January 31st Eurodam review

We were on the January 31st cruise on the Eurodam for 7 days. This was my fifth cruise – all with Holland America and I’ve loved each and every one of them. The first three I took with my mother and the last two with my cousin. I’ve been on the Westerdam twice, the Noordam once and this was my second cruise on the Eurodam. Previously, I’ve had a signature suite twice and a verandah room twice. I had booked a VE guarantee on this cruise and paid an upsell fee to a SZ guarantee the week before the cruise. I was initially given a SS room and then two days before we left, the truly wonderful upgrade fairy visited and we got moved to a SA Neptune Suite….what a lovely surprise. Of course, this has truly spoiled me forever as it’s unlikely I’ll be booking one of those for a long time.

This was a particularly nice surprise as my cousin was celebrating her 65th birthday on board so the suite was icing on the cake, so to speak!

We flew in to Fort Lauderdale the night before and stayed at the Best Western Plus Oceanside Inn. The hotel was really nice – our room opened out onto a sundeck overlooking the pool. There was a complimentary hot breakfast buffet that had a great selection of breakfast items from fruit, pastries, eggs, bacon, waffles etc etc. Great choice to start our holiday.

We took a cab to the port and arrived at about 11:00 am and walked right in to register. We were told to wait near the elevators as we’d be in the first group to board and we were taken upstairs to wait at about 11:20 or so. I think boarding started at 11:30 or so and we were among the first to board the beautiful Eurodam. Of course we went straight to our cabin to check it out, and it was absolutely huge and beautiful!

A few general observations –

Food – we ate lunch in the Lido and dinner in the MDR and found the food to be excellent. Our servers were, as always, fantastic. Service was great, the company was fun and overall a great experience. We ate breakfast one morning in the Pinnacle, had room service a couple of times and ate at the Lido the other times….all were good. I didn’t snack that much (they kept me well fed at the meals!), but did take the time to have my most favorite cheesy fries from the Dive In one day…yum!

Entertainment – probably the best I’ve experienced in my 5 cruises. The BB King Allstars were hands down, the best I’ve ever seen. The two lead singers, Ashley and Carlos were excellent and you could tell they really liked each other and had a ball performing. There was standing room only for pretty much all their performances and lots of regulars there each night up dancing. We tried to catch at least one set each night they were performing. We went to a couple of shows in the main theatre. There were two shows by the Eurodam singers and dancers and I have to say once again, probably the best group I’ve seen. Excellent vocalists and super dancers. I particularly liked their On Tour show. The other show we saw was a magician named James Cielen and he was really, really good. He certainly had the crowd puzzled! The addition of the Boardwalk bar next the casino was also a big hit. There were two pianos facing each other and a very talented duo (a man and a woman) sang three sets 6 of the 7 nights. They sang a wide range of styles and again, were very, very good. Also standing room only for all their performances….I mostly heard them from my spot at a slot machine each night and it helped ease the pain of my gambling losses!

Ports of Call – love Half Moon Cay, Cayman Islands and Key West. Could happily not visit Montego Bay ever again. Took a HA tour (land tour and shopping or something like that) and it wasn’t worth the money. We took a private tour in the Caymans - did a land tour and then a snorkel/stingray city tour. We did the hop on/hop off trolley in Key West and thoroughly enjoyed rambling around.

Disembarkation – Had breakfast in the Lido and waited for our group to be called. Once called, we left the ship, grabbed our suitcases and were through customs in about 5 minutes flat…there was a bit of a line but people weren’t going to the agent on the far right, so the HA rep shooed us directly to him and we were out of there in record time.

As you can tell, we had a great cruise and I have no complaints about anything (other than Montego Bay!). The ship looks fabulous with the changes made at the drydock – I particularly like the set up in the casino/Billboard/Gallery bar areas…very nice! I want to also mention the new furniture on the balcony – the chairs with stools are awesome as the chair back can fully recline giving you a full on lounger on your balcony! I do like to lounge……sadly I’m back at work and that is frowned up in the office.

If anyone has any questions, I’d be pleased to answer them………

Enjoyed your review.

Keith

Thanks. We did Eurodam in our last cruise and will sail on her again next. Can't wait!

Thanks for doing a review. What a nice surprise to get upgraded to a Neptune Suite!

Can I ask a question about disembarkment? If I prefer not to set our suitcases out the night before, is it a big deal to take your own suitcases with you to disembarkment?

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Can I ask a question about disembarkment? If I prefer not to set our suitcases out the night before, is it a big deal to take your own suitcases with you to disembarkment?

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

I've done the self embarkation in the past - it's not a big deal. It just means you need to take all your luggage off the ship yourself and you'll be in the first group to leave. We didn't do that this year as our flight wasn't until noon and we didn't want to leave before 8...so we decided to hang out in the Lido and wait for our group to be called.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

Thank you for your review.

Thx for the review.

Thanks for the review. The Eurodam is our favorite ship and glad you enjoyed your cruise. A few years ago we booked a Panama canal cruise, but sadly because of a hurricane in that area, they redid itinerary and we ended up in montego bay. Agree with your assessment, we also disliked it.

Question, do you remember if you had a coffee maker in your suite?

Thanks for the review. The Eurodam is our favorite ship and glad you enjoyed your cruise. A few years ago we booked a Panama canal cruise, but sadly because of a hurricane in that area, they redid itinerary and we ended up in montego bay. Agree with your assessment, we also disliked it.

Question, do you remember if you had a coffee maker in your suite?

The coffee makers were brought in on the first day - our room steward said we were the first cruise to get them. We didn't use it all but it looked like a nice machine......came with some coffee pods but no cream/milk/sugar so was just as easy to go to either the Lido or the Neptune Lounge to get our caffeine fixes!

The coffee makers were brought in on the first day - our room steward said we were the first cruise to get them. We didn't use it all but it looked like a nice machine......came with some coffee pods but no cream/milk/sugar so was just as easy to go to either the Lido or the Neptune Lounge to get our caffeine fixes!

Thank you for responding. Glad they are in the suites now.

Thanks for your review!

Is the food basically the same in the Lido and dinning room during the dinner service. Looking forward to our trip in late March.

Thanks!

Thank you for the review, we look forward to our first cruise on the Eurodam on May 6

Chris

Thanks for your review.

Thanks for the report, glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thank you for the review.

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

We were on the January 31st cruise on the Eurodam for 7 days...

 

Entertainment – probably the best I’ve experienced in my 5 cruises. The BB King Allstars were hands down, the best I’ve ever seen. The two lead singers, Ashley and Carlos were excellent and you could tell they really liked each other and had a ball performing. There was standing room only for pretty much all their performances and lots of regulars there each night up dancing. We tried to catch at least one set each night they were performing...

We absolutely agree with you regarding this B.B. King All Star group -- they are the best of the best. We have cruised with them a number of times aboard Eurodam. In fact, Ashley and Carlos are cousins (their mothers are twins). One of the guitar players is also a cousin. This band has great personality for sure.

We were on board over the Holidays and they were outstanding New Year's Eve -- even better than they were last year! They played by the Lido pool to a standing room audience and brought the down the house.

The Captain and his wife, as well as, Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corp. and his family, spent more than a few nights listening and dancing to this band. Mr. Donald & his wife stayed every night until they finished playing. And as always, it was standing room only.

Is the food basically the same in the Lido and dinning room during the dinner service. Looking forward to our trip in late March.

 

Thanks!

Believe it or not, I've never eaten dinner in the Lido even once in my five cruises, but I understand that they offer the same menu as the MDR each night....

We absolutely agree with you regarding this B.B. King All Star group -- they are the best of the best. We have cruised with them a number of times aboard Eurodam. In fact, Ashley and Carlos are cousins (their mothers are twins). One of the guitar players is also a cousin. This band has great personality for sure.

 

We were on board over the Holidays and they were outstanding New Year's Eve -- even better than they were last year! They played by the Lido pool to a standing room audience and brought the down the house.

 

The Captain and his wife, as well as, Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corp. and his family, spent more than a few nights listening and dancing to this band. Mr. Donald & his wife stayed every night until they finished playing. And as always, it was standing room only.

I spoke with the young looking guitar player (who is awesome by the way) and he told me that their contract just got extended 7 months.....I would book a cruise they were playing on just to hear them! :)

I spoke with the young looking guitar player (who is awesome by the way) and he told me that their contract just got extended 7 months.....I would book a cruise they were playing on just to hear them! :)

Yes, I know which guitar player you spoke with, I think it's J.B. (?) - the third cousin, is the other guitar player, can't remember his name right now. We think they are all awesome!! They had just come on board at the end of Dry Dock and were scheduled to leave on Mar. 20th. but were hoping to extend their contract.

I agree, we would book another cruise just to hear them again. And as an added bonus, the Eurodam is our favorite ship. I guess, it's time to book.

I spoke with the young looking guitar player (who is awesome by the way) and he told me that their contract just got extended 7 months.....I would book a cruise they were playing on just to hear them! :)

-I so agree-- I was also on this cruise and watched from the bar every night and through many of there sets-- the best came later in the night---