At the outset, let's make it clear - this was a theme cruise on Eurodam. When your theme is smooth jazz, and you watch David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Candy Dulfer and Wycliffe Gordon jamming to the music of Joe Sample (Crusaders), while sitting next to Richard Eliot, you're in jazz heaven. We will be on SJC '17 next year, and can't wait. Even better, it will take place on Celebrity Summit, a definite upgrade from Eurodam.
The other part of this adventure, Eurodam, was a saga of the ship's management and crew taking the position that everything is done for the convenience of the ship, not the passenger. A litany of poor judgments and missteps was the hallmark of the week:
-- A gangway was broken at embarkation. Rather than use the one working gangway, or put out a ship's gangway on Deck A, 2,000 passengers were kept in an overcrowded terminal for as long as 3 hours, with inadequate seating and no other accommodation. When our party finally boarded at 3:00 pm (having been kept in the terminal since noon), we were given only 30 minutes to find something to eat, as the captain demanded that the lifeboat drill take place at 4:00 pm, as scheduled. Of course, the only dining venue open was packed with people.
Our cabin steward, Ari, was excellent. The cabin itself was adequate in size and furnishings, although the armless chair was ridiculously low. The bathroom had a significant mold/mildew issue that no one was able to resolve during the week of our cruise, although it was reported on the second day of a seven day cruise.
We live only 30 minutes away. Port was crowded, but Port Everglades handles crowds reasonably well. We did no activities in port.
The Truman "Little White House" was the high point of our day (although we had previously visited Hemingway's house, which was also very interesting). It is worth visiting by all.