One of the first things we noticed was the deck where the offices of the staff were located (deck one). Never once did we see anyone in those offices such as the food and beverage, bar, housekeeping, hotel director, or purser managers. Even though the doors were opened, curtains were drawn to block any view of occupancy. Totally uninviting to guests. The front desk area was in a dark corner with little space to form a line. On the positive side, there were areas close by 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, that when she was there, a group of people would gather to speak with her. Because there was no organized way to line up, we witnessed some "almost" fights with passengers who argued who was next. Taking a number or making an appointment may have helped here. As for us, we had several important questions regarding some future bookings we had done with her. But there was no way we could fight to get into the lines every day. To give her credit, she did leave her desk in between clients to answer some promised questions we had.
One of the main aspects of cruising has to be the dining room. As pretty as it is, the dining room has many flaws in the layout. It was not created for the best flow of diners going in and out. The problem is that the waiter stations are too close to the tables. And the tables seemed to be very close, leaving little room to navigate. Many times we saw waiters running ten entrees to the back of the room, only to have to move aside for people to get in or out.
And of course, we wrote volumes about the breakfast service going crazy. The crush of people at the 8am opening was never resolved during the entire Hawaii cruise of 17 days. It became a free-for-all, where you seated yourself and hoped to have a waiter. The dining room manager had a dilemma when 28 walker or wheelchair folks showed up all at once. Parking and seating became a problem for him and the headwaiters. He promised it was going back to normal when this cruise ended.
This next comment deals with a problem with the Medallion Medal ceremony continues. The complaints regarding who gets chosen to attend the small gathering was impossible not to hear while waiting in the front desk line. In the "old days", everyone was invited to these 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 take us off the list….we will not attend if our friends are not included. HAL needs to re-think this process, or do away with the whole thing. In our humble opinion, that day is coming.
On the plus side, there are many more choices of evening entertainment. On the Amsterdam, we have a few bands, the strings, a movie, or the show in the big lounge. Here, we had three music venues with three time slots each (most days). Dancing was in the BB Kings Room or the smaller Ocean Bar. Showtime after dinner was the same, as was the movie times, but in a smaller 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 the library, 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 there was never a book there to take.
It was surprising to see screens in some of the public hallways where you could book shore excursions without waiting at the desk. By the way, this desk is in a narrow hallway, with no place to line up. As on all of the ships now, we think shore excursions can also be booked by using the Navigator site on your cellphone. Bottom line, they make it quite easy to spend money, even when that desk is closed.
In all of the ports we visited, we noticed that there were two 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 see a problem getting on or off. The same applies to tendering. It went smoothly with two boats loading at the same time.
Lastly, the staterooms are sized differently on the Eurodam compared to the R-class ships. Our outside room for the world cruise has more closet and drawer space….suitable for much longer voyages. The two drawers under the bed were larger than the ones on the Amsterdam, but they are the only drawers we had in the veranda room. The desk was noticeably smaller, but did have several plugs and connections for phones or computers. In addition, there were nightstand connections for phones and devices. No plugs though. The bathroom was smaller, with a very small three-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. The Amsterdam's tubs are more people-friendly.
The best part of the room had to be the interactive flat screen TV across from the foot of the bed. Big enough to really see, we appreciated being able to get a variety of shows, 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 did not 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 are fine. And yes, we hope to be back next year on the Eurodam, since she is doing the areas we like during the fall time. Hope the weather is better, so we can try out the pool area next time.
Thanks for joining us once again.
Bill & Mary Ann
