Eurodam Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,200 reviews

DAM Disappointment

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Eurodam

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Sail Date: Jul 2008
Cabin: Neptune Deluxe Veranda Suite

My wife and I were among the first guests to take Eurodam's 3-day Prelude cruise immediately followed by the 10-day Maiden (Inaugural) voyage. Prior to the dates we sailed, we had followed the Eurodam News Blog for many months on Holland America's web site. We saw photos of it during its construction stages in Italy until it arrived in Rotterdam for the Dedication Ceremony. We attended the dedication of the ship on July 1, 2008 and witnessed Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands as she named and blessed the ship followed by the champagne bottle breaking on the name Eurodam at the bow of the ship. What a wonderful, well organized, well planned event they arranged for this occasion. It truly was a delight to see. We had our video camera and came home with lots of footage.

On July 2nd, the Eurodam pulled away from the Rotterdam pier to start the 3-day Prelude cruise. Besides the regular paying guests, there were many travel agents, cruise consultants, media, special guests, and even, "major players" from Holland America and Carnival Corp. This is the point where things really went downhill for us and for many of the other regular guests as well. Those special guests and invitees got all the attention during those 3 days. Not only that, the Tamarind Restaurant, the Pinnacle Grill restaurant, the Silk Den Bar & Lounge, the Crow's Nest Bar & Lounge and the Lido Pool area were sometimes closed off to regular paying passengers to hold functions for those who were guests of the line. Needless to say, there was disappointment and disgust lingering everywhere throughout the ship by those who paid their own way. Paying passengers, by the way, are the backbone to keeping the line in business. If we had had advanced notice of how the Prelude was going to be, would never have wasted our time and good money to be on it.

We started cruising in September of 2003 and have given Holland America Line (HAL) over 155 days of our business. All of our past cruises have been exciting and enjoyable and it's primarily due to the wonderful Filipino and Indonesian friends we have made along the way. We anticipated that we would see many of them on the Eurodam, and sure enough, we did. What a joy it was! We consider them our second family. We have stayed in touch with quite a few of them over the years.

Cabin Review

Neptune Deluxe Veranda Suite

Nice SA Deluxe Suite, but a very small balcony. Plenty of storage. Great bathroom. No sink in this dressing area like other ships have. Wonderful and pleasant cabin steward . . . his name was La Ode.

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