Our 11-night Cruise on Holland America Eurodam (Right After Norovirus Outbreak)

My husband and I recently got back from an 11-night Southern Caribbean cruise on Holland America, and I want to share my overall impressions in this post. But first, here are some of the obstacles we had to overcome before we could even set foot on the ship.

It started about  a month ago with a major bummer, at least for me. I was notified via email that St. Lucia stop was canceled and replaced by Guadeloupe. St. Lucia was literally the main reason I chose this itinerary in the first place.

When I called and tried to switch to a different sailing, I was told that would not be possible. They did give me a free specialty dinner at Pinnacle Grill as an apology ($120 value) which was better than nothing. But that’s always a risk, and cruise lines have a disclaimer in the contract saying they can replace or cancel ports for any reason. There was nothing I could do, so I chose to move on and make the best of things.

That was a preview of things to come. My husband had a major project at work scheduled to complete just one day before we were set to leave. He said we may end up scrapping the trip and indeed, we didn’t know if we would actually go until the morning of the cruise. On top of it, his shoulder injury from last year got worse in the last month and we were told he would need surgery. Of course, there was no time to make it happen before the cruise, so that meant he would be in pain during vacation.

Since our kids are in school and my daughter attends college as part of dual enrollment, it meant there would be a lot of driving involved. Driving I normally provide. I was counting on my MIL to take care of it, but it became clear she would not be able to handle the load due to various factors. Fortunately, I was able to get some friends on-board, who stepped up and helped out with “Uber” duties. I brought them rum from the cruise and there were other bribes involved.

Everything was mostly set to go, and then I got an email from HAL telling me the ship had a major Norovirus outbreak and that they would need an extra three hours to do deep cleaning before letting us board. In fact, the outbreak made national news and Nick from Frequent Miler happened to experience it first-hand.

This is the point where I seriously thought about pulling the plug. I bought a trip insurance policy with “cancel for any reason” option and we could still get 75% of our money back. Since my husband is immuno-compromised, I let him make the call. To my surprise, he said we should roll the dice and go. And so we went… and had a terrific time.

Honestly, this was our best adults-only vacation to date. Somehow things at work fell into place, we didn’t get Norovirus and Guadeloupe stop ended up being one of my favorites on this entire cruise. Most importantly, the kids were fed and taken care of while we were gone.

That isn’t to say that it was 100% smooth sailing, pun intended. Few days into our cruise we found out one of our kids broke a family rule. My husband was so frustrated, he said we should fly home from the next port. Umm, nope!

I told him we do not go back unless there is physical harm involved. We can ground the kid for life if necessary, but the cruise goes on. After a few minutes, my husband agreed and apologized for overreacting. There were a few other unpleasant moments, but for the most part, it was a rare chance to spend quality time with each other. At one point, my husband  read me poetry while hanging out in Eurodam library.

We even splurged on a few professional photos, which I plan to frame:

Obviously, leaving the kids behind for 11 nights was a ridiculous luxury and a major risk, but I have no regrets.

Holland America line is still our favorite, despite some negative changes 

This was actually our third time on Eurodam ship, and we recently sailed it to Panama canal as a family. Nancy also had a chance to check it out on her recent cruise to Alaska, and you can see her post highlighting hits and misses.

Let me start with the negative points first. Overall, the ship is still in good condition, despite being around since 2009. However, the rooms can definitely use updating. The stateroom itself was in decent  shape overall.

However, the bathroom needs a remodel ASAP. Plastic  looks  old  and the word I would use to describe the whole appearance is “dingy.” The shower didn’t drain very well, which was annoying.

The chairs on the balcony were in rough shape (paint peeling off etc.) and need to be replaced as well.

That said, everything worked, and there were no dealbreakers. But all things being equal, you may want to stick to newer HAL ships. I should also mention that the ship was completely sold out, and you could definitely feel it in the Lido buffet and other public areas. Last time we cruised Eurodam at 70% capacity, and it made a huge difference.

Still, all things considered, I prefer HAL ships to other cruise lines. Eurodam fits a bit over 2000 passengers, and is considered small, as crazy as it sounds. My favorite feature is the promenade deck, where I got lots of exercise. Despite sailing in the Caribbean, we had some relatively cool days at sea, and I loved hanging out here.

I was  disappointed that there is no longer classical music played on board, which is something we really enjoyed on our previous HAL cruises. I also thought the main entertainment group was kind of mediocre, and only attended one performance. But those are not the main reasons we go on cruises.

Now let’s talk about food. I’m happy to say it’s still excellent. Even the buffet is decent, which can not be said for most cruise lines.

Eating in the main dining room is always our preference, however, and we weren’t disappointed. This is especially true when there is Norovirus potentially lurking around every corner. I also brought a  foaming hand spray that kills most viruses, and used it religiously.

Pinnacle Grill was a fun treat, though I’m not sure it’s worth $120 upcharge for two people. My husband did love the “clothesline” candied bacon:

One nice thing about HAL is that room service is free and you can even order from dining room menu during working hours:

We did that a few times, so we could watch a movie while eating. I gave $6-$10 tip each time, and that seemed to be sufficient.

The afternoon tea was fun to try once:

We promised the kids that our next cruise will be to Alaska and that they will join us this time. My first choice will undoubtedly be Holland America, though the price will factor into it, for sure. I did like our recent Princess cruise to Alaska, and would consider going again. In fact, I’m pretty certain my kids would prefer it to HAL. But Holland America still ticks off all the important boxes for me and my husband, despite some negative changes.

I should add that unlike last time, internet was very fast on this sailing due to switch to Starlink. So not all changes were bad.

Memorable moments from the cruise

There were so many, so it’s honestly hard to choose just a few. I do plan to do a separate post with a brief overview of each cruise stop. But here are some of my favorite memories:

1) Seeing Dominica from the balcony at sunrise

This is such  a beautiful place that reminded us of Kauai. I remember going to the balcony early in the morning and seeing something that looked like an island plucked from the South Pacific. While I was taking photos, I spotted a pod of whales in the water.

A magical moment and a magical island.

I also loved seeing Nevis from the balcony at sunrise. Another winner.

But probably my favorite memory is returning to the island of St. John after 23 years. The last time we visited it we were both in our early twenties, and my husband didn’t have to worry about shoulder issues. Ahh, the youth, how quickly it passes you by…

But we are still here and still in love, and that’s something I don’t take for granted.

How much we spent 

As mentioned previously, we got a special “free cruise” offer via status match and paid $800 to upgrade to a balcony. So, the total cost for the cruise was $1300 for both of us, including port fees. Unfortunately, the deal is no longer replicable unless you gamble (we don’t).

I can honestly say that the upgrade  was 100% worth it, as I can’t imagine spending 11 nights in an inside stateroom.  I ended up booking quite a few excursions through the ship, so our final cost was closer to $2,600 after added gratuities, internet, photos etc. We don’t drink a lot of alcohol, and only dropped maybe $26 total on two mixed drinks. Since we live in Florida, we also spent an additional $100 on gas and off-site parking.

It’s definitely no chump change, but the trip was great and I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, both my husband and I want to try a Windstar sailing cruise in the Southern Caribbean for our 30th anniversary, which is only a few years away. Hopefully, we will finally visit St. Lucia this time.

P.S. If you’ve never cruised on Holland America and want to try it, make sure to use someone’s referral link to get a $50 onboard credit per cabin (this is on top of any other promotions available at the time of booking). Here is my referral link Thanks if you use it!