Eurodam Trip Report: 14 Day East/West Caribbean

[Scienceguy1300]

In the following review, I’ll be talking about my 14-day Caribbean cruise aboard the Ms. Eurodam, Holland America Line. But first, here is some background information about me. I am a 24-year-old male from the upper Midwest. I have a lot of traveling experience, but this was my first cruise.I’m a life science teacher (biology, ecology, environmental science, etc..), so much of what I did revolved around me learning even more information to share with my students. This trip was very much “go with the flow,” so there wasn’t a lot of planning involved. I decided what I was going to do the day of or the day before, but it turned out just fine! I will (try to) break up my long review with some pictures to provide you with a visual of what I am talking about, and to break up the text.

[Scienceguy1300]

Ms. Eurodam

Beautiful ship. There are several restaurants on board, and a lot of things to do. My only regret is booking an interior room. I tried to be cheap by booking an interior room, but I never had a sense of time the whole time I was in there. I told myself that I wouldn’t be in there much, so I could cheap out. There were several times I wish I had a room with a deck. There aren’t many quiet areas for reading on the ship, so a deck would have been perfect. Also, I love watching the sun rise/set. It would have made life easier if I had a window! But oh well, lesson learned. The benefit: there was no light, so it felt like I was sleeping in a cave.

Dining

I’m a cheap person, so I only ate at the Lido Market. There were I believe 3 other restaurants to choose from. As for beverage packages, I didn’t buy one. They are very expensive, and it would not have been worth it for me. I had two drinks a day at happy hour (second drink was $2), for a total of $12.00 a day. I found drinks to be cheap on shore, and that’s where I did most of my drinking! I also bought 1 mocha per day at Exploration Café, for a total of $4.00 per day. WAY cheaper than the beverage package.

Room Service

The room service was exceptional, the best I have ever had.The crew were all very nice and helpful. I wish this was more custom in America. As for the gratuity charge, World Travel Holdings covered mine (at$13.50 a day). I was so impressed with the service, that I tipped an additional$10.00 per day to my room steward, for a total of $140.0. A bit off-topic, but at the guest service desk, I overheard several guests complaining about the service charge, and some folks had it removed. I hope those people tipped separately, because this crew deserved it!

The in-room-dining was also great. So you know—it is FREE.The portions are huge, and served in a timely manner. The service is 24 hours aday, and includes appetizers, light meals, heavy meals, and desserts.

 

Internet

 

I didn’t purchase an internet plan, but they were available.I found them to be expensive. HAL charges by the minute, not by the amount ofdata used. Charges are: 1,000 minutes for $250, 500 minutes for $175, 250minutes for $100, and 100 minutes for $55.00. There were no unlimited options,sadly.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

I am enjoying reading about your cruise.

Just to let you know -- the main dining room is free besides the Lido for dinner.

When people remove the Hotel Service Charge and tip anyone cash, that tip must be turned in and divided among all crew members -- that is HAL's rule. They can not keep it or they will be fired. That is why we keep the Hotel Service Charge in place so that anyone we tip extra, we know that they can keep that tip.

[ger_77]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Eurodam; we've sailed on her 3 times and looking forward to another shortly. A question - was there a reason why you chose not to eat in the dining room? It's the same price as the Lido.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[easyboy]

Glad you appreciated, and rewarded, the hard work done by your steward. Nicely done!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Cruizer Bill]

Thanks much for your review and so glad to hear you had a good time!

A few opinions to share:

Inside Room - a lot of very experienced cruisers stay in the inside cabins. Find what you like. We usually get an ocean view cabin.

 

Quiet Areas - HAL is very good about having quiet area - try the Library, the Crows Nest of one of the bars during the daytime, they are all pretty quiet. HAL is far more quiet than the other cruise lines.

 

Room Stewards - yes they do a great job and deserve to be rewarded. I usually give them an additional $2 pre day and that is considered quite good. I have never heard of someone giving them an additional $10 per day.

 

Tipping - sorry to tell you this but there are people on all the cruise ships who have all their daily gratuities removed. They say the employees should be paid in full by their salary or that it is not their custom to tip people. I wish they just had a mandatory service charge to pay for this but we have had people here tell us that is not advisable for tax reasons.

 

Internet - yes, Internet on cruise ships is bad. We are hoping that technology will be developed and deployed that will give us fast internet at low prices. Some of us check the internet at every port using wifi.

 

Again, thanks for the review. Please stick around here and read what others' are doing and saying.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Keith

[Tiggipaws]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Eurodam, We did the West/East Caribbean and loved every minute

[ski ww]

Welcome to CC. I also find it hard to believe that people have the service charge removed. The crew work very hard, long hours & deserve it. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Allan

[lastlook]

I'm amazed when HAL passengers don't realize that the Main Dining Room is included in their fare and that it is not an extra charge! While conversing with a fellow passenger on our last HAL cruise (Alaska), that person told me that they had not been to the MDR since there was a charge for it. I was so surprised to hear them say that and urged them to give it a try since it was definitely not an extra charge. Could it be that a default to "Open Seating" (or whatever the correct term is) when you don't select a set dining time ("Early" or "Main") creates the confusion? We always choose "Main", and our ship cards are printed with that set dining time and our table assignment. What is printed on the ship cards of those who do not choose either the "Early" or "Main" set dining times?

[lastlook]

p.s. Thank you for taking the time to post your review and upcoming photos. I'm just really sorry that you did not realize that the Main Dining Room was an included dining option and not an extra charge. Hopefully this discussion will be helpful to others new to cruising with HAL.

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

I hope this is the first of many wonderful cruises.

[Lady Arwen]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and thank you for sharing your Eurodam review with us. Off to a great start and looking forward to reading more.

 

As others have pointed out, the Main Dining Room is also free of charge. Perhaps you knew this and just chose to eat in the Lido buffet. Lots of people do this because they don't care for the large dining room experience.

[RuthC]

I also find it hard to believe that people have the service charge removed.

I find it easy to believe people remove the HSC. Too many people on this board have said they do. Too many disagreements on that lengthy thread that seemed to go on forever indicated many people remove the charge. I have been at the Front Desk on that last day and heard people doing that very thing not to believe it.

 

What I cannot understand is the 'why' they remove the HSC, as I agree with you that the crew works very hard, doing a good job (which is more important), and deserves that HSC because they earn it.

[zounds]

Great start ! Thanks very much. We also enjoyed the Eurodam very much in Dec. Especially the entertainment.

[RedneckBob]

Thanks for your review. We did this cruise last November and it was great.

 

I don't think he thought it was a charge to eat at the MDR. There are three restaurants that charge for dinner; MDR not included

[lastlook]

I hope the OP will clarify when he posts again but this would not be the first time that I've read a review by someone who did not realize that the Main Dining Room was not an extra charge.

[Scienceguy1300]

I'm still trying to figure out how to upload pictures...... so stay tuned for that... also all of my copy and pasted words from Microsoft are getting stuck together so I will go back in and edit!

 

Half-Moon Cay,Bahamas

I was on the first tender boat off to Half-Moon Cay at 8:00 am. There were maybe 30 other people on the boat with me. When I got off, I took to the trails right away. I walked probably seven or eight kilometers. And for the first two hours of walking, I didn’t see another person. I walked through thick vegetation and came across several trails that looked like they had been abandoned for quite some time. I walked by horse pastures, and old rubbish piles—that were clearly not meant to be seen by guests. Along the way,I also saw dozens of lizards and birds. When I finally got to what I thought was the other side of the island, I turned around. When I got back to the tourist area, hundreds of people had arrived on the island. That was the end of my alone time, but it was still two more hours of alone time than I thought I was going to get.

 

I walked to the end of the white sand beach, where a large boulder blocked the path. I set out my towel, and went snorkeling for around an hour. The water was crystal clear, the clearest I’d seen before. Snorkeling wise, I only saw a few fish, but it was still fun. When I got back to my towel,I was still the only person in my area for at least 25 meters. The beach got more and more crowded the closer I got to the ship, but this was expected, as there were two ships in port. I walked over to the island BBQ, and had 2 burgers, a hot dog, a lot of fruit, and ice cream. The BBQ was very similar to what you would expect in the Midwest--where I come from. Very good overall, and the cost was included in the cruise price. The BBQ buffet was staffed by the ships crew members, so a lot of ship dining operations were shut down while in port. After the BBQ, I went back to the end of the beach, and enjoyed the rest of the sunny day on the island. For those of you wondering, I did get service at HMC with my Verizon Wireless plan. I got full bars and LTE.

 

Falmouth, Jamaica

I booked an excursion through Holland America in Falmouth. It was to the Bamboo Beach Club. When I got off the ship, I wandered around trying to find my bus. I located it at the end of the pier, and got on. What they hadn’t told me on board the ship, was that the drive to Bamboo Beach Clubwas an hour and twenty minutes. I thought “oh great,” but stayed positive. Whenthe bus got out of the pier, I had a look around at the scenery. I’m not goingto sugar-coat this—the scenery was depressing. Garbage was scattered around thestreets, and in the rivers, we passed. People drove like maniacs, but I triedto stay positive, and hoped that we wouldn’t die from the crazy driving ofothers. Our guides were very nice, however. They tried to get us engaged in Jamaican culture on our long bus ride. They taught us some of the locallanguage and history. They also explained that Jamaica is still a developing country, which explained the depressing scenery.

 

The beach looked very nice. Very blue water, and live entertainment. What I came to find though, is that we were confined to ournon-reclining chairs, or the rocky ocean. However, we were given rum punch, andlocal Jamaican foods. The food was very good, and the punch was strong(impressive, for a recent college grad!). After an hour and twenty minutes, wewere told that time was up—strange, because according to HAL, we were supposedto have 3 hours. Again, driving was not accounted for. Our drive back took overtwo hours. We had to stop at a local shop, as per the agreement with HAL and Bamboo Beach Club. I was asked by 6 local (yes, I counted) individuals aroundmy age if I wanted to buy weed. 4 of them worked for the store, and the other two followed me into the store from outside. I honestly didn’t care, but I just wanted to let you know—if you’re looking for pot, it’s very easy to find,especially if you’re younger looking. If you want nothing to do with it, just say no thanks and walk away. Jamaica seems to be a stoners paradise.

With traffic, and our extended stop at the shop, we made itback with only twelve minutes before “all aboard.” I felt like this was a closecall. In my opinion, $60.00 was not worth it for an hour and twenty minutes of beach time. But do know that taxis are very expensive in Jamaica, so booking travel with the cruise line may be in your best interest. Also keep in mind that there can be traffic delays, that can delay a trip for several hours—another reason why it may be a good idea to book with your cruise line inthis port city. I personally wouldn’t go back to Falmouth, and I will probably avoid future cruises that stop here, but it gave me a different perspective.

George Town, Cayman Islands

George Town was another port where a tender was needed for transportation to and from the ship. I booked the dolphin and stingray city excursion through HAL. The bus was very easy to find, and everyone I encountered was very helpful. We got to Dolphin Cove, and were taken immediately to the stingray area. The stingrays were a half hour boat ride from Dolphin Cove. The water was beautiful, and the sun was bright. Drinks(non-alcoholic) were offered to passengers, as we cruised along. Once we got tothe stingrays, I realized the scope of the tourist trap that I signed up for.There were over twenty other boats in the stingray area, and everyone seemed down to business.

I was told I needed to pose with the stingrays by one of the guides. I said no thanks, I have no intention of purchasing any photos. He thentold me it was policy, and before I knew it, he put a stingray on my arms andthe photographer had gotten several shots in. As soon as everyone had gottentheir pictures taken, think twenty minutes, we were summoned aboard and headed back to Dolphin Cove. At Dolphin Cove, we were split into groups of around 10or 15. We put on life jackets, and then were offered to upgrade our experience for $30 to swim with the dolphins. I declined, and was asked three more times by a very persistent woman. She finally stopped, and we proceeded into the water. But not before we had to line up and get our “pre-swim” photos taken.Once we were finally in the water, our guide introduced us to our dolphin. The dolphin itself was awesome, and intelligent. But the experience consisted of each of us getting our photo taken with the dolphin, around three times each.We didn’t learn much about the dolphins. After the experience, we were shuffled into a souvenir shop, where we were encouraged to look at our pictures. I asked where boarding was for the shuttle, and was told I needed to look at pictures first. When I said I wasn’t interested and asked about a waiting area, the woman raised her eyebrow and walked away from me. I followed other group members outside, and found the shuttle.

We got back with two hours to explore the port area of Georgetown. This is a very beautiful city, and there is a lot going on. I went to the DQ, and explored a lot of the shops. I then got back on the tender, backto the Eurodam. All in all, I would come back to Georgetown. However, I wouldnot go back to Dolphin Cove. I was not impressed with them.

 

 

Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel was stunning. The water was very clear, and the portcity was very clean. There was a lot going on, and there was something to dof or everyone. I booked another tour, this time to Chankanaab Adventure Park. I was guided on a snorkeling trip that lasted 45 minutes, and then was taken to the restaurant area to watch how to make homemade Mexican guacamole. I also ordered chicken fajitas, and had a few Pina coladas on the beach. I then explored the saltwater crocodile exhibit, and the Mayan-ruin replicas. It was overall a good time.

 

Here are some tips for Chankanaab: this is a very beautiful park and I highly recommend visiting. If I go again, this is what I will do differently. I will book a taxi myself, and bring my own snorkel equipment. 45 minutes was not nearly enough time to explore this beautiful reef. I would spenda few more hours in the water for sure. Know that lockers are $5USD for the dayto rent. Also, everyone that helps you in the slightest will probably expect atip. I brought small change, and probably gave out $30USD worth of tip money during the day. There is also a $9.00USD fee that any of the workers can charge you for taking pictures of the Mayan Ruins. I’m not sure how legit this is, but someone ahead of me was told they had to pay it to a man in a park uniform. Other than that, I felt completely safe the whole time, as the park takes safety very seriously. I got back to the port city around 5pm, and spent the rest of the time walking around the city, and purchasing duty-free-liquor.

Grand Turk

Grand Turk was another beautiful island. I can’t vouch for activities, because I just walked around, but people seemed to really enjoy it. There was a large beach, with free chairs and umbrellas to use. There were also several restaurants along the beach, so a lotof variety. There was also a NASA space exhibit to explore, which was very neatto look at. Also, plenty of port shopping. I would go back, but I would plan adiving or snorkeling excursion. According to locals, the best diving/snorkeling is off shore, and only accessible by boat.

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico

My favorite stop. We arrived in port around 11am. I got off the boat and explored the city for 8 hours. I recommend the San Juan National Historic Site, Castillo San Cristóbal, and Castillo San Felipe del Morro. If these aren’t on your itinerary, you should really consider adding them! They are very beautiful sites, and will burn plenty of time for history buffs. The sites are situated on the ocean, and the farthest one is a few kilometers fromthe port. If you’re physically disabled, or very out of shape, I would consider taking a taxi. Otherwise, this is some great exercise! I also walked around Old San Juan, and around the ocean area by the forts. There was a lot of damage still from the hurricanes by the ocean, and the government was still handing out water and other supplies. However, Old San Juan is back in business, and looks very much untouched by the hurricanes. The locals really appreciated the tourism. As for security, I felt completely safe. There was a lot of police,but nothing more than you would see in a normal large American city. However, I am 6’ and 225LBS—So my security advice might not be the same for all readers.

 

For food, I went to the Aloha restaurant, right across the street from the cruise port—HIGHLY RECEMMEND!! I had chicken with yellow rice,and it was some of the best I’ve had. I also had a Pina colada. This restauranthas BOGO for all margarita purchases ($8.00 each). Food and drinks were verycheap. Also, they have free Wi-Fi—just ask the server for the password. If you need to stock up on toiletries or other items, now is a good time to do it.There is a Walgreens across the street from the Port.

 

 

Charlotte Amalie, St.Thomas, U.S.V.I.

From the ship, the scenery was beautiful. All the sailboatson the mooring lines, and the mountains in the background were picture-perfect.However, on the ground, things were different. Charlotte Amalie was devastated by the hurricanes. Trees were missing parts, houses still had holes in roofs and were missing shingles. A few hotels were closed due to damage. FEMA sites were still set up. I felt bad for the locals. I walked 12 kilometers all together, and looked around the city. I recommend taking a cab here (I’m too cheap). I also recommend booking a tour of the island, or a shuttle to a beach,because there is not much to do in Charlotte Amalie, besides shop (if you’reinto that sort of thing). I ended up having lunch at Wendy’s, and spent the rest of my time on the ship.

 

 

Half-Moon Cay,Bahamas

Same as above, but this time I purchased the Half Moon Cay beverage package for $25.00. This entitled me up to 15 total drink, that were $9.00 and under. I used all 15 drinks—suffice to say I don’t remember much of HMC round two. Beautiful island though!

 

 

All in all, I would sail with HAL again! I’ve noticed a lot of people saying HAL if for older people, but I would disagree. There were activities for every age on board. Maybe not as many as Disney would offer, but there was a fine mix of ages onboard, with something to do for everyone. I didn’t really book the cruise forthe ship activities, however, I booked it for the seven different countries. If you have any other questions about the Eurodam or ports, feel free to ask them. I know I left out a lot of details. Thanks for reading!

Edited January 8, 2018 by Scienceguy1300

[Scienceguy1300]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

I am enjoying reading about your cruise.

Just to let you know -- the main dining room is free besides the Lido for dinner.

When people remove the Hotel Service Charge and tip anyone cash, that tip must be turned in and divided among all crew members -- that is HAL's rule. They can not keep it or they will be fired. That is why we keep the Hotel Service Charge in place so that anyone we tip extra, we know that they can keep that tip.

I wish I would have known that! That would have been nice!

[Scienceguy1300]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Eurodam; we've sailed on her 3 times and looking forward to another shortly. A question - was there a reason why you chose not to eat in the dining room? It's the same price as the Lido.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

I had no idea it was free! Next time!

[Maggers]

Really enjoyed your review Scienceguy. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

[trixiee]

Great review! Thanks so much for your time to post!

[canadianbear]

Great review-really enjoyed your detail. Hope you figure out how to upload your photos!

 

If you go to Half Moon Cay again snorkel around the rock area where that large cabin (?) is that people can rent. There were lots of fish there when we snorkelled in December including the resident octopus.

 

 

 

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your Eurodam cruise.

Next cruise, do try the main dining room.

[smoothdancer]

As everyone else has said, what a shame you did not know there was no cost in the main dining room, maybe next time!!

 

BTW, I was on the Eastern part of this cruise and I stayed on the ship while in half Moon and the lido was open with plenty of options for lunch. It sounds like thought you had a good visit there.

 

I don't understand removing the hotel costs either. If I go to a resturant I would not consider not tipping. I don't know why hotel costs would be any different.