Eurodam: W Caribbean Oct 26, 2014 - Review and gallery

[zackiedawg]

Starting with embarkation, living locally in Florida makes it easy to just drive to the port, not worry about luggage size or weight, and I can choose my time to avoid busses and large groups. However, due to the Ebola questionnaires slowing things a bit, the lines were still quite long as I came in the building. After searching a bit, I found the separate queue for 5-star mariners and was able to jump behind one other couple...checked in, and got aboard within 15 minutes of leaving the car door. The room was ready, so headed up to deck 6, and located my starboard SS room, 6077. I stay in SS suites very often on HAL, but always on Vista-class ships - my last Eurodam trip was in a VA cabin. I was pleasantly surprised how much nicer and more updated the room looked on the Eurodam - nice dark woods and colors making it more elegant than the more pastelly colors in the Vista class ships. And as always the SS is the perfect size cabin – large enough to feel special and suite-like, but not overly large or with any wasted space. Touring around the ship, I found it to be in excellent shape - no signs of wear, or broken furniture, carpets looked clean, everything looked nice and new.

 

Favorite spots for me were always Crow's Nest and Explorer's, and on the Eurodam, the quiet and lovely Silk Den at midship...wonderful daytime reading spot since they don't play worded music and almost everyone up there seems to be of the same mind to keep that a quiet lounge (Crow's Nest can get a little loud sometimes).

 

I had late seating, fixed - upstairs at 8pm...my favorite time. I still prefer traditional dining - it just lets me plan my day more easily knowing what time dinner will be, where my table will be, and also the chance to meet tablemates that I will stay with throughout the cruise. The food was fine for me - I never had much to complain about in HAL's main dining room - not every meal is a home run, but none ever disappointed. Service was great as to be expected.

 

I am a photographer, so I take lots of photos. I am usually armed with two cameras, and pick the one best for the day or job, usually picking 2 or 3 lenses I’ll want to shoot with. I post galleries of my cruises, but they are not ‘family’ galleries or selfies or shots of food – I pretty much stick to scenic, landscape, architecture, nature, and wildlife…plus onboard shots of ship lounges and rooms. Feel free to take a look at my Eurodam gallery:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/eurodam_2014&page=all

 

You can click on a thumbnail to see it larger, or just click on the first thumbnail and click ‘next’ to work your way through the gallery. There’s also a slideshow option in the upper right corner.

 

Shows and entertainment - admittedly I don't partake of too many shows - usually 2 or 3 each cruise...what I did see was pretty solid this time around. I was happy to see that they had at least 2 comedy routines as the main show - which I like and always found lacking on HAL. Both comedians were very funny, the second one being the 'late' night comedian who was a bit more uncensored and adult flavored - and he killed the crowd. Given that this was the only night I ever saw the main show lounge completely filled to capacity for the 10pm show, with standing room only along the sides, and this being the second of 2 shows that night, hopefully this can encourage HAL to book more such acts as they are obviously in demand and much appreciated. The one ship produced show I saw was quite good - the singers and dancers were all skilled and on-tune, and the blend of fairy tale and modern music was an interesting idea that worked well for me.

 

I did not hit any of the alternate dining options on this cruise, so can't comment on those this time. I will comment on one significant improvement over all past HAL cruises. For lunches, I'm usually just a salad/sandwich/burger guy, not really into big full hot meals - so at Lido I never hit the hot food lines, instead just building a salad or getting a sandwich made. All previous HAL cruises, I avoided the Lido outside grill by the pool, because I always found their hamburgers to be dreadful, burned hockey pucks of tough inedible meat on stale bread, essentially flavorless. I've commented in most past reviews that this was one area HAL really needed to change, especially considering how much better other lines' options are, with Guy Fieri and Johnny Rockets to name a few. Well, HAL listened and acted - the new lido pool grill on Eurodam, called the 'Dive In Grill' has a selection of creative custom burgers on the menu, as well as some fancy hot dog options and a chicken sandwich - one can still order more plain burgers and dogs. I figured I'd give it a try, still fearful I'd get a grey hockey puck but with fancy toppings...but no - the burger meat is a significant upgrade to previous ones, buns and breads much better, and everything juicy, tasty, and perfectly cooked. The hot dogs are Nathan's, so also a very significant step up. Ordering is easier and better too - as you walk up and submit your order, then get a beeper rather than standing around waiting - this reduces the crowding by the window at busy lunchtimes. I hope Dive In Bar is something that is being added through the entire HAL line!

 

My one service anomaly - which is something I consider HIGHLY unusual for HAL, was in my cabin steward. They have always been exemplary, and friendly, and I've not once felt the need to complain about a room steward - not only on HAL, but on any of my past cruises. My first observation is that the steward was very hard to find - usually they are abundantly available and find you within moments of checking into your room. I didn't see mine until hours later when I bumped into him in the hall, and asked him to separate the beds in the room. I thought nothing more of it until I got back to the room that night around 11:30pm, and found the beds still together. Not that big of a deal - I called and had the on-duty late steward come and fix the problem - the person on overnight duty was prompt, friendly, and efficient. The next day was uneventful, as the room was made for the afternoon, but come that next evening when I got back to the room at 12:30am, I found the room had not been made at all for turndown...towels were still on the bathroom floor, trash in the buckets, etc. Again I had to call the overnight steward, who again was friendly, fast, efficient, and apologetic. Day 3 was fairly uneventful, but for not getting the ice bucket refilled and the mini-bar not being replenished. Day 4 though, we again had an issue - this time, the beds were made and turned down for the evening with no top sheets. Just a bottom sheet on the mattress and a comforter. Sine I find the rooms far too warm to begin with, I don't use comforters ,and rely on having the top sheet - but that night, I just ripped the stuffed portion out of the comforter cover and used the cover as an emergency sheet, as I didn't want to call on the late night steward again. The next afternoon after some searching I found our steward and informed him of the missing sheets, requesting he add them in the future...he was not friendly, didn't really seem to understand what the complaint was, and offered no apology for that mistake or any of the previous nights. Moreover, that 5th evening, the beds were made...without topsheets again. A call to the late steward, who by now I wished was my main steward, fixed the problem. Days 6 and 7 were uneventful again, but for the minibar which was never replenished since the very first day of the cruise. I hope the steward in question can be run through training again, or maybe allow the late-night duty steward to get a promotion!

 

First stop was Half Moon Cay…and what bad thing could anyone say about it? It’s beautiful, peaceful, and always nice to stop at even if you’ve been there a million times. Most probably go for that wonderful clear water and perfect sand – but I live in a beach town, so my draw is to go for a hike around the island, with my camera, photographing birds and other wildlife and just enjoying the exercise.

 

Second stop: Ocho Rios. It’s built up a little bit since I last went almost a decade ago, but mostly just the port facilities and shops right near the port, giving those folks who feel the town can be a little seedy a place to go without really ever leaving the port. I’ve always found Jamaican people to be friendly and fun, so I prefer to get out and take a walk – away from the port and away from the two shopping malls. I didn’t bother this time to go to the tourist trap spots either – just walked out to the main road, up the Olympic Heights hill, and enjoyed talking to some locals. I hit the Margaritaville bar/beach on the way back just to cool off and get some shots of the ship and some shorebirds.

 

Third stop: Grand Cayman. There were 3 other boats there on our day – crowded but not as bad as it can be since there have been as many as 7 ships in port at times I’ve been there. The weather was nice and sunny, so I enjoyed self-touring the town, hitting the museums, churches, memorials, library, and other spots, then hopped one of the local tour vans for a quick jaunt to the usual tourist spots because I hadn’t been there in a while - $20 gets you out to Hell, Seven Mile Beach, Tortuga Rum Cake, Dolphin encounter, and Turtle Farm, and a few other sites you pass along the way and get the driver’s explanation. No complaints!

 

Fourth stop: floating around in the sea watching Florida Key islands go by at 1 knot per hour. That’s right – there was no fourth stop for us. Our planned and missed port was Key West. High winds apparently presented difficulty making the channel into Key West through reef, and docking against the cement pier…and even if he got in, he might not have been able to get out…so port was called off. Though the decision to skip the stop due to winds was sound, and I do not fault the captain for making the decision, despite extreme disappointment on my part...I did find it perplexing and quite curious that the ship staff never offered any compensation for the missed stop. I've been on plenty of cruises, and several have had to call off port stops - whenever they did, some shipboard credit, free drinks or onboard perks, etc were always offered. This was the first time I've been on a ship that didn't give passengers anything to compensate. Moreover, past cruises have reimbursed port charges to the passengers - since those are paid up front when booking the cruise, and if that stop is canceled, the ship obviously did not have to pay the port fees. No refund was mentioned or offered from HAL or Eurodam for missing the port of Key West. It's most surprising that HAL, of all lines, would miss these things, when much lesser lines I've been on offered all of the above. It’s not that I even needed or wanted anything free…just strange that an offer was never made, as it always has been on all my past cruises that had to skip a port.

 

Anyway…I got over it. The last night was fairly cool due to a cool front that had passed through Florida, so I enjoyed a cool night reading on my balcony after packing. The next morning, debarkation was as smooth as can be – though some credit goes to the crafty luggage handler we ended up with. I was assigned the pink tag, which is the de-board anytime color – since we’re local and have no rush, I usually stay in the cabin and relax for the first few colors called – around 9:00 or so, I headed down. Getting off the ship took only a few minutes as I tried to time myself between color calls to avoid too lengthy a line getting off. Getting down to the luggage area was easy, since the blue and green luggage tags were where most people were headed to get their bags, and mine was over in lonely pink section. There were two other couples getting their luggage in pink, and none of the porters was in our area since they were concentrating on the blue/green section – but we found one returning porter who saw the opportunity to grab all 3 parties’ bags on his cart, call us a ‘group’, and bypassed the line which was several hundred people deep trying to get to customs, bringing us to a short ‘groups’ line around the side with only one other party in front of us. We ended up getting our luggage and going through customs, all in under 10 minutes! I tipped him big for that one. I was home having a cup of coffee and unpacked by 10am.

 

That’s it! Any questions, feel free to ask and I’d be happy to answer.

 

Again, my photo gallery can be found here if interested:

http:// http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/eurodam_2014&page=all

[Huskerchick]

Thanks for your review and your pictures are simply stunning.

 

 

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[freestyling]

Thanks for posting. We were on the same cruise and also disappointed that we missed the keys. I did notice a credit on my payment card from HAL yesterday. Believe this is for the Keys port charge.

[portofrome]

Great photos! Thanks for your review.

[Debi_D]

Great review and the pictures are stunning. Thanks for sharing them with us. Looks like you enjoyed the cruise..

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing.

[zackiedawg]

Thanks all. Freestyling - I'll have to check my credit card - that would be good to know that they at least reimbursed the port charges, which has usually been standard procedure on past cruises - if they did, then I can retract that complaint!

[POA1]

Thanks ZD! Loved the review, and your photos are outstanding.

[pearliemae]

Your pictures are great, the shots of the falcon fantastic!

Thanks for sharing.

[trub]

thanks for posting the review - fabulous photos

[puppycanducruise]

Your pictures are wonderful.

Thanks for sharing your review. :)

[kazu]

Great review. Thanks so much.

 

For the cancelled port, we have always had our port charges reimbursed. They usually showed on our on board account as a credit. And we got a glass of sparkling wine :rolleyes: at dinner.

 

Your pics are great. Thanks so much for sharing. If you are so inclined, please send your cabin and chosen public area pics to pictures@halfacts.com Any additions to the website along with cabin comments are always helpful.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your nice review and your really awesome photo's.

[MishelleMcc]

Thank you for sharing your experience and your Photos! I enjoyed them VERY much!!!!:D

[Topo Gigio]

Thanks. I'm taking this same cruise on Nov. 23

[1ANGELCAT]

Was a also on this sailing. Per email from guest relations the port tax is being refunded manually. Also, I did receive a glass of sparkling wine at dinner.

 

 

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[zackiedawg]

I got cheated...no sparkling wine at dinner! (not that I would have drank it anyway, but still...)! ;)

[PetNanny]

Great photos and review. Thanks for sharing.

[madera1]

Thank you for sharing. I liked your slideshow and especially those shots of the birds.

 

 

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[Ilikeboats]

I just took my first cruise on the Eurodam (Malt Shop Cruise). Everything was fantastic, but it is funny that you talk about the room stewart as perhaps we had the same one. I did not get the mini bar restocked, or ice at night and he was very cold and standoffish. Not what I have been use to. That being said, everything else was the best ever and I can't wait to go on the ship again! My new favorite cruise ship!!

[nothriver]

Thank you for sharing your review and beautiful photos; I especially love the photos of the falcon!

[zackiedawg]

Much appreciated folks.

 

That falcon was quite the nice surprise. There are usually frigatebirds and boobies following the boat way out at sea, and gulls around land - the peregrine falcon was migrating from way up north to South America and seemed to have found our boat to be a convenient way to hitch a ride southbound. We picked him up headed through the Windward Passage and he stayed on board all the way through the next day in Jamaica. I was enjoying shooting him from my balcony - but then noticed he was going up somewhere on a top deck of the ship and landing...so I went up to deck 10 to look around and found him sitting on the cleaning rails just outside the rail windows - that's the strange closeup shot of him looking in the window at me from just 10 feet away!