seagarsmoker

Eurodam - 23-Nov-14 - Western Caribbean

Eurodam - 30-Nov-14 - Eastern Caribbean

Yeah!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. Appreciated.

 

We sailed the Eurodam the week after Thanksgiving and had a very different experience. We did not expect much since she is one of HAL 's largest ships -- it was only a boiler-plate 7 day cruise rather than an extended or Grand Voyage which is our normal venue -- and we were pleasantly surprised. Our dining room service was very good - never had an issue with our food -- even the wine steward, tho exceptionally busy, was very attentive.

 

We loved the Tamarind -- that venue might even cause us to choose the Eurodam again if we do another short cruise.

 

I guess the issue is one of inconsistency -- not all the parts of the machine function at the same level -- with a sprinkling of different expectations and perceptions thrown in.

Ditto your comments as we were on same cruise as you. We had great service and good food all week. Actually I was shocked at how good the buffet lunch was as in the past I usually had a burger and fries.

We were in 4180 (next door to 4182) last month on the Eurodam and no one can see down on your balcony. The balcony is bigger than a normal balcony. We have been on the Eurodam twice - aft cabin & suite and no vibration issue for us.

I just read Jeff's blog and he said he had to get off the ship in Lima to post his blog and the new internet service on the ship is in a sorry state. This may be the reason that Esri has not posted. I hope it is this and nothing else.

Terri

Thanks for the update. Like others have posted above, I was getting worried about her.

Thanks for the comments about Bimini Boatyard.

 

We were so disappointed with our last meal there, we likely would hesitate to return.

 

We had the same experience and likely will not return.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in November -- it was all dark at that time.

We did not walk across the street to look to see if there were any signs.

Ditto, same as when we were there in early December. Actually our windows from ES faced Chucks steak house and it is just closed, no sign of any thing going on to replace it in the near future.

I am been reading this thread with a great deal of interest. We are taking our third HAL cruise but have taken many more Celebrity cruises. We choose by itinerary not line usually. We spent 35 days on the Celebrity Solstice last winter, and I must say we were served cooked carrots at every dinner. It became a joke. I love raw carrots but don't bother with cooked ones. My test for our upcoming HAL cruise will be the variety of veggies served at dinner. I can test for cost cutting by knowing how many meals end up with cooked carrots. We had great fresh vegetables on our last HAL cruise but it was 1 1/2 years ago. I'd be interested in knowing if this is still true.

We had carrots (cooked) twice on the Eurodam for dinner earlier this month. Sadly, the veggies were lacking for us on this cruise (even compared to our cruise on HAL last year).

I will also be reading your blog. Thanks for the invite!

We had him on the Zaandam this March and he was fabulous. He was everywhere! We also loved him.

100% correct - he seemed like he was always one step ahead of wherever we were. Best CD we have ever experienced with HAL.

We too were on the Dec 1 cruise. We had a wonderful time and did not experience any fumes -- that does not mean that they were not present elsewhere.

 

We had a great ride in our very midships cabin but we did experience some truly surprising vibrations at lunch at the Tamirand on our way into San Juan. When we returned for dinner a day later we were seated elsewhere and though there was still some vibration in that location it was no longer alarming.

We smelt the fumes in the hallway walking back to our room one evening (Monday?), I called the front desk and that were already working on the situation. Then the next day we received a note in our room they were turning off the AC for a few hours to do some work. Then again on Saturday we received another letter, only this time the AC was off in the morning for 2 hours. I am glad they were able to fix the problem.

We sailed on the Eurodam December 1st and I will share with you there was a serious problem. A certain block of cabins had diesel smelling exhaust venting into their cabins. At first the front desk said it was fumes from another ship docked in San Juan. That ship left and the odor remained present. The next explanation was the emergency generator had a cover that fell off? and was venting exhaust into the port side cabins aft of the glass elevators on all levels I was told. You could smell it in the halls. It continued all evening and into the night. My friend slept on her verandah and propped the door open trying to air out the cabin. One lady called from the front desk and told us "it's not harmful to breathe the fumes". In the morning I heard some doctor was at the front desk telling them that "it was indeed harmful to breathe the fumes" We heard that the generator was being replaced during dry dock the following week. The odor was a problem for 2 days.

 

The rest of the cruise was wonderful. We had a great time!

 

We were on same cruise and above is 100% correct. The met with an engineer and they were replacing the generator - as in being pro-active as to not have the same problems carnival was having on some of the ships.

We never felt any vibration on this ship on either cruise.

We were also on the same cruise and had a wonderful time. This is our second cruise on the Eurodam and we still like her the best of the 'dam' ships.

The CD was excellent, as was the comedian.

She is in dry dock now to get a new generator installed.

I would also say the Eurodam, however we have been on the Westerdam twice and its other sister ship the NA (which we will never sit foot on again with its constant thump, thump, thump in the aft and dining room) and enjoy both ships very much. Besides comments above with optional additional dining, the Eurodam has a little different feel to it with design features we both like.

After discussing with my wife we decided to take the aft balcony to try something different as we've cruised midship before. Besides we're young and don't mind walking around.

 

Really looking forward to breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill now! Yea!

Congrats and hope you enjoy it.

The wrap around suites are wonderful! Simply my favorite cabins I have ever cruised on.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post these. You are right, see some new items and sad for me, I see a couple of items I will miss in 10 days.

We will be watching the 2 HAL ships leave port today!

Thanks for posting your wonderful story and the pictures! Someday we hope to get the same upgrade offer you received. :)

Thanks for the reminder, Chief. We're going to the ballet at Lincoln Center in NYC this afternoon, so unless the ships are as late as they were yesterday, we won't be back in time. I missed the tooting yesterday and wonder if there is a no tooting in the dark policy?

I watched the RCI Liberty leave port (last ship) and it 'tooted' several times. I have no idea what the story was with the Westerdam last night.

12/1 Eurodam Eastern Caribbean

I sailed on the Mardi Gras in 1989 with my ex. Worst ship and cruise I have ever experienced.

As mentioned above - no TV or phone in the cabin. No atrium to navagate by, just endless cabins everywhere.

In our 'outside' room, the toilet was under the shower head and the sink was in the hall next to the front door. When you took a shower, you had to put the TP on the bed or it would get soaked. When I put my suit jacket on for formal dinner, I had to do it on the hallway as my arms would hit one of the walls if I did it in the room. Coffee was served in paper cups from those old 10 gallon metal canisters they used from the 50's.

WOW! What a magnificent tour of the ship! We sail in less than 3 weeks--really looking forward now since seeing your photos! Just a quick question--was there any sort of sail away party/barbeque on deck when you sailed out of San Juan?

We had a sail away party, however no bbq that I am aware of.

We arrived at Old San Juan port (#3) about ten minutes early as we were suppose to get off the ship at noon. However the ship wasn't cleared upon arrival and we didn't get to leave until 12:45.

Ernie, thanks for the review, it was wonderful!

We also had an aft cabin (7134) and had the same problems you incurred with rocking and motion. We also had the same problem in the dining room (3rd deck) as we had an aft window table. Several evenings we would see or hear items falling from tables. Overall the worst thing we saw were people falling when the ship would roll, then suddenly 'jerk'.

No problem with the ice bucket during code red as it was replaced twice a day.

Turks has 'sand' damage. All of the snorkeling activities were canceled as the boats are all stuck as the sand shifted and they are now closed in at the dock (different location than the ship pier). We were told they will dredge the area and move the sand and should have the boats moved in the next few weeks.

I'll also write a review in the next few days with our personal experience, however I will say the food and service were actually better than the Westerdam cruise we were on last year.