Just back from the Eurodam yesterday.....

[schoolinmy3]

HAL is a great cruise line.,...way above RCL or CARV. I had read dozens of reviews and they feel the same as I do. I was just on the Eurodam and it was by far the best cruise we have ever been on.....and we have been on over 20. I would recommend the Eurodam to everyone. I am taking another cruise on the Eurodam in 4 weeks and can't wait.

 

We were on the Eurodam in May and had great service. I hope to be able to go back to a cruise on the Eurodam or the NA soon as we enjoyed the Tamarind and the cabanas which the smaller ships on HAL don't have.

diane

[Divi]

We will be on the Eurodam in May and we had some concerns as this is the largest HAL ship we have been on. However, your review and the review of others is very reassuring and now I am only upset because our cruise is just 10 days.:(

By the way, Terigo, I didn't find your reply to Warmaters the least bit sarcastic and I was amazed at your restraint. Being known by my adult children as the "Queen of Sarcasm", I couldn't have pulled it off.:D

Deen

[Ivystone]

I just returned from the Eurodam a couple of weeks ago and had a fabulous time. All the employees we met were wonderful and everyone went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. My daughter loved Club Hal -- they do such an amazing job! The food was great but the Lido set-up could use some much-needed redesign and was my least favorite area. Our room stewards were so, so good! They were always there fixing up our room, offering suggestions, etc. and were just so friendly and helpful.

 

I think it's a shame that people have such different experiences, but I can see where WarmWaters is coming from. I had a similar bad experience on RCL's Adventure of the Seas ship and would probably never cruise that line again. This was my second HAL cruise and it was just as great as the first one. :)

[mechcc]

We regretfully got off the Eurodam as the OP was getting on and we loved the ship. That is not to say some of our experiences were not different. We ate in the Pinnacle 2 nights and had Anita as our server with Parmond helping her and they were great. We ate breakfast there a few days and Parmond would be just as good as at night. I do agree the Matri D was wonderful. When Anita was having trouble with transferring the beef to the cutting board on the La Cirque night, she mouthed to him "Help me" and he came right over and discreetly helped her out of a tight spot. And that incident was the only slip in Anita's service - not much of a slip in my book.

 

Now our cabin stewards - well, they certainly were not the best as I have posted in another thread. Are they overworked or did we get the short end of the stick? Or is a combination of both? Anyway, we were gifted with Tamarind, which turned out to be our favorite of all meals.

 

The complaint about Half Moon Cay's food is somewhat surprising. We had a Cabana with Butler's service and Anita (yep the same PG Anita) brought the included lunch along with some ribs from the BBQ. I really liked the ribs alot more than my steak.

 

We never ran into any crew with a bad attitude - even our cabin stewards smiled at us when they saw us.

 

Having been on 4 RCL, 4 CCL, and 3 HAL cruises - HAL is our favorite line. Different strokes for different folks.

[terigo]

By the way, Terigo, I didn't find your reply to Warmwaters the least bit sarcastic and I was amazed at your restraint. Being known by my adult children as the "Queen of Sarcasm", I couldn't have pulled it off.:D

Deen

 

Aha... so now we know who the REAL "Queen of Sarcasm" is... ;):D

[NYteacher]

This is from another thread on the subject....which answers you perfectly..

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=12

 

Terigo,

 

Perfect. Thank you so much. I am booked and my specific request sent in.

[terigo]

terigo,

 

I will hope to have the opportunity to use "shiznitz" in conversation during today, and await reaction.:D

 

Well, did you accomplish your mission? :D

[MovingForward]

Hi Terigo,

 

I enjoyed reading your review. I think I will get a Lido Cabana next time.

[DutchByAssociation]

Fantastic review and I could not agree more. Obviously I have some friends and connections on the ship, but I told them all at the end of the week that cruise or not, it was the best week of my life.

 

That ship and its crew are one incredibly well-oiled machine and upon coming back I extended my week on Nieuw Amsterdam this March into two weeks. Like you, I now have no idea how I'd manage without Tamarind. Even ate there twice which I hadn't planned on, but both times were with very good friends. The first was with friends from the ship, the second was with our entire group on the final night of the cruise.

 

It just bums me out that the Jewels of the Sea soup, sea bass and snapper don't make themselves each night for dinner here in my home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Observations instead of "normal" review... but ask away, if I didn't cover what you want to know.

 

1. Most chaos-free embarkation and disembarkation we have ever experienced.

 

2. Ship is beautiful and immaculate.

She is well-designed, and though we were told she was full, never felt crowded anywhere.

Happy to report no virus outbreaks.

 

3. Breakfast buffet much better than MDR breakfast. Scads of choices and you can actually get a poached egg that is not hard on the inside. I like having things made to order right there on the spot.

I can honestly say, having cruised many lines, HAL has the best breakfast menu of any other ship we have sailed.

 

4. What some people find incredible entertainment was not our idea of a thrill, but that is ok, we didn't go for the shows.

My husband and I got a kick out of the fact that one of our dogs does much better tricks than James Cielen's. Should we rent her out? :D:D

 

They need to not schedule so many fun activities at 9PM, when people who eat later, like us, cannot attend them.

 

5. Dealing with the front desk is like an Abbot and Costello "who's on first?" routine. Do they deliberately misunderstand every single thing you say?

 

6. Everyone else on that ship knocks themselves out to be accommodating.

Hardest working, friendliest staff in the cruise industry, from what we observed.

 

7. People who enjoy pool games and trivia can have all they want in the Sea View aft pool area. There is no need for anyone to miss Carnival atmosphere, if they like it. It can all be found there....

And I think that is a good thing... something for everyone.

 

8. The cooking classes and demonstrations are a lot of fun. Meeting the chefs for the various restaurants and party planner Jill... cool, indeed. Unfortunately for those sailing after us, Tino, the executive chef from the Tamarind left the ship to go home for an extended time at the end of our cruise....

We had our cooking lessons with him, and he was such a hoot!! (and a spectacular chef and teacher)

 

9. The screening room shows films that have just been released on DVD, so we saw a few that we hadn't seen yet, and that was a nice diversion.

Be aware they keep the room cold as a meat locker, and bring a hearing aid. (Hubby and I are late 50s and early 60s and never had hearing difficulties before!) They keep the sound fairly low, for some inexplicable reason.

 

10. Food is subjective, so this is our opinion only (DH and I were in complete agreement, however)

 

Main Dining room, food was excellent on formal nights (Second formal night was outstanding!) and pretty good on the regular nights.

Usually we expect to get dried-out small caribbean lobster on ships.

We got incredibly tender and flavorsome medium sized lobsters (we ordered more than one at the outset, assuming they would be small...they weren't)

The escargot appetizer was to die for. Do not miss second formal night dinner!

 

Desserts tend to be uninspired, however, if you happen to be a dessert person.

 

Tamarind... Excellent service, beautiful ambience, superb taste. Not to be missed.

Again, desserts, not so much, but we didn't care, since we were too full to eat much of it.

 

Pinnacle (on the last night, to avoid dancing waiters)....

 

The shrimp cocktail was fine, as was the onion soup.

The scalloped potatoes were excellent.

 

Everyone kept raving about the rib-eye, so we ordered that. Huh? There was no char on either my husband's nor mine, so the exterior was kind of gray. Considering they say they grill them at very high heats, i have no idea how you can accomplish no char, but they managed.

I much prefer my husband's efforts on the barbecue at home.

 

Our waiter was obsequious enough to give the appearance that he was a terrific server. However, he walked by our table 5 or 6 times never noticing we had run out of ice tea or that I stopped eating my steak after 5 bites.

However, the maitre d' was outstanding and zoomed in on my apparent disinterest in my dinner, and came over.

He subsequently offered me lobster instead, which I accepted, thanking him for noticing.

Interestingly enough, the lobster was the exact same size, amount, and taste as what we had the night before.... still, excellent, but didn't need to go to a specialty restaurant for it.

 

The raspberry cheesecake was great.

Not that we needed them, but our server forgot to bring us the little bonbons with our coffee.... indicative of the service in general there.

 

We will be back on the Eurodam, but the Pinnacle will not see us again. Not horrendous, certainly, but not the 5 star dining experience we anticipated.

 

We thought we would try the Canaletto, but everyone who had eaten there earlier (yes, we talk to everyone we meet, especially our fellow foodies at the cooking demonstrations :D) told us the food was not very good, so we got room service that night.... and it was wonderful.

 

11. We had a superior suite, which is merely just a category that gets you a bigger verandah, a double vanity with tons of storage space in the bathroom, and a bigger cabin overall than the regular verandah cabins.

It was lovely, with PLENTY of storage and closet space, and our cabin stewards kept it immaculate.

The lighting sucks, to be honest. It is plentiful, but not in the areas you need it most, like right in front of the closets and at the dressing area.

 

12. Smoking... Occasionally we would get a whiff of a person who was on the elevator and smelled like smoke. Once they left, they took the smell with em. Otherwise, not a problem.

 

13. Lido cabana, no matter what people who have obviously never rented one say, is the shiznitz. I need to say a lot about this aspect, since it MADE the cruise for us.

 

I knew things were going to be VERY cool on the first day (day of embarkation) when we walked over with our card from the cabin, and I immediately heard, "I'm Romeo and I will be one of your butlers for the week. This is Jayson, and he will be your other"

After that, we stopped thinking for the rest of the cruise, cos if we thought it, they brought it.... :D

 

The first day they showed us the cabana menu, and when I said, "I dunno, I think I will check out the buffet, I was immediately told to please sit down and they would bring me the entire menu for the Lido, and to pick whatever we wanted and they would bring it.

We never asked them to do that again... at 11:30 every day, a Lido lunch menu was brought and they asked us what we wanted, and when we wanted them to serve it.

 

We brought our own Diet Pepsi on board. If one of them saw me coming with a can in hand, by the time I got to the cabana (took me about 1 minute) he was placing a full glass of ice with a straw in it, on the table.

 

It says they are available from 9 to 5, but we invariably got there early, since we finish breakfast fairly early.

Romeo was always out there, doing other work in the pool area and we told him to ignore us till 9, we would just sit down and relax. He told us he was on duty for us whenever we got there, so not to worry, and would insist on getting us coffee and fresh OJ even at 8:30. There was no arguing with him.... :D

 

We had asked Romeo if they preferred to be tipped a little each day or if they would prefer one large tip at the end (which is how we prefer to handle things, but we didn't want them to think we were going to just enjoy all this special service without acknowledging it financially)

He told us they prefer to get it at the end, so that is what we did.

 

No ventilation? The breeze blew through constantly except for about an hour in San Juan, when it started to cloud up and they covered the dome so the lido area would not get rained on.... and even then, it would not classify as stuffy.... the a/c from the doors runs under the open area in the back and floor ...and the doors open frequently enough so that there is always moving air.

 

Everyone could move quite easily in the walkway, and we never heard anyone griping about the "use of real estate" .

 

Interestingly, the Retreat cabanas were only half sold, but all the Lido cabanas were sold out in advance... which surprised me, since if I listened to the people who post here, I assumed nobody ever used the Lido ones, but everyone wanted the retreat. The exact opposite turned out to be true (on our cruise, which may be an unusual one...dunno)...

When different people we met and got friendly with said they wanted a cabana but they were sold out, we told them we knew the retreat was available.... none of them wanted to be "up there".

Ya might want to keep that in mind when you book in advance. The Lidos are not so easy to get anymore, apparently.

The word on the service must have leaked out :D

---------------------

 

We hadn't been on HAL since 1996, having cruised several other lines over the last 14 years. Happy to report that the things I wasn't crazy about many years ago (for example, the food used to be very bland, IMHO) have been improved upon and the things I loved have stayed the same (the excellent service and beautiful appointments).

 

The only "incident" we had was, going back at night and finding we could not get into our cabin.

After some miscommunication with the front desk, and several trips back and forth to get our keys reprogrammed and us telling them something was wrong with the lock because the steward's master key didn't work either, they finally figured out the locking mechanism battery broke.

So they sent us up to the bar, told us to order as much as we wanted to drink, on the house, until the locksmith could get things fixed.

My husband was a happy little clam for an hour, drinking his favorite cognac.

All I wanted to do was get out of my toe-crippling shoes and go to sleep, but they tried to make the situation better for us, so what more can you ask?

 

Bottom line? Wonderful trip.

We got exactly what we wanted out of this cruise. A pampering, relaxing getaway for a week. We don't go for the ports or the beach, and what we wanted to buy could be found readily right at Crown Bay.

 

Next short R&R will be Eurodam again or Nieuw Amsterdam. We don't want to go without the Tamarind or a cabana.....

[DutchByAssociation]

We regretfully got off the Eurodam as the OP was getting on and we loved the ship. That is not to say some of our experiences were not different. We ate in the Pinnacle 2 nights and had Anita as our server with Parmond helping her and they were great. We ate breakfast there a few days and Parmond would be just as good as at night. I do agree the Matri D was wonderful. When Anita was having trouble with transferring the beef to the cutting board on the La Cirque night, she mouthed to him "Help me" and he came right over and discreetly helped her out of a tight spot. And that incident was the only slip in Anita's service - not much of a slip in my book.

 

Now our cabin stewards - well, they certainly were not the best as I have posted in another thread. Are they overworked or did we get the short end of the stick? Or is a combination of both? Anyway, we were gifted with Tamarind, which turned out to be our favorite of all meals.

 

The complaint about Half Moon Cay's food is somewhat surprising. We had a Cabana with Butler's service and Anita (yep the same PG Anita) brought the included lunch along with some ribs from the BBQ. I really liked the ribs alot more than my steak.

 

We never ran into any crew with a bad attitude - even our cabin stewards smiled at us when they saw us.

 

Having been on 4 RCL, 4 CCL, and 3 HAL cruises - HAL is our favorite line. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Anita was fantastic. We had her for our server in Le Cirque and she was also one of the servers in the Grand Cabana on Half Moon Cay. Total delight to be around.

[terigo]

Fantastic review and I could not agree more. Obviously I have some friends and connections on the ship, but I told them all at the end of the week that cruise or not, it was the best week of my life.

 

That ship and its crew are one incredibly well-oiled machine and upon coming back I extended my week on Nieuw Amsterdam this March into two weeks. Like you, I now have no idea how I'd manage without Tamarind. Even ate there twice which I hadn't planned on, but both times were with very good friends. The first was with friends from the ship, the second was with our entire group on the final night of the cruise.

 

It just bums me out that the Jewels of the Sea soup, sea bass and snapper don't make themselves each night for dinner here in my home.

 

If anyone would know this, I am guessing you would.....

Have there been any plans to add the Tamarind to some of the other fleet ships during their refurbishment?

[SwingChickie]

ooh! 2 lido cabana questions for all of you:

 

1. if you have the same cabana stewards all week, can you give an estimate of how much one might tip them at the end of the week? we plan on tipping them as we order drinks etc., how much more than that should we plan to bring cash-wise for the end of the trip?

 

2. from some photos i've seen, it looks like the lido cabanas are canvas... can the fabric between 2 cabanas be pulled back to make one larger one? a couple we're traveling with reserved one as well, it'd be great if we could open them up so we can actually talk to one another... i e-mailed a contact i was given at HAL to ask, and have yet to hear back.

[diamondgirl54]

ooh! 2 lido cabana questions for all of you:

 

1. if you have the same cabana stewards all week, can you give an estimate of how much one might tip them at the end of the week? we plan on tipping them as we order drinks etc., how much more than that should we plan to bring cash-wise for the end of the trip?

 

2. from some photos i've seen, it looks like the lido cabanas are canvas... can the fabric between 2 cabanas be pulled back to make one larger one? a couple we're traveling with reserved one as well, it'd be great if we could open them up so we can actually talk to one another... i e-mailed a contact i was given at HAL to ask, and have yet to hear back.

Sure you could pull back the curtain between the 2 cabanas to open it up. You will have the same 2 cabana boys for the entire trip I know they liked to be tipped at the end on the cruise. What you tip is up to you....You will find the service is outstanding. Mary

[terigo]

ooh! 2 lido cabana questions for all of you:

 

1. if you have the same cabana stewards all week, can you give an estimate of how much one might tip them at the end of the week? we plan on tipping them as we order drinks etc., how much more than that should we plan to bring cash-wise for the end of the trip?

 

We tipped only at the end, since this was the preferred way to our stewards when we specifically asked.... There are separate bar waiters for drinks, and they add a 15% gratuity automatically to all drink orders.

We gave each of the stewards $60.00 on the last day (Friday), which was approximately $10.00 per day (the one week rental is really 6 1/2 days) I don't know if this is high or low for a tip, but it seemed right to us. YMMV as to what you tip... they did a lot we didn't ask for... and more than we could have thought to ask for!

 

2. from some photos i've seen, it looks like the lido cabanas are canvas... can the fabric between 2 cabanas be pulled back to make one larger one? a couple we're traveling with reserved one as well, it'd be great if we could open them up so we can actually talk to one another... i e-mailed a contact i was given at HAL to ask, and have yet to hear back.

 

The top is canvas, but the sides are cloth...almost like sheets. You can definitely open them up between cabanas, as we got friendly with our cabana neighbors and did just that. The cabana stewards drew the sides back and secured them

[jplewis]

I understand you make reservation for the Italian Rest but can someone tell me if the seating is for your party or do you join others at larger tables?

Thanks

[RuthC]

Seating is just for your party in Canaletto, the Pinnacle, and Tamarind.

It's only in open seating in the dining room, and tables in the Lido, that sharing a table is the norm.

[jplewis]

RuthC, thanks for info. I have one more (at least for now) question. I don't think we'll have a formal meet and greet on our cruise but if a small group would like to meet what would be a good location?

[RuthC]

I don't think we'll have a formal meet and greet on our cruise but if a small group would like to meet what would be a good location?

I guess to some extent that kind of depends on how small/large your group is.

I once met with a small group of about 6-7. We agreed on a spot in the Crows Nest where we would fit in, even if there were an activity going on. There's also usually lots of room in the Explorers Lounge during the day. Both of these places have windows, so there's a view.

A slightly larger group could request use of the Piano Lounge. It's closed off from other areas, so is private, yet close to a bar (should anyone want a drink), yet there's plenty of room to sit and chat in smaller groups.

If you want to meet in the great outdoors, again depending on how many people, there's tables and chairs by the Lido Bar. Even the Ocean Bar, especially starboard side, is fairly quiet during the day, and has plenty of room to meet.

 

Hope this helps.