Mini Review Eurodam Sept 16-26 New England/Canada

[sjclynn]

Debsjc has posted an excellent review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1065139

In the inevitable progression of cruises, we boarded soon after she departed. Yesterday it was our turn to leave and a new collection of guests is discovering what a fine ship the Eurodam is.

I will keep to the same format but belabor things that she has already covered.

My wife and I were traveling on this cruise and it is not our first on HAL. Most of our experience has been on the smaller S-class (Ryndam, Veendam) size ships.

Pre-Cruise

We arrived in New York the day before the cruise and stayed at the Hotel Edison. This is an older but very comfortable property in mid-town near Times Square. We did touristy things like going up to the 102nd floor observation deck of the Empire State building. It stays open late and the lines are reasonable after dark. The night vistas are spectacular. We had time in the morning to get something to eat and walk around mid-town before checking out and going to the cruise terminal. It has been several years since I have been in NYC for fun and my regret here was that I didn't arrange to get in earlier and spend a couple of days pre-cruise in the city.

Embarcation

Took a cab from the hotel to the terminal at about noon. The most significant line was for security, that took about 20 minutes. Waiting in line for actual checkin was another 5 and we were off to boarding. We ate outside by the aft pool while we waited for the room be available.

Cabin

We booked cabin 1008 on the main deck, port side forward. We really liked this cabin. It was very quiet and there was little motion. The only external noise was from the forward thrusters which was a good signal to get up if you weren't already. The cabin was adjacent to the forward elevators moving vertically was a piece of cake.

Eurodam

Compared to the S-Class ships, the Eurodam is significantly larger. There are three banks of elevators rather than two and the public spaces are all generally larger. While the ship was fully booked, it did not feel crowded. This was the case even on our single at sea day.

One noticable difference is the promenade deck 3. On the S-class, the outside deck is wide on both sides and you have an unobstructed view all the way from stem to stern. On the Eurodam, there are places where the interior is bumped out or space has been carved out from the side of the ship in. In some places, the promenade narrows to 6 feet or so. There is a silver lining to this though. Doing laps on the Eurodam seems to be less effort (3 laps to the mile) than on an S-class (4 laps to the mile). Since the journey is broken up more the laps seem to go faster. Another difference is that the main dining room is also on deck 3. As you go around the stern you are passing within feet of people eating during serving hours. It struck me as a little odd.

The Explorer's Cafe is on deck 11 next to the Crows Nest lounge. This should not be confused with the Explorer's Lounge which is on deck 3. Here you will find espresso individually made and very good at preces that are less than at Starbucks. There is also a fine collection of book and DVDs. For most of us the rental for a DVD is $3. Books are free and need to be returned by 4:30PM the night before disembarcation. The DVD collection is about 2000 titles with very few duplicates.

Dining

We had early seating this trip. We did "as you wish" on our last cruise and missed the attention that you get from the waiter after he gets to know you. There were four couples at our table but it took a few nights to get it stable. The first night, there were three couples and one of them said that they were going to move because they had been separated from their group. The next night that couple was gone and the couple that had been missing the night before was there. The next night we had the three couples from the previous night and a couple that had moved from late service. This couple generally had other arrangements and were only with us for dinner two of the 10 nights. The six of us who were the regulars really bonded and we thoughoughly enjoyed their company. Dinner was something that we really looked forward to.

The food and service were excellent although I was a little disappointed with the turf part of the surf and turf. It was over done for my taste but, by that night on the cruise I wasn't eating because I was hungry.

We enjoyed dinner in the Canaletto Restaurant one night. The food and service were excellent. Not only do they bring you the dessert of your choice but a cloud of green cotton candy for the table. Nice touch.

I am probably a bread pudding addict. On past cruises it was out with the desserts and you served yourself. On the Eurodam it is served from the ice cream counter. Newbies may miss this treat without knowing that they should seek it out.

Service

We have nothing to report but excellent service where ever we went. We surprised the room steward with towel animal (we practice at home). Deni absolutely lit up at that. The Lido staff is quick to approach and offer to carry your plate(s) to your table.

Ports

Same as Debsjc only in reverse. Newport and Bar Harbor are tender ports. The tender process was efficient. Get a tender ticket in the Queen's Lounge and then get on board. We generally take our time in the morning and do some shipboard things and get past the rush of people who want to get off early.

In Newport, I highly recommend doing at least one mansion. You can easily roll your own excursion. turn left from the tender dock and go down America's Cup Ave about 2 blocks to the RIPTA station. Take the #67 shuttle get a day pass for $5 on the bus. If you can only do one mansion, make it the Breakers.

In Boston the port is too far from downtown to walk. There was a bus shuttle available that took you from the port to Quincy Square round trip for $10. This is about a block off of the Freedom Trail. The core historic part of Boston is compact and easy walking for the able. From Quincy Square to the Old North church is about a 15 minute walk unless you stop to look or eat along the way. There are some fantastic Italian eateries along the way.

Bar Harbor is probably about the only spot left without a Starbucks. The highlight here is Acadia Nat. Park. Get lobster rolls at the Lobster Shack or the Lobster Pound.

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax is excellent because they have a mission and stick to it. It is worth a visit.

Other Notes/Comments

If I take this cruise again, I would seriously consider doing it from Quebec to New York rather than the other way round. The cruise staff is all polite and efficient about disembarcation. It is a very nice way of them saying, have a nice breakfast and go home. They need to turn the ship around. As a consequence, we were on the bus to the airport at 9AM. This all would have been great except for the fact that our flight was not until 5 in the afternoon. I can say that the Quebec City airport is a fine and modern airport. It is staffed but polite and generally bilingual people. It is clean and very open. It is also very boring. The good...free WiFi. The bad...few power outlets. The good...a Tim Hortons so you won't starve. The bad...that is the only service on the insecure side of the airport. We couldn't get into the secure side until we had a boarding pass. Couldn't get a boarding pass until United opened their counter at 3PM. On the air side there was a restaurant, kids play area and a news stand/gift shop.

The cruise is billed as a fall color cruise and it was a bit early this year. Another few weeks and it will be spectacular...oh, the Eurodam will be in the Caribbean by then :-) The leaves were turning and there were some spots of pretty good color.

The ship generally sailed at 5PM. This means that if you have early seating for dinner you miss most of the sail away stuff. I would rather have at least a couple of nights where we sailed later. The cruise lists "scenic cruising of the Saguenay fjord" but again, this was at dinner time. This was also the only evening where the weather was less than outstanding. We passed the Our Lady of Saguenay statue at about 7PM and it was already dark. It would have been easy to have scheduled the Saguenay departure for 4PM to make that better.

Customs going this way is pretty relaxed. We have already been in Canada for 6 days when we disembarked and yes, go thru C&E to officially enter Canada.

Things that you learn from the Environmental officer. The ship can generate 500,000 gallons of fresh water per day. Usage is about half that. Every piece of trash/litter is sorted for recycables. Money earned from recycling goes into the crew entertainment fund. All grey and black water is processed on the ship with the resultant water clean enough to use as intake water for water treatment plants. The Eurodam is one of the most ecologically advanced and environmentally friendly ships in service. Fuel economy? How does 55 feet/gallon sound? That is 98 gallons per nautical mile.

Conclusion

We had great time. The Eurodam is a fine and beautiful ship.

[IRL_Joanie]

What an awesome review! Makes me want to book her right now.

Joanie

[earl_m]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!!!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for your review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[seaboat]

It nice to hear good reviews about the Eurodam, cuz I will be on the Eurodam for the first time soon...It's all i think about it. lol

[sjclynn]

A few other things that came to mind.

Access to forward exterior decks are available by going forward from the front elevators thru the cabin corridors on decks 5 and 6. Possibly on 4 as well but I like the one on deck 6 best. The exterior doors are generally open when weather permits.

The Lido cabanas were very lightly booked. The at sea day had the most occupied but there were still a few available.

Access to the gym is in the spa area. The equipment is top notch; I wish that the gym that I go to at home was as well equipped. Strangely, it does not appear on the maps but it is there. There is a small refrigerator full of chilled wet cloths. Nice touch.

The Mainstage is where the evening entertainment is. Very comfortable theater style seating for 985. The seats have handy drink holders. Access is thru decks 1-3 forward. The deck 1 access is very handy since it puts you at about the 5th row or so. This great for handicap access since the only other area accessible is in the far back. Also, most people enter from the main entrances on decks 2 and 3. There are usually good seats down near the front. The only night that we had to settle for seats in the back was our own fault. We arrived after the show started and, while there were some seats down front, we didn't want to disturb anyone to get to them...

The disembarcation jokes are unchanged in 10 years or more... Posed as questions from the passengers, Does the ship generate its own power? Is the water in the toilets fresh or salt? Does the crew sleep on board? All with the logical retorts.

The disembarcation time on your packet is an estimate and could come significantly earlier than you expect. Ours was for 9AM and our group was called at 8:20. This wasn't a problem as we had finished breakfast and were just waiting to be called. One of our friends was, still in bed :-) when their was called. Not that, he will be 80 in November.

The wine bar never seemed to have anyone in it.

Saguenay has just opened a new cruise terminal. As usual, there are many local artisans have wares for sale their. In my opinion, the quality of the merchandise there was better than similar offerings in other ports. One of the stalls had awsome wood carvings with prices that would support that. Another had leather goods like portfolios and notebooks that were excellent quality.

The terminal in Halifax was set up so that you have to run the gauntlet of the merch stalls to get back onto the ship. I hate that. It was mostly stuff targeting the tourists. You know the stuff...the stuff that you ask, what will they do with it when they get it home. If someone gave it to me I would think that they didn't like me. To be fair, there were also merchants with nice things too.

The only Starbucks that we saw outside of the US was in Charlottetown. It looked like it was about a week from opening.

As for Charlottetown, Ann of Green Gablesis a big deal there. Hundreds of Japanese tourists go to Charlottetown because of the book. The setting, and in fact, the house made famous by the book, are on Prince Edward Island and accessable via excursion or tour. The chocolate factory makes some pretty good stuff. Check out the chocolate covered potato chips...tasty. Don't have a copy of the book? It, and other in the Avonlea series, are available in about any language that you want at the Ann of Green Gables store.

There are paintings by Stephen Card in the stair wells. B&W photos of HAL ships, present and past decorate the cabin corridors.

Sometimes it is the things that you wouldn't even be aware of that make an impression. The slip in Boston has room for 3 cruise ships and 2 NCL ships were in port with us. We were originally assigned the front position and as the last ship to arrive could easily have been in the last position. The captain did some horse trading to get the center position because it reduced the walk to the buses for his passengers. To park there, he had to spin the ship 180 degrees, back in and then parallel park between the ships that were already there. Nice trick.

More later if I think of it. Questions will be cheerfully replied to or given an "I don't know" if that is the right answer.

[davis0056]

We were also on the 16-26 Sept cruise. It was our first time on HAL after 10 cruises on Celebrity (and 4 on various other lines). We were VERY impressed with the service, cabins, and dining. We had an aft cabin on deck 8. I guess we've become spoiled with the aft Millenium verandas and found the Eurodam's no bigger then other verandas, but we very much liked that the divider between our cabin and my brother's right next door that could be opened. The beds were as great as everyone said they would be. Dining in the Rembrandt (late) was efficient yet friendly. The selections were very good and servings very generous (more so then Celebrity). We ate dinner once in the Lido and they had pretty much the same items as in the main dining room, but we didn't need to get dressed up (9 ports in 10 days is a bit intensive and we didn't have the energy to dress up for formal night on one of the three formal nights). The captain also was eating in the Lido with several other senior staff that evening. We had lunch (gift from our agent) in the Pinnacle Grill on one port day. We had our last dinner in the Tamarind Restaurant which was excellent and very reasonably priced. Service was the poorest we had on the entire cruise-slow, disorganized and my DH's tenderloin, ordered rare was VERY well done. Tenders were very smooth, embarkation and disembarkation were also very smooth. We booked hotels independently in NYC (block from Time's Square and Quebec (44 room inn within the walled city). We would not heistate to book HAL again-in fact my brother and his wife and DH and I are booked on the Amsterdam for 14 days to Alaska next summer. I wish we could have had an extra day at sea though (maybe during the Saguenay portion when the fjords were cruised between 3 AM and 7 AM and then 5 PM til after dark). I agree with sjclynn, if we do this cruise again we would reverse it. Our trip home was one mess after another-2 hours on the tarmac in Quebec, missed connection in Newark, and dead battery in our car when we got home at 10:30 PM (we had left car at airport). None of those things were HALs fault.
Dave and Elaine