Still in love with the Eurodam

[shuttlebuggy]

Just returned from a beautiful week of cruising in the Eastern Carribean aboard the MS Eurodam. Weather was spectacular! A nice break from the cold & snow we escaped from!

Will be good giving a thorough recap next week when home from visiting our relatives in North FL.

But in taking another cruise on this vessel, some highlights were the familiar chug-a-chug of her engine & familiar vibration when underway. It was actually comforting to hear again.

All the many smiling faces though different from last cruise as many were moved.

The tenderness that the mostly Indonesian crew shows towards the elderly & handicapped cannot go unnoticed.

The spectacular food and entertainment! The enthusiasm of wait staff, down to the after dinner mint person.

The many little nuances that make the Eurodam a wonderful cruiser are ALL what cements our choice & preference of a HAL boat.

We do not seek out the negative but must add only two of those type observations that while present were not "deal breakers" for us.

First, the reduction in steward staff and the stewards themselves being given an additional room load to make up for the reduction was very obvious! We hardly saw any sign of our steward most times. No cart or any other steward to ask!

We did not ever see an assistant steward to ours as we did 3 yrs ago when they actually worked as a team! In fact, we received no formal introduction before or after first night turndown. When there was an issue with a lost bag of ours after sailaway, that was finally located - no apology.

We did not know his name until the 4th night when we happened to run into him and asked while looking at his badge!

Secondly, we found the drinking water quality in the Crow's Nest to be putrid, rank & foul. Any other place on board it was good! Strangest thing!

As I said before, we will still choose HAL, and hope our experience with these two things are the exception, not the norm :)

[jtl513]

First, the reduction in steward staff and the stewards themselves being given an additional room load to make up for the reduction was very obvious! We hardly saw any sign of our steward most times. No cart or any other steward to ask!

When the stewards used to work alone they were responsible for typically 15 cabins each. Now that they work in teams of two they have about 30 cabins to cover, so essentially there is no difference in their work load. If anything the new(ish) team approach should give more availability of a steward because they can alternate break periods. However, there is no excuse for them not introducing themselves by day 2 at the latest, and leaving their business card so that you can remember their names. Sounds like you just drew a sub-standard steward team.

[grayjay]

Just returned from our first Holland America cruise on Zaandam - while we loved the ship and its crew so much that we are sure to be back in the near future, I must agree to the comment about the stateroom stewards' workload. It is simply too much. They have too many cabins to cover. Our two young stateroom attendants had 29 (!) balcony cabins to clean every day and we really saw them working diligently. But they quite often weren't able to finish the stateroom till lunchtime. Cleanliness was adequate, but we have seen better.

We have been on many Celebrity cruises and if nothing has changed to the worse ( which unfortunately is always possible nowadays!) stateroom attendants had 20 cabins to clean as a team of two, which is still quite a lot of work.

[rkacruiser]

I also am fond of the Eurodam. Our cabin stewards did an excellent job. On Baltic/North Atlantic re-positioning cruises, our veranda was almost always flooded. So much so, that one would be stepping into water when one went out on the veranda. Our lead cabin steward literally had to siphon water through a hose from the veranda into the toilet in order to get it dry. I was surprised that this was his responsibility to do. Needless to say, when we disembarked in New York, my traveling companion and I recognized his efforts.

 

I just wish HAL would replace that Atrium sculpture! IMO: ugly!

[Typhoon1]

One of our favorite ships.

[summersigh]

We were aboard the Eurodam the week before the OP and noted the same thing about the cabin stewards being stretched too thin.

 

Our steward Bachti was excellent but that was probably his problem. In order to be excellent he has to work long and hard. The cabin was often not done until nearly 1pm and since we had last seating at dinner it might be 9:15 or 9:30 before he finished night service.

 

We thanked him nicely in "green" as well as the auto tips but I just don't know how they can keep up that kind of work for that number of hours.:(

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your report.

Strange about the water in the Crow's Nest.

[vinodoc]

Thanks for the report. We also loved our cruise on Eurodam and looking forward to be back again in June!

 

Kevin

[Fe504]

That darn Eurodam is addictive. My DW and I will be back on her next February.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Just booked the Eurodam for June...my choice of cruise in Northern EUrope was solely based on itinerary...but have sailed her in 2013 and really liked the ship.

 

Do they still have the BB King Blues bands on? We enjoyed this so much. Unfortunately we found the production shows and other entertainment in the main theater lacking.

Edited March 25, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[shuttlebuggy]

Yes Sunsetbeachgal! They DO! They were great!

[erewhon]

Thanks for commenting about your Eurodam cruise.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Yes Sunsetbeachgal! They DO! They were great!

 

Oh, I hope they are still on when the ship goes to Europe!!

 

Thanks!