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RevNeal's LIVE Eurodam Report

RevNeal

By RevNeal,
in Holland America Line

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BumperII

BumperII

Posted
Posted

Rev Neal,

 

Add our thanks and we look forward to your formal review. We plan to cruise on the Eurodam in February, and we greatly appreciate the sharing of info and experience!!

 

Sir PMP

 

<< Sorry about that,having done over 20 cruises on the HAL and going over 300 days, I believe that the service is going down, less public spaces and more people on board is the wrong direction and most of all: a brand new ship christened by the queen should be 100% ready to go with everything prepared to perfection, that has always been the HAL's signature. But I hope that this ' Euro ship' will have a lot of fans, it just won't be me and I do not think that the Rev will be back on it!>>

 

You are a nice guy and I like you, but anyone with enough management talent to organize a sock drawer knows that you are wrong.:D

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mamaofami

mamaofami

Posted
Posted

Greg, thanks so much for your very informative and descriptive reports from the Eurodam. As always, they are a delight to read. Your photos have been wonderful and I can't wait to see the rest. Have a safe flight home.

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Cruising Illini

Cruising Illini

Posted
Posted

Greg -- It has been such a joy to read your wonderful reports. I have often meant to write to you re. a good friend (since passed away) who I feel you may have met in Texas. His name is Charlie Shedd (wife Martha) and many years before retirement had a Presby. church in Texas. His son is like a son to us - even better - and he has succeeded my husband in writing textbooks for the Univ. of Georgia (Law in the Bus. School). One of Charlie's books was "Letters to Peter" and that would be "our" Peter. My husband started the Law books but since retirement has had Peter take over for him. He and his wife Margie will be at our house in Sarasota this weekend before they head back to Athens, Ga. after some travels.

 

We have 300+ on HAL but prefer the smaller ships due to my bad knees -- our favorites are the Amst. and Rott. Just took the Shedd family on the Zuiderdam from Venice to Barcelona in June and a great trip. They have 3 wonderful college-age children that we are privileged to treat like grandchildren.

 

Have a safe trip home and will look forward to your final pictures and review.

 

Elinor and Bob - Illinois and Georgia

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Taxguy7

Taxguy7

Posted
Posted
Thanks. That's interesting.

According to our tour guide in Sweden the lowest tax rate on income in Sweden is 45% and the highest rate is 89% (I had to dig it out, but I wrote it down when she said it); it's factored into brackets. This doesn't include the VAT (25%). She did seem surprised that people at the upper end of the income scale would protest paying 114% in combined income and VAT tax. :eek:

 

I have not researched the issue, so maybe our guide was lying to us about taxation rates in Sweden. Or, it may be that she's not up on the current factors ... though, given that she lives there and has to pay taxes, too, I'm not sure how that could be. We did ask her point-blank if we had understood her correctly, repeating back to her our interpretation of her statement, and she said "yes."

But they have "free health care":rolleyes:

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bcnvcanada

bcnvcanada

Posted
Posted

Dear Rev. Greg, Thanks so much for taking us along on your holiday. The posts have be most informative, and the picutures were just delightfuly. Thanks again, for taking time out of your holdiay to share with us. Do have a safe journey home and looking forward to future posts.

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Aussie Gal

Aussie Gal

Posted
Posted

I too would like to thank you for your very informative posts and wonderful photos. I have enjoyed reading the four different postings of the Eurodam - Copper, Ruth, Brian and your good self. They have made great reading and yet are so differerent in the way each one writes their experiences.

 

Thanks for taking the time and effort. Safe travelling home. I know it is a long flight but nothing is ever as long as the flights we take from Europe - anything from 24 hours to 36 hours so a 10-12 hour flight is nothing to us.

 

Jennie

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m4hami

m4hami

Posted
Posted

Rev Neal; Thankyou for taking you valuable time and money to share your cruise with everyone . You made us feel like we were along with you on the Eurodam. Your reports were a wonderful service to the Cruise Critic family. God Bless;:) :) :) and have a safe trip home!!

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babyher

babyher

Posted
Posted

Thank you again for taking us along with us.

 

God these 23 days have gone by fast (like I need to tell you that :))

 

I've enjoyed your pics and reports and looking forward to seeing the rest once you get home and settled.

 

Have a safe trip home and again thank you so much

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Cristiano

Cristiano

Posted
Posted

Greg,

 

Your reports from day 1 have been descriptive and informative and from what I can see you have given a well balanced view of the Eurodam.

 

With both positive and negative reports it enables those who have not been on her to see what life on board is really like.

 

Anthing new has teething problems and I am sure that the people at HAL and even Pam the Captains wife :o would be reading these boards and taking all comments on board.

 

We all learn from problems encountered in whatever we do and hopefull address those problems to ensure they will not occur again.

 

I for one am grateful for the time and effort taken by yourself to provide us with all your reports and photographs.

 

As we will be spending 28 days on her next April it has given us a clearer insight into what for my mind seems a beautiful ship.

 

Thank you once again God bless and safe journey home.

 

Cristiano.

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The Big Booper

The Big Booper

Posted
Posted

I have been following the good Rev's trip report with great interest since we plan on doing a Northern Europe cruise in the next couple of years.

 

I would tend to agree somewhat with Sir PMP that this new ship is the Noordam with a few hundred additional people added. Carnival has been doing this with all their different brands (Carnival, Costa, Princess). As an aside the Grand Princess worked fine but the Caribbean and it's stablemates are way overcrowded at peak times.

 

So if we use our half million available Marriot miles to do a 10 day European cruise it would not be with the E-dam type but the Noordam type.

 

Now on to my professional comment as a CPA with 45 years of tax experience in the metro NY (as in overtaxed) area. Here is a link to a Wikipedia table of comparative tax rates around the world. The top Swedish marginal rate is actually roughly 60 %. Which means that once you get above a certain point of income the federal Swedish government takes 60 cents on the dollar.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

 

By comparison, the US federal tax rate tops out at 35% marginal. However, in the US the states and many localities levy their own income taxes (the table doesn't show if there are local taxes in Sweden). If somebody is lucky :eek: enough to live in NYC, the top marginal bracket is roughly close to 50%. And based on Obama's campaign talk, if he wins expect the top federal rate to jump to the Clintonian 40% which will bring the combined rate to close to 55%, just below the oppressive Swedish rate.

 

The Swedish vat rates are way higher than the US sales tax rates.

 

Another link to those who want their heads to spin, an article discussing the Swedish tax system.

 

http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/sweden/sweden.shtml

 

Anyway, good night to all and hope the Rev has a safe trip back to DFW. The Europe - US flight is a killer.

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Coastalbreezes

Coastalbreezes

Posted
Posted

Thank you RevNeal for taking time from your cruise to continuously post. I absolutely loved your commentary as well as photos, and took many notes about this ship.

Two questions for you (and I know I will probably get flamed for one of them, but I will ask anyway!;) ):

1) I am a smoker and am aware that HAL has changed their policy regarding where you can smoke. Are there any bars where I can enjoy my pre-dinner martini AND a cigarette at the actual bar (not some table in a corner)? On Westerdam last December, we could actually sit at the Ocean Bar and smoke or at the Sports Bar.

2) My mom and I are booked on Eurodam for this December. She walks very slowly and her concern is that, because of the size of the ship, she may not be able to walk great distances to various venues. Your thoughts on this, please? We may end up reconsidering Eurodam if this may be a problem for her.

Hope you had a smooth trip home and thank you again for all you wonderful posts.

Tracy

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Bouff

Bouff

Posted
Posted

I'm yet another one who has been following this blog from day 1 but has not posted.

 

Thank you Rev Neal for your excellent posts. I almost feel as if I have been along on the cruise! It has helped me relive the delight of being on board a ship!

 

We are doing a Baltic Cruise next May and the insight into the ports of call are very helpful.

 

Have a safe journey home.

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fireman845

fireman845

Posted
Posted

Thanks Greg for taking us with you on your incredible journey!! You brought be back to CC many times a day and I can't wait for your great pics! I have truly enjoyed your writing that I am looking at purchasing one of your books.

Again thanks for the ride!!

Jim

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