2015 Nov. 8-15 Western Caribbean Cruise on the Eurodam: Key West; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; HMC

When we "temporarily" moved to South Florida (as my husband likes to put it), I figured this might be a good time to try and get some good deals on last minute cruises.  Don't know how good of a deal we really ended up getting, but I managed to keep from accepting the up sell offer to a suite.  I had already upgraded us for $100@ to a balcony from the $499 OV room I had originally booked.  The first up sell offer arrived about 3 weeks before our trip and was $499 for a signature suite and $699 for a Neptune suite.  About a week later I got another up sell offer for the same super high price.  When we finally got our Verandah guarantee room assignment, I noticed we were in a less desirable room near the front of the ship with metal half walls on the veranda and no tub.  I called and requested a different room.
About 4 days before our cruise, we got an email with a new cabin number---mid ship, tub, and with a super deep veranda with Plexiglas walls and even 2 lounge chairs on the deck as well as the 2 other chairs, ottoman, and little side table.   About a day or 2 before the cruise, I called again because I noticed a couple suites opened up and I wanted to see if I could get an up sell for really cheap, like we did a couple years ago.  This time they quoted me $250 for a signature suite and $350 for the Neptune.  I was tempted, but also curious about the VA room we were reassigned.   Apparently there are 4 of these rooms---1 on either side of the lifeboats, so they're a little deeper then the boats are wide (about 14').  I read a lot of mixed reviews about those rooms.  Some people liked the extra space, others didn't because most of the veranda wasn't covered and, therefore, didn't have privacy.   I wonder if that's how we ended up with it.   I don't know for sure, just that there were no veranda rooms showing available for the last week or so before the cruise.
I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.  We were on the sunrise side of the ship most of the time, so only got to watch sunset from our veranda 2 nights.  But I did spend a lot of time out there enjoying just gazing at the water.

This was my 2nd time on a Western Caribbean cruise.  Our ports were Key West, Grand Cayman, Jamaica (Falmouth), and HAL's private island in the Bahamas---Half Moon Cay.  

 2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

2015-11-9 Key West:

2015-11-10 Sea Day

2015-11-11 Grand Cayman:

2015-11-12 Falmouth, Jamaica:

2015-11-13 another sea day:

2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

2015-11-15 disembarkation day:

This was my 16th cruise.  Considering how my 1st one was, being evacuated back to Ft. Lauderdale with my Dad, I'm happy to say they've all been great since then.  

2015-11-13 another sea day:

Just hanging around the ship.  We did go to the Future Cruise desk and signed up for another cruise to get the reduced deposit and OBC.

 grand stairway in the atrium

2015-11-10 Sea Day

  Tuesday was a sea day.   Plenty of time to get out and explore the ship a bit.
The cabanas on Lido next to the family pool.

 At 11am we went to the CruiseCritic Meet and Greet.  If I remember correctly, about 45 people said they were coming.  In the end, about 25 came.  Still a nice turn out and the ship provided a nice spread of cookies and pastries as well as coffees and teas.  This was one of the few times we made it up to the Crow's nest this cruise!  On the Maasdam, we were up there almost every night.

2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

It was an easy embarkation day for us!  Since we were living in S. Florida at the time, about a mile from our daughter, she picked us up and dropped us off at the port and that was it----no flights to worry about or accommodations the night before or transportation!  It was great!!!!  About 2 hours after we left our apartment in Coral Springs we were on the ship!

We ended up in one of the 4 cabins that have a super deep balcony---ours was 4054.  I'd read a lot of bad reviews about them (being in the sun and people above you could see you, but I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.

 from the door to the veranda.

2011 HAL 7nt Eastern Caribbean

2011 Nov. Eurodam cruise do-over Eastern Caribbean: Grand Turk; San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay

Do-over?---Well, we did the same cruise last year, but Hurricane Tomas decided to go with us.  So weather was rainy, water was rough, one port was skipped.  Although we had a good time, we wanted to snorkel Grand Turk and St. Thomas---didn't even make it to Grand Turk on that cruise.  So, we're trying it again.

The "suite life"!  Originally I booked the same category room that we had last year (a VD veranda), but when the lowest suite came available for about $60/person more, I jumped on it and booked a SZ guarantee.  We had never had a suite before, so I was really looking forward to that. 

It just so happened that our daughter, Angie, and her husband, Josh, were going to be in Puerto Rico on vacation with some friends and scheduled to fly home the day we were in port there. After joking around with her about continuing on the cruise with us instead of flying home, we decided it wasn't a joke!  I managed to get approval for her to board in San Juan for the last 4 nights of our cruise.  She was even eligible for a special 3rd person add on fare of $49 + about $90 in taxes and fees (only charged for the ports she would actually be going to).  It took some doing, but persistence paid off.  I had to call 5 or 6 times and work out everything from: does the Jone's Act apply here; to sending a letter to get approval for "late embarkation"; to getting a room assigned (called the Inventory department directly and went from the SZ guarantee to an SS cabin) ---- before she was finally approved.   So instead of flying home, Angie was able to join us for the last 4 nights of the cruise.

About 2 weeks before our cruise, I even got an email from HAL offering us an upsell to an SA suite (next category down from the penthouse) for another $398 total. I immediately called them and jumped on the offer. Not only did we have a suite, but the SA, SB, and SC suites had a lot of added benefits over the SS, SY, and SZ suites, like breakfast in the Pinnacle restaurant, a private lounge and concierge, larger pull out bed for Angie; much larger room and balcony, flowers for formal night, free laundry service, and a few other things. We very much enjoyed the SA cabin. It may be hard to go back to any other cabin now!  

2011-11  Eurodam

2011-11-5  Embarkation day

2011-11-6  Sea day  

2011-11-7  Grand Turk

2011-11-8  San Juan

2011-11-9 St. Thomas

2011-11-10  Sea day

2011-11-11 Halfmoon Cay

Too quickly it was time to disembark the ship.  We hopped in a taxi and took the $14 ride to the airport.  Angie lucked out and was able to fly standby on an earlier flight and made it home to Atlanta before our flight even took off from Fort Lauderdale. 
 

It was another fantastic vacation.  Made even more special by Angie joining us.  It definitely won't be our last cruise!

2011-11-10  Sea Day:

Thurs. the 11th was another sea day.   In the morning we took in a floral arranging demonstration.  Having worked as a florist for about 3 years, I was particularly interested in this.  HAL is also known for all it's live floral arrangements.   Turns out it's all done by these 2 young men. 

Then we headed to the acclaimed Tamerind Pan-Asian restaurant for lunch.  Ordinarily Ken and I aren't big fans of Asian food, but we tried it and actually liked most of it.

Not a big pot sticker fan, but I liked the rest of it.

We also took advantage of the opportunity to have "high tea" on our balcony--another perk of being in a Deluxe Suite.  We even had a rainbow accompany us for the whole time.

We didn't feel like dressing up for the 2nd formal night, so we elected to have our fillets, lobsters, and other special dinner items delivered to our room.  It was a nice change of pace.  We also downed our complimentary bottle of wine then (for being in a SA suite).

Even dessert!

With an almost full moon, we enjoyed lounging on our balcony until the wee hours of the morning.

It was a nice break from all the running at the ports.  Maybe I'll learn to like sea days more and more the more we cruise.

2011-11-6  Sea Day:

One of the activities offered this morning was card making.  How could I pass that up?  They were actually really pretty cards.

 Later, Ken and I did the galley tour.  In all my cruises, this was the first time we made it to the galley tour.  It was an interesting, but fast moving, tour. 
 The fancy bread makers

                              
veggie creation maker

the napkin folder

HAL is known for it's Culinary Arts Kitchen where they put on many different cooking demonstrations and even cooking classes.  We managed to make it to a couple of the demos and weren't disappointed.  They even served tasty samples.

Here one of the Canaletto Restaurant chefs is making Penne Alla Vodka.

 Here is a Tamarind Restaurant chef making Penang Red Curry Coconut Chicken.

Another activity was a volleyball match.  Seeing as I've played volleyball for the last 50 years, I couldn't pass that up.  Not the greatest volleyball game by any means, but the team I was on did win.

 I was surprised when I got back to our room and found this there---a prize for winning at volleyball.

Sunday night was also the first formal night.  We dressed up and had a great meal in the Rembrandt Restaurant.

Then we went to a movie.  I liked that the Eurodam had a designated screening room with really comfy recliner seating.

I'm not a big fan of sea days, but we managed to find a lot to do to stay busy.

2011-Nov. 5 embarkation day:

 I was excited to board and go straight to our cabin to check out the SA Deluxe Suite (7068).  Amazing how big it can seem when you're use to little cruise cabins, yet it's not all that big compared to a hotel room. 

 Room checked out, we were off to check out the Neptune Lounge---exclusively for Penthouse and Deluxe suite people.  They even had special receptions throughout the cruise, like this welcome aboard one.

 Then it was off to Lido to grab a bite.  The first of our many great meals!

It was a dreary day for embarkation, but after the muster drill I still went out on the deck to watch us sail away from Ft. Lauderdale.

 our pilot boat.

 cool sunrays!

After sunset, it was time to go eat again.  Then hang out in our suite unpacking and enjoying the extra space.

2011--The Eurodam and our Deluxe Suite, cabin SA 7069:

Statistics:

Year Built: 2008 Year Refurbished: 2015 Year Entered Present Fleet: 2008 Previous Name: Country of Registry: The Netherlands Tonnage (GRT): 86,273 Guests (Lowers): 2,104 Total Guests: 2,732 Passenger Decks: 11 Number of Crew: 876 Officers' Nationality: European Cruise/Hotel Staff Nationality: International

 Our first ever Deluxe Suite!  Probably our last, but the stars were aligned correctly for this cruise that we lucked into this suite.

nice size couch with queen size fold out bed.  Good sized coffee table, too, for the couple times we ate dinner there.

2010 Nov. 7 nt E. Carib Eurodam

2010 Nov.5-12 - Another Dam vacation! 7 nt, Eurodam: Samana, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay 

 It was going to take a lot more then a rude airport gate attendant and port agent, and a little storm named Hurricane Tomas to ruin my vacation! So on Friday, Nov. 5th, 2010, the fun began.

This was Ken's 2nd cruise and my 8th (I think) cruise. This was my 2nd Holland America cruise. I thought the laid back clientele and more unique activities, such as cooking classes and computer classes, not to mention the food, would be something Ken would enjoy. That it left out of Ft. Lauderdale was also a plus (that was even before our daughter moved there, now it's really a plus!). So on the day before the cruise, we hopped on a non-stop flight and eventually headed off to Ft. Lauderdale.

I say eventually because there was a problem with our plane being overweight. So they grounded us for about 45 minutes while they pleaded for 3 people to delay their trips. 1 couple did finally agree to, but noone else on the plane was budging. I guess we were all heading to a cruise. Finally the gate attendant threatened us in a harsh voice that since noone else would get off the plane, then 4 pieces of luggage were being removed and they wouldn't tell us whose. Soon the flight attendants took over the intercom and apologized profusely and guaranteed us that noones luggage was going to be left behind. Over weight and all, we did make it to Fort Lauderdale safely.

We spent that night overlooking the ocean at one of our Wyndham properties in Pompono Beach. We rented a car for the day and enjoyed our short, but sweet, stay there.

Next morning our adventure continued. We dropped the rental car off at the Budget dealer closest to the port since it offered complimentary shuttle service to the cruise port.

Soon we were waiting in line at the port to board the Eurodam. But only for a short time. The scanners quit working and we were all told to sit down. Passengers just arriving walked up and got in line and before they were made to sit down, the scanners would start working and we would be at the back of the line again. This happened 3 times before we finally were able to board.

Around the Eurodam:

11-8-2010 Samana, Dominican Republic:

11-9-2010 San Juan

11-10-2010 a rainy St. Thomas

11-12-2010 Halfmoon Cay

What started out as a challenging vacation turned out to be another fantastic one.    

11-5-2010 embarkation day and around the Eurodam throughout the cruise:

Once on board, we headed to the lido buffet and had a very good lunch. The food on HAL has been my favorite so far.

 They even had a late night dessert on the Lido deck one night.

 And other Lido parties with different types of food.

 One night they even decorated the Lido pool during one of the Lido parties.

 Back to our embarkation day---shortly after 1pm, our stateroom was ready so we eagerly went to check it out. This was our 1st balcony cabin and it was really nice. We were near the back of the ship in cabin VD4148, and only 2 cabins away from the elevators.  This area of the ship had slightly deeper balconies then the other balcony cabins and the cabin was a nice size.

We were able to catch a couple really beautiful sunsets and a morning rainbow from our balcony. When we weren't enjoying our room or eatting, we enjoyed other parts of the ship. I attended 3 computer classes.  We spent the first couple days wandering around the ship checking out the different areas.
lido pool

 library

 a lounge

 where the art auctions were held

 shops

 restaurant

 crows nest

 walk a round deck---when you follow a hurricane you get lots of rain.

 the cabanas for rent on the Lido deck

 casino

 hydrotherapy pool---bought into this on my first HAL cruise with my sister and loved it, but didn't think we'd have enough time to get our money's worth out of it this time.

They even had a weird stalactite hanging from the ceiling.

We attended most of the nightly shows. Turns out the same headline performers that were on my last HAL cruise (on the western coast on the Oosterdam) were now on this ship now. I was actually happy to find that out. They were fantastic! The main entertainer, Joel Mason, played an Elton John tribute.

The comedian was Derrick and had very good clean humor.

 The illusionist, Ceilan (sp), was traveling with his acrobatic wife and their children and dogs (who were part of the show). The HAL singers and dancers were entertaining. The Superstar's show was as hilarious as it was on the Oosterdam. The lounges were really nice. Should have spent more time in the Crow's nest with the wrap around observation deck and free game rentals, but we always seemed to be busy doing something. I also did the scrapbooking meet and we did the CruiseCritic Meet & Greet which turned out really nice. Got to meet the captain, hotel manager and the activities director. All were very personable and we managed to spend a couple hours there visiting with other cruisecritic members and enjoying complimentary mimosas or Bloody Maries. We met a lot of really great people. We had dinner in the restaurant 4 nights (3 with other passengers, all really personable and we'ld talk with throughout the cruise), 1 night at a table for 2. We got a free Pinnacle dinner from Sam's Club (who I booked the cruise through.

They also gave us 2 $50 soda cards which we didn't use and got $50 obc, plus we also got another $75 obc as a booking incentive. So with our base rate being $869@ and another $139 in port taxes and fees, I felt we got a pretty good deal. Dinner at the Pinnacle was fantastic. We probably wouldn't have tried it if we had to pay the supliment ourselves, so I'm glad Sam's threw it in. We also ate at the lido every morning and a couple of evenings and found it to be very good.

We hit the adult pool a couple of times. It was never crowded and they actually kept kids out. We also lounged on the decks a couple of times and even borrowed a cribbage board and played a game in rememberance of Dad whom I had played many games of cribbage against. We enjoyed wandering around the ship. It was very tastefully decorated and I loved seeing all the real floral arrangements. As with every cruise, I (we) usually end up finding at least one crew member to be especially fascinating. This time one of them actually happened to be the pizza man, Arman. Ken even enjoyed the cruise enough that he decided we should do the onboard deposit for a future cruise and get the obc and reduced deposit rate incentive. Can't wait to start planning our next Dam cruise!

While we were waiting our turn to leave the port, we even got to see the huge new 5,400 passenger, Oasis of the Seas Royal Caribbean ship. Made our 2, 200 passenger ship look small!

                       

We really liked the Eurodam  Thought it might be too big, but decided it really wasn't.