I were to get to the Lido around 7:15 or 7:30 am there would be places to sit and eat, but that from about 8 am until they pull down the barriers on the Lido restaurant serving lines the place is packed. Indeed, there were people in line for breakfast yesterday who were told that hot breakfast was closed and were not served or were directed to the continental breakfast area.

 

I'm sorry, but it's more than just a minor bottleneck issue ... it's that too small of area is being expected to serve too many people.

[innlady1]

Well, the cabana issue is just too good not to chat about until Greg comes back!!!

And he'll love that it's one of those rare times where there is mass agreement on an issue!!! I was laughing just reading all these posts:D .

Rochelle, you're not alone. My very first thought was they look like the red light district and there should be a lady of the night stretched out on each one. They're simply hysterical!!! Can't wait to see what transpires over the next few weeks or months.

Can you imagine those things crossing the Atlantic in a gale? Guess they're removeable .... that's a good thing in more ways than one;) .

 

LOL, Heather! I can just imagine the stories that will unfold from here on out on the goings in those boudoirs. :rolleyes: ;) :rolleyes:

[RevNeal]

Northshorecruisers wrote:Interesting to hear that people are "dressing". Do you feel it's because it's an inaugural cruise or because there are more European's on board?"[/Quote]

 

It's a combination of factors, including both the fact that it's an Inagural cruise and because it's a European Cruise. The Europeans simply dress up more then North Americans ... or, at least, their men seem less likely to be afraid of jackets and ties. Oh, sure, there's always an Onslow ("Keeping Up Appearences") or two, but most European men and women appear to dress better than the average North American. As for WHY ... well, I'll leave that for those who want to speculate. I'm on a cruise. :)

 

As an aside ... 1500 people disembarked the ship today ... about 80% of them were Dutch and German, with a smattering of English and French and Asians. A bunch of Americans and Canadians got aboard. The jabber in the Lido today sounded more like what one normally hears, and less like United Nations.

[Travelrd]

RevNeal,

 

Thanks for today's postings. Sorry to hear about the SLOW dinner service. Hopefully that will improve with time. Are you breakfasting in the dining room now? Sounds like a plan to me.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post all this.

[innlady1]

Thanks for reporting in, Greg. And thank you for such a concise report.

 

I'm sure the slow service, etc., will improve once the crew gets in synch with each other.

 

It sounds to me that the issues are more than little glitches this time around...sounds like some real design issues...by trying to be "all things to all people" and add new twists to the design (Canaletto, the cabanas...).

Are the people from Seattle walking around the ship to get a sense how things are going? Perhaps they've have already recognized some of the problem areas...sounds like the Lido is a somewhat major one to me.

[RevNeal]

Copenhagen, Denmark

Prior to Lunch:

 

The Prelude cruise is now over and about 3/4 of the ship (about 1500 passengers) are now disembarking. There's a real sense of anticipation around the ship as the "First Full-length Cruise" is about to begin; staff members continue to train and prepare, more staff are expected aboard ship in the next few minutes, and people appear to be excited. I know I am. Inquiries that I made yesterday and today have indicated that the ship's staff (and especially the bar and food preparation staff) is not at full-strength, and won't be until more crew board today in Copenhagen. This, combined with overcrowding, would explain why service has lagged significantly. We expect that tonight will be confusing and annoying in the main dining room, and at least I have taken a vow of patience. However, we can already tell that there are going to be problems. They delivered our ship's IDs to us last night in our cabins; the Good News is that we're assigned to Fixed Dining (finally!); the Bad News is that it would appear that our table assignments have been screwed up again, with part of our group scattered off on other tables, with other people, a long way away. Brian warned me last night that this might be the case and he was going to be working with the staff to try and make sure that we've got 3 tables in close proximity to each other. We'll see. Brian is usually quite good at making such arrangements, and he's a Deluxe Suite passenger so he gets extra perks ... more than peons, like myself. :)

 

A few remarks on the show times and the quality of entertainment: thus far 8 pm seating has been having its showtime at 10 pm, and not before dinner. Of course, that doesn't mean that later in the cruise this won't change; however, thus far the timing has been good. And, likewise, I thought the ship's cast did an excellent job dancing and singing their cute hearts out in their first stage production. I'd seen two of the singers and at least one of the dancers on prior HAL cruises. They're good kids. The band in the Ocean Bar has been fantastic ... excellent dance music, good singing, not too loud, not to weird. Likewise, the ship's version of the "HALCats" is good. The String Quartet playing in the Explorer's Lounge is excellent, and I'm looking forward to hearing them more over the next 20 days. I've not yet gone to the Piano Bar (I'm sure I'll have a lot of that with Ruth coming aboard!), but everybody says he is an excellent pianist.

 

Last night it was obvious that having HAL and Carnival Corp Executives aboard could cause problems. Stein Kruise was hosting a large group of people in the new Private Dining Room (port side just forward of the lower level of the main dining room). Because of this large group, a not insignificant group of staff were appropriated to serve them, thus reducing levels of service in the main dining room even further. Figures.

 

After Lunch:

 

Mary Ellen, Karl, Scotty, Christopher, and myself all waited in the Starboard side Lido for Ruth, Adele, and Emily to show up. They finally made their appearance about 12:30 pm and a happy greeting was had by all! It was funny ... waiting for Ruth to arrive was like waiting for Santa Claus!!!!! And, when she arrived, everybody was excited and happy. She always has that effect upon people! :D

 

We have a sail-away party this afternoon in Brian and Scotty's suite and then we cruise to Oslo Norway ... which is not a long journey at all. And, then, tomorrow Christopher and I have our first of many long shore excursions. Yippie!!!!!!

 

The "Official" Inaugural Cruise of the Eurodam is now underway!

 

Additional Remarks:

 

I had a short conversation with Stan Kuppens, the Eurodam's Hotel Manager. What a very kind man! Even with all my criticisms, he's been very polite and understanding. He and his staff are all working their tails off to get everything "up to snuff." And, of course, all of the high muckety-mucks making demands and such over these past 3-days haven't helped them, either! Still, they've done a fantastic job settling in the crew (in bits and pieces) and bringing operations up to the Line's "code." Being short-handed hasn't helped at all, either. As he said, "we're working hard to try and get things taken care of." And, I'm sure that they are.

 

Post Sail-Away Party:

 

The Sail-away in Brian and Scotty's Suite was a lot of fun. We had a huge crowd there, many from prior cruises. It was so good to see so many old friends!!!!!!! We've got a gathering in the Ocean Bar at 7:30 and then we process on to dinner at 8 pm, so I must get off and get ready for dinner. Nothing formal night. We had our "CCer Formal Night" last night, and it was great being all dressed up ... and we were not alone in that, for many of our disembarking European friends were also dressed up!!! Tonight it's Smart Casual, though I'll probably wear dockers, polo, and jacket. :D

[Sea King]

 

 

My very first thought was they look like the red light district and there should be a lady of the night stretched out on each one. They're simply hysterical!!!

 

Can you imagine those things crossing the Atlantic in a gale? Guess they're removeable .... that's a good thing in more ways than one;) .

 

shame on you Heather;)

 

of course Seattle "wind tested" the Cabanas before installing; they're probably "good to go" for up to 400 on the Balfour scale:eek:

 

as for "taste", there is none .. then again, who cares about taste as long as the dollar (sorry .. the Euro) comes first:rolleyes:

 

truly amazing how you can take a beautiful ship and destroy it by putting up what looks like "cheesey tent city":D

[Krazy Kruizers]

More crew coming on -- that sounds great!!

Hope that will take care of some of the dining problems.

Canelleto -- are you saying that this area is not being used for breakfast in the morning?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Greg, question about the internet, did you have to purchase a NEW internet package for todays voyage? I am guessing it started up as a new cruise. Did you do just a smaller package for the 3 day cruise?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Lisa

 

Anytime we were on back-to-back we were able to carry over our minutes from one cruise to the other. Never was a problem.

[u4ea]

Thanks for everything!

With the reduction of Lido tables, I would imagine there is more “European style” table sharing going on.

Have a great cruise!:cool:

Mark…

[sail7seas]

Judy, there are a lot of tables and chairs on the Lido ... one side is tables and chairs, and there are plenty of lounges by the pool. HOWEVER, they didn't off-set the loss of tables and chairs along the port side of the Lido pool area with more tables and chairs elsewhere, hence making for a net loss in the number of tables and chairs.

 

As for the Eurodam as a whole ... I've never said one word about booting her out of the fleet. The ship truly is lovely and the crew is trying very hard to make things right, to get things together, and to make this a big success. HAL is doing a great job with this new-build, even though some aspects may not have been very well thought-through prior to implementation.

 

 

 

 

Greg...l....

 

Thanks for your wonderful reports.

 

I think you misunderstood my post.

 

The 'booting Eurodam out of the fleet' was in response to a comment made by Sir PMP.

 

[/url] "

 

 

 

To sum it all up so far: a lovely ship, horrible service, Lido is a disaster, cabanas are a distraction, maybe this does not belong in the HAL fleet?

__________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Oh my goodness......the ship has sailed a total of two days and you're booting her out of the fleet already??? :eek:

 

Wy don't we give the crew a bit of a chance! They need to learn their rhythmn and become familiar with their new ship and each other. Eurodam will shake out just fine as have all the other HAL ships.



 

 

 

......

 

 

[barbon2]

Thank you Greg for taking the time to post to these boards while on your vacation.

I will save my individual questions for you upon your return.

Barbara

[sail7seas]

Until about the last two years, when we did back-to-backs, they did not carry let us carry any left over minutes forward from our first cruise to the next. I once discussed that with a Hotel Manager and thought it wrong. He agreed. The next time we were aboard an HAL ship for back-to-backs, we were permitted to carry forward any minutes left from our first cruise to the next segment and that is how it always is now.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Until about the last two years, when we did back-to-backs, they did not carry let us carry any left over minutes forward from our first cruise to the next. I once discussed that with a Hotel Manager and thought it wrong. He agreed. The next time we were aboard an HAL ship for back-to-backs, we were permitted to carry forward any minutes left from our first cruise to the next segment and that is how it always is now.

 

Do they charge you a new $3.95 connection fee?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Do they charge you a new $3.95 connection fee?

 

I was not charged another $3.95 activation fee.

And to take advantage one time of the extra minutes, I also renewed on the first day of the second segment even though I still had minutes left from one package.