Eurodam Review 12/27 Sailing

[bigwuhead]

I apologize for taking so long to get my review done, but I’m STILL unpacking! I took some notes to make sure I wouldn’t forget a few things. So here goes…

We sailed on the 12/27 Eurodam Southern Carribean. I shared a VB category on deck 6 with my cousin.

Room: Our room was very nice. The colors were calm and relaxing and not too over the top. Our Verandah was really great as well. I really enjoyed sitting out on it on sea days. Our stewards Made and Bing were great. Very friendly and did an amazing job cleaning up after two 20 something ladies! Each room has a flat screen tv and a dvd player, which you can also play cd’s on. You can rent DVD’s for a small fee in the Explorer’s lounge.

Tamarind: I’m IN LOVE! I had dinner there on the second night of our cruise. We had an awesome table and a wonderful waitress. The food is AMAZING! I had the wasabi encrusted filet (wasabi on the side) and it melted in my mouth. I could have eaten there every night. And wish I had eaten there again for dinner. I had lunch on the 1st there, and I wasn’t as impressed, but I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t like Dim Sum, or what.

Pinnacle: We had our family reunion lunch on the 2nd here. Food was OK. I wasn’t so impressed with the fixed menu we had and the dessert, chocolate brownie explosion or something like that was HORRIBLE. We are a family of chocolate lovers and none of us ate it.

Dining room: We had early seating fixed dining. Service was good, not great. We had a total of 6 tables and I had sat at almost all of them. Mostly the service was slow, but I still got everything I asked for and I didn’t feel like it took FOREVER, just not RIGHT away. The food was good. I was surprised that the lobster tail was pretty decent this year. They did have a baked Alaska night as well, which was nice. Also, I noticed A LOT of duck on the menu.

Explorer’s Lounge/Internet Time: The new explorer’s lounge is really nice. Lots of books and movies and computer. I bought 100 minutes for $55.00. I kicked myself when I saw on the last day it was discounted A LOT. I wish I had just waited, as it was I had minutes I never used. I never had a problem finding an open computer, and usually it was running fine. One day it was SUPER slow, but that is life on a boat.

Half Moon Cay: everything was great as usual! BBQ was great, weather was a little on the breezy side, and water was a little cooler, but still a wonderful day!

Aruba: I was not impressed. We had signed up to do a private ATV tour through Kini Kini. They picked us up no problem and we headed out to the start point. We were about 10 minutes into the trip when our guides ATV died, then my cousins died, then my aunt and uncles got a flat. All this in the pouring rain! We finally decided to just forget it. My aunt and uncle ended up continuing with the other group, and the 4 cousins turned back and got a full refund. It was not a great memory, but still we laughed about it. We ended up going to Senor Frogs that night. I had been to the one in Cancun and thought that was a ton of fun. This one was DEAD. And incredibly expensive. Once all on board was called, the ship waited around and we were treated to a HUGE fireworks display! We were up on the back deck at the time and it was truly an awesome show.

Curacao: I can’t wait to go back. We had an incredible New Year’s Eve here. A big group of us walked around town and then took cabs over to Mambo Beach. The weather was PERFECT. I spent the day under a palm tree. On the way back to the ship our cab driver showed us a street that was covered in firecracker casings. They love NYE there. It was just a beautiful country with great people and so nice. I will definitely try to get back there one day for a whole week.

Highlights ON ship were: The Silk Den, seeing Leo(bartender) in the Crows Nest and him remembering us all from last year! Ordering breakfast to the room.

I didn’t make it to any of the shows. The casino was decently nice, although I didn’t do nearly as well as usual! The Gym and spin classes were good as usual. Since this was a holiday sailing the boat was very VERY crowded. It was nice to have our verandah to escape to when it was so crowded at the pools.

I took the transfer from FLL airport to the Ship and didn’t plan on it until I was there and it was very smooth and worth the $17.00.

I am sure I am forgetting some things, and if anyone has any questions, let me know.

The only real negative I have is… the amount of rude people on the ship. I was appalled that people were so rude to the staff and also to fellow passengers. I’ve never seen anything like it before. People really need to learn that kindness gets you a lot farther in life.

Overall it was a great trip, seas were pretty smooth and I have no complaints, aside from the rudeness! Sadly this is most likely the last family trip, however, I’m considering booking a Bermuda cruise!

 

Cristina

[bigwuhead]

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZtW7du0csmT5I

 

Hopefully that link should work to the measly amount of pictures I took.

[CowPrincess]

Thanks for the review! I bet you will remember your ATV trip for a long time, and laugh about it regularly.

 

The only real negative I have is… the amount of rude people on the ship. I was appalled that people were so rude to the staff and also to fellow passengers. I’ve never seen anything like it before. People really need to learn that kindness gets you a lot farther in life.

 

We had a similar feeling about our last cruise -- I wonder if it is because of travelling over holidays, which tend to NEVER bring out the best in people.

 

I had the wasabi encrusted filet (wasabi on the side)

 

Oh this sounds wonderful! I'll have to find a recipe and try it.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

We also loved the Silk Den and Tamarind.

Sorry your Aruba tour turned out so bad -- but as you said-- you will have a good laugh about it for memories.

I had that chocolate brownie in the Pinnacle once for lunch years ago and it was horrible -- dried out!! I think if I would have thrown it towards a window -- the window would have broken.

[fmax]

Cristina, I'll just add my review to yours

 

 

Room: There was 3 of us in the room - my sister, a friend, and me. I slept in the pull out couch which was comfy. However, it's a good thing we were all pretty much on same schedule as otherwise it's hard to get past the pullout to get on to the verandah. Loved the bathroom, great water pressure.

 

Tamarind: we were there the same night at 7:30. Mind you, I probably was out of there by 7:45 as I was feeling seasick. One of my friend's had the wasabi steak and absolutely loved it as well.

 

Pinnacle: couldn't get dinner reservations at all when I tried when I got on board. I've heard mixed reviews about this restaurant. However, the head chef is hilarious. Saw a couple of cooking demonstrations he participated in.

 

Dining Room: we were told we would be on any time but on embarkation our card said late dining which is what we wanted. Our wait staff Fermindes and Chandra were really good and Chandra's smile would just light up the room. He was always happy. On the whole, service was pretty good.

 

Exploration Cafe: If we had more time aboard I probably would have spent more of it here. Nice space and I actually found a new J.D. Robb book there that I had started but forgot to bring with me so I checked it out.

 

Half Moon Cay: Had cabana with butler. In hindsight butler probably wasn't worth it especially as I had a horse riding excursion mid morning. However, I was cruising with friends who had never cruised before and this was an amazing start to a well-deserved vacation and set the tone for the week.

 

Aruba: As we disembarked there was someone selling bus tours - $25 each. It probably would have been cheaper just getting a taxi, but wasn't sure what there was all to see on the island and the bus worked out well and the driver was informative. Walked around the town a bit then back on board. I was on the Lido deck enjoying the BBQ so got a good view of the firworks.

 

Curacao - lazy start to the day then walked around the town and had a drink at one of the cafe's overlooking the water.

 

Shows: Saw the first and last night and not terrible impressed. However, the indonesian crew show had me in stitches. Well worth seeing if you get a chance... just for the Saman dance!!

 

Photos: although we did buy a few photos taken on formal night, overall I wasn't impressed with the service. Not once on disembarkation at ports did we see a photographer. No big deal for me as I hate getting my picture taken but my friends had never cruised before so it would have been nice for them to at least see some port pictures. Also, we never saw a photographer at our table in the dining room other than the 2nd formal night.

 

Talking of rude people, a couple had stepped back from the photo setup area and watched their daughter get an individual picture taken. This women suddenly says very loudly to the gentleman, are you going to move or just stand there!! No, excuse me, nothing. Obviously the gentleman would have stepped back if he had seen her in the first place.

 

Overall, a good cruise and my friends just loved it. They're definitely planning on sailing again which I'm glad about. I love cruising and was nervous that they wouldn't like it especially as one of them loves all-inclusive vacations.

[fmax]

Some pictures, unfortunately not in any particular order. When my friends give me theirs to add in, I'll reorganize.

 

http://gallery.me.com/fsmaxwell#100483

 

 

Frances

[fmax]

One thing I forgot to mention, my friend got the weekly pass for the thermal spa area, so one day I was able to get a day pass to go with her.

 

I'm actually not crazy about being in the water, and don't use the swimming pools etc. However, I found this to be uncrowded and relaxing, especially with the water being warm. Used the hydro pool first, then the eucalyptus (think it was) sauna and then the heated ceramic loungers. It was $40 for the pass.

 

Although I knew there was a movie theatre on board, I didn't actually come across it until half way into the cruise. It's just outside the shops, but I guess I always went in and out of the shops from the other side. Although, not large, it looked quite a nice area. A few of the movies I recall being shown were Dark Knight, Ghost Town, Mama Mia.

 

 

Frances

[hammybee]

Thank you both for sharing your perceptions. It sounds like a darn good cruise to me.

 

Unfortunately, rudeness is a fact of life, everywhere.

[omax]

Also was on this cruise, agree with the above, really a great vacation, no problems and yes there were some really rude people on board. Still prefer Royal

 

owenette