Just got off the 10 day Baltic cruise on the Eurodam. All I would like to say is what a beautiful ship. Everything was so new and clean looking.
They still have to iron out some , IMHO, bugs in the dining room. We had the fixed 8pm seating and sometimes they were really quick (and by quick I mean we were done by 9:30) but sometimes the service was incredibly slow. The last night too over 2 hours for dinner. I really don't know who to fault, I suspect the kitchen gets overwhelmed now with the As You Wish dining interrupting thier flow. When everyone shows up for the As YYou Wish, the regular fixed seating seems to get slowed down.
Other then that, I had a lot of fun and loved the ship
The only gripe I could have was to do with shore excurisons and this same pack of parents and thier kids that seemed to pop up everywhere, but I won't dwell on that,,,my vacation was great.
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HAL Volendam 2004
HAL Maasdam 2006
HAL Zuiderdam 2007
HAL Eurodam 2008
CCL Paradise upcoming 2010
Nice to read this. Thanks for posting your comments about Eurodam.
She really sounds like a very beautiful ship and we are eager to sail her in March.
Seeing as you were on one of her first cruises, I suppose it is to be expected there would be a few new ship glitches. The crew needs to develop a rhythm working together and hopefully that will happen quickly. While it is exciting to sail a Maiden Voyage, one needs to expect a few wrinkles.
We had been booked for the Prelude three day cruise and the ten day Inaugural Voyage but were forced to cancel.
I have heard of the many problems with children on that cruise. Truthfully, that is the main reason I stick to S & R class ships and voyages longer than two weeks.
We only just the Prelude from Rotterdam to Copenhagen beginning of July and loved the ship. Service was not 100% HAL yet, but I am sure it will improve.
The best we liked Tamarind Restaurant. Great oriental meal, free for lunch, surcharge for diner.
Make reservations as soon as possible, it is getting very populair.
We'll be on her first cruise out of Florida 10-15-08. What was your favorite thing about her?
Wel this was only my fourth cruise and to be honest, most of my experiences have been the same on every ship. I suppose the subtle colors had me suprised, I expected more flash, however I liked the way it looked. I liked my cabin color scheme (albiet it was small,,a VF) . The showroom is much better, IMHO, with the theatre style seating which mad it much easier to find a seat. The Pinnacle was a good as always, but I didn't try the other two. A couple we traveled with tried the Cannaletto (sp?) and didn't think much of it, but that is their way. I had never been to a movie on a HAL ship and the Screening Room was really nice and very comfortable with those seats that didn't recline but looked like recliners.
Another thing I would give two thumbs up to was the entertainers. For the innagural voyages they seemed to step it up a bit. I usually don't like the "vegas" style show but the ones that had were actually pretty good. They also had a lady, Penny Mathesin, that was a Sidney Opera house and London stage actess (played the lead in Phantom) and she was superb. So I think the best thing was the improved intertainment. the had 4 young ladies called the Adagio strings, which generally I don't like he string players you find in the lounges, but these ladies took it to another level too. One last thing was the lecturers they brought aboard to tell us about St Petersberg. They were very good and one way you can tell is my wife never goes to lectures or the shows, and she went to all of them.
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HAL Volendam 2004
HAL Maasdam 2006
HAL Zuiderdam 2007
HAL Eurodam 2008
CCL Paradise upcoming 2010
Glad to hear a good review about the Eurodam. I am going on the ship later in November. Sorry in advance for all the questions.
Do you know anything about the teen club? I am really looking forward to taking apart in the activities that they offer for teens.
Also, what kind of movies did they play in the screening room?
Did you have to arrive early to go to the shows, or was it easy to find a seat?
How was the pizza onboard? I've been on ships with terrible pizza(Golden Princess), and ships with great pizza. (Disney Magic)
I'm sure I am going to have tons more questions within the coming weeks, so thanks in advance.
-Ewokdude
Can't help with the teen stuff,,although I noticed there were a lot of hoops shootting contests and I suppose thsoe were geared for teens. I have all the daily programs and can look this up for you.
For movies they showed Ironman, Leatherheads (showed this one night in the main stage, I think it was the Germany night when we were in port for 16 hours), one of those Narnia movies and a couple of others that are new but I didn't watch. The screening room had maybe 40 seats, always room for us when we went. the day we watched Ironman there were only about 8 of us. They also showed some in the Culinary section. I think they geared it towards how many they thought we be there.
Pizza,,well I am not a good judge because I LOVE PIZZA and I think HAL has pretty good stuff. They have a pizza place on the ship called Slice, its out by the aft pool on the Lido deck, and is open all day until midnight,,,,so a slice is always an elevator ride away !
If I could nitpick I think one of the bad designs was where they put the Explorations Cafe/Library. They were right next to the crow's nest, around the corner on the Starboard side. I know many people like to go to the library for the quiet and for reading, you won't really get that there as usually people are having a good time in the Crow's Nest so it's pretty loud. Also, the internet was really slow. I think it may have to do with the positiong of the ship, so far north, and the satellite coverage but it was like dial up, f not slower. In one port (Estonia) it didn't even work. There were a few passengers argunig about the slowness of it and wanting bonus minutes because it took so long to log on,,well they didn't win.
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HAL Volendam 2004
HAL Maasdam 2006
HAL Zuiderdam 2007
HAL Eurodam 2008
CCL Paradise upcoming 2010
Ron "I think it may have to do with the positiong of the ship, so far north, and the satellite coverage but it was like dial up, f not slower. In one port (Estonia) it didn't even work."
I don't think it has anything do do with the positioning of the ship, so far north, because the Explorations Cafe/Library/Internet station is being moved to the Crow's Nest on all the Vista ships. Some ships have already had the "move" while others will have it when they go into dry dock.
Even in the Caribbean/Alaska/Hawaii the internet is slow and sometimes it doesn't even work..........I doubt it's high speed.......more like dial-up. C'est la vie! What can you do.
Thanks for answering so fast! I am really starting to look forward to the cruise.
Just one more question...
Are there any ping pong tables available on the ship? I know there is one in the kids club, but I'd love to play a game of ping pong against my grandparents.
-Ewokdude
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Past Cruises
Disney Magic- August 02
Carnival Pride- July 05
Monarch of the Seas- April 06
Thanks for answering so fast! I am really starting to look forward to the cruise.
Just one more question...
Are there any ping pong tables available on the ship? I know there is one in the kids club, but I'd love to play a game of ping pong against my grandparents.
-Ewokdude
Not that I had notcied (Ping pong tables) but it may have been the type of cruise. We rarly had a chance to even go out on deck. But since this is something I wasn't looking for, I didn't notice.
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HAL Volendam 2004
HAL Maasdam 2006
HAL Zuiderdam 2007
HAL Eurodam 2008
CCL Paradise upcoming 2010
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