Eurodam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We enjoyed our first Caribbean cruise with HAL. We've been on several other HAL cruises (California coast, Hawaii, Montreal-to-Boston, Norway) and find that the quieter atmosphere, friendly staff and fellow passengers are well-suited to us. On this trip, we were looking for some sun, sand and relaxation.
Embarcation was fairly quick. We stayed overnight at the Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale which appeared to be walking distance from the port. Ended up taking the $6 shuttle to the boat, which was a fair price. Port Everglades is huge and though we could see the HAL ship from our hotel, it still took about 45 minutes to get there from the hotel because of dropping off other passengers, the size of the port and traffic.
Our room was ready when we boarded. This is a nice feature of HAL cruises. We had lunch on the Lido deck. Unlike other HAL cruises, we were allowed to serve ourselves during the first few days, but there were staff next to the entrance making sure all passengers put Purel on their hands. (Over the course of the cruise we heard of several people who were confined to their cabins because of the flu. HAL staff called regularly to check on them and make sure they were staying put.)
Cabin Review
Large Outside Stateroom (fully obstructed views)
There is a floor to ceiling window at the end of the cabin with a large lifeboat just outside. We like the window to get a little daylight in and don't spend time looking out so it was fine. We could see the sky and could peer out below the lifeboat to see what the waves were like. Prefer the smaller windows on lower decks, though (Category H) because then the twin beds are set up against the back wall making it easier to access suitcases placed under the bed and easier to move around. The cabin was smaller than others we've had on the smaller ships: there were no drawers by the desk (there was a mini-fridge instead) and the drawers in the bedside tables were shallow. There were 3 closets: one with three shelves, the safe and a hanging bar for shirts and jackets; one for full length clothes and a third, closest to the door that we realized mid-cruise could be converted because there were two shelves along the back wall that can be pulled down or left up (we thought it was a full-length closet). Laundry service is $49 for the week-- the front desk confirmed that this is the new price. We'll be taking advantage of that in the future by packing lighter. Clothes are delivered clean, fresh and pressed the next day-- on hangars or folded, according to your preference. Pressing services are $28/week.Our stewards had put out fresh fruit before we arrived and added to it whenever a piece was missing.