Alaska/Hawaii on the Eurodam with Bill & Mary Ann 9-23-17 to 10-17-17

[Martezz]

I enjoyed reading your blog and will be looking forward to your World Cruise adventure. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

[Keith1010]

Vr4y much enjoyed reading your reports.

Keith

[Flyingfish]

You guys are the best, thanks once again:D

[kenevenpar]

Thank you very much for taking the time again to share your voyage.

[ON cruiser]

It is always a pleasure to read your evocative reports. Having been on the Eurodam a few times, I am sorry that you had some issues on some days with dining room service. That is not typical, despite this being a "bigger" ship (than the Amsterdam). It may be more a reflection of the experience of the management team. Good for you for voicing your opinions to management via the comment card, etc. An effective/constructive complaint about an obvious issue helps your fellow passengers, in the long run.

 

Before you depart on your next adventure, when time permits (if it does) I look forward to seeing your summation. Thanks for taking the time from your holidays to post such interesting reports--which I find most a most enjoyable distraction from work (hopefully the boss is not reading my posts on CC. :) )

[WCB]

Thanks for the wonderful comments. Always glad to know someone is reading the blog.

 

Still working on the comparison list, and intend to write soon.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[bluesplayer]

Hi Mary Ann and Bill. It was very nice meeting you on the Eurodam cruise to Hawaii. I look forward to your reports of your next world tour. I have learned so much about cruising from your posts and suggestions, so much thanks for taking the time to post. When we booked this cruise I was concerned about the 5 sea days going back and forth to Hawaii. We totally enjoyed every day and wished we could have turned around and gone back. The ship was sold out and you could tell the staff was working hard to keep up with the demands. We felt fortunate the weather was very nice and mostly smooth sailing. Hope we can meet you again sometime. Have a wonderful world cruise!! Keep us up to date.. staying tuned.. laura & mark from Seattle

[WCB]

Final Report on the Eurodam Cruise - Alaska and Hawaii 2017

 

We finally arrived with our comments on what we noticed by sailingon a larger Holland America cruise ship……the Eurodam. As many of you know, we sail mostly on the Amsterdam,and ships in the same R-class. Someaspects we liked, while others we did not so much.

 

One of the first things we noticed was the deck where theoffices of the staff were located (deck one). Never once did we see anyone in those offices such as the food andbeverage, bar, housekeeping, hotel director, or purser managers. Even though the doors were opened, curtainswere drawn to block any view of occupancy. Totally uninviting to guests. Thefront desk area was in a dark corner with little space to form a line. On the positive side, there were areas closeby where guests could sit on couches or even at a mini bar (seldom staffed).

 

Also in this area was the future cruise consultant. We found that her hours were so limited, thatwhen she was there, a group of people would gather to speak with her. Because there was no organized way to lineup, we witnessed some “almost” fights with passengers who argued who wasnext. Taking a number or making anappointment may have helped here. As forus, we had several important questions regarding some future bookings we haddone with her. But there was no way wecould fight to get into the lines every day. To give her credit, she did leave her desk in between clients to answersome promised questions we had.

 

One of the main aspects of cruising has to be the diningroom. As pretty as it is, the diningroom has many flaws in the layout. Itwas not created for the best flow of diners going in and out. The problem is that the waiter stations aretoo close to the tables. And the tablesseemed to be very close, leaving little room to navigate. Many times we saw waiters running ten entreesto the back of the room, only to have to move aside for people to get in orout.

 

And of course, we wrote volumes about the breakfast servicegoing crazy. The crush of people at the8am opening was never resolved during the entire Hawaii cruise of 17 days. It became a free-for-all, where you seatedyourself and hoped to have a waiter. Thedining room manager had a dilemma when 28 walker or wheelchair folks showed upall at once. Parking and seating becamea problem for him and the headwaiters. Hepromised it was going back to normal when this cruise ended.

 

This next comment deals with a problem with the MedallionMedal ceremony continues. The complaintsregarding who gets chosen to attend the small gathering was impossible not tohear while waiting in the front desk line. In the “old days”, everyone was invited tothese ceremonies, usually held in the main show lounge. Now the invites are limited to a few members,which we cannot figure out who or why. No matter how they do this, someone will be insulted. And they were….to the point that they said takeus off the list….we will not attend if our friends are not included. HAL needs to re-think this process, or doaway with the whole thing. In our humbleopinion, that day is coming.

 

On the plus side, there are many more choices of eveningentertainment. On the Amsterdam, we havea few bands, the strings, a movie, or the show in the big lounge. Here, we had three music venues with threetime slots each (most days). Dancing wasin the BB Kings Room or the smaller Ocean Bar. Showtime after dinner was the same, as was the movie times, but in asmaller theater on the Eurodam.

 

We really enjoyed the added Tamarind Restaurant. Such a different venue from the dining room,Lido, or the Pinnacle Grill or Canaletto. The staff was beyond excellent there. Le Cirque was gone, but Sel de Mer took its place.

 

Once disappointment had to be the down-sizing of thelibrary, which is in the Crow’s Nest here. Not attended by a librarian anymore, the variety of books was extremely limited. There was a swap-a-book section, but therewas never a book there to take.

 

It was surprising to see screens in some of the publichallways where you could book shore excursions without waiting at thedesk. By the way, this desk is in anarrow hallway, with no place to line up. As on all of the ships now, we think shore excursions can also be bookedby using the Navigator site on your cellphone. Bottom line, they make it quite easy to spend money, even when that deskis closed.

 

In all of the ports we visited, we noticed that there weretwo gangways. For most of the busy times,you could get off of the ship at either place. So with the larger amount of passengers on the Eurodam, we never did seea problem getting on or off. The sameapplies to tendering. It went smoothlywith two boats loading at the same time.

 

Lastly, the staterooms are sized differently on the Eurodamcompared to the R-class ships. Ouroutside room for the world cruise has more closet and drawer space….suitablefor much longer voyages. The two drawersunder the bed were larger than the ones on the Amsterdam, but they are the onlydrawers we had in the veranda room. Thedesk was noticeably smaller, but did have several plugs and connections forphones or computers. In addition, therewere nightstand connections for phones and devices. No plugs though. The bathroom was smaller, with a very smallthree-tier glass shelf over the counter. There was a shelf under the sink too. The tub was not angled in the back, so getting out was a challenge. TheAmsterdam’s tubs are more people-friendly.

 

The best part of the room had to be the interactive flatscreen TV across from the foot of the bed. Big enough to really see, we appreciated being able to get a variety ofshows, movies, TV series, as well as the menus, weather, and ship news. We would SO like this on the Amsterdam.

 

All in all, the Eurodam was nice, well-maintained, but didnot have that “home” feeling for us. Guess we just like the smaller ships better, even if they are older. For shorter cruises, these larger ships arefine. And yes, we hope to be back nextyear on the Eurodam, since she is doing the areas we like during the fall time. Hope the weather is better, so we can try outthe pool area next time.

 

Thanks for joining us once again.

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Hflors]

Final Report on the Eurodam Cruise - Alaska and Hawaii 2017

 

All in all, the Eurodam was nice, well-maintained, but didnot have that “home” feeling for us. Guess we just like the smaller ships better, even if they are older. For shorter cruises, these larger ships arefine. And yes, we hope to be back nextyear on the Eurodam, since she is doing the areas we like during the fall time. Hope the weather is better, so we can try outthe pool area next time.

 

Thanks for joining us once again.

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

Thank you for your great and detailed review. We also feel the same way about the Amsterdam and Rotterdam (we have been on Rotterdam more than Amsterdam) Rotterdam just has a "comfortable" feeling that we love in a cruise ship. Eurodam is fine, but it just doesn't feel like "home" to us. Can't wait for your review on the 2018 World Cruise!

[erewhon]

It's always a pleasure to read of your adventures.

Thank you for all your reports.

[StartrainDD]

Hello Mary Ann & Bill:

 

I greatly enjoyed following along with you. We recently completed a 14 day on Prinsendam. I remember you two did the grand South America right after they did major work on her.

 

No cruise log for us either. We were invited (first time since our copper medallion) to the Mariner's ceremony. I believe it was all 4-star and above.

 

I like the larger 'interactive' TV's but on a World cruise you may run out of things to watch. It would be nice if they managed to retain the DVD option and replays of the talks (they were still doing that on Prinsendam). We loved Downton Abbey and were sad to see it end.

 

Prinsendam also had the "Check your account" kiosk and it was down about half the time too! We had no account issues and I trust you finally got yours all corrected.

 

Looking forward to following along on the 2018 World! Will start after we return from our Holiday cruise on Maasdam "Down under."

 

Thank you again!

 

Arie

[WCB]

Thank you all for your great comments on our recent blog. No matter how many times we take a cruise, there always seems to be something different happening. Reminds us of the movie where the saying - life is like a box of chocolates.....you never know what you're going to get. That is, unless you have a sister who had a way of poking a hole in the bottom of the candies to see what was inside. Then put them back if she didn't like the filling! Sound familiar?

 

It was our pleasure meeting you two, Laura and Mark, on the Eurodam. Hope our paths cross again some day.

 

Until next cruise.........Happy Holidays to everyone, as they are just around the corner......

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Mystymom]

Thank you so much for taking us along with your on your fantastic cruise. Hope your holidays are great and looking forward to "cruising with you" on the World Cruise!