Eurodam 11/15 - 11/22 Review & Ramblings

[VegasOrCruise]

Finally able to sit down and start this trip report from our November 15 cruise on the Eurodam. I've followed any number of trip reports - chief among them, Rev Neal's "Live from..." in July. The all offered some insight into a new ship. Some positive, some negative, but all informative.

 

Arrived at Port Everglades about 12:30PM - walked in, stopped to fill in the ‘health’ questionnaire, waited about 5 minutes on line to check in, then made the walk and escalator ride to board the ship. First interaction with the new photo staff was when boarding - and it would prove to be the simplest interaction.

 

Once on the ship (about 12:55), we were directed to the Lido deck - as the rooms were not ready. Joan and I walked around the Lido - and Lido Pool - NO WHERE to sit - as expected, so we waited by the mid-ship elevators for 1:30 to come. About 1:20, steward operating the elevator, said Going Down - so on we got, and down we went, to cabin 6098. Very nice cabin just as we remember 6096 from the Noordam last year. Decorated nicely and ready and waiting. My only negative comment is that the automatic door closer had been disconnected. Not sure why - and I never remembered to ask Made or Robert (our stewards) why. They took excellent care of us, and always seemed to appear when we needed them, and have the room ready whenever we returned. I told Made in the beginning to keep me in Ice - and he did - always had fresh ice.

 

Set sail right on time, had the muster drill, and then met up with friends on the ship. This was a shorter cruise than last year, so we didn't get to sample the Pinnacle or Canelletto restaurants. Our friends, wanted to go to the dining room each night. After the cruise, sitting in the airport, they remarked that he'd wanted to try the others, but felt they had to go the dining room each night. Next time - NO – they’re not doing that. Could we have gone, yes, but you don't want to disappoint sometimes. Oh well, just a reason to return to the Eurodam.

 

Port calls -

 

Grand Turk - was lovely. What we saw of it. We stayed in the cruise port. The beach was nice, but the sand was very rough. Water was extremely calm, but had some good waves. No white caps, just soft waves, which sometimes you can’t see coming and for a non swimmer like me - disconcerting. We left the beach and went to the pool, an EXCELLENT pool, only about 3 1/2 feet deep all across, but a large serpentine pool, with islands and bridges, very nice pool. Waiter service, drinks, food, whatever, was available. We really enjoyed the pool. Two of our friends went on the horseback riding excursion. On the ride to the horses, they were given a 45 minute tour of the island, and the devastation caused by the hurricane. On the ship, they were saying about 20% of the island was without power, the driver told them it was more like 50%. Funny thing was, they said, they saw no one working on repairing anything - and they saw lots that needed repairing!

 

You could see the hurricane's after math all over, even on the cruise port. Where they used to be shutters mounted on the walls, they were gone, screening fences on the roofs were missing, board ramps were severely damaged in many places. They appear to be in the process of replacing a lot of them with permanent brick ramps, but haven't finished yet. For some reason the store/restaurant slabs were built about 2-3 inches higher than the plaza areas, and really present a tripping hazard. Too low to be seen, and not high enough for normal step, and the same concrete color as the plaza area, hence the ramps.

 

San Juan - was, well, San Juan. We were in port from 9 AM until 11 PM - not sure why. Did some shopping, went to the El Morro fort, spent a loop and a half on the free shuttle, until we figured out we were on the wrong one to get back to the shopping area we left from. So we hopped off, walked a block or two and were where we wanted to be. Don't get me wrong, I like San Juan, all the people we've met there, especially this time, were extremely nice. I just don't know why they stop there for 13-14 hours.

 

Had a nice encounter with a gentleman in one of the jewelry stores, who was originally from Cuba, by way of New York, Miami, Alabama, and Mississippi. He came 6 years ago - and never left (other than to pack up his apt in NY), in the other jewelry store we visited, the manager knew right where we were from - he grew up one town over. SMALL WORLD!

 

St Thomas - didn't do any shopping this time - went to Trunc Bay Beach, St Johns. Lovely beach, but we prefer Meagan's Bay beach on St Thomas. Trunc Bay was very nice, but for the time involved to get there and back, Meagan's Bay is closer - and nicer. Docking at Crown Bay was no problem, it is a short cab ride - $4.00 each way PP to down town - and $11.00 PP to Red Hook. Had to catch the ferry from Red Hook to St Johns as we missed the 9AM from downtown - and the next one was at 11AM. On the way back we took the ferry from St Johns, directly into Charlotte Amalie, it was much quicker and less harrowing than the Red Hook ferry/Cab Ride combination. Not to mention the cab ride from Trunc Bay back to the ferry terminal. OMG - felt like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - you never knew which way you were going to turn and be jerked.

 

Interesting side note, once back on the ship after our day in St Thomas, across the dock from the Eurodam was a, floating dry dock yacht transport. When we arrived back at the ship - it was high in the water, you could read the name on the side. By the time we got back on the ship, and collapsed in the cabin - they had flooded the ship, and began floating all the ships out. Very interesting way to transport boats. There must have been 25 or so boats on this ship - from VERY large to medium/small - power yachts, to sail boats. It appears however that you must coordinate with the transport - because all the owners - or their crew, actually piloted the boats off the ship.

 

Half Moon Cay - exceptionally nice beach - had a lovely morning. Went to the BBQ - which was very good, and back to the ship, for some Thermal Spa time. My only comment on the BBQ, is that they need to organize the crowd a little better - everyone got in line at the end, because they were unaware that there were 4 buffet lines. Once and awhile a crew member would come by to tell you, but mostly it was other passengers walking by with the news. Otherwise, food was excellent!

 

Food on board:

 

For the most part the food was excellent! The dining room service was excellent, with one glaring exception. Thursday night - the farewell dinner - couldn’t have been worse - well it could, but let's not go there. Took forever to have our order taken, longer than normal wait for appetizers to be served, but then right back on schedule with the starters. Then, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock........ wait was extraordinarily long for dinner, meanwhile everyone around us both arriving before, same time and after were getting served no problem. And when it did show up, 4 at our table had surf and turf, with the sorriest excuse for a lobster tail I have ever seen, and Filet Mignon, that frankly looked like left over NY Strip from the Mariner's luncheon that noon. Joan had the chicken (available every day) and it was very dry. The only one mildly happy was me, and that's because I opted for the Chef's Salad bowl, VERY hard to foul that up. All in all, we were there from 7:00 PM until just after 9:OO PM, didn't eat much - and left before dessert. Some wanted to see the show at 9, so they left just before and the others of us who didn't see the show - just opted to leave.

 

My other service issue was room service related. On Sunday, we had ordered breakfast - it came, was on time, and was excellent. However, on Wednesday, they let us down. Our TA had sent a bottle of champagne, which we had decided to have along with our traveling companions with cheese and crackers and the champagne. Spoke to Made, and arranged for 6 champagne glasses, and to have the champagne on ice and chilled by 5PM that day. Called room service at 8:30 AM, before we got off the ship in St Thomas, to arrange for a cheese tray to be delivered at 5PM. No problem sir, we'll take care of it. Well, I'm sure you can see where this is going.....I'm still waiting for the cheese tray. At 5:20, I called and was given what to me amounts to the normal too bad runaround, were very busy, I'm sure there on the way response. Wouldn't even check to see if it was out for delivery. Guests showed up at 5:30, (they were on time) still no cheese. We opened the champagne, drank, left for dinner about 6:30, still no cheese. Funny thing is, we did the same thing on the Noordam last year, and the cheese tray was late in arriving - but it did arrive. I guess we should forget about the cheese tray idea.

 

Lido - food was super as usual. I will have to point out that they had what is the best meat lasagna I've EVER had. The Bolognese sauce was excellent also, but the meat lasagna - OMG, very tasty.

 

One of our 'things to do', is to have ice cream late in the evening. In fact, on the Noordam, we would have dinner about 5, go to the show, hit the casino for a while, then the hot tub, and then stop for ice cream after changing. We tended to eat later on this cruise, so our dinner/show/casino/hot tub got fouled up. In fact, the hot tubs closed at 9PM - on the Noordam they are/were open until 10PM - much better time. While we did get ice cream most nights, this time the first two nights, the ice cream on the Lido was awful - more like ice milk. After that it improved dramatically. Don't know why or what happened, but at least it got better. It appears that they close down the main Lido much earlier than in the past, or is that my imagination.

 

I do have one question, for those of you in the know. How do you get HAL to acknowledge allergies, etc. I called Ships Services in Seattle about a week before we left. My wife has severe food allergies (not peanuts, thank heaven) to seafood, pepper - all forms, cinnamon, and some lesser items. Ships Services said they would notify the ship right away. Never heard another word. Now, we are extremely careful in reading the menu, because you have to watch what they list. Much on the main menu, she cannot eat, and most nights resorts to the steak or chicken on the 'every day' menu. In fact one day, we forgot to tell the waiter to serve the steak plain - without the peppercorn sauce, he took it right back and didn't come out until they'd made another one (well done) without the sauce. I realize that when you have AYW dining, it's more difficult than if you had traditional dining, however - there should be some flag on your room number - you have to check in with it every night, and they know where you should be, if you don't come at the same exact time as your table mates. Just don't know what else to do. Guess I should have asked to speak to the chef, or the Matre'D.

 

The Ship:

 

EXCELLENT! While we have decided that we liked the Noordam better, we would sail the Eurodam again - no question! The Explorations Cafe up on 11, was OK - it just takes forever to get there, unlike the past when it was conveniently mid ship. Friends from last years cruise, who liked to get morning coffee there, had an aft cabin - and that would be a hike each day.

 

The infamous 'step' in the Lido deck is still there - and you're all correct - what the *$%@ were they thinking, when that was designed. It has yellow caution tape - but if you're not looking down, doesn't matter. In fact Joan did trip (thankfully, she didn't fall or drop anything) because she headed there, but didn't hear me say "WATCH THE STEP". That's all we would have needed - just 7 months out of back surgery - didn't need a fall.

 

Showroom, new seats are comfortable, but I miss the benches and tables. Yes the new seats have these pull out drink holders - but if you're at all big, they are extremely inconvenient - and dangerous. We didn't attend ONE event in the showroom (and we were in it at least once each day) were someone didn't at least spill a drink when getting up or down, or more often, break a glass. These things are just plain bad. Not deep enough, and certainly not designed for stemware, probably the same designer as "the step!"

 

Not sure I like the new photo providers. When we were getting off the Noordam in NY last year, they had closed down the photo gallery a day or two early, so they could pack up. They were getting off and a new provider was getting on. I really thought (was hopeful) that with this change would come some technology changes. They already use digital cameras for the photos. I thought they would put in Kiosks, where you could view the pictures and decide what to buy, before they waste a LOT of paper printing them. But no, it's the same old look thru hundreds until you find yourself on the wall. Additionally, I do not like at all the 'contact sheets' - would prefer the old method of full pictures. Again, you could order small, or large, whatever you wanted if they had gone to a fully digital system. Not only do I not like the contact sheets, but I felt the staff was EXTREMELY pushy in trying to sell other services. Private studio sessions, a trip souvenir book with your pictures added, and I'm sure other items. When I say no, I mean no - but they didn't give up, and in fact tag teamed you while you were paying for whatever you did buy.

 

 

Entertainment:

 

Singers/dancers of the Eurodam were very good. Enjoyed each show we saw.

 

We had Kelly McDonald, as a comedian - and he was extremely funny!

 

However, by far, my favorite entertainer was Dr. Justin Miller. Dr. Miller is GREAT, and for those of you who haven't seen him, you are missing something. I am NOT a fan of 'classical' guitar - but Dr. Miller changed that. I told him as much, when we saw him on the Noordam last year. I was very pleased, when we decided to take this cruise, to find that he is on the Eurodam through at least the end of the year. Convinced our friends to go, and they also liked him. Don't even know what made me go last time - as it was guitar - but he was phenomenal. I'm especially pleased that he did one of his story talks on Thursday. His stories and knowledge of the American Musical Theatre is amazing. I'm hoping he writes a book someday, though I asked him, and he said, while he's under contract to do two volumes, he hasn't found the time yet. Hope he does. Those of you who haven't seen him, next time he's on a ship you're on - GO! You won't be disappointed.

 

Overall comments:

 

There were many comments about crowding and lines, and to be honest, with the exception of embarkation, we found no crowding and no lines. Embarkation day is to be expected, they try to accommodate every one on one deck for a period of time. The longest line we waited in was 4 groups deep for dinner ONE night, other than that – we had no feeling of crowds. In fact, we remarked that there are 2100 people on this ship (and it was sold out) where are they?

 

The couples that went on the horseback ride on Grand Turk, booked on the ship – and they made an error and charged two rides to each account – when only the wives were going. However, it was corrected that evening, with out any problems. Otherwise, I found no errors on my statement. I had ordered the HAL Signature chocolates – and when we opened them, they were all bad. The chocolate was light colored, instead of dark and shiny. Complained to the front desk, they took them and replaced them – with bad chocolate. Complained again, and they credited our account without question. All in all, handled very well.

 

As noted in the report, we had a few service issues, but nothing to spoil the trip. Life can’t be a complete bed of roses. Overall, an excellent cruise would sail the Eurodam again. HAL crews are the best, are always nice, and genuinely ready to help.

 

Thanks to everyone who posted a review, trip report or comments about the Eurodam. They made enjoying the ship that much more fun and helped in avoiding situations or at least knowing 'what went where, and why".

 

Thanks for reading my LONG ramblings and I hope you enjoyed it.:)

 

 

 

[kenevenpar]

Thanks for the balanced review. I'll keep in mind your comments on the cheese tray! Glad you had an enjoyable cruise.

[Moriah]

Thanks for your review. I am really looking forward to boarding the Eurodam one week from today. You didn't mention anything about the cabanas, so I assume you did not use them.

I have a couple of questions if you still have energy to keep writing:

Did you go up to the retreat and form any opinion of how they looked/seemed?

I'm really glad to hear you didn't feel any crowds. It sounds like you had the open dining and you didn't need to wait for tables. What times did you usually eat, and did you make reservations each day?

Thanks again for your review!

Moriah

[COLLEYBERRY]

Enjoyed your review ,very much.Thankyou for taking the time to post.

We also found Dr.Justin Miller performances excellent

. Entertainment and education ,not too many shows can provide both for the audience:)

[gelo7]

Thanks for a very insightful and well balanced review.

[VegasOrCruise]

Thanks for your review. I am really looking forward to boarding the Eurodam one week from today. You didn't mention anything about the cabanas, so I assume you did not use them.

I have a couple of questions if you still have energy to keep writing:

Did you go up to the retreat and form any opinion of how they looked/seemed?

I'm really glad to hear you didn't feel any crowds. It sounds like you had the open dining and you didn't need to wait for tables. What times did you usually eat, and did you make reservations each day?

Thanks again for your review!

Moriah

 

Moriah:

 

We didn't use the cabanas, but we did determine, that if the roof is closed - I don't see how there is any air circulation. Granted if it's closed completely - I THINK they air condition or at least ventilate the Lido Pool, if it's closed with just a vent slot - then it gets very warm and stuffy in there.

 

We did have open dining, and we typically ate by 7 - 7:15. Tried to make reservations 1 or 2 nights, but they only take reservations for 50% of the lower dining room, and save the rest for walk ins, and we never made plans early enough to get in the reservation 50%. Which reminds me. One night we were the late couple, and our friends had been seated already. One of them came out to get us, and we took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, as they had been seated in the traditional dining area. Boy, did we get looks from people as we went in the closed doors, while they were waiting for dinner. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll walk up the interior stairs.

 

We did make it up to the retreat, seemed very nice and quiet. Didn't really spend that much time looking however. Only got there, because we were looking for the access to the 12th deck (observation). They really make it more difficult to get there than on the Noordam. In fact, I didn't find anyway to get there from outside on deck 10. You have to go inside on 11, go out the aft (for deck 11) doors to the retreat, and then go up the stairs, or there is a hatch way in the Explorations cafe, but I think that is really an emergency hatch.