Hits and Misses from my First Holland America Cruise on Eurodam

I recently returned from a 7-night Alaska cruise on Holland America Eurodam ship (see my previous post). The cruise was a round-trip sailing from Seattle with port stops at Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan and Victoria, British Columbia. I’ve sailed on Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and MSC, but never before on Holland America. I was curious how I would enjoy this new-to-me cruise line.

This cruise was “free” for me and my travel companion because of a hotel status match I did last year (see this post). We only had to pay for port taxes and tips. I did pay a small fee to upgrade from an inside cabin to a window cabin with an obstructed view. I was glad to have the sunlight and extra space.

While the cruise was not perfect, overall my friend and I had a very enjoyable experience.

Hits on Eurodam

Dining Room Food: I’m happy to report that we LOVED the main dining room food on Holland America’s Eurodam! It was a welcome change after the disappointing food on my recent MSC cruise. I rank Holland America’s food right up there with Disney Cruise Line. Every dish we had was delicious.

We also enjoyed the afternoon tea in the main dining room on sea days and short port days.

Service

Service on this cruise was outstanding (with the exception of the spa, which I mention below in the Misses category). All of the crew members were smiling, friendly, and conversational.

Our stateroom attendant was delightful. We enjoyed the towel animals and chocolates on our bed on the two formal nights.

Crowd and Noise Levels

One of the benefits of being on a smaller cruise ship (there were only 2200 passengers) and one that attracts an older clientele is that the environment was peaceful. The atmosphere was quiet and laid back. Elevators weren’t overcrowded. There were very few children on board. Getting off the ship at ports was a piece of cake.

Since we didn’t have a balcony stateroom, we had to go to public decks to view wildlife and scenery. Crowds were not a problem! My favorite spot was the promenade deck one deck below our stateroom.

The upper decks were also not too crowded on the day we sailed through Glacier Bay National Park.

Wildlife Expert

Our Eurodam cruise had a wonderful Wildlife Expert on board. I attended several of his informational presentations to learn about the wildlife and scenery we’d be seeing on the cruise. I appreciated that he level-set our expectations on wildlife we would probably see and wildlife we had a slim chance of seeing:

He was outside on the upper deck every day during posted hours with a microphone. On the morning we sailed to Juneau, I woke up early to spot wildlife on deck with him. He was giddy that as a group we spotted 47 whales that morning!

Misses on Eurodam

Evening Entertainment: Compared to other cruise ships I’ve sailed on, the evening entertainment on Eurodam was severely lacking. Most of the shows were musical variety acts with a guest saxophone player and the ship’s singers and dancers. We sat through one show that had a Broadway vs. Hollywood theme, and it was rather cheesy. However, it’s likely that we weren’t the target age for these shows. The content was just not compelling for us. Holland America discontinued the popular Lincoln Center Stage classical music concerts. If you’re looking for a cruise with interesting and varied nightly entertainment, Eurodam isn’t it.

Thermal Spa: The spa on Eurodam had an odd set-up in that it wasn’t in a self-contained area. The check-in desk and treatment rooms were all off the ship’s hallways where non-spa guests were walking by. My friend and I both purchased week-long passes for the thermal spa area, but we encountered a few issues. The relaxation room didn’t have any drinks the first day. On subsequent days, the drink station was not re-stocked with clean cups, and the dirty cups remained in a messy pile despite me alerting the front desk staff. One evening, there was club music playing in the thermal spa relaxation room (not very relaxing!). We had to turn in our stateroom keys at the spa front desk to get a locker room key, and one night the workers left before giving my friend back her key. Male employees entered the female locker room (although they always knocked first). Overall, the spa was strange and unprofessional.

HAL App: Both of us thought the HAL app was not as intuitive as other cruise apps. For example, when our main dining room is listed on our schedule, the hyperlink does not list the menu. You have to exit out and go to another section to see the menus. The excursions worked the same way.

Overall Thoughts

Despite a few misses, we thoroughly enjoyed our Alaska cruise on Holland America Eurodam cruise ship. The quiet atmosphere allowed my friend and me to catch up and converse without noise and distractions. Our week on Eurodam truly felt like a relaxing vacation.

I would sail on Holland America again for the right itinerary and with the right travel companion. But, due to the lack of entertainment and young people on board, I would not sail on Holland America with my three kids. They would have been bored to tears on board.