back from New Year's Eve on Eurodam!

[pjck71]

In a nutshell, the cruise was AMAZING!! I'm so glad we went and I'm so glad our first ever cruise was with HAL!

The crew is definitely top notch! Very friendly & helpful.

There was a GI illness, but the crew did an excellent job of containing it and less than 20 people were affected.

Wednesday night & all of Thursday we had very rough seas and I spent a lot of our last sea day laying down. My dh said it was the best 2 nights sleep he ever had! I guess we need a rocker on his side of the bed lol

It rained in San Juan & St Thomas, but we didn't mind. I don't know many Texans who would complain about rain - even on vacation LOL!!

The food was great! I'm glad we were on deck 10, since we could hike up & down the stairs to get to & from lol We ate at the Pinnacle Grill & Tamarind once each - definitely worth the extra fee!

I loved our cabin (VQ), but I'm not sure I would pay that much extra for it... We had booked a VH guarantee and the upgrade fairy granted us this one.

We met some amazing people and made some new friends.

I'll post a more detailed review & add some photos later. I'm having some issues getting my "land legs" back.

[kazu]

In a nutshell, the cruise was AMAZING!! I'm so glad we went and I'm so glad our first ever cruise was with HAL!

The crew is definitely top notch! Very friendly & helpful.

There was a GI illness, but the crew did an excellent job of containing it and less than 20 people were affected.

Wednesday night & all of Thursday we had very rough seas and I spent a lot of our last sea day laying down. My dh said it was the best 2 nights sleep he ever had! I guess we need a rocker on his side of the bed lol

It rained in San Juan & St Thomas, but we didn't mind. I don't know many Texans who would complain about rain - even on vacation LOL!!

The food was great! I'm glad we were on deck 10, since we could hike up & down the stairs to get to & from lol We ate at the Pinnacle Grill & Tamarind once each - definitely worth the extra fee!

I loved our cabin (VQ), but I'm not sure I would pay that much extra for it... We had booked a VH guarantee and the upgrade fairy granted us this one.

We met some amazing people and made some new friends.

I'll post a more detailed review & add some photos later. I'm having some issues getting my "land legs" back.


Welcome home:) Great to hear after some threads on the Ooesterdam:)

Glad YOU enjoyed your cruise - hope you get your 'land legs' back soon and looking forward to your review:)

[sail7seas]

Welcome Back.
So happy you had such a good time on Eurodam. We've enjoyed some really fun cruises on her and would return without hesitation.

We have sailed New Years Eve before and I'd love to compare our HAL NYE experience with what Eurodam did..... was it really fun?

[IRL_Joanie]

Awesome to hear!! Cannot wait to read more of your amazing cruise:)

Joanie

[NattilyAttired]

Thanks for your brief pre-review. I look forward to reading more. we sail on eurodam in 12 days, on your same itinerary. Can you answer a couple questions?

1 What were the temperatures like in the ports you visited? I know it rained, but was it warm?

2. Did you swim in the ocean anywhere? Was the water warm or cold?

3. Did you feel unusually strong vibrations aboard the ship, even when in port?

Many thanks!

NattilyAttired

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

Less than 20 people with Noro -- that's not bad.

Looking forward to your review and pictures.

[canadianbear]

Welcome back! Sounds like you loved the Eurodam...we sure did and loved the crew too.

As for your land legs....I found after my first cruise I too took a few days to get them back. Only been on 2 since then but had no problems at all after them...so, the bottom line, book another cruise! haha...

Looking forward to reading your full review and seeing your photos.

[excruisestaff]

In a nutshell, the cruise was AMAZING!! I'm so glad we went and I'm so glad our first ever cruise was with HAL!

The crew is definitely top notch! Very friendly & helpful.

There was a GI illness, but the crew did an excellent job of containing it and less than 20 people were affected.

Wednesday night & all of Thursday we had very rough seas and I spent a lot of our last sea day laying down. My dh said it was the best 2 nights sleep he ever had! I guess we need a rocker on his side of the bed lol

It rained in San Juan & St Thomas, but we didn't mind. I don't know many Texans who would complain about rain - even on vacation LOL!!

The food was great! I'm glad we were on deck 10, since we could hike up & down the stairs to get to & from lol We ate at the Pinnacle Grill & Tamarind once each - definitely worth the extra fee!

I loved our cabin (VQ), but I'm not sure I would pay that much extra for it... We had booked a VH guarantee and the upgrade fairy granted us this one.

We met some amazing people and made some new friends.

I'll post a more detailed review & add some photos later. I'm having some issues getting my "land legs" back.

Glad you enjoyed it! We were on the pre-Christmas sailing and that was just okay. The best thing about it was pre-renting an on-board cabana for the week (we did it on Lido Deck), which was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! Very well worth it :p

[erewhon]

Thank you for this report.
Looking forward to your review.

[fuzzywuzzy]

Glad you enjoyed it! We were on the pre-Christmas sailing and that was just okay. The best thing about it was pre-renting an on-board cabana for the week (we did it on Lido Deck), which was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! Very well worth it :p

Glad to hear you had a fabulous cruise on the Eurodam. My DH and I are booked for the transatlantic sailing in April - first time ever to do this and first time on the Eurodam!! We have a VE guaranteed cabin mid ship. Do you know anything about this level?

We have sailed on the Maasdam and Ryndam before and really enjoy HAL over the other cruiselines we've been on.

[pjck71]

Thanks for your brief pre-review. I look forward to reading more. we sail on eurodam in 12 days, on your same itinerary. Can you answer a couple questions?

1 What were the temperatures like in the ports you visited? I know it rained, but was it warm? It was nice & warm everywhere we went.

2. Did you swim in the ocean anywhere? Was the water warm or cold? It was actually warmer in the water than on land in St Thomas because of the rain. The water temp was nice in all of the ports. We snorkeled in St Thomas & Half Moon Cay and just swam in Grand Turk. Didn't make it to the water in San Juan, so I can't say for there.

3. Did you feel unusually strong vibrations aboard the ship, even when in port? I did feel some very noticeable vibrations on deck 2 in the Explorer's Lounge & the Pinnacle Wine Bar and there was a crazy, jumping ceiling tile in the Crow's Nest on the last night. Other than being a little noisy, it definitely didn't ruin our time.

Many thanks!

NattilyAttired

Enjoy your cruise!!

[pjck71]

Welcome back! Sounds like you loved the Eurodam...we sure did and loved the crew too.

As for your land legs....I found after my first cruise I too took a few days to get them back. Only been on 2 since then but had no problems at all after them...so, the bottom line, book another cruise! haha...

Looking forward to reading your full review and seeing your photos.

Thanks! I'm feeling a little steadier as the day progresses.

I can't WAIT to get back on a ship - shaky legs or not :D

[sail7seas]

Seeing you boarded on New Years Eve day I'm curious how they handled the NYE Celebration. I don't imagine it was formal, was it?

[pjck71]

Seeing you boarded on New Years Eve day I'm curious how they handled the NYE Celebration. I don't imagine it was formal, was it?



It was actually formal "optional" dress, but the MDR served steak & lobster. We ended up with 3 formal nights and I LOVED it, since I was going to dress up whether it was requested or not ;)

There was quiet a long wait for dinner after 8pm (we had open seating). We didn't actually make it to the NYE party until after 11:30, since we were finishing dinner at 11.

All I can say about the party is there was singing, dancing, lots of champagne flowing and we had a great time :D

[RonnieS]

Indeed we had a Norovirus outbreak. For us that's the second time on New Years sailings with HAL. Upon boarding a information packet a letter mentioned that the Norovirus was occuring fleet wide and that for the first 48 hours food service will be limited and by ship personnel. Once the outbreak was announced that policy was in place for the remainder of the cruise. Hand sanitizer was available throughout the ship.

Fortunately we did not get sick on either of the HAL cruises.

My review for this sailing:

The good: Embarkation went smothly as always. Food was fair to good. We did not eat in the specialty restaurants expcept the Italian and that was so-so. It was also no charge. Service was outstanding. Entertainment: we only saw the juggler (for the third time, this guy gets around) and the Magician for the second time. Both are great only that we've seen them before. All ports of call were great temps in the upper 70's low 80's, we only had some rain coming back from Trunk Bay, St.Johns. We reserved a cabana on Half Moon Cay and well worth the money, I also opted for a on the beach massage, also worth every penney.

I'll skip the bad and go right to the ugly. On the first day we mentioned to our cabin steward that the air conditioning was not working and that we had a horrible mold smell in the bathroom. The second day I went down to the pursers desk to complain and one of the pursers came up to the cabin 8034 to check things out for himself. He used a temp guage to determine that indeed the air was not working properly and he poked his head in the bathroom and said yep, phew it's a stinker. He said he'll get some people right on it. on Tuesday as we were sitting in our cabin a blast of cold air came from the vent and we jumped for joy, a man from enginnering came in a few minutes later checked the thermostat and said the damper had been closed. For the rest of the cruise the cold air blasted 24/7 the thermostat was useless now we were too cold but we felt it better than being to hot. Back to the mold smell. After another complaint at the pursers desk I was assured the problem would be fixed. The cabin steward just kept telling us he was pouring bleach down the drain. A third time I went to the desk and I guess they just got tired of seeing me and said the problem is fixed and if you have any more complaints just take it up with corporate HAL when you get home. I intend to do just that when a HAL represenative will be at the agency we booked with at the end of the month.

Having said all that we had a great time. We always do. We refuse to let minor annoyences ruin things for us. Cruising is good.

However and unfortunately for HAL we have no intention of sailing with them again.



So goodbye HAL we hardly knew ya. We have no intention sailing with you again.

[sail7seas]

It was actually formal "optional" dress, but the MDR served steak & lobster. We ended up with 3 formal nights and I LOVED it, since I was going to dress up whether it was requested or not ;)

There was quiet a long wait for dinner after 8pm (we had open seating). We didn't actually make it to the NYE party until after 11:30, since we were finishing dinner at 11.

All I can say about the party is there was singing, dancing, lots of champagne flowing and we had a great time :D


Thanks.
Sounds like you really enjoyed yourselves. :)
Happy New Year.

[barbarah33]

I'm sorry to hear about the nasty aroma and even sorrier to hear how poorly HAL handled it. It is, however, refreshing to hear you also say that you still had a good time and did not let it ruin your vacation.

That's a great attitude and similar to the one I try to have which is that 'any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at home.' :cool:

[Typhoon1]

Glad you had an otherwise good time. Eurodam is one of our favorites.