bfury

My wife and I were on a journeys cruise on Glory this past December out of New Orleans.   We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Convention Center, 1201 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans, LA (1-888-861-8331).

Hello, Please add us to your list.

11-Day Eastern Caribbean Wayfarer

Ship: Eurodam

Leaving:  8th February 2025  in and out of Ft. Lauderdale.   

Our first cruise on Holland American will be our 14th overall. 

On 3/22/2024 at 2:11 PM, Crew News said:

The Eurodam does not have a separate Club Orange dining room or dedicated seating area.  From what I have observed, Club Orange guests are seated immediately (ahead of others in line). Club Orange does not accept reservations as they have a limited clientele. On Pinnacle-class ships with a dedicated dining room, I have seen waits up to 15 minutes with guests given beepers.

 

The Tamarind Restaurant is open every evening with the exception of one evening each cruise dedicated to a pop-up Morimoto dining experience.

 

For current HAL menus use the link in the bottom right corner of my signature.

Thank you so much for the information you provided.  I went to your link and got a ton of information that I was interested in.  

10 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I’m not Haljo1953 but if you have anytime dining, there is no need to make dining reservations.

 

If you do want to reserve for a couple of nights, availability is only at certain times in the MDR (approximately 5:30 - 6:30 and after 8).  If you wanted to arrange this I would speak to the MDR asst / manager to reserve.

 

For specialty dining - you can do it on Naviagator or go to the Specialty Dining Podium IF you haven’t booked pre-cruise.

kazu thanks for the information.  Moving from on cruise line to another can be a bit tricky and if you can get as much info up front the better off you are.  Will be adding this info to our HAL folder.

17 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Re: Club Orange - depending on the cabin you booked the 'free' cabin upgrade is definitely worth looking into if you haven't already.  I booked the cheapest Oceanview cabin and was then able to use CO to upgrade to a larger Oceanview cabin that would have cost nearly 1,000 more if I had booked it originally.

Thanks for the information about the upgrade.  When we made the booking the first person we spoke to didn't mention an upgrade but we called back because we had some questions and the second person noticed we hadn't done an upgrade and took care of it for us. We went from a standard verandah to a spa level verandah. We are almost at the top of the ship.  Mainly got Club Orange for the priority embarkation. I have neuropathy in my feet, due to chemo treatment, and it is difficult to stand for long periods of time. Walking is fine, standing not so good. Your info was helpful.

19 hours ago, Crew News said:

I was aboard the Eurodam last month so just a few thought in addition to what has been provided above:

1.  No programming will appear on your stateroom TV until the safety video has been played.  There is approximately a two hour window, ending 30 minutes before sailing, for all passengers to report to their muster stations for small group briefings.  If you visit your muster station before the fluorescent vest-wearing guides are in place, there will be nobody to scan your stateroom keycard to validate your mandatory attendance. 

2.  Club Orange (CO) - CO guest will be escorted to "better" tables which could be in any location of the dining room.

3.  Dining - Free made-to-order pizza is a big plus as is the free Dive-in burgers.  My favorite dining venue is the Tamarind Restaurant.  i was not impressed with the Morimoto pop-up.

Thanks for your response.  The muster is a little different than on Carnival.  Carnival had the muster video but you could ignore it.  Thanks for the info about not showing up at the muster station before the guides are in place. Even though muster appears to be easy I sure don't one to do it more than once. 

With Club Orange do you make your reservations before hand or do you just show up to the MDR.  Seem as though if you just show up you could be in for a long wait.  

Love the free made-to-order pizza and the free Dive-in burgers.  We almost lived on pizza on our last cruise on Carnival.  Will have to take a closer look at the Tamarind Restaurant.  Trying to find current menus for all the different restaurants is difficult.  Can you tell me about the Italian restaurant. I understand it is only available on certain days.

Once again I appreciate you response.

21 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Welcome to HAL! Our most recent sailing Eurodam was 2023 April 29 - May 6 for opening season of Alaska. I may not hit all your points, but here's what I do know:

1) Turn your TV on as soon as you enter your cabin so it can muster ( it will play a safety video that must be watched before the TV will turn to any channel). You will have your card scanned at your muster station, no demonstration given and you do not need to take your life vest w/you, but each person in the cabin does have to get their card scanned.

2) Eurodam does not have a separate CO dining room: you will have additional entree choices on dinner menu, a separate line at GS and priority embarkation & tendering

3) We were on the 2nd cruise coming out of dry dock and found the ship to be in pretty good condition. We like the Eurodam because it is mid-size (for HAL) and easy to learn. Food is subjective, but we didn't have issues with anything we ordered (usually never do). Eurodam does not have Grand Dutch Cafe, so that limits your options a bit. That's one of my favorite food stops, so it hurts, lol. We love the candied bacon at Pinnacle Grill, but lunch there is a great bargain and nice treat. I think there are pictures in my review. HAL doesn't charge extra for Room Service like Carnival does, but there are a couple (seriously only a handful) items that have a surcharge; the chocolate chips cookies, which do not have a charge, are really good. There's nothing comparable to Teppanyaki, which we do miss as that's our favorite on Carnival. The art collection on the ship is very nice - take different routes so you can see more of it.

 

Happy to answer any other questions or send pictures if I have something you want to see. Safe travels- enjoy your cruise!

 

You can read the Live review I did here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2934932-live-review-eurodam-alaska-april-29-may-6-2023-seattle-roundtrip/?do=findComment&comment=65313568

HALjo1935:

Thank you so very much for your response.  The information you provided is very helpful.  We are looking forward to our cruise with HAL.  I did check out your link.  The pictures were fantastic. 

I was wonder about dining reservation. On Carnival you had to use the Carnival App to make all the dining reservation.  How is it handled on HAL.  Do you use their APP or do you have to go to a physical location to make the reservations. We have anytime dinning.

Thanks again.   

Will be sailing on HAL Eurodam next Feb 8.   This will be the first time on HAL but will be the 15 cruise with others on Carnival and Celebrity. I have a couple of questions.

1. Can someone tell me what the muster drill is like on HAL.  On Carnival you go to the muster station check in with your stateroom card and get a short demo on putting on the life vest.  Takes about 5 minutes.  Does HAL do the same.

2. We purchased Club Orange.  I have read all the documentation provided but was wonder if anyone had more insight to Club Orange.

3. Eurodam.  I have seen pictures of Eurodam and it looks like a nice ship.  Is there anyone that, has sailed her recently,  can give me a perspective of what the ship is really like and their opinion of where the best place is to eat on the ship.  As an example, we were on Carnival Glory for a 14 day cruise this past December.  The best places to eat, for me, was the stake house, the pizza place, the Blue Iguana (Mexican) and the Deli.  The MDR and Lido were bland if not bad( I was served raw chicken in the MDR).  Room service was decent but Carnival Cruise line now charges for every item on the room service menu.  Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any info.

From the National Hurricane Center web site.

ZCZC MIATWOAT ALL 
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM CCA

Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
800 AM EDT Wed May 13 2020

Corrected to remove double labels

For the North Atlantic...Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:

Special Tropical Weather Outlook issued to discuss the potential 
for subtropical development this weekend northeast of the 
Bahamas.

1. A broad area of low pressure is expected to develop late this 
week or early this weekend near or within a couple of hundred miles 
north of the Bahamas. Environmental conditions appear conducive for 
gradual development of this system, and a subtropical depression or 
storm is likely to form this weekend while it moves northeastward 
over the western Atlantic. The next Special Tropical Weather Outlook 
on this system will be issued by 9 PM EDT Wednesday, or earlier, if 
necessary.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...high...70 percent.

Forecaster Latto

Below is a link that has information on all the ships and their itineraries.  This gets updated a couple times a month.  You may be able to find something here.

https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1471

Thanks for posting your adventure.  When is your next cruise so we can follow you along on that one.