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My new husband once took a different cruise line and says the level of service and attention to detail on HAL is what he expects cruising should be. This was my first cruise but coming from a background of service, I had high expectations. The staff of the Eurodam are excellent, we felt pampered but never pandered.
Research all you can ahead of time if you aren't familiar with the Eurodam because there's a lot to see be overwhelmed by. Photos are taken by HAL photographers and later offered for sale. They will take a picture as you first board, at the two formal nights, as you disembark at ports of call and even on some of the private island excursions. We wish we'd known this in order to be better prepared, we'd have a lot more gorgeous honeymoon pics. The Lido food is great but overwhelming at first sight so walk the line slowly on both sides and in between so you don't miss hidden gems like the better cheese varieties.
On the subject of onboard food, we didn't find the need to have pre booked dinners for Pinnacle Grill or Tamarind, we ended up switching reservations around with no problem. We discovered Caneletto and the Rembrandt Dining Room have wonderful dinner menus to rival the paid restaurants but you have to check each day to see the offerings. Tamarind was our shining star for staff service, food quality, variety and presentation. Many thanks, we're coming back! Food ashore is best if you ask locals for specific dishes you are craving and how to find it. There were places we asked for things not on the menus like fried plantain and calamari which were nicely accommodated.
When it's suggested you pre book particular excursions, do it. We pre booked several months before sailing and were glad of it since once on board we saw many "Sold Out" on the daily itineraries. Our excursions were a hit and miss but again, research well for what you want. We're not shoppers so a lot was lost on us at stops like Grand Turk and St. Thomas. Also, our cruise was the last week of Nov., beginning of Dec. and Half Moon Cay's gorgeous waters were too cold for us to swim or snorkel so next time we'll book boat/land adventures here instead.
What would we change about our Eurodam cruise? Only a few things :) We'd take the wonderful crew ashore with us at each port of call. We'd like to see body lotion among the room amenities and we'd like to see the large pool with outstanding waterwall feature, comfy chic cabanas and direct access to the Greenhouse Spa be the adult only area. Sadly, the adult only area had no cabanas, a half size pool and small hot tubs. Why do children need to be next to the Greenhouse Spa? Do they pay for luxuriating treatments and private cabanas with shaded cocktail and lunch service? Lastly, we'd change that HAL docks into St. Thomas so far out of downtown. In order to get to our excursions, we had to taxi or shuttle through the downtown traffic and so had less time on the island and on particular far-from-inexpensive excursions than competitor liner guests who's ships were docked beyond downtown.
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