By: All-Travel Agent, Sandra Weaver 

I recently had the opportunity to sail on Holland America’s newest Ship, Ms. Eurodam.

We departed from Quebec City, Canada to Sunny Fort Lauderdale, visiting such ports as Gaspe, Charlottetown, Nova Scotia, Portland, Maine, Newport, Rhode Island, Boston Mass, and New York City.

Ms. Eurodam is one of Holland America’s mid-sized luxury ships, with the capacity of 2104 guests on board. The ship itself is beautiful with fine woods throughout the ship, Roman statues, and master pieces of fine artwork. On the passenger decks you will find vintage pictures, dating back to the earlier sailing days of Holland America ships.

There are 11 passenger decks, 2 pools with one having a retraceable roof for those colder itineraries. My favorite pool area is located on the Lido Deck 9, right next to the Greenhouse Spa and Salon Areas. This is where you will find the retraceable pool with pool side cabanas for daily rental. In each cabana you have a lounge sofa with fresh fruits, and bottled water, and other small perks such as suntan lotions. There is a menu available for dining in your cabana, nice thick robes for 2, and your own private crew member to take care of all of your needs. The Lido pool also has 2 whirlpools that are open until 10:00pm every night. The cost would be 199.00 per week, and 45.00 per day. You also have more cabanas that are located on Deck 11, overlooking the Lido Pool. This is an excellent area for group gatherings with family and friends. These Cabana rentals would cost 299.00 per week and 75.00 daily.

The Greenhouse Spa, located also on Deck 9 is nicely appointed with several spa treatment rooms, a top-notch gym with all the latest exercise equipment and favorite fitness classes. You are also able to enjoy thermal suites, including a hydrotherapy and Thalassotherapy pool for 40.00 per day, with weekly rates available if you prefer. Imagine relaxing on one of her heated, ceramic lounges. Yes it’s okay to snooze.  One of the best deals in the Greenhouse Spa was the offer of 3 spa treatments for 99.00 per person. This special was also offered on sea days.

There are 4 restaurants to choose from with three of them being specialty restaurants pricing from 15.00-30.00 per person. The Pinnacle Grill offers culinary delights ranging from aged Sterling Silver Beef to premium seafood dishes. The Tamarind offers pan- Asian flairs from sushi to other Asian cuisine. You are actually have lunch in the Tamarind opened from 1130am until 1:00pm at no additional costs to guests on board, reservations required. Dinner would be for 30.00 per person

Ms. Eurodam also offers Italian food at Canaletto, located within the Lido Restaurant, on Deck 9. Every night the restaurant appeared busy and full of lively guests.

The Lido Restaurants would be your Buffet Restaurant, located on Deck 9 for limited hours. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served over limited times. If perhaps you are hungry in between dining times you do have pizza or burgers available. Burgers are available daily between 11:00Am and 5:00pm, with Pizza being available until 11:00pm, daily.

 The Rembrandt Dining Room offers 2 floors for guests wishing to have their meals in the formal dining room. The first level is for open dining, allowing guests to have dinner at from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. The second level are for those guests that have a set dining time. I had dinner on one of the formal dining nights. Service was great and I actually had a ball meeting those that I dined with. Another night I found something on the dinner menu that I liked, but choose to have my dinner in my stateroom instead. That was not a problem. Crew members took my order, and after a couple of minutes I was able to walk my dinner back to my stateroom. Room Service is available 24/7 and I never had to wait long for my order may it have been for lunch or dinner. 

Even though I have to admit that the ship is less active than other Holland America ships, such as Ms. Oosterdam or Ms. Noordam, there were some good moments such as my complimentary digital camera class. Computer and digital classes are offered most days for one hour each. You also have 1 hour per day to “practice” what you’ve learned while on board at no additional costs.

I loved the Explorations Café, located on Deck 11. There were awesome views of the sea. I rented movies almost every night during my 2 weeks on board. Espresso drinks and pasties were available at an additional cost. This is also part of Ms. Eurodam’s library and internet café.

One of the things that I noticed about Ms. Eurodam, there were several rooms to select that would be great for group meetings and celebrations, from elegant lounges to meeting rooms.

Club Hal was available for young cruisers aged from 3 to 17 years. There are video and game rooms to keep your young tots happy. Even though the ship’s passengers were mostly senior retirees I did manage to see about 4 children on board.

The Screening room offered newly released movies daily, with a total of 36 seats for over 2000.00 passengers on board. I did hear complaints from guests. Apparently even though movies are shown several times daily, (same movie appears in the staterooms the next day) some guests really did not like the idea of waiting to see their favorite movie due to lack of space. I did manage to see a movie and must admit that the reclining seats are definitely upscale leather and very comfortable.

I stayed in a obstructed view stateroom that was actually quite nice. Our stateroom was positioned between 2 lifeboats, so we could see plenty. My travel companion really enjoyed her heavenly bed beside the window. She actually mentioned that she would love to own one of her own for home.

Our bathroom consisted of both tub and shower combination. I heard one passenger complain that they weren’t separate, and to be honest if you are over 5”9’ you may have a problem with the relatively small bathtub.  We never had a problem with the water temperature and our room steward made sure that we never ran out of   bath amenities by Elemis.  I would have liked more storage space. We had plenty of closet space, and made use of the in room safe, however I like the dresser type drawers to keep my cloths separate. We were disappointed that there are no laundry facilities onboard to do your own laundry. There is a laundry service available at an additional cost. There was also a flat screen television and DVR in the room for entertainment. Movies can be rented from Deck 11 at the Explorations Café (combination library, coffee house, and internet café) at 3.00 per rental per day. 

I also had the opportunity to watch chefs from all restaurants prepare meals in the Culinary Arts Center. Samples were passed out, along with recipe cards during the presentations that were free of charge, and always very interesting.

The on-board entertainment was the usual, some of it good, and other entertainment not as good. ( I could have done better than their favorite comedian). The sail away parties were boring to say the least, and the only ones that I found in the nightclub was a birthday celebration for a family of five. The Casino offers slots from 1 penny to full gaming tables. Needless to say the casino did stay busy. I liked the way the casino was decorated. Holland America encouraged all guests to use their ship board card to play with, you get a certain amount of points, depending on your donation.

To summarize I heard more than enough compliants on board than I wanted to hear, considering that this is Holland America. I found myself wishing that there was more to do than just scrapbooking and gallery tours. Out of the entire crew I could only give 4 crew members high reviews on their “white-glove service and to be honest most of the crew members could have cared less. They had a job to do, and that was about it.

I will always hold Holland America as being one of the best cruise lines in the market and will definitely cruise again. This sailing just did not do it quite right for me.

 Call your Holland America Experts Today at 800-225-3614 or click HERE.