It’s hard to believe its day 10 of this 11-day adventure on the Eurodam as we sail through the Eastern Caribbean. There have been so many port calls during this trip, some being new to me, and there’s still one more to go! Today is a sea day as we make our way toward’s Holland America’s private island in the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay.
The weather today is beautiful, although it’s quite windy and the ship is rolling quite a bit. That’s not stopping anyone from taking to the open decks and just enjoying a day in the sun.
This morning in the World Stage – the ship’s main theater – the cruise and travel director is putting on a presentation called City at Sea, which is a virtual look at what goes on behind the scenes on a cruise ship. It’s like a behind the scenes tour without leaving your seat. She will be showing prerecorded video tours of things like the engine control room, bridge, laundry, galley, etc while being joined by some of the ship’s officers to provide more information on the various areas and departments.
While interesting, it can’t take the place of the actual in-person behind the scenes tour that is sometimes offered. These tours were suspended post-COVID, but many lines have started to bring them back on some ships. If you have the opportunity to take one… do it! It’s definitely worth the money for a few hours seeing places on board you normally don’t get to see.
I’ve taken several of these behind the scenes tours on various ships, and they are simply fascinating! They generally cost well over $100 per person, are several hours long, and involve a lot of walking, climbing steep stairs, and entering spaces normally reserved for the crew.
Out on deck this morning, the crew has towel animals all around the Lido Pool area, welcoming guests as they arrive. This chap was here to greet everyone!
Lido Market Breakfast Menu
Breakfast time and it’s off to the buffet on Deck 9 to see what’s being served at the Lido Market this morning.
Main Dining Room Brunch Menu
Today, the main dining room is offering a special sea day brunch menu in place of the regular breakfast and lunch offerings we’ve seen for the previous 9 days of the cruise. So for breakfast and lunch, here’s what’s being served in the main dining room today.
Lido Market Lunch Menu
For those who want to have “lunch” lunch, here’s what’s being offered at the Lido Market buffet.
Cake Party!
Once per cruise, Holland America bakers pull out all the stops and satisfy our sweet tooth by throwing a cake party! Yes, a party with all different kinds of cakes! Around a dozen of them to be exact – with delicious flavors like chocolate and red velvet, many available sugar free as well.
The cakes are available at the Lido Market buffet from 11:30am – 2:30pm, or until they’re gone!
It’s a delicious way to celebrate one of the last days onboard.
Lido Market Dinner Menu
It’s dinner time and here’s a look at what’s available tonight in the Lido Market buffet.
Dressy Night
It’s the second and final “dressy” night on this cruise and for most Holland America Line cruisers, “dressy” doesn’t really change how people dress. Most, even on casual nights, still spend the evening in jackets and dresses. You won’t see many people truly dressing up in cocktail dresses and tuxedos on these dressy nights on this cruise line. For those that do, the ship’s photographers are out in full force snapping photos.
Speaking of photos… since this is an older ship, photos have not gone digital yet. Photos taken of guests are STILL printed out and posted at the photo gallery. This seems to be an incredible waste of paper, not to mention the chemicals involved in processing photos, and I’m surprised that Holland America hasn’t discontinued this and moved to the digital version yet.
Main Dining Room Dinner Menu
For dressy night, here’s what’s being offered for dinner in the Main Dining Room.
Evening Entertainment
Tonight’s entertainment lineup featured the usual, the band in the Rolling Stone Lounge and the Billboard Onboard piano players which are scheduled to play up until closing time of 11pm.
As we sailed towards the Bahamas, the sunset tonight was simply beautiful!
Dinner at Tamarind
For dinner tonight, I made a second trip to the ship’s Pan Asian specialty restaurant, Tamarind. Tamarind is actually three venues in one – a restaurant, sushi bar, and martini bar! Dinner in the restaurant is $32pp + 18% and the sushi bar is all ala carte. If you’re having dinner in the restaurant, you can also order some sushi from the sushi bar, which I did tonight.
First off, once you’re seated, some shrimp crackers and different sauces are brought to the table.
For sushi, I went with a spicy tuna roll ($) from the sushi bar, which had 8 nice sized pieces of sushi. My server noted that the “chef was generous, this usually only has 6 pieces!” The sushi was fresh and delicious!
I also ordered the satay which is skewers of bite size pieces of shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, and lamb. It comes with peanut sauce for dipping and is a nice starter and one that can be shared.
For the main course, I went with the crispy duck. While not “crispy,” the skin, which is really the best part of the duck, was deliciously flavored and the meat itself was tender. The duck was served over udon noodles and some bok choy.
Just like my first visit here earlier on in the cruise, service was on-point with my server being knowledgeable of the dishes, making recommendations along the way, and providing exceptional service throughout the meal. The restaurant manager also stopped by to make sure everything was going as expected.
For the cost, Tamarind is definitely a must-do on your next Holland America Line cruise as the food is fantastic!
Good Night!
After dinner, I stopped by the casino one last time for this cruise to see if my luck would change, and unfortunately it didn’t. The casino was VERY tight and I didn’t have any “wins” at all – not even small ones! Bonus spins, free games, etc were hard to come by making the overall casino experience on Eurodam a complete bummer.
Since it was now after 11pm and the ship is pretty much locked up for the night, it was off to my room as we sailed towards Half Moon Cay for an 8am all ashore time tomorrow.