Eurodam RETREAT questions

[kent4489]

Sailing next month and we have booked a family cabana for the week with another couple. I know about the ameneties that are included. But, I have a couple of questions...

 

Will we have the same "attendants" every day? What is the appropriate gratuity? ... is it better to tip upfront for the week, daily or at the end of the cruise? Also, do they take drink orders (other than those included)?

 

The gentleman of the other couple prefers soup for lunch. Is it possible to get that?

 

Is there a morning newspaper available (USA Today) and would the attendant have it there for us if we ask?

 

I have other questions, but am drawing a blank... will update later. Thanks for the input!

[FFMilesJunkie]

Sailing next month and we have booked a family cabana for the week with another couple. I know about the ameneties that are included. But, I have a couple of questions...

 

Will we have the same "attendants" every day? What is the appropriate gratuity? ... is it better to tip upfront for the week, daily or at the end of the cruise? Also, do they take drink orders (other than those included)?

 

The gentleman of the other couple prefers soup for lunch. Is it possible to get that?

 

Is there a morning newspaper available (USA Today) and would the attendant have it there for us if we ask?

 

I have other questions, but am drawing a blank... will update later. Thanks for the input!

 

We were on the Eurodam for the Jan 8 sailing and had the Retreat for the week. We even braved some of the chillier days to hang out up there. We had the same wonderful attendants the entire week. Because of the weather, the Retreat was not very crowded so we got some nice personalized service. I'm certain they still would have been great even if the Retreat was full.

 

Besides the comp Sparkling Wine, you can order any drinks you want and the Crow's Nest bar attendant will bring it to you. As far as lunch goes, we ordered off the Retreat menu which is basically the grill menu. I'm pretty sure you could order just about anything from the room service menu and receive it up there. If they had time, they would probably even go down and get something from the Lido for you. I have no idea about the paper, but they really bent over backwards for us so I wouldn't doubt if they could arrange it.

 

We had no idea what to tip. We had 2 cabanas (with another couple). We tipped $5 per day per couple and they seemed really happy with that. We tipped at the end of each day before heading back to the cabin.

[jtl513]

Is there a morning newspaper available (USA Today) and would the attendant have it there for us if we ask?

How would the USA Today get to the ship, especially on sea days? :confused:

 

There is a small (8 page) news summary printed on board which is placed in your mailbox by your steward, as well as handed out by a steward as you come off the elevators at either end of the Lido restaurant section. That is the NY Times for most people, but I've seen several types of foreign-language news summaries placed in mailboxes for non-US passengers.

[kent4489]

FFMiles, thank you for the great details. I think we'll enjoy our time there. We're traveling with an elderly couple and I think they'll be well cared for while we are off being more active. Our cabins are on that deck, so will be nice to just walk down the hall to the Retreat.

 

JTL, well, that is what I meant, a news summary. Our friends that we are assisting are in their 80s and the gentleman's daily habit is to spend a couple of hours with coffee and newspaper, so I was hoping there would be some sort of newspaper for him to sit and enjoy. We purposely booked the cabins on the Retreat deck so that he could easily go out and enjoy leisurely mornings in the cabana and have breakfast without the walk to the MDR or standing in line at the Lido. (He has limited mobility.) Thank you for the information on the news summary available.

[parrotfeathers]

I'll be on the Eurodam in November. Someone remind me about the Retreat thing. Is that those curtained off sections by the pool?

[jtl513]

I'll be on the Eurodam in November. Someone remind me about the Retreat thing. Is that those curtained off sections by the pool?

No. The Retreat is an area of cabanas and loungers up on deck 11, aft of the Crow's Nest. They cost more than the cabanas by the pool.

[Parrot57]

We were on the Eurodam Christmas cruise and had a retreat cabanna for a week. It looked as though it were full or nearly full. The service was fantastic!! It seemed the steward could not do enough for you. When he noticed I was reaching behind the lounge to lower the back, he rushed over to do it for me. You could get any drinks you wanted. I know you could get sandwiches but not sure about soup. We tipped at the end and they seemed very grateful.

[parrotfeathers]

No. The Retreat is an area of cabanas and loungers up on deck 11, aft of the Crow's Nest. They cost more than the cabanas by the pool.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I'm not much of a pool person so this sounds pretty nice. Is it sort of a place to just "get away from it all" and when you decide to use it the attendees just show up? Sorry I can't get a grip on the concept.

[parrotfeathers]

I did a eurodam retreat cabana search and found this:

http://www.signaturetravelnetwork.com/communication_center/files/Eurodam%20cabanas%202008%20eff%20%20071808.pdf

 

These are not actual photos but are a layout. All the cabanas have names. Now how do know which location/cabana would be the most desirable? It looks as if some are near the stairway. Would this mean it would be harder to relax?

[510picker]

My wife and I had a Retreat cabana for the week during our October cruise. We loved it and would do it again wihtout hesitation. They have a standard menu you can order from, but our attendants offered to get anything from the Lido that we wanted, but that was during lunch hours, so I'm not sure about breakfast. The link below has a few photos of our cabana as well as the rest of our cruise.

 

http://www.pbase.com/510picker/october_2009_cruise