Review- Eurodam March 15th

[VTcruisenut]

Good afternoon all! We are back in the cold northeast and missing the warm, sunny climate of the Caribbean! Here is my review of our recent cruise-

 

EURODAM Deck 6 cabin 6155 inside

 

Saturday, March 14th - after a fog in delay from Burlington Vt to JFK in NYC, we were able to line up a connecting flight and made it to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 a.m. on the 15th! If we hadn't made that flight we would have missed the cruise! We always fly a day early, but normally at 6:00 a.m.- this time our flight was 3:00p.m. and with the fog delay, that extra 9 hours could have made all the difference!

 

We booked a motel The Tropicana, in FLL and they held our room and it was just as we had found on Trip Advisor, a clean, retro motel that was a great choice for the night before a cruise. And only $63 per night! The next morning DH walked over to Winn Dixie and got us fresh fruit and pastries to have with coffee. We called the local Yellow Cab and found another guest at the motel was also on the Eurodam. his name was John, from San Diego. Tried to share the cab, but the driver said he couldn't take all the luggage. Said goodbye to John and was sure we would see him again on the Eurodam. We got to the Port about 10:30 as you all had advised- and we sailed right thru the check in process. Were given #2 for embarktion and sat and chatted with other passengers while waiting. They called the "S" boarding around 11:15 then the #1 and we boarded about 11:30 a.m. We were able to go right to our cabin and were met by Mas and Ayou our cabin stewards. We dropped off our carry-on and headed for the dining room!

 

Embarktion lunch in the Rembrandt was something we had never done before, but we totally enjoyed it! Since we boarded so early, it was great to relax and enjoy the ship before unpacking. We went back to the cabin and our luggage was already there! We attended the safety drill and were able to unpack before the sail away. We stood on the upper Aft deck and waved at you all on the web cam! They had a steel drum player on the Aft deck for sail away, that was enjoyable.

 

we went back to the cabin to freshen up for dinner and went to one of the bars for a pre-dinner drink. We had assigned seating, for 8:00 p.m. and were delighted to see the dining steward come down the hall dress in his traditional red uniform and pill box hat ringing the chimes for dinner. We were introduced to our dinner companions and we all got along so well, none of us changed tables. One mom/daughter duo did go to the Pinnacle one evening, but the rest of us met every night. The night we were in San Juan, they didn't have the late dining - they had a bar-b-que on the aft deck. We opted to attend the "As you wish" dining in the lower Rembrandt dining room. We were seated at a table for 6 and thoroughly enjoyed the company, but missed our new friends!

 

Day 1 - Sea Day glorious weather - DH attended the Microsoft Windows 8.1 workshops and the gallery tour and cooking demonstration. I opted for the Sea View pool deck, a good book and lots of interesting people. This was the first Formal Night and my DH birthday so we celebrated with a nice bottle of wine at dinner and the dining steward brought him a birthday cake and a couple at our table an anniversary cake, so there was enough for the entire table, Plus their regular dessert as well!

 

Day 2 - Grand Turk we didn't book any excursions- we opted to go to the beach to the right of the ship and found lounge chairs and enjoyed the extremely warm ocean, warm breezes and the sand. Lots of sand. Later we wandered up to the large swimming pool area around Margaritaville and loved it! The swim up bar, the flo-rider and the entertainment at Margaritaville. enjoyed lunch there, bought some souveniers and headed back to the ship. A great day!

 

Day 3 - After breakfast in the Rembrandt, DH said he would go to the cabin and pick up the shore bag I had packed.........my sciatia was acting up and he didn't want me walking more than I had to. He said he would meet me at the Main deck. Well, we got separated! He got swept up in the crowd and got off the ship without me and hunted the pier area 3 times before they finally let him get back on the ship and there I was waiting! He was hot and tired and my back ached. Our plan had been to find the Trolley and see San Juan, but by the time we got off (and there were 2 other ships in port) the Trolley was full every time. We ended up on one of those air conditioned bus tours that was $10 per person, and they looped around the city, dropped us off 3-4 places and we walked around and then back to the port. We decided to just get back on board, as we hadn't seen anything really interesting and everything we did see was so busy. In hind sight I would book a tour here to get out of the area and see some other sights. San Juan wasn't our favorite port.

 

Day 4- St. Thomas had room service this day and it was amazing. I always feel so decadent having room service! We then headed out for our shore excusrion which was the Legendary Kon Tikki Party boat. We had a ball! These people were fun, the barge wasn't over crowded and we got to the beach before 2 other catamarans so got loungers, etc. first. DH is always hungry and got an amazing burger at the local stand and a cold beer for about $9. He was shocked! we then had a great tour of the entire St. Thomas port/bay area and were able to see yaghts and the houses perched on the hillside etc.

 

Day 5 - At sea another relaxing day with more workshops, pool time etc. The only problem this day was there were some kids that hung by the Sea View Pool which is supposed to be adults only.

 

Day 6- Half Moon Cay - there are no words to describe how much I love HMC! the beach, the water, the island, the frozen drinks in the Tikki glasses...... Bar-b-Que was OK, there were two ships in port, so it was busy. They did oversell the island tour on the tram and we were the lucky ones that didn't get to go. But it is hard to have a bad day at Half Moon Cay! The new, larger tender boats make the trip back and forth so much easier!

 

Day 7- back in Fort Lauderdale and disembarking. The ship process went well, but the line for TSA about killed me! 2100 passengers and 3 TSA lines! My back and sciatica were killing me. It kind of felt like, "you had your fun, we have your money, now you are on your own" i know it isn't HAL's fault, but that part of the process needs improvement! We had plans for the day in FLL, but because of my back issues, we didn't really enjoy the day.

 

We hopped on the Water taxi and saw the elite and famous mansions on the canal, had lunch at a nice place and went back to the Tropicana.

 

Positive Points:

Service, Service Service, as always HAL delivers on customer service making everyone feel special. I can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate the staff on these cruises! Microsoft workshops- DH loved them and it kept him busy as he isn't a pool/sun person.

The Piano Bar player Greg was great- (when you could get in there!) the comedian vocalist was excellent! (the only show we stayed the whole way through for)

Beverages were exceptional and they were prompt when you ordered. Dining service was excellent and wine steward as well. Loved the decor of the ship, though she is showing some wear.

 

Dine In grill was very good, a bit of a wait, but good burgers and fries.

 

Things we felt needed improvement:

We were very disappointed in the entertainment line up for the week. We didn't feel the HAL singers and dancers were anywhere near as good as we had seen on previous cruises, but also didn't care for the shows they put on. DH didn't care for the BB Blues at all, either in the main stage or the Queen's Lounge. There was a band "The Band" some evenings in Queen's Lounge, but no vocalist......just music. We attended Karaoke the one evening they had it and the Queen's Lounge was full and people were enjoying it- but it lasted just an hour and they couldn't get the equipment to run correctly, called people up out of order and then ended it early. The Cruise Director seemed to be just going throught the motions from one activity to another and didn't seem to engage with the passengers as I had seen previously.

 

We applaud the HAL Corp for recycling, trying to cut down on laundry etc. but the place they really need to look at for waste is in their photography division. they take a huge amount of photos that people don't buy and it is such a waste! We bought one formal sheet of photos for $39.95. They either need to make the packages more affordable or come up with a Kiosk system so that passengers can view their photos and choose which ones they want printed. This would save time in searching for the photos and save photo paper, and processing.

 

Food- OMG the Lido was a nightmare! since we had cruised last time 4 years ago, they have done away with the trays. We went into the Lido one time then entire cruise, without the trays and people pushing and shoving, it was impossible to navigate through the stations, get your food, beverages and find a place to sit. Once was enough! We stopped and grabbed a snack once in awhile, but didn't try to eat there again. Most days we ate in the Rembrandt for breakfast and dinner. I was rather limited in dinner selections as there was a Jamaican Celebrity Chef on board that week and most of his dishes featured Cilantro or Jalepeno's, both of which I am alergic to. We found a good selection on the Rembrandt menu, but also feel that they have limited the selections and are offering more vegan, and ethinic selections then they used to. The second formal night was the Surf and Turf and it was one of the best meals all week! We found the desserts were beautiful, but basically lacked taste and flavor.

People swarmed the ice cream station every time it was open, for just this reason- the other desserts just didn't cut it.

 

We had a relaxing, wonderful week, explored the ship more than usual and didn't stress ourselves out with trying to do and see everything. The Eurodam is a beautiful ship. It was spring break, and there were about 125 kids on board, and I was surprised that the other passenger demographics were more in the 20-s, 30-s, and 40-s group. We did run into our buddy John, repeatedly throughout the cruise, and he was at our table at the Mariner lunch! Turns out he got his 4 star Mariner this cruise and it was his first one alone, as his wife of 60 years passed away this year. it was a bitter sweet lunch for sure!

 

Unfortunately, we are back home again, with post-cruise misery on one hand, but nice to be home on the other hand. We will cruise HAL again, but will be looking on the CC Boards to see if some changes are made as well.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Sorry that you had such a rough start getting to your cruise.

[Vict0riann]

Thanks for the report on your cruise. It is difficult to have a wonderful cruise end, isn't it?

[esimon]

We loved the blues band on the Noordam. Highlight of our trip

[Mtn2Sea]

Thanks for doing a review. Glad things got better after arriving in FLL! HAL isn't known for its entertainment and IMO it's continuing to decline. We've seen some good shows/performers in the main theatre but the so-so shows seem to be happening more often. On the positive side, that has made us check out other venues during the evening!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review, glad your cruise end good for you after a poor start.

[summersigh]

Greg - the piano bar guy - was great. We were lucky on our March 8th trip that, because folks complained about not getting in, they moved Greg up to the Crow's Nest the last 2 nights and not only was there room for everyone that wanted to attend but there was a dance floor up there and many couples opted to dance. :)

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[VTcruisenut]

Greg - the piano bar guy - was great. We were lucky on our March 8th trip that, because folks complained about not getting in, they moved Greg up to the Crow's Nest the last 2 nights and not only was there room for everyone that wanted to attend but there was a dance floor up there and many couples opted to dance. :)

 

I heard they did move him up to the Crow's Nest toward the end of the week, but we had other things planned. He was very good! Also, the night we were in the Piano Bar was St. Patrick's Day and they had a Pub Crawl going on and they hit the Piano Bar right after we found a seat and Greg came back from a break--- 30-35 slightly intoxicated patrons all at once!

[HealthyTouch101]

I was on the same time as summersigh. I very much enjoyed the Adagio Duo classical music and the one night at the BB Kings show. I loved the thermo-spa to relax physically and get away from the noise/crowds.

 

I am so sorry your back was such an issue VTCruiser! I have significant arthritis and injuries and recently saw a specialist for injections in my spine that have changed my life. Up until this, I used massage, stretching and exercise to keep my back/hip/leg numbness in line for decades. I have to say that the injections, as a last resort, literally saved my life, as I am very young--just 50 ;) and managing the pain has helped immensely. Perhaps you can find someone to help you find the care you need.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share.

[HealthyTouch101]

I always like reading reviews of all kinds and forgot to thank you for posting here.

 

One thing I noticed, on my first time on the Eurodam, was that I didn't care for the artwork. Most of it seemed like prints/copies or miniature ships. A few dramatic pieces like on the 11th floor by elevators -an original oil painting (I think that was where it was) and the items in the Silk Den, the large wooden carvings on the way to the Crow's Nest and the whimsical dioramas we passed on our way to the Queen's Lounge (I think). I just never felt I needed to explore every inch like I did on the Westerdam. A small thing, but I love the artifacts on the ships.

[kura]

We applaud the HAL Corp for recycling, trying to cut down on laundry etc. but the place they really need to look at for waste is in their photography division. they take a huge amount of photos that people don't buy and it is such a waste! We bought one formal sheet of photos for $39.95. They either need to make the packages more affordable or come up with a Kiosk system so that passengers can view their photos and choose which ones they want printed. This would save time in searching for the photos and save photo paper, and processing.

 

 

We have queried the waste of paper in the photo galleries and have discovered it is in fact recycled. At the end of each cruise the unsold photos are bundled up and sent to Kodak, where they are stripped down....removing the photo...and the photographic paper is then returned for reuse! We saw this happening on a recent cruise that was a back to back....we had prepurchased a small package on line, and had to make sure any photos we wanted were removed before the end of the first segment.

 

It is actually considerably cheaper to pre purchase a small package on line before the cruise.

We do agree though that digital is the way to go!

Enjoyed your review

Edited April 1, 2015 by kura

[Himself]

I enjoyed your review very much. Thank you for taking the time to write it. You wrote it so well.

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review. I'm sorry your back hurt so much.

[Cruizer Bill]

Thank you for your review. That is what brings us here, to share experiences.