Eurodam lemons turned into lemonade!

[sheephugs]

We're just back from the Nov. 22 sailing of the Eurodam. It was a trip that started off rocky but ended great. It was myself, DH, DD & DD's friend. We had 2 inside cabins on the 4th floor. Embarkation was a breeze and the ship is truly beautiful. Actually Nov 22 is my birthday & my family forgot it until DH was filling out his "are you sick" questionnaire at embarkation & had to fill in the date. However, HAL did not fail to provide a birthday cake for me at dinner as they have on all previous birthday cruises. They one-uped my family!:D

 

The lemons came in the form of a noisy cabin ceiling. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with it. It seemed like the ceiling panels were expanding & contracting as air passed over them. It made a crackling sound & "marbles rolling around" sound. It never stopped from more than 30 seconds. I only slept about 2 hours that first night. I made the complaint to my cabin steward & later to the front desk. The front desk attributed it to the foul weather we were having (that also ultimately resulted in the cancellation of Grand Turk). However, DD's cabin next door did not have the sound, so it was really cabin specific. I did get some earplugs from the front desk for my second night onboard, but they really didn't help.

 

The next morning I went to front desk again & they let me speak to a manager, Clarissa. She came down to the cabin to hear for herself. She said the ship was full & no other cabins were available. It really didn't seem full. She did send someone from maintenance to look at it, but he was unable to do anything. She did say that it was possible some passengers would be leaving the next day in San Juan.

 

On Tuesday (San Juan) we received a call that a cabin did come available & Clarissa escorted us to it. Imagine my surprise when we ended up in a Spa Verandah cabin. I told her that another inside was all we needed but she said that since we were inconvenienced, we should have it. It was wonderful! Though DH is truly spoiled now & wants me to price verandahs on our next cruise:D! It took a few days but I'm glad our complaint was taken seriously.

 

Regarding the other complaints stated on the boards on the earlier sailings of the Eurodam, I'm happy to report that I had no experiences like those. The Lido staff was always courteous & helpful. Food was plentiful and always restocked. I never had trouble locating a table in Lido. It looks like reports on the questionnaires have been taken seriously & they have made every attempt to rectify those earlier problems. The food was wonderful as always. Even the "as you wish" dining, which I was doubting, worked flawlessly. If a made a reservation for that day, I was seated immediately. If I didn't make a reservation, I was seated within about 5 minutes. On Princess, we once had to wait 1.5 hours. The dining did take awhile, as was reported, but we don't usually see the shows, so it was no issue for us. The final statement billing was accurate. We did the expedited disembarkation & were off the ship by 8:15am (a new record by far!). The Cruise Critic Meet & Greet was enjoyable and informative. Also, I booked two shore excursions with the ship, which I rarely do. I much prefer using independent companies since my experiences with cruise line excursions are of the "cattle boat" variety. I am pleased to report that both excursions (Bio Bay kayaking in San Juan & Castaway Girl snorkeling in St. Thomas) were fantastic!

 

I am looking forward to the next cruise!!

[the_dylaness]

Thanks for your review- I appreciate reviews of any kind, but since we're sailing on the Eurodam in a few weeks I must admit I'm really glad to hear a positive one!

 

I am also glad they took your stateroom complaint seriously and wow what an upgrade! I hope they can rectify this situation for the next occupants.

 

Any particularly good or bad nights in the main DR? Also, which night was lobster?

[jhannah]

I'm so glad you were able to be moved to a different cabin ... and such a nice one at that. Good for them, and you. Yes, once you've experienced having a verandah, it's hard to go back to not having one. :)

[GmaPajama]

Thanks for another positive report on the Eurodam. It looks like things are really falling into place for her. And, what a terrific cabin you ended up with! So glad you had such a great experience.

[Travalerie]

Hi!

Glad you had a great cruise. I had funny noises in my cabin too. They said the mirror had lost contact with the wall on the sides. It still made nosie after they repaired it, but it was not as bad when the sea was not a rough. After a balcony its hard to go back, huh?

[pipedreams62]

So you were below me

 

 

[sheephugs]

So you were below me

 

 

 

 

So that was you!! I thought it was a craps game!!;)

 

Dylaness, I thought every night was great. Some of the dishes were too exotic for DH (don't put fruit on this man's dinner plate:D) & he went for the NY strip several nights. I think lobster (surf & turf) was Wednesday night. We ate in Lido the last formal night (Thursday-Thanksgiving) and they seems to have the same fare. I got the shrimp cocktail, some kind of sherry-mushroom soup & of course, turkey. It was terrific.

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanks for the review! It's nice that they were able to move you to a different cabin. Hopefully, they figured out what the problem was and fixed it (for the next person). We've never sailed on a cruise that wasn't full, so they'd not have been able to move us had we been in that situation.

 

From the reviews I've read, it sounds like things are starting to fall into place on the Eurodam, which is good. :)

[May4]

Well, now, that worked out:p

 

It appears you can look forward to a verandah cabin in the future.

 

I'm glad you got moved to a room that was less sound intensive. Thanks for sharing good news.

[gelo7]

Thanks for your review, glad to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise.

[yankeejim]

I thought that so called turkey dinner they served on Thanksgiving was the worst food ever put in front of me. It was absolutely horrible....

[hammybee]

Glad you had a good time and shared it with us.

 

And a big birthday woo-hoo on snagging a balcony.:)

[Ewokdude]

I thought that so called turkey dinner they served on Thanksgiving was the worst food ever put in front of me. It was absolutely horrible....

 

I was also on this cruise and thought the opposite. Even though the portion size was small, it was far for horrible.

 

I personally had an excellent cruise. I would sail HAL again.

 

-Ewokdude

[MCLASS111]

We couldn't agree more with your description of the ceiling, Sheephugs!

We thought we were the only ones!

Not being able to sleep on your vacation, it takes a toll.

I hate to post about it for fear of being "negative".

Add to the creaking ceiling and walls the scraping of the Lido lounge chairs overhead.........:eek: