This was the first trans-Atlantic cruise for my wife and me after 30 years of cruising. We chose the Holland America Eurodam (also first cruise with Holland America) departing from Fort Lauderdale, FL primarily due to its itinerary and value. After leaving Fort Lauderdale we had two sea days prior to arriving in Kings Warf, Bermuda for a day followed by four sea days to Ponta Delgado, Portugal in the Azores for a day. After Ponta Delgado we enjoyed another sea day and arrived in Lisbon for two days followed by the ports of Portimao, Cadiz, and Malaga. After a final sea day we arrived at our final destination Barcelona Spain.

We live in Orlando, Florida and rented a car to drive to Fort Lauderdale with our cruise companions in a vehicle rented from Avis. This worked out great since the car return was within a mile of the port and Avis simply jumped in our rental car and delivered us to the port. At the port we were greeted by baggage handlers who quickly took our checked bags to be delivered to our state rooms. Arriving around 12:30 we simply walked into the greeting area, filled out the required medical form and proceeded to the embarkation area. Again no line and within minutes we had our boarding cards and were on our way up the gang plank to our state rooms. As this was the first cruise out of dry dock our rooms were ready for us when we boarded. After dropping our carry-on bags off in our stateroom we proceeded up to the Lido deck for a lunch buffet which was the first of many fine meals (more to come on this).

After our lunch we took a quick tour of the ship to get oriented and then back to our stateroom (5072) on deck 5, midship, to unpack. We did not find our baggage waiting outside our hatch as expected; instead both bags were on our bed on a leather mat which was unexpected. As always the state room seemed a little small but we quickly got accustomed to it. We found the head (bathroom) more spacious that on previous cruises and it also had a tub instead of a small shower. There were plenty of hangers to hang our cloths on and you could lower a shelf if you wanted room for full length hanging. My wife lowered the shelf in her closet while I kept mine in place. While there was plenty of room to place your garments there were no dresser drawers so you had to use the open shelves. We brought wine onboard and found that the desk bench opened and provided a perfect storage spot for it. The bed itself was king size with a very comfortable mattress. The TV was a small (approx. 20 inch) flat screen which was fine. We found the veranda to be smaller than expected but it met our needs. We had an adjoining room with our traveling companions and had the veranda separating door opened allowing us to socialize, drink wine and enjoy the views together. During the first day at sea Holland America hosted a Cruise Critic meet and greet that was well attended by ships staff. It provided a good opportunity for the many individuals from the forum for this cruise to meet prior to our independent shore excursions. Read more