My wife and I (both 53) were asked to join our friends on the Eurodam 11 day cruise to the Panama Canal. Having cruised several times before on Disney, RCCL & NCL we were eager to experience HAL. I was aware that the HAL demographic was the older sort. We booked in 2018 for a 2020 cruise, so we had plenty of time for research and YouTube video watching. My wife kept insisting that it wasn’t an “old person” cruise....and today, as I sit on the Lido deck of the Eurodam on day 10 of our 11 day cruise, writing this review, I can confidently say that it is a cruise geared to seniors.
This doesn’t make it bad, or boring. Perhaps for my wife and I it is a bit boring. But I can certainly see why this cruise appeals to the over 70 crowd. As a disclaimer, please let me remind you that the views expressed herein are from that of a young-at-heart 53 year old.
95% of the passengers on our cruise are older than me...by a good margin. But they all seem to be enjoying the selection of activities and entertainment. There is a game room where the passengers gather to play board games or card games. There are televisions set up in that room. There is a small casino, that seems very tight on the payouts. There are two very talented pianists that play in the Billboard Onboard club and they attract a nice crowd. They performed almost every night so far. I don’t feel as though I am qualified to review the entertainment on the main stage. I am not a fan of stage shows, so normally I don’t attend. I did go to the comedian show....he was okay..but his set was targeted toward an audience 80 and up. I went back a few nights later to see the impressionist, I gave him about 20 minutes before leaving the show. His first impression was of Paul Lynde. If you know who Paul Lynde was...then this is a show for you! There was also a Brazilian musician (Danilo Gonzalez) that performed one night..I did not attend that show but I heard a lot of people walked out on the show because it was a lot of loud guitar music, not targeted toward this crowd apparently.
We did the sea world explorer and it was just too long
We originally booked a city tour but after four hours on the bus tour and Aruba we decided to skip it. There was plenty to do and see in curaçao without taking an excursion.
Great tour..but also quite long. Bus ride was 1hr 20 mins each way then. 2 hours boat tour