As this was a 'Get Warm' cruise, I will skip any mention of the ports as we had been to them all before and they are pretty standard for the Caribbean. After not sailing on HAL for 7 years, we were looking forward to seeing how they were stacking up these days -- mediocre I would say.

Was thankful the staff had stopped pushing drinks constantly, so that was a bonus. Because it was the week before Christmas, there were a lot of families and children -- which was a nice change actually from the usual Old Folks Home feel (and we are in that category also). The Eurodam is 4 years old they say -- pretty ship, but like other HAL ships, they can't seem to get away from those winding walkways and small bars. The public rooms were all nice, and we particularly like the Crow's Nest where the Library (glad to see the daily quiz was still available), Games, Internet, and bar were combined. The comfortable lounge chairs to view the ocean was a very nice touch. There is only 2100 people on this ship, so it never felt crowded and appreciated the show lounge was big enough for a change.

What's with the only one show a night (usually at 10:15 p.m.) on most nights. Speaking of the shows -- singers and dancers did 5 of the 7 nights -- come on. And the shows reflected it too -- not good. The quality of the singers and dances was less than expected, which wasn't helped by lame production numbers. The lighting and sound were not done well (every night). The comedian and magician were very good. We liked the Piano Man and the Jazz trio, and the house band and singer were good but not available when convenient for us. Happy Hour in a couple of bars a day was a great idea, and we took advantage of that most days. The wine was a different manner -- usually on a cruise one expects to pay $40 for a $15 bottle of wine, but $40 for an $8 bottle of wine is awful, and not good wine at that. Read more