Hello From Eurodam!

[sail7seas]

I love almost all of what I have seen through photos of Eurodam. She looks like a magnificent ship and we are eager to sail her in March.

 

With the sterling crew she has, there is no question Eurodam will provide a wonderful cruise experience.

 

Hope all the CC'ers (and all guests aboard) enjoy their time on Eurodam and come home with treasured memories.

To my eyes, she looks gorgeous!

 

[takemewithyou]

Brian, we need another installment! :D :D

[EbayCruiser]

We need it - we need it BAD!! :D

[KLLund]

It becomes apparent that all of the live from posters are having Tooooooo much fun .. and good for them and that says a lot positive about the ship too .. perhaps tomorrow we will hear from one of them :)

[Wini18]

Brian, where oh where are you? Are you having so much fun that you just can't find the time to post - please come back! We miss your reports. :o

[fireman845]

Brian, You MUST be having a time!!!:D :D :D

Look forward to your next post!

[bepsf]

...been Uber-busy having fun here!

Here's some updates before I go to bed - and Thanks Much for all the compliments and following along:

 

July 4 – At Sea off the Coast of Denmark

 

We all enjoyed a lazy day at sea - having breakfast delivered in and going back to bed until noon.

Scotty and I availed ourselves of the spa, taking in the Thassolotherapy Pool and Thermal Suite - which was very enjoyable. Later, Mom and I returned to get our hair done - Nicholas from Australia who is the Barber on board took care of me and did a great job - I’ll be visiting him again.

To celebrate American Independence Day, the ship put on a barbecue on deck - although Scotty and I had eaten in the Lido, as we walked through we were offered some delicious sliders on homemade rolls - I have to avoid bread due to my developing celiac, but these were too good to pass up and they were oh so good!

We dressed for dinner in our tuxes and gowns (CC Formal) and traipsed down to Ocean Bar for a bit where we saw a number of other CC’ers in formal dress before taking our place at the dinner tables where I ordered bottles of Veuve Cliquot for our group. While we were dining, Dad saw another ship through the windows sailing in the opposite direction: Queen Victoria! We grabbed cameras and made for the windows to photograph her.

After dinner, we traipsed forward to the Lounge where we saw the new production DreamPark. The scenery and stagework is impressive and the dancers and singers put alot into the show, tho as usual for a Bill Prince production, many songs have little relevance to the theme. Much better than the dreaded Papparazzi, this was one of the first shows i’ve seen on HAL that I didn’t wish I had that hour of my life back. :)

Later, we adjourned to the Crow’s Nest, where we met with Nicholas and chatted until early the next morning.

[hulamoon]

Thanks for the post Brian!

 

Let me know how you worked out the gluten free issue, especially in the Lido. I would appreciate it, of course I don't need the answer until April, so take your time.

 

Glad to hear you are having a good time.

[bepsf]

July 5, Copenhagen

We awoke at the pier in Copenhagen with Pulmantur’s Empress (Nordic Empress/Empress of the Seas) at our stern, MSC Lyrica pulling up to the berth at the opposite side of the pier, and the car-ferry Pearl of Scandinavia arriving at another pier.

We took our time dressing and getting ready for the day as we didn’t want to get caught up in the debarcation madness with the departing passengers - so Mom, Dad and I didn’t leave the ship until about 11am (Scotty wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed on board - He’ll be able to see Copenhagen next time)

From the pier, it was a 15-20 minute down to the fort and the park where the Little Mermaid was surrounded by tour busses and souvenir vendors. There park with an amazing fountain depicting a female figure in a chariot drawn by a quartet of oxen, then a church, then finally we’re in old Copenhagen. Down a short street and we arrived at Amalienbourg where we awaited the changing of the Guard at noon. Although one quarter of the Palace is under renovation, the square is quite grand and witnessing the changing of the guard was the highlight of my day. Afterwards, we walked up the block to the great cathedral, then left towards the city center where we found several nice shops tucked into the ancient buildings, the beautful set were lunching on the terrace outside the Hotel d’Angleterre, and we had a nice light lunch in one of the department stores downtown. Afterwards, we walked over to Royal Copenhagen to see their wares, but the store was open to those adjacent including George Jensen where I picked up a pair of very beautiful modern candlesticks for the apartment in San Francisco.

We were tired from all the walking and the heat of the day, so we piled into a taxi to return us to the ship. We re-boarded and I ran up to the Neptune to check on our dinner-table status: I had given Cindy our concierge my list of people that we were to be seated with, but the Dining Room had not yet responded. I hurried down for our second boat drill, then back up to the suite where I found several bottles of champagne: from the Lovely Gunilla, and several from Capt Van Donsellaar and Stan Kuppens.

[bepsf]

(shipboard internet is only allowing me to do short/choppy posts - Sorry!)

 

Copenhagen Sailaway

We had quite a successful party - Folks were arriving, and introductions were made while old friendships were renewed - Joyce had brought nibblies and some more wine for us and we had hors d’oervres delivered and it seemed like the phone was ringing off the hook. At one point, the phone rang and it was our friend Capt Jeroen Van Donsellaar! He kindly explained that he couldn’t attend my party, but that Pam was on her way down presently - and when she came down she looked smashing. As we backed out of our berth, the Empress whistled at us and Jeroen returned the favor. We had the best time chatting and enjoying the sailaway - we were buzzed by photographers in helicopters and a speedboat and we had a tugboat off our stern shooting tiny jets of water (nothing like the fireboats of Rotterdam or Hamburg...)

The party wound down and folks started drifting off to prepare for the evening and stewards took care of the detritus. Mom and Dad were tired out from all the walking and festivities, so they decided to stay in - I quickly showered and dressed for the evening and Scotty his neighbor Liz and I went off to the Neptune for the Suite Passenger’s Cocktail party where we said “Hello” to Stan, and Shane, and got to chat quite a bit with Jeroen (we complimented him on backing out from the pier without hitting anything) who explained that he had only had about 18 hours of sleep in the past week what with all the festivities and VIP’s onboard - it sounded like he might have been as happy to be on his way with regular shipboard operation as we.

[kakalina]

Thanks so much for coming on back Brian. We know you are having a marvelous time but as always inquiring minds want to know. Love it so far; keep it coming.

[bepsf]

What a Mess...

At the party, we found Jerry and Wilda and brought them with us to Ocean Bar to gather the rest of the gang. We didn’t have time to sit - we immediately left (amidst Greg complaining to a waiter for taking so long to getting drink orders) and walked right into the back of a huge line in the Photo Gallery.

When we finally got to the doors, we went to the Dining Room Manager as we were told that they would have new tables arranged for us - but apparently they had the same situation with several other passengers too as the scene at the Dining Room entrance was sheer chaos: Folks were unhappy with their arrangements, passengers didn’t know where to go, other groups didn’t have arrangements made, this table was too small or that table was too large - and the staff were overwhelmed with the confused and unhappy people.

Our group eventually decided to take our originally assigned seats - we had two tables for 8 together, another 6 across the room and 2 others were somewhere else but we had them sit at the 8-tops since M&D weren’t coming. Later in the meal, Adele and I went to the desk and tried to sort out our dinner situation: There were two couples whose names we didn’t know assigned to our 8-tops, and the manager assigned another adjacent 8-top to our group giving us room for 24 and allowing us to consolidate the gang from everywhere else in the Dining Room. What we discovered is that the e-mail which the concierge had sent to the DR was printed out, placed on a clipboard and promptly ignored, which was why the Neptune had never received a confirmation of our request - a request which had been made months ago with the ship-coordinator in Seattle.

After the drama that was first night’s dinner (this had never been an issue aboard any of the other ships - including the fabulous Noordam inaugural - Seattle had darned well better get their collective acts together regarding this dining situation) we wandered forward through the listing ship into the shopping mall, then upstairs into the Crow’s Nest which was lacking its pianist where we whiled away a couple of hours over nightcaps before retiring to bed.

[bepsf]

July 6 – Oslo

Rain, Rain - Go Away

There was a knock at the verandah door: Dad was on our deck in his bathrobe excitedly pointing out the houses, boats islands and channel markers in the stunning Oslofjord - so we all stood in the frigid air and watched the world go by. Shortly thereafter the breakfast trays came in and we ate in and dressed, then we met up with the gang to go ashore at 11 am after the tour crowds had already left: we had agreed the night before to go into Oslo as an independent group and take the ferry across the harbor where we would go see the Viking Museum and Thor Heyerdahl museums - although the Fram museum was there too, we were all too hungry, soggy and worn out from the walking that we retreated to the ship for some refreshment and warmth. As it was Sunday, none of the shops in the main part of town were open and my feet were squishy and cold because the shoes I had been wearing were ruined by the rain - when I returned to the suite, I threw off my shoes and socks, rolled up the legs of my trousers and ran warm water over my feet to warm them.

I then strolled up to the Lido where the main lunch lines were closed and the sandwich station had only one person serving with a modest line of 6-8 folks waiting for a sandwich - so the line was going nowhere fast. We then decided to try the Terrace Grill for a burger - there were two people working there, but they too were having issues with a line of 6 persons ahead of us, but they also really needed more people up there serving: at one point the grill cook had to leave his station to refill the ketchup dispenser leaving just the assembler/plater and no burgers on the grill, but some salmon for another passenger’s order burning on the grill.

We finally made it through: Burger and rolls looked good, but one lonely slice of pink Roma tomato and a single end-cut of pickle made it on my burger along with the leaves of lettuce and 3 rings of onion. Also: by the time the ketchup was dispensed, the mayo had run out - fortunately we were also served a tiny scoop of coleslaw which provided the mayo for our burgers. Even so, the burgers, hotdogs and fries hit the spot. Adele’s daughter Emily had gone back to the Aft Lido where the pizza is now served and found plenty of pizza, bringing back a variety of slices.

[bepsf]

After eating and chatting under the dripping magrodome for a while, I decided to come back to the suite to take a short nap and post to the thread here, but I never made it to the computer: Scotty woke me at 6.50 saying that he felt badly to wake me since I was sleeping so soundly but we had to dress for Ocean Bar and dinner.

I took a quick shower and dressed, then knocked on Mom and Dad’s door - they too had been roused from a nap and agreed to meet us in Ocean Bar.

I had decided to wear the Oranje Lilly Pulitzer blazer so when I entered the far end of the Ocean Bar, I could feel the CC’ers antennae from across the room - that jacket sure does attract attention! The gang assembled, we ordered more cocktails and chatted amiably - Mom and Dad arrived and ordered their drinks when our CC’er friends from early seating came through with hugs, hellos and stories of the day.

At the designated time we all proceeded towards the Dining Room: Mom, Dad and I were at the tail end as they were finishing a conversation with some folks, so I grabbed Mom’s hand and towed her through the entrance of the Dining Room between two ladies who were milling at the doors: From behind us Dad caught sight of their surprised and disapproving expressions, revealing thoughts about a younger man holding the hand of an older lady...

[bepsf]

As we approached the 3 tables our group had reserved, we discovered that a couple had been seated at one: no matter as there was sufficient space, but shortly thereafter a waiter came with another woman asking me for my dining card - He told me that I was at the wrong table, but I informed him that our group had all 3 tables and that we were rotating our seating amongst the tables from night to night (as per our custom) He looked confused and repeated himself and so I repeated our situation again - that these were our tables to arrange and rearrange as we wished and that there was no more room for others. He finally got the hint and took her and another person away to a table elsewhere. Later during the dinner service, the same waiter (Safari is his name) apologized for the misunderstanding and I accepted, allowing that we are an unusual group in our custom of rearranging ourselves from night to night which was no fault of his.

After dinner, several of us proceeded to the showlounge where we caught the show: there was an excellent British entertainer who played trumpet, piano, coronet, gardenhose, microphone stand, drums, stepladder, trashcan, walker, hardhat, etc., etc., etc... (not all at the same time) backed up by the ship’s band who played along gamely. After the entertainment, Shane closed down the show and came down to say hello to our group - we chatted briefly (he wanted to know where I had purchased my Oranje blazer) and I then asked if Nathan was backstage. Shane pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed, and said, “I have a VIP here to see you”. Half a minute later, Nathan/SakeDad came bounding down the stairs and gave us a great big hug as if we’d been long-lost pals. He chatted with the group and was so excited to meet us - many for the first time. He told us that he loved his work but like everyone else, he has been incredibly busy with the festivities and VIP functions. We invited him to join us in the Crow’s Nest for a nightcap - he hoped that he’d be up there at Midnight or 12.30 but when the time came and went we assumed that he was too tired out from his work. We enjoyed chatting and listening to the pianist until Midnight. The bartenders up there served us well, but I think that they missed having the evening crowds that the other Crow’s Nests in the fleet enjoy now that it’s adjacent to the Explorations Cafe - so we departed company at about 12.30-12.45.

[innlady1]

I've been waiting for your next chapter to be posted...great job, Brian.

How are Nana and Apa enjoying their first cruise?

[bepsf]

July 7 – At Sea off Norway

I had been informed that Mom and Dad wanted a quiet breakfast on their own, so Scotty and I joined the gang in the Main Dining Room for breakfast: We carried down bottles of Welcome Champagne to make Mimosas and enjoyed a nice sit-down breakfast with our friends before proceeding up to Crow’s Nest for our 10am Meet and Greet.

When I entered the Crow’s Nest, I was momentarily shocked to see no tea/coffee or cookies - What was produced instead were the Good Nuts, trays of Mimosas and Bloody Marys and passed warm appetizers! Shane came in for a nice chat while we passed name tags out to the CC’ers in attendance - and shortly afterward, Capt Jeroen Van Donselaar and HM Stan Kuppens entered. Jeroen and I enjoyed a lively conversation - He seemed to enjoy telling us of his new home in Long Island, how the new ship was performing, how much more economical the new diesel generators are, how much more rigid the structure of the ship is with the additional midship superstructure, some of the navigational challenges and obstacles he had encountered on this itinerary, why this ship tended to hang in its rolls more-so than the Vistas, the customized closets Pam required in their suite for her shoe collection, etc., etc. Some of the challenges he noted were things that were missing from the ship: Not only were there insufficient gold Suite Passenger key-cards loaded, but there were no high chairs for he and his officers on the Bridge: they were having to make do with barstools hauled up from the Officer’s Bar!

After a nice lunch in the Lido (Tamarind was completely booked - I have the feeling that an additional charge is going to have to be introduced shortly due to high demand on sea days) I came down to the suite. Mom and Dad came in and discussed their adventures since I hadn’t seen them all day: the highlight being about some banging and hammering on our deck and above us - the understanding being that the drains from up above aren’t working properly (Ya think it might be due to the late addition of the extra aft staterooms overtaxing the plumbing?)

I sat here and tried to catch up on some writing/posting earlier - but the internet sytem had messed up/lost the minutes I had leftover from the Prelude - Had to call the Concierge and was told that several other passengers had the same issue, so had to wait to do my posts...

Mom and Dad bounced in again - They’d been to the Cruise Consultants and booked themselves in for Alaska next summer. We decided to take a walk to the Neptune for some coffee & tea to discuss and pour over the plans, then we headed down to the Cruise Consultants to book another stateroom for Scotty and I on the Southbound return trip. I don’t know that what we booked will be the exact final-final itinerary/ship/stateroom, but at least we have our $100 deposits made.

Then Mom and I headed up to the Spa for our pre-Formal Night “Fluff&Doos” - Nicholas took me in and he performed a really great shave/facial w/ hand/arm/scalp massage, which helped me fall asleep right there in the chair - but before I did, Mom came through and told me she was done and heading back to the staterooms, then Dad flew in and handed me a bag from the giftshop, telling me that I had to carry it back to my stateroom for him, otherwise Mom would see it and the surprise would be spoiled (More on this later... ;) )

[bepsf]

Friends of Dorothy

After my facial, I raced back to the stateroom to change into my tux for dinner - Mom and Dad found Scotty and I and we finally made our way to Ocean Bar (Where else?) for pre-dinner drinks then stood to leave for our tables at 8pm.

After waiting in a long line to enter, we finally made it to our seats at about 8.15 - a waiter then escorted a lady to the lone spare seat at our table and we all exchanged glances: Who was this? Did anyone know her? Finally, I asked her name and she replied “Dorothy” - I couldn’t help but giggle as Greg kicked my foot and Dad peeked under the table to see what color shoes she was wearing.

Dorothy was from Staten Island and traveling alone - she also stated that she had considered going to the “Friends of Dorothy” meeting, but it was during dinner so she didn’t go - so I piped up with, “But we ARE Friends of Dorothy!” to much laughter. Scotty glanced over from the adjacent table wondering what the ruckus was all about, so I told him, “Scotty, this is Dorothy” and he shook her hand saying “Hi! I’m a Friend of Dorothy!” :D

Dinner service was a bit delayed between courses - Captain’s Welcome was scheduled for 9.45 and we didn’t get out of the dining room ‘till well after 10pm - so needless to say, we missed that. Some of us did walk into the show In Concert, which is classic Bill Prince with staging that consisted of sliding panels that never stayed still, dizzying projected images, too much faux-emoting, dozens of costume/wig changes, an overly-energetic ballet dancer bounding around stage during a ballad, and music selections that were as random as anything imaginable.

When we exited, the news was that Mom had won more money in the Casino, Ruth was ensconced in the Piano Bar, etc. I made my way through the rooms, stopping here and there to chat before spending more money in the jewelry shop and heading back here to the stateroom to struggle with the internet connection before heading to bed - It’s now 1.15 am and it’s still not completely dark outside...

Nite Nite!

[innlady1]

Loved your report, Brian! Hope you and Mom enjoyed your "fluff and do's!"

And, all I can say is, I wish I were young enough and agile enough to still dance on the tables...I'll enjoy it vicariously through you... ;) ;) ;)

[mamaofami]

Brian, that was great. Evidently your folks are enjoying the cruise enough to want to book another one and this one has only just begun. That's great! You've got them hooked.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Oh, Brian, I absolutely LOVED this series of reports! I had so much fun reading it tore me away from The Bachelorette!!!:D

 

Seriously, your amazing writing style had me right there and I could swear I was aboard. Keep these great reports coming ... sounds like such an amazing time, never a dull moment, and how fun to share it with so many CCers!

 

And do you know what I'm waiting for?:) I'm waiting to hear you're dancing on the ceiling!!! By the end of the cruise, you should be able to pull that off and I want every detail:p .

[twinkletoes4445]

Brian,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post! I love your sense of humor...and I can't wait to read more of your posts. :)

[AlohaPride]

Great posts, Brian!!

 

Alas! Did I read that your DAD was outside his cabin with a BATHROBE on?! Oh no! lol :eek:

[KLLund]

a very fun thread Brian .. you do have a way with words .. can't wait for more!!

[MrsMuir]

Brian, you are a class act. How wonderful that your parents are aboard and having such a good time they booked a cruise to Alaska. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. Can't wait for the next installment.

 

Linda