Eurodam 11/29-12/6

[tennispretzel]

A quick mini-review as this was only our second HAL cruise and we are far from expert. Also, a "real" review would be too boring...we did almost nothing except relax and lay around and read, do crossword puzzles, etc. Trying to destress from our everyday lives!! The only ship things I did were Trivia one night which was fun and the gender game...both run by Shane and were fun. We also ate by ourselves each night.

 

Background: Late 50s, seven cruises prior(Celebrity, Carnival, NCL, Regent), second on HAL. Not party-ers, dancers. More interested in going to shows and the casino, beaches. Did no shore excursions...only want to go to beaches as it is cold here in the great northeast and good beach time is a luxury for us.

 

Embarkation: Took a CCer's advice and showed up around 1 and there was a short line but it moved quickly and we were in the Lido by 1:30. Was very disappointed that there were no tables inside...as in NOT ONE available. We sat at the aft pool area and that was fine. Rooms ready by 2. The crowd in the LIDO scared me as I thought it could be like this all week...actually it was always crowded but, of course, never as bad as E day. There definitely is not enough room to pass between the buffet line and the tables on the rail. That is a serious flaw. That being said, we only ate there two other times. We mostly eat only breakfast and dinner, maybe snack in between. As we are "foodies" this review will probably be food-centric and bore some people!

 

Food: We always felt we couldn't take advantage of all the opportunities to enjoy all the food offerings as we were just not all that hungry. My DH talked about a burger and fries all week and somehow never got to the pool grill but we did have fabulous burgers with fried onions at HMC bbq. They had just been cooked and hadn't sat around.

Our first big right thing that we did was go to Canneletto the first night as we couldn't get a table for two in the main DR either Sat or Sun when we tried immediately upon embarking that day. It was explained to us that they were all taken and that we could just show up since they reserve a good amount of them. We opted for the free Italian place and were very happy with the Osso Buco and the Veal Milanese. The minestrone, while full of wonderful things, was way too salty. We didn't have dessert.

As a rule, we found the veggies lacking everywhere we went all week. Just not creative. Usually, it was carrots, broccoi, asparagus in a mix plain. Unless we missed something??

 

HAL has the best danish at sea and we ordered them to our room whenever we had room service in the mornings. They were incredible!!

Lunch in the lido Sunday I had tilapia and a gorgeous salad from their beautiful salad bar. Good cookies. Later we snacked on good pizza from Slice at the Aft pool.

Our habit each night was to go to a different bar before dinner and have their appetizers and try a new drink and listen to music. This is one of our favorite things to do when we cruise as we almost never do it at home and usually just have a glass of beer or wine before dinner. The first night I think I had a Sex in the City cosmo--yummy; other nights a "New Fashion"(not an old fashioned")yes, Lemon Drop Glacier...yummy; Cucumber Lime Martini(a big NO from me on that one!)Other good foods we ate: Fettucine with seafood; chocolate souffle(!!). Love the rib eye in the Pinnacle, tri-flavored creme brulee, good crab cake, mushroom soup, choc volcano cake. On Tuesday night I had some good cran-orange chicken in the DR but some BAD apple pie.

TAMARIND was another story in itself: Wonderful service, beautiful setting, forget to get to the Silk Den first...darn, but it was a beautiful room when we peeked in. The aroma alone from the Chicken Pho soup was amazing, the Szechaun Shrimp was perfect for me and not too spicy and the Fortune cookie fun and yummy. DH loved his egg roll assortment and banana bread pudding but not the duck.(but he is not a fan anyway, just being sporting and trying new things!)

One night we ate in the Lido and had tablecloths although we went through the buffet line. The Chicken Marsala and Sea Bass were both pleasing and we could eat without a lot of fuss and time spent.

Other highlights, food wise, were made to order omelets and waffles from the Lido.

 

Cruising: On Sunday, the first sea day, my DH did not feel well. It might have been the rough seas and the fact that the Captain announced there were gusts of 50mph. Or maybe he was tired and just unwinding but it passed quickly. He was not truly seasick.

 

Shows: The Justin Miller show was so unique and the guy so engaging and talented. I'd give it a 10! We enjoyed the two production shows. The magician was good too but we didn't stay for the whole show. The intimate Broadway cabaret show in the Queen's Lounge was lovely except I had a lot of sun and was falling asleep...that was a disappointment as they had nice voices and it was a well put together show. We could always find a good seat in the show lounge and thought the seats were comfortable. Never ordered a drink so didn't use the "drink thingies" on the armrests(too high)but the thingies looked not deep enough to us. Hope all that technical jargon didn't throw ya'!

 

Ports: Grand Turk we hired a taxi and did a one hour plus look at the island. Sad that they had so much destruction from the hurricane. The cruise ship center was amazing to us 1)that it was free 2)that is was the perfect spot for fun and relaxation on the first full day of a cruise. You could sit by beach or pool and there was good bar service, etc. We are glad we supported the local economy a little by taking a tour, though. Struck as too small to go back to for a land vacation for our likes.

 

Tortola: We loved the Baths on Virgin Gorda. Don't take the ship's tour. You can easily do it on your own by taking the ferry. We got there sooner than the ship's tour and had the beach to ourselves for a time. Thank you lavasurfer for your good info on this one.

 

HMC: gorgeous. We took about a one mile hike around the island then walked the beach. Had rented a clamshell but it was so overcast and cool that day that we didn't really need it. The water quite cool. The tenders were easy and it was a perfect day except we needed more sun.

 

St. Thomas: Have been there numerous times and don't shop. Went to St. John last time to our favorite Trunk Bay but just too lazy this time to spend all that time getting there...and $62. in transportation fees!...so we took a cab to Emerald Beach which is at a Best Western Hotel. It was lovely and serene. Bathrooms. Chairs(to rent=$7) and Tiki huts for shade. Close to Crown pier where the ship docked and a $4 taxi fare ea way/person.

 

LOVES: Almost soundproof rooms, beautiful linens and bed. Nice soft pillows, neutral colors and no garish decor on this ship. It is BEAUTIFUL!! Our big thrill was checking out all the chairs and their gorgeous fabrics/upholstery everywhere. Seriously, attention to detail was paid and it's gorgeous. Only bad chair we found was what we dubbed the "Star War" modern, weird chairs in the Pinnacle bar. Never saw anyone in there either.

 

Loved the wonderful service. Lots of smiling staff this week. Although we met our steward on the first day and he asked if there was ever anything we needed to know about the room, we never spoke with him or really saw him again except for a wave down the hall a couple of times. This is not a complaint. We were never bothered by a request to make up the room when we were in there nor did we ever SEE him anywhere near our room! It always seemed to be made up nicely, however. Dust was a bit of a problem. I'm sure the top of the headboard and behind the TV hadn't been dusted since July but everything else seemed fine. There was always ice, always new glasses. There was a wine opener in the room. More than enough storage. The sofa was strangely uncomfortable and we found the throw pillows, while lovely, to be totally in the way for such a small room.

Loved that we had an opportunity to do On Deck for the Cure, a non-competitive 5K walk on the second sea day. We applaud HAL for this initiative...they have raised lots of $$ for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer.

Loved the chairs on the Promenade Deck in the sun, cushioned, comfortable, available...what more could a girl want??

All loungers on HMC.(Last cruise on NCL there were many sand chairs)

Loved the civility of the crowd although older. Loved the elegance of the ship, loved seeing people dressed for formal night although it was a chore for us by the second one as we had become TOTALLY lazy! Loved the trays in the Lido; drinks $2-3 less than last line we were on! The best private island. Loved we could carry on two bottles of wine. Room service continental breakfast always on time. Furniture on our balcony was very comfortable and sturdy.(wicker looking)

 

What didn't we like: Lido difficult to navigate. loved formal night/hated formal night...what can I say, we got lazy! Casino very small and lots of smoke. Not enough chairs at the pool OR is it the people who save chairs? We really didn't love the DR food or maybe we hit it on the wrong nights? We only ate there three times. I can't say it was bad just not especially creative. It was always hot though, which I appreciate.

The other bad thing and it's totally MY fault was that I booked a room on the fifth floor with a balcony which overlooked the lifeboats. I had no remembrance of how big and ugly they are!! This was upsetting to me as I was mad at myself and we had that view all week.

We really are pretty easy to please however and would sail HAL again in a heartbeat and on the Eurodam too!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you had a wonderful cruise on the Eurodam like we did.

[Cristiano]

Thank you for the review and it seems we are having a lot more positive reviews about the Eurodam which is good to see!

With everything in life nothing is perfect and we all see things from a different perspective which is good otherwise it would be a very boring life!

One point that you made was the location of your cabin on deck 5 and the fact that you overlooked the lifeboats.

As we will be sailing on the Eurodam out of FLL on April 25th, we are on Deck 6 in an SS cabin and located over the life boats as such....we chose this location as frankly no SS cabin seems to be located other than in this mid ship section, even the SA cabins are located in this area.

We were told that this location is better with respect of ship motion rather than being further aft or forward.

I was wondering if you had any further thoughts regarding the effect that the lifeboats had on your cruise ......were they as we say here in the land downunder :"in your face" or only if you looked over the railing did you only see them then?

Perhaps others on these boards could also comment.

Once again thank you for the review and we are looking forward to our 28 day cruise on what seems to be a marvellous ship.

Cheers,

Cristiano.

[tennispretzel]

The lifeboats were "totally in our face" as you would say but I would think that going up to deck 6 where you will be, you would definitely need to look over the side to see them.

The other way to look at it is "wow, I was right on top of the lifeboats if there was ever a problem!"

I didn't let it ruin my good time....

[eh2zed]

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a good time on the Eurodam as we did.

[Boytjie]

Perhaps others on these boards could also comment.

 

Not a comment, but photos taken from the midships elevators on the Zuiderdam:

 

Deck 5

 

 

This looks like it could be Deck 6