This morning marks the last day of this 11-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise and the Eurodam is anchored off Half Moon Cay, Holland America’s private island in the Bahamas.
We arrived around 6:30am and crew from the island and the ship started ferrying food, drinks, and supplies to the island via Half Moon Cay’s fleet of boats. While the island does have crew that work and live there year-round, food and beverage service on the island is done by crew from the ship.
Once all provisions were ashore, the all clear came at 8am for guests to proceed to the Rolling Stone Lounge to get tender tickets. Since there is no port here, transportation to and from the island is done by large tender boats that are kept at Half Moon Cay.
To manage the crowds, tickets are assigned in groups and then those groups are called to board the tender. By 9:15am, it was announced that tender tickets are no longer needed and you could come and go as you please.
Activities on the island include plenty of lounge chairs to enjoying the sun, watersports rentals, horseback riding, nature walks, and other shore excursions available for an additional fee.
Lunch on the island is served BBQ style beginning at 11:30am which is provided at no charge. A Lobster Shack is also on the island where you can get lobster dishes like lobster rolls all at an additional charge.
It’s important to note that while the BBQ is free, drinks are not. Even if you have a beverage package, you have to pay for soda, water and alcohol on the island.
We have a short stay here today, with the last tender back to the ship scheduled for 2:30pm with sail away shortly thereafter.
For a more detailed look at what’s available on the island, check out this article all about Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
Final Overall Review Post!
Since this is our last day onboard, at the end of this post you’ll find my overall review of this 11-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America’s Eurodam, so be sure to scroll down to the end to see my final thoughts on my latest adventure!
Lido Market Breakfast Menu
For those looking for a quick bite to eat before heading ashore, breakfast is being served at the Lido Market buffet.
Main Dining Room Breakfast and Lunch Today
With the ship’s crew heading ashore to handle food and beverage service on the island, breakfast and lunch is not being served in the main dining room today. However, in addition to the Lido Market, the Dive In is serving up delicious burgers, dogs, and fries while New York Pizza has pizza by the slice or by the pie.
Lido Market Lunch Menu
Lunch today is available in the Lido Market and here’s what’s being offered at the buffet.
Sailing Away from Half Moon Cay
As we sailed away from Half Moon Cay a little before 3pm it became apparent that the cruise has officially reached its end. With just a few hours of the day to go before we arrive back in Fort Lauderdale, there is one important thing left to do – pack up!
I went back to my stateroom around 5pm and gathered the suitcases when the Eurodam really started rocking and rolling. It came out of the blue and, being at the very aft of the ship, it was rough and getting rougher. As I open a closet door to take things out, it would slam shut. I opened the bathroom door for a moment and it slammed into a closet door that decided to open. A few times, I had to catch my balance as I walked back and forth emptying out the closets.
I’m not one to get seasick and I usually am not bothered by motion at all, but whatever was going on… got me!
I had to lay down for a bit, then decided to shower. Well, that was interesting as the motion of the ship was pretty intense and trying to shower without slipping proved to be interesting. I managed to get myself dressed and walk down to the Promenade Deck to get some fresh air and sit for a bit as I was feeling a but woozy.
As I walked around the ship, everyone was joking and bouncing around wondering what the heck was going on!
I got a can of Coke, headed outside, and noticed that we were in what I would say to be 5 to 7 foot swells. Fortunately this didn’t last long as by 7pm we were back to smooth sailing.
Lido Market Dinner Menu
For our last night onboard, here’s a look at what’s being offered at the Lido Market buffet for dinner.
Main Dining Room Dinner Menu
Over in the main dining room, the last night’s dinner menu…
Dinner at Canaletto
For dinner tonight, I headed up to the Lido Deck for dinner at the ship’s Italian restaurant, Canaletto. This $23pp + 18% specialty restaurant is actually a part of the Lido Market seating area and at night is turned into a Trotteria offering up a menu of Italian comfort classics in this (around) 20 seat area which has its own decor to separate it from the regular buffet seating.
As soon as I sat down, my server and his partner came over with bread, water, and took my drink order.
For starters I went with the Burrata which I had the other night and was fantastic and tonight was no exception. Although I did forget to ask them to tone down the amount of pistachios on it, as it is a bit much!
I also gave the meatballs a try, which weren’t the greatest, but they weren’t horrible.
For the main course, I was really wanting to get the Osso Bucco again as the other night it was out-of-this-world good, so I asked my server what he would recommend. Not knowing that I had the Occo Bucco previously… his recommendation was… well. You guessed it. He said it’s the best thing on the menu, so I went for it again and was not disappointed. The meat was fork tender, the sauce was incredible, and the dish overall was just amazingly good.
With that huge meal devoured, I wasn’t planning on ordering dessert, but here I was with three different scoops of ice cream in front of me!
For the price, you just can’t beat Canaletto, and it should be on every Holland America Line cruiser’s list to try during the cruise. My servers were very attentive, the food arrived hot and delicious, I wasn’t rushed at all, and the whole experience was excellent. I would rate the service equal to that of the ship’s top restaurant – Pinnacle Grill.
After dinner, it was back to my stateroom to put my luggage out to be collected, and I called it a night.
Now, let’s get into the overall review of this 11-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America Line’s Eudoram.
Stateroom
For this cruise, I was booked on a casino deal that offered a free interior stateroom, as I indicated in my Day 1 report. Cabin 6171 was located on Deck 6, all the way aft. The room could accommodate two people with two twin beds that convert to a king. There is no sofa bed or Pullman, so the max capacity is limited to two. Storage space was ample, but I found that for an 11-day cruise, most of the closet space was full of my clothing, so finding space for clothes for two people may prove to be a struggle.
Being on the 6th deck put me right in the middle of the ship’s action, as dining, entertainment, and lounges were below me on decks 2 and 3, while the Lido Market and pool were up on deck 9, so the location was quite good and getting around didn’t require use of the elevators. I didn’t notice any motion being at the very back of the ship until the few hours we were in swells today.
Being an older ship, the stateroom was in very good condition and a recent refit added USB posts at the bed and desk area. However, you will only find two US and two European power outlets in the whole room and they are located at the desk. While the TV was small, it was adequate and the fully stocked mini bar was nice to have available.
When it came to the bathroom, the interior staterooms don’t have the same amenities and luxury factor as the Verandah Staterooms and higher. The shower, while roomy, has a curtain instead of a door and the counter/sink area is hard plastic. While the stateroom didn’t feel dated at all, the bathroom certainly did as it was very bland and stale.
The Food
Each daily review touches on the food I had that night. On most cruises, I typically avoid the main dining room and dine at specialty restaurants, but on Holland America Line I usually enjoy this restaurant a good number of nights as the food and service is always good. However, some of the dishes I had in the main dining room on this cruise were not the greatest, but overall the food quality is still good despite cutbacks across the entire industry. Where the main dining room fails, is in service. I mentioned a couple times that my servers were not overly friendly or outgoing and each time I dined there service was rushed to the point where it was “get them in and out.”
The buffet selections for lunch and dinner were always varied, which you can see on the daily menus, and there was always something for even the pickiest eater to find at the buffet. Food quality at the buffet was top notch with many items cooked fresh to order and nearly everything is served by a crew member rather than yourself, which makes for a much nicer, organized, and sanitary experience.
For this trip, the specialty restaurants I dined at all three of the ship’s speciality restaurants more than once – Pinnacle Grill, Tamarind, and Canaletto.
If I had to put stars on the various restaurants, they would be:
- Main Dining Room (Free) – For this one I am going to give it **** for food, and ** for service.
- Pinnacle Grill ($42 + 18%) – *****
- Tamarind ($35 + 18%) – ****
- Canaletto ($23 + 18%) – ****
- Dive In (burgers, dogs, fries) (Free) – ****
- New York Pizza – **
Fellow Passengers
Holland America Line caters to a much older, well-heeled, well-travelled demographic and this cruise was no exception. These folks book cruises back-to-back and are very loyal to the line. I did feel as if I was one of the younger passengers on this cruise, as the majority onboard were 65+. There were about a half-dozen families with children onboard, but if I’m being honest, this isn’t the line to bring kids on. Why? There simply isn’t much for them to do. There’s no kids pool area, no waterslides, no “fun” things to keep kids busy during the day. Yes, there is a kids club, but still as a kid you’d find yourself bored on this cruise line.
Entertainment
Where to begin. Holland America Line has cut entertainment and it shows a lot on Eurodam. I was told that the main production shows put on during this cruise were new, and the one I suffered through showed that they have work to do.
Bars and lounges prior to COVID used to have live music, not so much anymore. Just the Ocean Bar had music and other areas throughout the ship where entertainment used to be offered are simply sitting empty some even have pianos still in them but are covered up or are being used as tables for up-sell opportunities such as pictures of your retina – I kid you not!
The Rolling Stone Lounge band did provide some great music, but it’s sad to see that B.B. King’s Blues Club has been removed from this ship. As I mentioned prevously, it would have been nice to keep both and alternate.
Billboard Onboard, which features two piano players who don’t duel but sing together, is not a favorite of mine and wasn’t on this ship either. But sadly, it was only one of TWO large live music venues.
Cutbacks are Evident Everywhere
I mentioned in talking to others onboard that Eurodam seems to be the ship of cutbacks. Evidence of things that used to be are everywhere. In addition to lounges and covered up pianos, flowers that used to be on tables in the buffet and dining rooms are gone. Elevator lobbies that used to have a large flower display in the center of the landing are now just an empty space to wait.
One night the only entertainment offered in the World Stage was the movie Oppenheimer – as there was no guest entertainer scheduled or a production show.
When the Rolling Stone Lounge band or Billboard Onboard piano players are off, there is only one spot for live music that night.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem as if staffing had beenn cut as the crew worked dilligently to provide the top service one would expect from Holland America.
Embarkation
Easy and stress free! As indicated in the Day 1 report, I had a minor glitch with facial recognition at check in, but getting on the ship was quite easy with no lines for check in or security.
Debarkation
For this trip, since I had two large suitcases, I did not do self-assist, but decided to have my luggage collected so I did not have to lug it off the ship myself in the morning. I picked up luggage tags outside Guest Services and chose tags that would have me off the ship between 8:15am – 8:30am. When 8:15am came around, those color tags were being called and I headed down to disembark. There was no line at all and I walked right off the ship and into the terminal to collect my luggage, pass through the facial recognition immigration scanner, and I was done.
This was about the easiest debarkation I’ve had in a while and was so easy and quick, with no lines, it feels hard to believe it was real!
Overall Rating
Overall, this cruise was a 4 star experience – just what I would expect from Holland America. While the Eurodam is getting up in age, she’s still a great ship that is meticoulsly maintained and staffed by a simply fantastic crew. With only 2,100 passengers it has that intimate feel and the crew aren’t overstretched trying to take care of the masses – they can really give you the attentiion one would expect. It’s just disappointing at times to see how things have been scaled back, but this is something across all cruise lines since COVID. With ships sailing full all the time, the finance people are trying to see just how deep they can cut before people say “stop.” This trend will proabably continue for a while as bookings are at an all-time record high for cruises.
Thanks for following along on this latest adventure, it’s been fun!