Review of Eurodam collector's cruise/ B2B February 9-23 east/west Caribbean

[Thebes]

We're back. and yes we loved it and we would do it again. Here are some details, please forgive any spelling and or grammar mistakes. This rev was done fast as I have tons to do after leaving home for 17 days.

1- Pre- embarkation .. We flew Delta from home( Portland, OR). We decided to head to the airport 10 hours before our departure as the forecast predicted a snow storm in the evening- our scheduled departure was 11 PM. This is the first snow storm this winter. We normally have rain and temp of 40-50 with snow falling only on the higher elevations like mount hood where skiers go. We safely arrived on time into Atlanta and on to FLL. We stayed at ES on 17th ST. We arrived the day before in the am. We arrived at 10 am but we had to wait for a room looking east so we can see the ships. We ended up waiting till 2PM for our room on the 10 the floor facing east. We loved the room. We were able to see the Beautiful Eurodam parked. Yes, We had good binoculars. We were able to have breakfast twice and it was very good. We were impressed by the breakfast area and how elegant it was.

2- day of Embarkation/room/ food/ RT cabana/ hydropool reports. we decided to take a taxi and it was a great decision based on recommendation from members here on this forum. We brought 5 fine bottles of Pinot noir and Merlot from our willamette valley wineries here in Oregon. We arrived at 11 and we were in our room CA OV cat #10002 on the panorama deck # 10. We chose this room based on recommendations from surfergirle ( a member here on CC) and after searching the forum thoroughly. It was a great decision. Room was large. We hardly felt we're on a ship. I think it is around 176 sq foot right above the bridge. Big large OV window with a bridge view. We felt as if we're in the bridge with the captain :)

Muster drill went fine at 3:15. I had planned a nice wave for my friends, fam and CC friends but departure wasn't till 11 PM due to scheduled maintenance. It really didn't affect our arrival to the first port ( GT). Luggage arrived around 2 pm. We tipped the port person $10 for 2 bags and had a good eye contact and a handshake that I think helped somehow to get our luggage early without surprises.our room stewards ( Hendry& Anto) we're amazing. They came and introduced themselves and brought us ice right away. We found on our bed all specialty reservations for the first week ONLY. And we found our Stoli & Canadian club whiskey ready in the room. We asked for cranberry Juice And I made 2 cocktails for myself and my wife. At that time I knew our vacation has started. We bought some beverage cards on line before cruise and we found them. We also had 2 additional beverage cards from our TA and they were there too. We had lunch at the MDR And it was good. We went to check our retreat cabana and it was there :) we were greeted by the cabana boys ( Rodell& Brian). They brought us strawberry covered chocolates and champagne right away. It was a very nice gesture from them. We hung out in the cabana for a while. Had a nice conversation with other cabana guests who were from Alberta. I would say 40- 50% of the ship guests from CA and that is Canada not California :).

we then proceeded to the thermal suite&hydropool. Manager refused to refund us $100 as we paid $100 more than the price on embarkation day.after 6 pm we tried it and it was the greatest thing we did for our cruise. We had dinner at the Tamarind at 7:30. I chose the mint lamb and my DW chose the Penang curry. We shared both dishes. They were both excellent. Service excellent. And the general ambiance is beyond belief. Glad we booked it ( esp on embarkation day )

 

Food in the MDR was good except one time when the lamb chops were uncooked and bright red and cold. We went to formal nights on the first week and we ordered room service the second week and took a break from the formal attire. We used room service for breakfast a few times esp on port days. That is one great service, thanks to HAL. They even cooked us eggs Benedict & eggs Fritatta. Couldn't believe it. No mistakes made on our order. And it was delivered On time. We used this service for bkfst quite a bit.

 

We had one lunch from our TA at PG. And we loved the blue cheese crust steak from our state( OR). We also had a dinner and it was fabulous. Corkage fee $18 was paid from our Bev card for our Pinot noir bottle. Service was great and we enjoyed this dining experience. We also had one dinner at the Canaletto And it was ok with the sharing of sides he's concept. It was no problem for us as we always shared but I can see it a problem for others. We over heard cruisers complaining about this Italian idea :D

 

We used the unlimited laundry package which was worth every penny.

Day of disembarkation : we were rejected from using luggage direct. Anyone know why ? Or has anyone had this issue ? We flew united at 6 pm. My guess is that united cannot keep luggage for a longer than 3 hours before the flight and HAL maybe wanted to deliver it early in am. We managed ok without it. We were group green 3 and we left the vessel at 10:30 took a taxi to airport immediately and used the storage service for our luggage which was a great alternative for luggage direct. We then took a taxi to Las Olas and had a wonderful lunch at Briny's and then we took the water taxi everywhere. Lots beautiful homes and beautiful yachts.

 

Entertainment was fine by our standards. Piano bar with jeff Warren was great. It was always packed at the piano bar after 9. We also liked Amber& the HAL cats very much. Shows were conveniently performed at 7, 8:30, 10 which was great and nice to have when we wre trying to enjoy a happy hour at the silk den. We truly loved that bar. We thoroughly enjoyed the final night entertainment with dancing with the stars. The comedian Rod long was quite funny and was one of the judges as well in the grand finale of dancing with the stars.

We did buy 2x $100 FCD from the excursion consultant Monica whom we found out lives a mile from our house

 

. My only issues on this cruise and i did let the HD and the front office about them as they were very annoying :

1- my DW room key didn't work for at least 5 times and every time we needed to correct thin, we had to go stand in line at the front office. This really frustrated us.

2- HAL's computer system doesn't recognize collector cruisers. In many ways, it shows only first week only for cabana& hydropool reservations. I had to bring proof of payment to front office to resolve these issues. This wasn't cool and wasted our precious cruising time. I spoke to cabana boys about it whom in turn spoke to the beverage manager and I spoke to front office. It was very frustrating and finally the front office said "Do u have a proof you paid for 2 weeks" ? Same exact thing with hydropool. However specialty restaurants reservations & excursions arrived the second week for the second week.

3- I asked for a copy of my onboard acct by the third day and it had mistakes like charging the Bev cards from my TA. That needed to be removed from the debit column. I asked for it again the second week and it had mistakes again.

4 - luggage direct form was not even sent to us. Thank God to individuals here who spoke about this and discussed the possibility. So I went to front office and got it myself. We waited 3 days and the answer came back "no go ". We did ok without it however on disembarkation day as we used the airport service to store luggage for us. $6 per bag.

 

I finally wanted to thank all my CC fellows here ( KK , Kazu, s7s, jtl, cruisetrail, mamafami, innlady, surfergirle, shamoo, startwin, Joanie, Ruth )and many others that I didn't list here who provided lots answers to my endless questions pre cruise. I wouldn't know what I would do without your guidance and sincere help. Cruise critic HAL forum truly rocks.

I will do my best to come back later and discuss ports & excursions and sorry for this short review but I thought I better do it before time gets away from me and I lose track after going back to work. Chao :)

Btw : I will be happy to answer any questions you guys may have.

 

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Edited February 26, 2014 by Thebes

[madera1]

Welcome home from your cruise. Glad you had a great trip and looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

[cruisetrail]

I am glad to know you had a great cruise on the beautiful MS Eurodam!

[erewhon]

Great review, thank you.

[elsie60]

Hi! Sorry we didn't meet you on this cruise. We were on the last leg of your B2B. My understanding is that luggage direct has certain times for flights. It sounds like your flight may have been too late for LD. The biggest disadvantage for us was the early departure from the ship (7:30) and are flight wasn't until 12:45 so we were stuck at FLL for quite a while.

[POA1]

Thanks for the nice review!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to write and post a review of your Eurodam cruise. Sounds like you enjoyed it.:)

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[kazu]

Thanks for the review Thebes. sounds like you had a great time.

 

I am a bit perplexed that all of your pre-ordered purchases were not available on day one if this was a collectors' cruise. A B2B I could possibly understand, but a Collectors' I don't. It's a good thing you brought your receipts with you!

 

If you took pictures of your cabin and if you have time, hope you will send them in to pictures@halfacts.com for the halfacts website.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to share with us and welcome home.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home Thebes

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

Know all about problems with pre-booked items. It had happened to us many times.

And shipboard account -- had a problem on our last cruise -- got it corrected. When we got home and I checked my credit card -- sure enough -- same problem and we had to call HAL and get it straightened out - again.

[cbr663]

You are a risk taker going to the Tamarind the first night. That sets the bar quite high for the rest of the cruise. We found the food, and more importantly, the service in the Tamarind to be outstanding. I wish the rest of the ship provided the same service.

 

With so many people noting discrepancies with their accounts, it would seem to me that the online land based reservation system is not the same system used aboard the ships. It is truly amazing in 2014 that large corporations still maintain different systems that cannot speak to one another. Has me wondering whether to book on ship activities before we go or just wait until we board.

[hpf]

Thebes; Your room key may have not functioned because of a magnet if it was in a clutch evening bag. also a digital camera will sometimes erase the data from your room key if they are close to one another.

On our Amazon cruise my room key was erased both these way's a number of times. In my bag at dinner and around my neck while out and about taking photos. After 3 week's I finely learned, but then I'll likely forget on my next cruise. LOL

 

Helen

[Love the beach]

Thebes; Your room key may have not functioned because of a magnet if it was in a clutch evening bag. also a digital camera will sometimes erase the data from your room key if they are close to one another.

On our Amazon cruise my room key was erased both these way's a number of times. In my bag at dinner and around my neck while out and about taking photos. After 3 week's I finely learned, but then I'll likely forget on my next cruise. LOL

 

Helen

 

This also happens if it is close to a cell phone.

[sail7seas]

Welcome back, Thebes.

 

I was hoping you'd post some comments about your cruise.

You did everything possible to assure you had the best cruise possible and it's great that you, indeed, seem to have fully enjoyed.

 

Sorry to read about the front office glitches but you handled things well and got on with your good time.

 

Thanks for your review. We have done five cruises on Eurodam and really like that ship.

 

Now that you have some FCD's, what fun you'll have choosing your next cruise.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Was the BB King Blues Club on the ship when you were on. Hands down it was the best band we have experienced on a ship!!

[GeorgesGal]

Thebes, thanks for the nice review of the MS Eurodam. We will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam 3-23 for a collectors cruise, so I will make sure to bring all my receipts with me for prepaid items like wine package and Retreat Cabana for the two weeks.

 

Question: Did you get much use from your cabana on this cruise? I just love the Retreat, but wonder how much we will use it? We do have four sea days - yea! - and we have two ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel with 12 and 11 thousand ships' pax in port, so we might get an extra two days' use, come to think of it. In my mind, the cabanas are invaluable for folks who want guaranteed shade. This will be or third time using them on the NA.

 

I just wish they would let us use them for happy hour, bringing our drinks to our cabanas!

 

Donna

Edited February 26, 2014 by George'sGal
added text

[Thebes]

Hi! Sorry we didn't meet you on this cruise. We were on the last leg of your B2B. My understanding is that luggage direct has certain times for flights. It sounds like your flight may have been too late for LD. The biggest disadvantage for us was the early departure from the ship (7:30) and are flight wasn't until 12:45 so we were stuck at FLL for quite a while.

 

 

Yes. Sorry we didn't run into each other :(

You could have used luggage storage service at the airport ( $6 per bag) and took a taxi to town. We did that and we had a great time in the water taxi and las olas.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Thebes]

Thanks all to your nice comments. It is good to come home :)

No the blues king band wasn't there. I think they finished in dec.

 

 

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[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

[Thebes]

Thebes' date=' thanks for the nice review of the MS Eurodam. We will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam 3-23 for a collectors cruise, so I will make sure to bring all my receipts with me for prepaid items like wine package and Retreat Cabana for the two weeks.

 

 

 

Question: Did you get much use from your cabana on this cruise? I just love the Retreat, but wonder how much we will use it? We do have four sea days - yea! - and we have two ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel with 12 and 11 thousand ships' pax in port, so we might get an extra two days' use, come to think of it. In my mind, the cabanas are invaluable for folks who want guaranteed shade. This will be or third time using them on the NA.

 

 

 

I just wish they would let us use them for happy hour, bringing our drinks to our cabanas!

 

 

 

Donna[/quote']

 

 

Hi Donna,

Honestly, because it was our first cruise to the Caribbean and with all the ports&excur involved, I would say, we definitely used it on sea days but sporadically on port days as we left the ship in every port and we had an excursion in each port. problem is that they are fully booked and are highly desirable on sea days so if you don't book the package and buy them on the ship (provided you're lucky) , the savings are not much as they sell separately for $75 or $100 per day I believe. We had excellent cabana boys who were more than willing to go to the crows nest at happy hour and get us what we want. We never ask them but they offered. They treated us very good and we tipped them very good. One morning we showed up before breakfast so they offered sincerely to bring us breakfast so they did and we enjoyed our breakfast at the cabana.

 

 

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Edited February 27, 2014 by Thebes

[Thebes]

Thanks for the review Thebes. sounds like you had a great time.

 

 

 

I am a bit perplexed that all of your pre-ordered purchases were not available on day one if this was a collectors' cruise. A B2B I could possibly understand, but a Collectors' I don't. It's a good thing you brought your receipts with you!

 

 

 

If you took pictures of your cabin and if you have time, hope you will send them in to pictures@halfacts.com for the halfacts website.

 

 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to share with us and welcome home.

 

 

Thanks Jacqui. I know that what really frustrated us is that we booked under one conf # as a collectors but yet they treated us as if we were B2B with 2 diff booking conf #.

I was glad that I had a folder with printed emails and such. It sure did save us losing our cabana & hydropool reservations.

I did take 8 photos and will send em out to you.

 

 

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[Thebes]

Welcome back, Thebes.

 

 

 

I was hoping you'd post some comments about your cruise.

 

You did everything possible to assure you had the best cruise possible and it's great that you, indeed, seem to have fully enjoyed.

 

 

 

Sorry to read about the front office glitches but you handled things well and got on with your good time.

 

 

 

Thanks for your review. We have done five cruises on Eurodam and really like that ship.

 

 

 

Now that you have some FCD's, what fun you'll have choosing your next cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks S7S. We're considering the Noordam for 2015. Have posted a question about that :D

 

 

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