Review of Club Orange on the Eurodam June 24, 2023 to Alaska

[Andi Land]

Hi all! I know it’s been asked a few times what Club Orange is like on a non Pinnacle ship.  I’ve enjoyed CO many times on Koningsdam and booked it for our Alaska cruise in June of this year (2023) primarily for the room upgrade. 
 

Embarkation:  This went really smoothly.  We had an 11 am Group A time. When our time was originally assigned, we had a 1:30 time.  I emailed my PCC and she changed it to earlier since we had CO. Once we made it thru security, we were directed to the “lounge” that included 4 and 5 star mariners as well as Neptune and Pinnacle suites. The sign for that area also indicated it was for CO. It was all well marked in Seattle and the representatives seemed to know what CO was. 
 

Room Upgrade: We booked with a free guarantee inside room and wanted to be able to choose our location to ensure it was quiet. We were able to get one of the large insides on deck 1. About a week before the cruise we were offered an upgrade to a fully obstructed OV on deck 4 (room 4076). All regular OV’s were sold out at this point. We really liked this room and location. It was quiet and the view was better than expected. The room pics and review are on HalFacts for anyone interested. 
 

Dining:  There is a separate line for the dining room on Deck 2 for those with CO.  We were always seated right away and didn’t have to wait in line. We were always given a great table by the window as well.  For breakfast, we were never offered a mimosa and when we ordered one, they took our card and applied it against our Have It All package. This wasn’t an issue since we never get close to the drink limit. So, the wait staff isn’t as well versed since they don’t focus on CO exclusively. We were also never offered pastries/muffins like they do on Koningsdam. Not sure if this is an overall change or just something on this cruise. Dinner functioned much the same way.  We went to the same separate line and were seated right away. We only ate dinner there half the time. We enjoy the CO room on Koningsdam because it is much quieter. Dinner wasn’t as enjoyable in the MDR because of all the noise.

 

Final Notes: I would take CO on any ship again just for the room upgrade aspect. It generally pays for itself and you get the extras of CO.  However, the experience is much better on a Pinnacle class ship. I will always book CO on those ships for the room upgrade and the dining option. Those more than pay for the price of CO. We didn’t have any tender ports so I don’t know how the priority tendering is handled but assume it should be the same on all ships. 
 

I’m happy to answer any questions anyone might have ☺️ 

 

Happy cruising!!

[YourWorldWithBill]

Just want to agree with what @Andi Landsays: on the Noordam CO was nice to have, but on the Rotterdam the ability to have dinner in a separate dining room was something that we liked more than we expected. 

[0106]

@Andi Land Were you offered an upgrade (for free) or an upsell ( for which you had to pay)?  Other than your comments about CO, how did you like the ship?

[Andi Land]

19 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@Andi Land Were you offered an upgrade (for free) or an upsell ( for which you had to pay)?  Other than your comments about CO, how did you like the ship?

We were offered an upsell. It was $59 per person to go from large inside to obstructed OV. We felt it was worth the money. 
 

For the most part, the ship looked great. A couple of the elevators seemed to have problems and would ding that they were overloaded with only a few people on them. 
 

The ship is the same general layout as all the others and felt familiar right away. We especially loved the space in the Tamarind. On Glacier Bay day, we went to the Tamarind  Bar and had a great indoor viewing area that wasn’t very crowded. Same for the library on deck 3. It was a great, quiet, space to relax and quick access outside. 
 

Anything more specific you wanted to know? Please ask ☺️

[Haljo1935]

Thanks @Andi Land for sharing and posting the pictures on HalFacts. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of view you had of the Glacier- very well worth $59 IMO.

AK is awesome!!

[cbr663]

Thank-you for your comments on your CO experience on a Signature Class ship.  We have been looking at a Caribbean ABC Islands cruise for this Fall and the only 10-day cruise is on the Eurodam.  Your description of CO in the MDR is what we expected and confirms for us that this is not the CO experience that we are seeking.  We will stick with the Pinnacle ships and CO.

[YourWorldWithBill]

1 hour ago, Andi Land said:

For the most part, the ship looked great. A couple of the elevators seemed to have problems and would ding that they were overloaded with only a few people on them. 

When I read this, I realized that the elevator problems we saw on the Rotterdam in May were not unique. All four midship elevators were never, not even once, working at the same time. There were various elevators out at various times, and some never seemed to be fixed. Strange that this would be such a problem across the line. Maybe they should start giving free cruises to elevator repair people!

[Andi Land]

8 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

When I read this, I realized that the elevator problems we saw on the Rotterdam in May were not unique. All four midship elevators were never, not even once, working at the same time. There were various elevators out at various times, and some never seemed to be fixed. Strange that this would be such a problem across the line. Maybe they should start giving free cruises to elevator repair people!

We also had one mid ship elevator that was out of service the entire trip. It was one of the glass elevators on the side of the ship. 

[QuattroRomeo]

Thanks for your comments! Your upsell offer sounds pretty good. A few CO questions to compare with Pinnacle ships: Were you offered an additional entree at dinner? Or cappuccino? Fresh orange juice at breakfast? At guest services, was there a CO line? In the stateroom, were you given the thicker bathrobes?

 

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

When I read this, I realized that the elevator problems we saw on the Rotterdam in May were not unique. All four midship elevators were never, not even once, working at the same time. There were various elevators out at various times, and some never seemed to be fixed. Strange that this would be such a problem across the line. Maybe they should start giving free cruises to elevator repair people!

For sure offer something to the people who schedule the elevator repair people! May Eurodam 2 mid-ship elevators (1 being starboard glass elevator) were out when we got on and did not work the entire cruise. People on the next 2 weeks reported they did not work, so there's definitely an opportunity with HAL elevator maintenance. 

[Andi Land]

17 minutes ago, QuattroRomeo said:

Thanks for your comments! Your upsell offer sounds pretty good. A few CO questions to compare with Pinnacle ships: Were you offered an additional entree at dinner? Or cappuccino? Fresh orange juice at breakfast? At guest services, was there a CO line? In the stateroom, were you given the thicker bathrobes?

 

Hi! Yes, at dinner we had the menu with the additional entree. After dinner they always asked if we wanted coffee to go with dessert. I’d guess you could get cappuccino. I don’t drink coffee so I don’t know for sure. Breakfast should have had fresh squeezed OJ but we never received it. There was the separate line at Guest Services which was rarely busy and we also had the nicer upgraded robes that we used every day at the thermal suite. 

[horseymike]

9 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

When I read this, I realized that the elevator problems we saw on the Rotterdam in May were not unique. All four midship elevators were never, not even once, working at the same time. There were various elevators out at various times, and some never seemed to be fixed. Strange that this would be such a problem across the line. Maybe they should start giving free cruises to elevator repair people!

noticed the same issue on recent equinox sailing.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Have not been on the Eurodam recently so appreciated your tips on the Tamarind Bar and library. I will be on her in August.

[terrydtx]

9 hours ago, Andi Land said:

Hi! Yes, at dinner we had the menu with the additional entree. After dinner they always asked if we wanted coffee to go with dessert. I’d guess you could get cappuccino. I don’t drink coffee so I don’t know for sure. Breakfast should have had fresh squeezed OJ but we never received it. There was the separate line at Guest Services which was rarely busy and we also had the nicer upgraded robes that we used every day at the thermal suite. 

Did you try any of the CO additional entrees?  How were they?  We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and are looking forward to the CO dining room. We also booked it for our Volendam cruise, but we did this for the room upgrade which paid for the CO.  Also wanted the priority tendering as we a 3 of them on the cruise.

[DaveOKC]

50 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Did you try any of the CO additional entrees?  How were they?  We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and are looking forward to the CO dining room. We also booked it for our Volendam cruise, but we did this for the room upgrade which paid for the CO.  Also wanted the priority tendering as we a 3 of them on the cruise.

We have done CO on a couple of different HAL ships and I tried the extra dinner items several times - all were very good IMO and I enjoyed them.  Seem to be the same items from ship to ship.

 

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

We have done CO on a couple of different HAL ships and I tried the extra dinner items several times - all were very good IMO and I enjoyed them.  Seem to be the same items from ship to ship.

 

Thanks, Dave, that is what I have read from many on CC. We didn't consider CO for our 14 day Oosterdam cruise last year, as at that time HAL wanted $50pp per day or $1400 more for our cruise, didn't see any advantage for it at that price. Now that it costs $25pp per day I can see the advantage of adding it, which we did for both of our upcoming HAL cruises.

[Haljo1935]

21 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Thanks, Dave, that is what I have read from many on CC. We didn't consider CO for our 14 day Oosterdam cruise last year, as at that time HAL wanted $50pp per day or $1400 more for our cruise, didn't see any advantage for it at that price. Now that it costs $25pp per day I can see the advantage of adding it, which we did for both of our upcoming HAL cruises.

The cost has changed again; not sure the date, but it is now $25pp/day up to 13 days and $15pp/day on cruises 14 days and longer. If you were you charged $25pp/day for either of the upcoming cruises are they less than 14 days?

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, Haljo1935 said:

The cost has changed again; not sure the date, but it is now $25pp/day up to 13 days and $15pp/day on cruises 14 days and longer. If you were you charged $25pp/day for either of the upcoming cruises are they less than 14 days?

Yes a 7 day and 11 day cruise.

[Andi Land]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Did you try any of the CO additional entrees?  How were they?  We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and are looking forward to the CO dining room. We also booked it for our Volendam cruise, but we did this for the room upgrade which paid for the CO.  Also wanted the priority tendering as we a 3 of them on the cruise.

I only tried one of the CO dinner items. It was a lemon shrimp pasta dish. It was very good. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and are looking forward to the CO dining room. We also booked it for our Volendam cruise, but we did this for the room upgrade which paid for the CO.  Also wanted the priority tendering as we a 3 of them on the cruise.

I think I mentioned on another thread that we were surprised at how much we liked the separate dining room on our Rotterdam cruise. Before, we didn't think of it as a big deal compared to other benefits, but we loved it. Just really adds something. Hope you like it! 

[cbr663]

2 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I think I mentioned on another thread that we were surprised at how much we liked the separate dining room on our Rotterdam cruise. Before, we didn't think of it as a big deal compared to other benefits, but we loved it. Just really adds something. Hope you like it! 

 

The CO dining room on the Pinnacle Class ships is the primary driver for us to continue sailing on HAL.  We absolutely enjoyed the experience on the Koningsdam in May.  We enjoyed it so much that while onboard we booked a future cruise on the Rotterdam in a Neptune Suite and have since down graded it to a Vista Suite with CO as we felt the CO dining was the best part of the onboard experience for us.

[cbr663]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Did you try any of the CO additional entrees?  How were they?  We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and are looking forward to the CO dining room. We also booked it for our Volendam cruise, but we did this for the room upgrade which paid for the CO.  Also wanted the priority tendering as we a 3 of them on the cruise.

 

We enjoyed the additional entries that we tried.  The beef short ribs were really good.  The only dish that I found simply okay was the Duck A L'Orange.  Nothing to send it back or not eat it, it was just okay.  I found it lacking flavour.

[horseymike]

Thanks Bill.

I was able to add CO to our March 2024 Rotterdam cruise . Your  complimentary description  of the CO

dining room convinced me . Thanks again.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing ..

[YourWorldWithBill]

3 hours ago, horseymike said:

Thanks Bill.

I was able to add CO to our March 2024 Rotterdam cruise . Your  complimentary description  of the CO

dining room convinced me . Thanks again.

Glad to hear it!  Now I just hope it lives up to expectations; my mother had a philosophy of expecting the worst, then when anything better happens, she felt great!