Eurodam Review

[edu-sense]

Hi,

 

I have read some reviews before I travelled on this ship and wish to give another opinion.

 

We sailed on the 15 night transatlantic cruise from copenhagen to new york on the 14th of august so was able to see and experience most things on the ship.

 

Boarding, not a problem, although the people taking your luggage do not wear anything with holland america on, I refused to give them my luggage untill we spoke to someone obviously working for holland america.

 

Luggage turned up in the room very quickly, our cabin steward Adi was superb, we was a little upset he worked so many hours, so we insisted he didnt do our room one day so he could knock of early, we left our cabin and upon our return he had done our room. We then told him if he needed a break to sit and watch a film in our room, I dont think he ever did, on the Eurodam the cabin stewards have more rooms to do than on the other ships HAL have.

 

The cabin was a balcony, we was garanteed minimum balcony but was given top grade, this was great as we was positioned under the captains glass floor for docking, so we got to see a bit of his work (mostly just feet) but the bad thing about our cabin (7002) was that you could not use the balcony at night with the light on because of this, being in my late 20's and with an average age of about 60 on the ship we was often left in our room after midnight as everyone else had retired and the nightclub was not our thing. Some people have complained about lack of storage, we could not see the problem, 4 large cases and 2 pieces of large hand luggage fitted into the cabin with loads of storage to spare, their are double wardrobes, storage under the bed, bed side cabinets, storage in the otterman and in the unit where the mini bar was situated. Our cabin was cleaned to a very high standard and the towel animals were great, they could upgrade the quality of chocolates left on the pillows, but now i am being picky. We also asked for Adi our steward to keep us filled up with ice for both soda and champagne, he always did this and put a bottle in to chill, whatever we left out, so he was very attentive.

 

Room service, breakfast in your cabin is more of a gamble than playing craps, you got whatever they wanted to give you (slight exageration) it was always about 80% what we ordered, but their did seem to be a problem with cutlery, we hardly ever recieved the impliments needed to eat our order. but the quality was their, everything was fresh and tasty, proper orange juice too not the cheap stuff. On one occasion breakfast did not arrive at all.

 

If you order drinks online before you board, the bottles are a litre not 70cl, I ordered 2 bottles of jim beam but would only of oredered 1 had I known, anyway it was not wasted as we took it home, but the coke that comes with it was the full sugar variety, getting it changed was a nightmare, took about 3 attempts to get it right.

 

Laundry, it was efficient and cheap at $16 a bag, but they lie about reading the washing instructions and consiquently ruined about $500 worth of underwear that was hand wash only, the items pressed were generally ok but epilets on shirts are not done so obviously a machine is used rather than an iron and their is not an iron to use on the ship, so boo hoo to laundry.

 

Food, 4 places to eat

 

Lido, generally very good but ques are sometimes long and finding seating was a slight issue at times, also the food could be a little cold. the variety was great and on the whole we didnt mind it.

 

Tamarind, terible for dinner and not worth the charge but we tried it at lunch one day and it was a little better, we do not understand why they charge for it as the rembrant is better

 

The Rembrand, great food great service and only once did we have to share a table with another couple, and they were great company so we enjoyed that evening and it did make a change.

 

THE PINICLE

 

BOOK BOOK BOOK, we ate here about 6 times, we loved it, perfection on a plate, the staff were great, chilled our dom perignon that we took aboard and even remembered how i liked my steak cooked. If we had to have 1 small niggle it would be that the menu did not change on a 16 day cruise, we probably ate their more than any one else, so was running out of options in the end wanting to try everything as it was so good. The staff here are amazing, nice friendly charming without going over the top, it was as good as any meal we had eaten at mitchelin star places.

 

Entertainment was average, I grade this as someone in their late 20's but felt through talking to others this was the general opinion, vegas style shows were great as was the violinist. The adigio strings are something special and we enjoyed the piano bar at one point also.

 

The impersonators and comedians were not great, the comedy could of failed us as it was more intended for an american market but the general chat was that they was not rated too highly.

 

The gym was visited once, not every day as we set out too, but their was always machines available.

 

The Spa, The Spa, The Spa, GET ME BACK ON THAT SHIP.

 

Farah the manager is ace as is nick the barber, I dont think their was a day went by that I didnt have a treatment, but top tip, if you enjoy a firm massage, go for a european, american or aussie or kiwi, the philipino's were very weak with pressure, i suffer with a tense back so like a pounding, I was told at the end it is to do with the way they are trained, but now I know, Nick was great at shaving, so went totally lazy and the only thing i done for myself was wash eat and walk.

 

Casino, mathew the manager is a top bloke, he has a great laugh with you and if he spots you in there a few times he even makes sure your glass does not go dry, he is genuinly happy if you win and even kept the advertising of a blackjack tournament up when my partner won and i wanted to run get my camera.

 

Bingo and lighter entertainment, this was great and gregg was a great guy, even if his jokes were a little poor, in actual fact I think they were meant to be.

 

Reception, what a joke, their is no customer service, they are right on the defensive from the off, we had a bottle of champagne in the silk bar and half way through the cruise got a statement of our account, it showed a bottle from the tamarind, we know we didnt order champagne here so disputed it, we were called the next day and told "you did have a bottle of champagne, I have a reciept and you even signed for it" this was said to my partner, I stormed to the front desk and said "if you put the champagne down for the right place their would never have been an issue, if it showed as the bar we had it in it would never have been disputed, so get some manners" we had a few bottle of champers so we could not be expected to every place and every brand and price.

 

Lastly when you have to be shipped in to a port make sure their is no alternative, at st piere in canada we was told we would have to wait over an hour to be taken to shore, we decided that with a 20 minute boat ride and the same problem coming back not to bother, only to be told later their was a exit ramp on to shore that left you a 10 minute walk from town, had we of known this we would have gone into st piere.

 

F.O.D's, shane made a real effort and had about 4 in total, the last one me and my partner was the only ones to turn up, we found out from other couples this was because they had set dining, but he did organise some fun stuff and give him 10 out of 10 for effort.

 

The narator, frank, he had a great deal of time when he would talk, usually it was advertised it would be about something really great, we would turn up and within 5 minutes he would be waffling on about something else completly, great character, but it became a bit of a joke on the ship. whatever you wanted to know, just dont ask frank!!

 

The culinary arts centre, we signed up and paid for a cookery class with 2 celebrity chefs, the group size was 12 and we was told we would make 6 signiture dishes, I could not wait it sounded fantastic, what it actually turned out to be was 10 people who could not boil an egg, 2 celeb chefs with half the ingredients needed for the dishes, only 3 dishes and working iin groups, i moved between the 3 groups and the only one that had any idea how to follow instruction were more than capable of doing the dish themselves, so after 5 minutes I left after discussing why i wanted too and was told to go to the front desk and have the money refunded. They completly messed everything up, they took off both me and my partners charge for the cooking even though my partner stayed, they took off both lots of gratuities from our bill. We was not too disapointed with this as we did buy a box of godiva for everyone that made or cruise so memorable.

 

All in all I would give the cruise 8/10, it was superb but their is room for improvement, front desk, laundry and entertainment and the tamarind and lido.

 

But the casino, spa, bingo, and adagio strings made it an unforgetable time.

 

To name a few bods that are great to get to know, Adi, Mathew, Gregg, Nick, Farah.

 

To avoid, the vixen at the front desk!!! she so needs to go to charm school and listen rather than immediatly start to argue with you, after all, had she been better at listening they would have had gratuities and money for my partners cooking.

 

Hope I have not ranted too much, but this is just my opinion, which will be different from everyone elses, but I would go with HAL again and on the Eurodam again, in fact its the Oosterdam next october and then a princess cruise february 2010.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

 

I have tried to warn people about the laundry -- do not send out anything delicate or anything that may shrink. They have so much laundry to do that they can not possibly make special loads for everyone. Also -- they don't have the time to iron everything individually. Sorry that you had so much clothing ruined. The situation will be the same on the Oosterdam.

 

What did you have at the Tamarind?/ Why was it terrible?

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review. Interesting reading.

 

I also picked up about the laundry. I would never dream to send out delicates that require hand laundering. No way a commerical laundry is going to hand wash your delicates. I would have washed them myself in the sink and hung to dry on the line provided over the tub.

 

Sounds like all in all you had a good cruise.

 

Welcome Back.

 

[Boytjie]

We then told him if he needed a break to sit and watch a film in our room, I dont think he ever did, on the Eurodam the cabin stewards have more rooms to do than on the other ships HAL have.

 

What would have happen if his supervisor found out he was watching TV in a passenger's cabin during his normal working hours (or at any hour)? :eek:

[jtl513]

I'll second KK's question: please elaborate on what was so bad about the Tamarind. Did you just not like the PanAsian selections? Was it poorly prepared? Was it bad service? I think you are the first reviewer I have read that did not like the Tamarind, and I would really like to know specifically why.

[sapper1]

Loved your review but have to add one geographical note. The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are not part of Canada. They are located off the coast of the province of Newfoundland, but they belong to France.

[2menUK]

Thanks for a very fair and thoughtful review. My partner and I are going on the Eurodam on January 3rd. We are my nephew and my partners sister as well. We assume that FOD stands for Friends of Dorthy?

 

I have heard alot of ranting about this ship and alot of it unfair I hope. However, you were very fair and didn;t just praise it as "the best ever" like some but actually told us what was good and what needed improvement.

[JimVrhovac]

We do not have to worry about them

 

Delicates, for us, are defined as FLANNEL PAJAMAS with a flap in the back

 

Ruth & Jim

 

PS

enjoyed the review....

[FAVAPA]

Great review. You didn't talk about the pools though. Were they crowded? What's with the poolside cabanas? Is there a charge for use or are they first come first serve?

:rolleyes:

[RuthC]

What's with the poolside cabanas? Is there a charge for use or are they first come first serve?

There's a charge, all right. You can rent by the week, or by the day if a cabana is available. The charge is higher on a sea day than on a port day.

I don't remember the charges, but they are less than the charges in The Retreat.

[maidstone_cruiser]

I thought I would chip in with some answers to your questions.

 

The Tamarind wasn't terrible but we didn't think it was any better than what you could find at the Rembrandt. The staff were attentive but I did receive the wrong desert.

 

The swimming pools were never crowded, but quite cold! The aft pool was hardly ever used. We mainly used the hydro therapy pool, which was fantastic.

 

Where Gregg was mentioned he actually means DJ Glen, a great guy.

 

The cabannas are between $60 - $100 a day but we found it worthwhile. You got basically a butler service, champagne, fruit, water, ipod loan, and chocolate strawberries (mmmm).

 

We just felt a bit sorry for the room steward working such long hours, but we hopefully compensated him adequately.

 

Finally, yes, all in all a great cruise!

 

Again this is only our opinion and I'm sure other people liked or disliked things which we didn't.

[KenCT]

Leaving on the same cruise in a few weeks. Lots of good information. Thanks. Could you clarify the situation about disembarking at St. Pierre?

[mamaofami]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review and glad you had a good cruise. In my opinion, the best part of the Eurodam was Tamarind and the Silk Den. Loved that restaurant and had both lunch and dinner there. I also loved The Pinnacle.