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On Eurodam Cruise March 10 to March17

CCKelly

By CCKelly,
in Holland America Line

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CCKelly

CCKelly

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We are currently on the Eurodam. Everything going great, can't imagine what that last bad review a couple of weeks ago was all about. Food has been very good, both in the main dining room and at Pinnacle and Tamarind. We are in cabin 4166, the VD cabin with the large balcony. There were 2 loungers on the deck in addition to the two chairs when we boarded. Actually spending more time out and about on the ship than on our balcony, but still the large balcony is nice. We are on our last sea day, then HMC tomorrow. Weather has been nice, a bit windy but no rain, so hopefully a great day at HMC tomorrow. That's all for now.

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PathfinderEss

PathfinderEss

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We are currently on the Eurodam. Everything going great, can't imagine what that last bad review a couple of weeks ago was all about. Food has been very good, both in the main dining room and at Pinnacle and Tamarind. We are in cabin 4166, the VD cabin with the large balcony. There were 2 loungers on the deck in addition to the two chairs when we boarded. Actually spending more time out and about on the ship than on our balcony, but still the large balcony is nice. We are on our last sea day, then HMC tomorrow. Weather has been nice, a bit windy but no rain, so hopefully a great day at HMC tomorrow. That's all for now.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to give us a review while your still on your cruise. Glad your having a nice time on the Eurodam.

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CCKelly

CCKelly

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We are back from our 7 day Caribbean Eurodam cruise. As background, this was our third HAL cruise, once in 2002 on Maasdam and in 2008 on Prinsendam. I cannot campare to any other "mass" cruiselines as our other few cruises have been on Seabourn and Regent. Eurodam was by far the largest ship we have been on, so we were somewhat concerned about that, mostly in regards to how the food quality would be and to whether the ship would feel crowded.

However, happy to report that we were very pleased with Eurodam! I do believe that the price of Caribbean cruises is somewhat less than other destinations ( I assume due to a lot of competition), but at the price per day, I think that Eurodam was very very good. In fact, I would have to say it was very comparable to our last cruise on Regent (except that the HAL cabin is somewhat smaller and not quite as elegant).

 

Embarkation was easy and efficient, the elevators are fast and plentiful, there are plenty of public spaces, never had trouble finding a seat at a lounge except possibly for a short while during happy hour in the Crows Nest. Our cabin (VD4166) was adequate and kept up well, thought our cabin stewards did a good job. Staff all seemed friendly, no problems with service.

 

Since this was our first larger size ship, we enjoyed the shows at the Main Stage. Also really enjoyed the variety of music in the evenings: Chris on guitar in the Cwow's Nest and Roger in the Piano Bar in particular for us, but of course the Adagio Strings in Explorer's Lounge have a loyal following, and the Neptunes in the Ocean Bar.

 

My husband and I enjoy wine and well prepared dinners in the evening, this is quite important to us while on vacation. We ate in evey dining venue except for Canelleto and were quite impressed. The Pinnacle Grill is great (just as we remember from Prinsendam) and the menu has more variety now. Tarmarind is just excellent (we had dinner there twice and lunch one sea day). Our last dinner at Tamarind on the last cruise night was really good, as good as a very expensive restaurant in Atlanta. We had fixed seating for two at 8:00 pm in the Rembrandt, only ended up eating there three nights including both formal nights and found the food and service very good. I felt that the weakest dining was probably Le Cirque. Considering the $39 surcharge, I did not find it quite as good as Pinnacle, and the courses were a little slow coming. We had stopped at Total Wine before boarding, brought about 6 or 7 bottles of wine on board which we took to dinner each night and paid the $18 corkage fee, so I really can't comment on HAL's wines or prices.

 

We did not take any HAL excursions except at HMC, the Aqua Trex Adventure was fine and seemed worth the money. By the way, Half Moon Cay was a beautiful beach, the facilities are clean and well run, really a nice day. Eurodam was the only ship there so plenty of room for everyone.

 

We got the wrong color tickets for luggage for Disembarkation (later than we asked for considering our flight time), my husband changed those out the night before for about 45 minutes earlier, and worked out fine.

 

Consdersidering a lot of mixed reviews on some of the other HAL ships, I have no idea if the other ships are as well run, are in such good condition, or if service and food quality are at the same level as Eurodam. All I can say is that Holland America should strive to have all their ships at this level and I think they would be providing a very good experience for their passengers.

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IRL_Joanie

IRL_Joanie

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We are currently on the Eurodam. Everything going great, can't imagine what that last bad review a couple of weeks ago was all about. Food has been very good, both in the main dining room and at Pinnacle and Tamarind. We are in cabin 4166, the VD cabin with the large balcony. There were 2 loungers on the deck in addition to the two chairs when we boarded. Actually spending more time out and about on the ship than on our balcony, but still the large balcony is nice. We are on our last sea day, then HMC tomorrow. Weather has been nice, a bit windy but no rain, so hopefully a great day at HMC tomorrow. That's all for now.

 

We had a contractor on board Noordam for most of our cruise who travels from HAL Ship to HAL Ship. He is a Vibration specialist. He explained to several of us that the vibrations reported (mostly on Eurodam, but also on every other HAL ship) is caused by "chocks" which if you use bakes on a car, wear out over time and need to be replaced. On a ship when the Chocks go out, the ship has to go in for a complete dry dock. It has something to do with a defect from the engine manufacturer. All of the ships have the chocks, but Eurodam came out with bad chocks:(

 

Looking forward to more great comments fro you:)

 

Joanie

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CCKelly

CCKelly

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Joanie, hope you had a wonderful cruise on the Noordam. Yes, I forgot to mention the "vibration issue" on Eurodam. We did not notice any vibration that should bother anyone except for the last night up in the Tamarind restaurant. There was some vibration up there that was enough to make the glasses irritating if next to each other. We did not notice this the first night we had dinner at Tamarind (which was the 3rd night of the cruise), it was only noticeable on the last night which led my husband to believe it was more pronounced when cruising at higher speeds (or higher knots I guess I should say). I would not worry if it did not get any worse between now and when they are able to take care of the problem, but it may be awhile before Eurodam goes into drydock again. I cannot comment on whether the vibration could be felt in any of the upper level cabins, but was not a problem for us at all on the Upper Prom deck.

 

Being in Cabin 4166, next to a supply room for the stewards, there is some type of rather loud noise each morning early about 5 to 6 am. It only seems to occur once each morning but did wake us up several mornings, but then we went right back to sleep!

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