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inaugural sailing to Alaska on Eurodam was... different

jujuyu211

By jujuyu211,
in Holland America Line

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jujuyu211

jujuyu211

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

 

I just got off the Eurodam for her inaugural sailing to Alaska on April 29, 2017. I've sailed HAL and visited Alaska in May before so I'm not new to either but this cruise seemed a little... off. I cannot quite pinpoint it yet but both my partner and I thought that it was different than the other times we cruised. Service was good but not as exceptional as we remember HAL staff to be. Food in the dining room was good but nothing to write home about and most dishes were forgettable. I remember HAL having delicious food that I would salivate over. Seas were rough and weather seemed overcast (maybe that was it?). Activities didn't seem as enticing this time around either.

 

Full review coming soon and I also collected all the daily schedules so I will scan those as well. We still had a great time and enjoyed our vacation. Just wanted to drop a thought and see if others who were on this sailing felt the same way. :confused:

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RuthC

RuthC

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Posted

Weather is out of HAL's control, and in Alaska is always a crapshoot. So, let's skip over that part. Although I am sorry you didn't have better weather.

But as far as your observations about the Holland America experience, I have to think it's been a while since you sailed HAL. Most of us have lamented that in the last several years HAL is just not what she used to be.

Service is still warm and attentive, but since there are fewer people to provide that service, it is less than it was.

Food has definitely gone downhill. Cheaper cuts of meat, with an attempt to make them more palatable with all sorts of sauces and concoctions, is now the rule. Where I used to find two or three things to choose from I now have to resort to "always available" very often. Even the menu on Gala night sends me escaping to the Lido for better choices.

Fun activities during the day, and a variety of entertainment in the evening is gone. Now, daytime 'activities' are more of the income generating variety with games reduced to just Trivia, while evening entertainment is early and reduced. You can't even find a bar with music and dancing before the late dinner seating easily. Even the evening 'fun & games' activities are held during dinner time if held at all.

 

I am looking forward to your full review, though.

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mllewis48

mllewis48

Posted
Posted
Hi all,

 

 

 

I just got off the Eurodam for her inaugural sailing to Alaska on April 29, 2017. I've sailed HAL and visited Alaska in May before so I'm not new to either but this cruise seemed a little... off. I cannot quite pinpoint it yet but both my partner and I thought that it was different than the other times we cruised. Service was good but not as exceptional as we remember HAL staff to be. Food in the dining room was good but nothing to write home about and most dishes were forgettable. I remember HAL having delicious food that I would salivate over. Seas were rough and weather seemed overcast (maybe that was it?). Activities didn't seem as enticing this time around either.

 

 

 

Full review coming soon and I also collected all the daily schedules so I will scan those as well. We still had a great time and enjoyed our vacation. Just wanted to drop a thought and see if others who were on this sailing felt the same way. :confused:

 

 

 

Have to agree with your observations as we disembarked when you embarked in Seattle. We enjoyed our 21 days but as we have observed for recent years things they are a changing to put it mild. We enjoyed dinner one evening with a ships officer and we expressed our concerns, what good it may do is yet to be seen? I also expressed my concerns in my post cruise survey and received a nice "form letter" response [emoji35]

 

Looking forward to your entire review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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kcmachinist

kcmachinist

Posted
Posted

I too am looking forward to this as I was originally scheduled for this sailing but had something come up last minute, we sail this Saturday, 5/13 instead.

 

I have been watching cc's review section for any new posts and nothing yet, so your review will be welcome.

 

Incidentally, it has been 8 years since I was last on Hal, the Zaandam, so I'm wondering how noticeable the changes will be to me too.

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Old As Dirt Mom

Old As Dirt Mom

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hi all,

 

I just got off the Eurodam for her inaugural sailing to Alaska on April 29, 2017. I've sailed HAL and visited Alaska in May before so I'm not new to either but this cruise seemed a little... off. I cannot quite pinpoint it yet but both my partner and I thought that it was different than the other times we cruised. Service was good but not as exceptional as we remember HAL staff to be. Food in the dining room was good but nothing to write home about and most dishes were forgettable. I remember HAL having delicious food that I would salivate over. Seas were rough and weather seemed overcast (maybe that was it?). Activities didn't seem as enticing this time around either.

 

Full review coming soon and I also collected all the daily schedules so I will scan those as well. We still had a great time and enjoyed our vacation. Just wanted to drop a thought and see if others who were on this sailing felt the same way. :confused:

 

Your itinerary was indeed "off", due to bad weather the week you were in Alaska. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it you were unable to dock in Sitka; however, you did a full day in Ketchikan, and a full day in Victoria. You also came back south via the inside (to the east) of Vancouver Island, a more scenic (and calmer) route. So the itinerary you booked is not the itinerary you experienced.

 

The crew had just finished their Caribbean season, with a repo through the Panama Canal and up the west coast. Many were probably just beginning their new contracts, as there is usually a significant crew change between cruise seasons. So it takes a little while for the new service and menu rhythms to be established. I'm not intending to downplay or negate your sensation of things being "different", only to guess what might have contributed to it.

 

I also await the scanned daily programs with interest, thank you. Appreciate you taking the time to come here and report on your cruise experience.

Edited by Old As Dirt Mom
I can't write!
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jujuyu211

jujuyu211

Posted
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Posted

Thanks for all the replies. It's only been a year and a half since our last HAL cruise but I guess a lot can change in that time. Yes you're all correct, we have some very informed members here!! It's true that it's very early in the season, weather was overcast and rainy, seas were rough, and we missed Sitka due to storms and high waves. All of this was out of HAL's control, of course. I am trying to be objective in my reflections but I am sure some of my feelings are undoubtedly affected from those factors. A lot of people got seasick on the ship, which may have changed the overall mood too. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves and won't be slowing down on cruising any time soon!

 

As expected, work and life really picks up after vacation. House is a mess and loads of laundry but that will have to wait... I saw a few of you will be departing soon so I've scanned the dailies and included them here. Some of them are split into two because the files were too large (hope this works).

 

I sure hope I find the time to write the review soon... now that I am getting so many responses, I feel like I've committed to it. The pressure :')

April 29 2017 daily.pdf

April 30 2017 daily.pdf

May 1 2017 cover.pdf

May 1 2017 schedule.pdf

May 2 2017 cover.pdf

May 2 2017 schedule.pdf

May 3 2017 daily.pdf

May 4 2017 cover.pdf

May 4 2017 schedule.pdf

May 5 2017 daily.pdf

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kcmachinist

kcmachinist

Posted
Posted

Thank you so much for the sneak preview and no pressure whatsoever, I am sure everybody understands the post cruise transition or maybe funk that occurs, I will go through it soon enough so I feel your pain.

 

The daily program looks pretty nice, I haven't checked out all of them yet but I did see they no longer refer to the gay/lesbian meeting as FOD, some like it, some don't, and I'm in the latter group, so thank you HAL!

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cavecreekguy

cavecreekguy

Posted
Posted
Thank you so much for the sneak preview and no pressure whatsoever, I am sure everybody understands the post cruise transition or maybe funk that occurs, I will go through it soon enough so I feel your pain.

 

The daily program looks pretty nice, I haven't checked out all of them yet but I did see they no longer refer to the gay/lesbian meeting as FOD, some like it, some don't, and I'm in the latter group, so thank you HAL!

 

I've been cruising HAL since 2010 and I've never seen them refer to the meet ups as FOD. I just hope someone shows up.

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OlsSalt

OlsSalt

Posted
Posted

When weather is rough and passengers are feeling down, can you imagine what it must be like for the crew too - they can get sea sick too. But still have to carry on. Probably pumped up to the gills with Bonine 24/7, which means they are not operating on all cylinders either.

 

Sounds like a lot of things just did not click this time. Sorry it did not work, because it was your planned vacation. Have had other reports also about this cruise and the weather.

 

When I hit weather like that I keep thinking of Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook or even those going three months by ship to India from England in the bad old days. How did they ever to it. Captain Bligh's set asail in the tiny open boat after being cast adrift by the Bounty mutineers for six long weeks ...well, yes anything is still better than that.

 

High Seas Tea in bed, thank you very much.

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MVPinBoynton Great Review Rare

MVPinBoynton

Posted
Posted
Weather is out of HAL's control, and in Alaska is always a crapshoot. So, let's skip over that part. Although I am sorry you didn't have better weather.

But as far as your observations about the Holland America experience, I have to think it's been a while since you sailed HAL. Most of us have lamented that in the last several years HAL is just not what she used to be.

Service is still warm and attentive, but since there are fewer people to provide that service, it is less than it was.

Food has definitely gone downhill. Cheaper cuts of meat, with an attempt to make them more palatable with all sorts of sauces and concoctions, is now the rule. Where I used to find two or three things to choose from I now have to resort to "always available" very often. Even the menu on Gala night sends me escaping to the Lido for better choices.

Fun activities during the day, and a variety of entertainment in the evening is gone. Now, daytime 'activities' are more of the income generating variety with games reduced to just Trivia, while evening entertainment is early and reduced. You can't even find a bar with music and dancing before the late dinner seating easily. Even the evening 'fun & games' activities are held during dinner time if held at all.

 

I am looking forward to your full review, though.

 

As I was reading your post, it sounded just like what we have experienced with Celebrity. I guess most of the lines are using similar cost saving/revenue increasing strategies. I am always amazed at why they put some of the best activities during dinner time. So sorry to see that HAL does the same thing. I am still looking forward to enjoying another HAL cruise.

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Hsmama

Hsmama

Posted
Posted

we sailed on the 30th,Oosterdam, not sure if it was your ship we saw off and on over our week..... I know I had heard onboard that the ship ahead of us(maybe yours) had to skip Sitka due to that storm,we were in Glacier Bay (instead of Hubbard) that day,and the weather changed about every 5 minutes but it was fierce.(we stopped in Sitka the next day,and the locals had some crazy weather stories from the previous day) as a first time cruiser,I have no comparison, except I loved it all. I guess with cruises daily weather really does matter.... I was glad we diverted from more open ocean to Glacier Bay,I wouldn't want to experience higher seas.....

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POA1 "Live from...." Rare

POA1

Posted
Posted
Wow thanks for scanning and posting! I see they're no longer called "On Location"

The Eurodam had the new daily program format last year. It uses less paper, but we really miss the tear off sheet with the daily activities. Despite the fact that we're absolutely technically savvy people, we always used that paper list. I know that you can get the activities list on your phone, but we never had to worry about charging the little piece of paper connecting to a LAN / Intranet to know what was going on.

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