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Yes, another 3-day NYC Eurodam review

Sayyadina

By Sayyadina,
in Holland America Line

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Sayyadina

Sayyadina

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I'll try not to repeat what everyone else has already said....

As background: this is my second cruise. My first was on the Maasdam 2.5 years ago with my husband. We went out of Norfolk to the Caribbean. This 3-day I booked back in January with my mother (who lurks here but doesn’t post) to give her a taste of what it’s all about. I’ll be honest, I was a little concerned the past month or so after reading some other reviews. I was hoping I hadn’t made a mistake.

We booked an obstructed view cabin, but 2 days before we left we found out we had made the proper ritual sacrifices to the Upgrade Fairy and would be staying in a VA room behind the bridge instead. To say we were thrilled is not saying enough. We were very lucky.

We took the train roundtrip from Harrisburg to NYC and I would recommend this mode of travel hands down. We had a great trip both ways.

EMBARKATION

As everyone else has already said, we were told we wouldn’t be allowed on the ship until 3pm. Our train got in at 12:15, we got to the pier a little before 1, and even as the guy who was doing our paperwork told us again that we wouldn’t be allowed on until 3pm, they were calling numbers out for boarding. We were on the ship by 1:15. Nicely done, HAL.

Rooms weren’t ready yet so we did the lunch thing at the Lido which was not too crowded when we got there, plenty of tables. Food was very good. While we were there we made reservations for Sunday night at the Canaletto.

SPA

We did the spa tour right after we dropped our stuff off in our room. They had a drawing for $500 in spa treatments, which we didn’t win. The tour was nice, lots of sales pitch fever. I’d never seen the Thermal Suite/Therapy pool before and decided it was a good thing I was there with my mother instead of my husband because I’d never see my husband again once he got onto one of those heated loungers. They were really nice, I was quite impressed. I lay on one for less than 5 minutes and could already feel my back loosening up.

I also had a scalp/neck/shoulder massage and that was nice, too. We didn’t do any other spa or fitness center things.

We did go listen to the Acupuncturist on board and I would highly recommend the presentation to anyone. She was not in Sales Pitch Mode at all and it was refreshingly informative and straight forward. And funny, too.

I did pick up a price sheet for barber and hair prices if anyone wants a quote.

INFORMAL ENTERTAINMENT (AKA people watching)

We didn’t go to any of the shows. Just not our cup of tea, although about a dozen people asked us if we’d seen them and just raved about how good they were and what we’d missed.

We did have a few Stein sightings.

Our room was behind the bridge. At one point I was leaving our stateroom…and I walked into this large white wall. And I looked up, and up. And up, and it was the tallest officer I have ever seen. Actually, they have a picture of him on the Eurodam Blog, he’s 7 feet tall! I moved out of his way and watched him make his way down the hall, stooped down and dodging the light fixtures and sprinkler heads. Wow.

Saw only one tuxedo at formal night and that was at our table. There probably were others, but not that I saw.

The muster drill wasn’t until 9:30 Saturday morning. Lots of people were late, more than a few just didn’t show up. A pair in front of us were complaining about how PRINcess does things differently and PRINcess has everyone attend a talk in one of the lounges and they don’t have to do all THIS and that just goes to show how much better PRINcess must be. Harumph.

There was a woman in our boat (lucky us) who kept wandering back and forth without a life jacket on. She had a ‘duh’ look plastered on her face but after a while you could kind of tell that she knew where her life jacket was, she just didn’t want to go get it. She wanted someone on deck to give her one. After about 15 minutes of half sentences asking people and crew ‘well, why don’t I have one?’ someone finally gave her one…and walked away. So we were also treated to her trying in vain to put it on.

Not a people-watching story, but still funny. We were passing the statue of liberty and had the FDNY fireboat doing its thing, and all of a sudden the ship’s horn sounded. BWOOOOOOOOOOMP! It blew for about 15-20 seconds, and you know that thing’s loud. We were right below it. Then it did it again. And again. And then the fireboat sounded its horn: meep! And the Eurodam hit it again, a short blast in response: BWOMP! It was so funny, everyone was laughing. :D

Stay tuned for part 2....

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Sayyadina

Sayyadina

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FOOD

Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t find the food in the main dining room as thrilling as I had on the Maasdam. The cod I had the first night was just ok. The risotto was crunchy in the middle. The mango soup I had I probably wouldn’t get again (it wasn’t a puree soup and I didn’t like the diced red onions and peppers). The rack of lamb was wonderful, though. The cappuccino bomb (capp ice cream dipped in bittersweet chocolate) was VERY good.

The Canaletto was very nice. I wanted the ENTIRE antipasto tray. The salad we both got was very good. I had cod (again) for my main course, this time it was served with putanesca sauce and grilled cheese polenta that was to die for. Mom had tortellini with pesto sauce, potatoes and other veggies. She also raved about it. She had coffee and I had the lemon sorbet for dessert. And a HUGE plate of pink cotton candy. And we got to watch the sun go down. All in all, very worth it. (I will note that there were several empty tables, so it bothered me that I read that someone on here couldn’t get reservations. We had at least 4 empty tables near us).

We enjoyed the Lido for breakfast two days and lunch one day. Each time we found the food wonderful and cooked as we would expect it to be.

We did the dining room once for lunch. The four of us at the table all thought the menu was a bit heavy for lunch, with wiener schnitzel as one of the choices. I had the quiche Lorraine and a salad. Everything was very good, though the service was a bit slow. We waited and waited and finally had to ask someone to give us the dessert menus, and then waited and waited again to actually get the dessert.

Ordered room service breakfast the last morning, it arrived very promptly at 7am. I took everyone’s advice and ordered things that weren’t on the menu (specifically smoked salmon to go with the bagel and I specified *chocolate* croissants), and yes they did give them to me. Thanks for the tip!:)

HAPPY HIGHLIGHTS

We saw two batches of dolphins or pilot whales on the trip.

I knew that some of the staff will pick more ‘anglicized’ names, but one of the bar attendants in (I think) the Ocean bar is named…….wait for it……..Love Joy. :p

Every time we went to the Lido seating was fine, easy to find a table although the ones by the windows were usually taken first (of course). One day we were there at noon on the dot and there were plenty of tables. Apparently we were the only people this happened to.

All in all, the crew was very pleasant and approachable. Our room steward was quite nice, didn’t look a day over 16 but told me he’s been working for HAL for 11 years. He likes trying to improve his English by talking to people who’s rooms he has.

We found the Atrium bar to be almost empty every night, so if you are looking for a bar for a nice, quiet drink be sure to check it out.

ISSUES AND ODD QUIRKS

These are mostly minor but I thought I’d mention them.

We had early seating in the upper dining room, and our table was near the aft window so we had a great view out the back of the boat. And every now and then we would have a great view of some big, sweaty guy jogging slowly around the ‘no jogging’ promenade. Not appetizing. :(

I was wondering what the deal was with the cushion-less chair and lounge frames outside the elevators, but someone else on here (mamaofami?) mentioned that the cushions had been mishandled by some children on a previous cruise and removed for mending. I thought it was an odd choice of ‘modern art’ at one point, but decided that it must be something else. :D

I noticed about 6-8 of those attractive frosted lamp shades in the lido buffet area had apparently been broken. I’m surprised they don’t keep replacements stocked somewhere on the ship.

The floor at the main pool by the bar is very slippery when wet, please be careful.

Walking beside the Lido cabanas was difficult, if someone was coming towards you you had to turn sideways a little bit or you would more than brush shoulders.

Saw a teenager at the Lido buffet in her bikini. I didn’t see anyone say anything to her about this.

The galley tour was a major disappointment after the one we had on the Maasdam 2 years ago. I had been talking it up to my mom, how they give you an introduction to each area (bakery, ice cream, etc etc) and give you a sheet of information on how much stuff they need to stock and what we all go through on average per week. The Eurodam had none of this. We walked in. We walked through. The kitchen staff stared at us as much as we stared at them. And we walked out again. Someone gave us 3 recipe cards. There were a few sculptures that people paused to take pictures of. That was all.

Disembarkation. I really don’t know what to say. We were told a set time that disembarkation would start, and I was expecting an announcement around that time….but nothing. Instead, we watched people leaving the ship from our stateroom and decided that if they could, we could. As we were waiting for the elevator, an announcement was made that since most people had very little luggage, they let us just get off the ship whenever we wanted and they would be doing it by deck. Big mistake, we had hundreds of people coming from three different directions to go through one door and get scanned out by two people. It was a slow-motion stampede. They really should have issued the color-coded tags and done it the usual way, even though most of us would be carrying off our own luggage.

PICTURES

I have posted the pictures from the trip. They include, but are not limited to, the Spa Cabin balconies from below, my mom pretending she’s a baseball, and a tiny speedboat trying like hell to outrun the Eurodam *as we were pulling into our berth* and just barely making it without getting run over. :eek: You won’t want to miss it. There are short blurbs below the pictures.

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2859088070075923361ngisxv

For some reason I took way too many pictures of the bridge we went under and the statue of liberty. Some of them are blurry, but I think they look cool so I kept them.

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Jade13

Jade13

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I'll try not to repeat what everyone else has already said....

 

As background: this is my second cruise. My first was on the Maasdam 2.5 years ago with my husband. We went out of Norfolk to the Caribbean. This 3-day I booked back in January with my mother (who lurks here but doesn’t post) to give her a taste of what it’s all about. I’ll be honest, I was a little concerned the past month or so after reading some other reviews. I was hoping I hadn’t made a mistake.

 

We booked an obstructed view cabin, but 2 days before we left we found out we had made the proper ritual sacrifices to the Upgrade Fairy and would be staying in a VA room behind the bridge instead. To say we were thrilled is not saying enough. We were very lucky.

 

We took the train roundtrip from Harrisburg to NYC and I would recommend this mode of travel hands down. We had a great trip both ways.

 

EMBARKATION

 

As everyone else has already said, we were told we wouldn’t be allowed on the ship until 3pm. Our train got in at 12:15, we got to the pier a little before 1, and even as the guy who was doing our paperwork told us again that we wouldn’t be allowed on until 3pm, they were calling numbers out for boarding. We were on the ship by 1:15. Nicely done, HAL.

 

Rooms weren’t ready yet so we did the lunch thing at the Lido which was not too crowded when we got there, plenty of tables. Food was very good. While we were there we made reservations for Sunday night at the Canaletto.

 

SPA

 

We did the spa tour right after we dropped our stuff off in our room. They had a drawing for $500 in spa treatments, which we didn’t win. The tour was nice, lots of sales pitch fever. I’d never seen the Thermal Suite/Therapy pool before and decided it was a good thing I was there with my mother instead of my husband because I’d never see my husband again once he got onto one of those heated loungers. They were really nice, I was quite impressed. I lay on one for less than 5 minutes and could already feel my back loosening up.

 

I also had a scalp/neck/shoulder massage and that was nice, too. We didn’t do any other spa or fitness center things.

 

We did go listen to the Acupuncturist on board and I would highly recommend the presentation to anyone. She was not in Sales Pitch Mode at all and it was refreshingly informative and straight forward. And funny, too.

 

I did pick up a price sheet for barber and hair prices if anyone wants a quote.

 

INFORMAL ENTERTAINMENT (AKA people watching)

 

We didn’t go to any of the shows. Just not our cup of tea, although about a dozen people asked us if we’d seen them and just raved about how good they were and what we’d missed.

 

We did have a few Stein sightings.

 

Our room was behind the bridge. At one point I was leaving our stateroom…and I walked into this large white wall. And I looked up, and up. And up, and it was the tallest officer I have ever seen. Actually, they have a picture of him on the Eurodam Blog, he’s 7 feet tall! I moved out of his way and watched him make his way down the hall, stooped down and dodging the light fixtures and sprinkler heads. Wow.

 

Saw only one tuxedo at formal night and that was at our table. There probably were others, but not that I saw.

 

The muster drill wasn’t until 9:30 Saturday morning. Lots of people were late, more than a few just didn’t show up. A pair in front of us were complaining about how PRINcess does things differently and PRINcess has everyone attend a talk in one of the lounges and they don’t have to do all THIS and that just goes to show how much better PRINcess must be. Harumph.

 

There was a woman in our boat (lucky us) who kept wandering back and forth without a life jacket on. She had a ‘duh’ look plastered on her face but after a while you could kind of tell that she knew where her life jacket was, she just didn’t want to go get it. She wanted someone on deck to give her one. After about 15 minutes of half sentences asking people and crew ‘well, why don’t I have one?’ someone finally gave her one…and walked away. So we were also treated to her trying in vain to put it on.

 

Not a people-watching story, but still funny. We were passing the statue of liberty and had the FDNY fireboat doing its thing, and all of a sudden the ship’s horn sounded. BWOOOOOOOOOOMP! It blew for about 15-20 seconds, and you know that thing’s loud. We were right below it. Then it did it again. And again. And then the fireboat sounded its horn: meep! And the Eurodam hit it again, a short blast in response: BWOMP! It was so funny, everyone was laughing. :D

 

Stay tuned for part 2....

 

Were you in 7001 by any chance? If so, you had my all time favorite cabin steward (but he has no problem with English).

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SakeDad

SakeDad

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I knew that some of the staff will pick more ‘anglicized’ names, but one of the bar attendants in (I think) the Ocean bar is named…….wait for it……..Love Joy. :p

 

Since you didn't post a pic of him...this is Love Joy....and truly great guy!

342629744_d3R7F-L.jpg

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Jade13

Jade13

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Did he bother saying "Hello" to the paying passengers?

 

Not only that but DH and I had a chance to chat with him for a while. We told him we were having a great time, much better than Noordam a month ago. He wanted to know the issues on Noordam. DH told him some and I said we would put it in writing so as not to take up too much of his time. He said he was looking forward to reading our comments, asked our names etc. He said he can't do anything if he does not get feedback. He is really nice.

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Sayyadina

Sayyadina

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Thanks for the pictures and review.

 

Your picture #11 is of Hoboken, NJ and the Erie Lackawanna terminal used for trains and ferries. Lackawanna is a river.

 

Thanks. I knew it was a river, but I didn't know what the building was.

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Sayyadina

Sayyadina

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Thanks, Boytjie, for posting some information on my Webshots album. Someone else told me it was Trinity Church underneath that glass dome. What is it?

 

And I did know that Ground Zero was behind all the other buildings, but I wanted to get a picture of the general area, anyway. :)

 

It's funny, we saw the Mutinty on the Miracle leave port a few hours before we did and now all hell has broken loose on board.

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Jade13

Jade13

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Well, he did to me, and I had no idea who he was. However, he knew, apparently, that I had been dancing up a storm the night before with his lovely wife. They were both extremely gracious.

 

Michael[/quote

 

Are you going to tell us how you ended up dancing with his wife?

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Moriah

Moriah

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Thanks so much for your review - I'm still looking at your pictures but came back to the thread to comment on this - when I read that you had Cotton Candy for dessert, I thought you were kidding! Until I saw the picture! I've never heard of this being served on a plate before, anywhere, and I've certainly never seen it as a dessert on a cruise. Is this something new/different or have I just been oblivious??? As you can see, it takes very little to excite me. :confused: Cotton candy on a plate for dessert! I love it! YAY!:D

 

Moriah

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Sayyadina

Sayyadina

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It was the funniest thing, Saturday night I was sitting in the empty Lido by myself enjoying a cup of tea, and every now an then one of the waiters from the Canaletto would come over to the buffet area and stand there and wait, and wait, and wait. And then someone would come and give them a plate of pink cotton candy and they'd walk off. I thought it was odd, and I had no idea what they were doing until the next night when my mom and I ate there, we got our plate after we were done the main course.

 

I didn't see this anywhere but the Canaletto, I have no idea why they do this (is it an Italian thing??), but it was nice. And it's between the main course and dessert, I also had the lemon sorbet.

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Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen

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It was the funniest thing, Saturday night I was sitting in the empty Lido by myself enjoying a cup of tea, and every now an then one of the waiters from the Canaletto would come over to the buffet area and stand there and wait, and wait, and wait. And then someone would come and give them a plate of pink cotton candy and they'd walk off. I thought it was odd, and I had no idea what they were doing until the next night when my mom and I ate there, we got our plate after we were done the main course.

 

I didn't see this anywhere but the Canaletto, I have no idea why they do this (is it an Italian thing??), but it was nice. And it's between the main course and dessert, I also had the lemon sorbet.

This must be something added since the Inaugural. We ate dinner twice at Canaletto (and walked by a few other times during dinner service). I would have noticed (and remembered) pink cotton candy... :eek:
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Jade13

Jade13

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And it's between the main course and dessert, I also had the lemon sorbet.

 

OMG, would you believe for 3 nights in the main dining room my DH tried to get Lemon Sorbet and kept being told "not on the menu". We even went to the dining room at 3:30pm to try to speak to someone (Celebrating a big birthday and all he wants is lemon sorbet - especially since they forgot the celebrations...) They just could not get it for him. It is commonly used as an intermezzo.

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hammybee

hammybee

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Sayyadina:

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

 

I am begining to wonder if there are two Eurodams, given some of the different experiences being reported from the same cruise. Actually, it demonstrates that no two people have the same expectations and all experiences are subjective.

 

Pink cotton candy is a gem.

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ptcandy

ptcandy

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Not only that but DH and I had a chance to chat with him for a while. We told him we were having a great time, much better than Noordam a month ago. He wanted to know the issues on Noordam. DH told him some and I said we would put it in writing so as not to take up too much of his time. He said he was looking forward to reading our comments, asked our names etc. He said he can't do anything if he does not get feedback. He is really nice.

 

Hi

We are planning on going on the Noordam in a couple of months but after our experiences on the Eurodam last week, we are having second thoughts. Curious to know what problems you encountered on the Noordam? Last year we sailed on the Volendam and loved the little extras that made our vacation a ten. Your help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

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Jade13

Jade13

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Hi

We are planning on going on the Noordam in a couple of months but after our experiences on the Eurodam last week, we are having second thoughts. Curious to know what problems you encountered on the Noordam? Last year we sailed on the Volendam and loved the little extras that made our vacation a ten. Your help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

PtCandy, I would not base your decision on my review. I am sure things will be fixed by the time you board. The main issues on Noordam were the food, so problem with current Executive Chef, and room service terrible. For room service breakfast we did not order cooked food but could not get an order for 4 cereals, tea and 5 milks correct multiple days in a row. We would just get 2 milks and no spoons...We would ask for the 7-7:30am time slot (so we could go to the gym) and apparently they would show up at by 6:45am. I know because I was back by 6:50am to make sure I would get the order. I than I had to call them to come back. There was no water or drinks upon boarding, fatty piece of steak I could not cut or eat at Pinnacle and menu in main dining not consistent. DH ordered chicken off the everyday menu and it was good with a nice sauce. He ordered it two days later and it came dry with no sauce. He asked about the sauce and was told it was not on the menu. The shipment did not make it through customs in Liverno on the prior cruise so there was barely any Elemis. We had one soap for 3 days, one shampoo for three, no sharp shower gel and no facial soap all week. I was given a filthy bath mat which was black. When I asked what happened to the sharp shower gel I was given the bottle with green stuff and I still wonder whose trash can they took the bottle from to fill. yuk. The Eurodam was first class and we would not have been on her if the cruise was not booked and paid in full.

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