ms Eurodam: Where Food & Art Make A Perfect Combination

This summer, Holland America’s newest edition to the fleet—ms Eurodam—made her debut in Rotterdam. After a series of Northern Europe cruises, the 86,700 gross-ton vessel crossed the Atlantic for a series of New England cruises before heading to Fort Lauderdale for her Caribbean season. While the ship was in New York, I took a short cruise to see how the ship was faring. The weather during the cruise blessed us with near perfect conditions on the three-day cruise to nowhere.

The 2,104 passenger Eurodam is HAL’s first Signature Class ship and represents top quality in premium cruising. Slightly larger then HAL’s Vista Class vessels, she sports an extra deck—there are 11 public decks—allowing for an additional 63 staterooms, of which 47 are verandah cabins and ten have panoramic ceiling-to-floor windows with curved verandahs.

The vessel is quite striking both in her exterior lines and in her interior décor. She offers three new dining spots, expanded public areas, private cabanas at the Lido pool--and a surfeit of art and sculpture, a signature of HAL’s 14-ship fleet.

A new wine bar with funky chairs was added outside the Pinnacle restaurant in the Atrium area. The popular Explorers Lounge--our favorite place post-dinner to hear some live classical music aptly provided by a visiting Eastern European quartet on my cruise--was expanded to include a bar. The Explorations Café was moved up to the Crow’s Nest lounge area on Deck 11 and melds in with the powered-by-the-New-York-Times Internet Center. Just forward, is the DVD Library. A new screening room, which doubles as a venue for meetings or presentations, was also added on Deck 3 near The Mainstage theater, which is redesigned on this vessel with theater-style seating for the entertainment shows held there.

Dining as you please . . . hallmark of Holland America ships is the quality—and the creativeness of the food served in the restaurants, thanks to the creative artistry of Master Chef Rudi Sodamin who is the mastermind behind the line’s commitment to excellence in food. His signature is found in the menus offered in the restaurants on board, most noticeably in the new Tamarind restaurant and the Pinnacle Grill.

The main dining room is the dark wood paneled two-deck-high Rembrandt. A sweeping circular staircase takes diners to the balcony level beneath a ceiling that gives a sort of wave effect and can be lit with different colors. Tables are well appointed and the serving staff is quite good. There are wonderful menu choices of fish, meat or vegetarian entrees served at dinner or lunch. And often regional specialties are offered according to the port visited that

day. The restaurant offers guests a choice of either assigned seating at set times on the balcony or a dine-when-you-wish schedule in the lower level. Breakfast and lunch are also served.

New to Eurodam –and the rest of the HAL fleet--is the 144-seat Tamarind, a pan Asian restaurant; dinner at Tamarind, which costs $15 per person and reservations are

required. The menu offers a selection of Indonesian/ foods such as snapper baked in rice paper; wasabi and soy crusted beef tenderloin steak; and delicious sushi or sashimi. I found the food tops—the best I had on the ship during my cruise—but then Asian themed food is my preference. Tamarind also offers Rijsttafel, the ‘smorgasbjord’ of Dutch-Indonesian cuisine, and the charge for this dish is $20 per person.

The service staff—mostly from Bali--was excellent with the staff literally doing everything to please diners. The Balinese inspired restaurant provides a soothing décor in which to enjoy the ultradelicious food served—the best I had while on board. Lunch is complimentary but the limited menu serves Dim Sum. Cozy booths add an intimate touch for couples.

Adjacent to Tamarind is the cozy Silk Den lounge that overlooks the pool area below, perfect for a pre-dinner drink. Asian-themed specialty cocktails including sakétinis are offered and you can have them in one of several tent-styled lounges for privacy.

Two for dinner at Tamarind

The Lido casual dining area is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Food stations are clustered on both sides of the dining area but lines were often long, especially for the Japanese fare or the ice cream station. For those preferring a laidback dining experience after a port call in the evening, the Lido features waiter service serving select dishes either from the Rembrandt dining room or Lido fare. The Lido offers a variety of cold and hot foods and waiters take your beverage orders during breakfast or lunch. For those wishing just pizza they can indulge at Slice, a new addition at the Lido.

At night a section of the Lido is transformed into an Italian restaurant with soft lighting. Named Canaletto after the famous Venetian painter, the 66-seat casual dining area serves a range of Italian dishes—antipastos, pastas, entrées such as veal Milanese or chicken Marsala. Reservations are suggested for this popular venue but there is no charge to dine here.

The popular Pinnacle Grill featuring dishes and wines from the Pacific Northwest region of North America—notable is the salmon and other fish from this area—but the new menu additions include comfort foods such as lobster macaroni and cheese (one of Chef Rudi’s favorites) and his interpretation of surf-and-turf--filet mignon and jumbo prawns on whipped potatoes with garlic rosemary beurre blanc. Open for dinner only and reservations are required, guests pay a surcharge of $30 per person for dinner and $15 for lunch. In the Atrium area in front of Pinnacle is the new Pinnacle Bar that offers a large selection of vintage wines. Check out those funky chairs around the bar.

If you slept in, there’s always the Explorations Café next to the Internet Center on Deck 11, serving choice coffees and tasty pastries. And then, of course, there’s the option of 24-hour-in-cabin dining served punctually. I took breakfast here and the pre-ordered repast arrived punctually at the time ordered.

Bottled alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages ordered in all the restaurants are extra. A 15 percent surcharge is applied to all bar and beverage purchases.

Staterooms and Suites . . .

For the first time on any Holland America ship, staterooms were added to the top decks. Deck 11 features ten French balcony-styled verandah staterooms and just below on Deck 10, 28 staterooms with verandahs and four, forward-facing “panorama” rooms are located.

My verandah stateroom featured rich wood-toned paneling and burnished nickel fixtures. There is a small sitting area with a settee and a vanity/desk. There is no sliding glass door to the balcony but a conventional one which does not allow guests to leave it open unless propped with a deck chair—an energy-saving adjustment, I imagine. The staterooms are crampy though they adjoin a balcony. Storage space—there are no drawers—is also skimpy and would be a hassle on a seven-day or longer voyage. My suggestion is to pack light and use the laundry service on board to refresh the wardrobe.

Bathrooms are equipped with tub showers and feature good lighting and amenities and thick Egyptian-cotton towels. Plush top mattresses do make the beds very comfortable and terrycloth robes are provided for guests. The staterooms also feature flat-panel TVs, DVD players, fresh flowers in the tiny sitting area and fruit baskets.

Inside staterooms are furnished with light maple-toned furniture to create a more spacious effect and have similar bathrooms.

Eurodam has introduced 56 luxury Spa Staterooms located on the two highest decks of the Signature-class ship—Panorama (Deck 10) and Observation (Deck 11) that include two Superior Verandah Suites, 36 Deluxe Verandah Outside Staterooms, four Large Ocean-View Staterooms and four Large Inside Staterooms on Panorama Deck. The ten Spa Staterooms on Observation Deck are all Deluxe Verandah Outside rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and scalloped verandahs.

So named because of their proximity to the Greenhouse Spa and Salon and the private spa cabanas, each room is decorated in soft earthy-tone hues; bright, and the use of a color scheme to reflect nature’s fern-like patterns evident in the furnishings. Amenities in the Spa Staterooms in addition to those found in the standard staterooms include organic cotton bathrobes and slippers, a Burmese teak mat for bath and shower and an invigorating showerhead, a body buff loofah mitt and aromatherapy bath salts as well as an iPod® docking station, a yoga mat, a pedometer for use aboard ship, fitness DVD, a no-host minibar stocked with specialty waters, a cut-fruit tray at embarkation and a spa concierge to book treatments. An all-day room service menu offers Greenhouse Spa selections that vary daily in addition to the standard room service menu. Guests booking any of the Spa Staterooms may order exclusive Spa Stateroom-only packages in advance or during the cruise for Greenhouse Spa and Salon services

Sun and privacy . . .sort of

While most sunbathers will gather at one of the two pools on Lido Deck, some guests may want to have a little privacy for their time out on deck. They can opt for the private cabanas located on the Observation and Lido decks. The tented cabanas are located on Observation Deck in an area called the Retreat (14 cabanas) and above the mid-ship pool on Lido Deck (eight cabanas). Furnished with modern woven chaises, ottomans and upholstered settees, all cabanas come stocked with bathrobes and plush towels, handheld fans, an Evian spray mister and iPods™ preloaded with great music. While this is a nice quiet oasis to read, the tents obscure the sea view somewhat.

Most cabanas are furnished with two lounge chairs and are designed to accommodate two adults though two larger units hold four lounge chairs in the Retreat. Children up to the age of 16 are allowed in the cabanas accompanied with two adults. The Retreat cabanas cost $45 on port days and $75 on sea days, while the Lido cabanas are $30 (port days) and $50 (at sea). Of course you can head up, as I did, to the uppermost deck behind the ship’s funnel and sunbath quietly and with great views. You will have to get your own chair, though, from the stacked ones in a corner and possibly fight the sea breeze.

Wellness and fitness . . .

The lovely Greenhouse Spa offers a variety of services to ship guests. Besides a fully equipped fitness center with the latest aerobic and weight-lifting equipment, there is a workout area for group classes or individual one-on-one consultations or training. Withinthe Spa itself, a host of services offered include facial and body therapies; water treatments and couples-only massages, teen massages, hair treatments and styling and manicures/pedicures. There is a heated ceramic lounge inspired by the Turkish bath, a heated saltwater hydrotherapy pool, the Tui Na Relaxation room with lounges looking out to sea.

Guests booking any of the Spa Staterooms may order exclusive Spa Stateroom-only packages in advance or during the cruise for Greenhouse Spa and Salon services. The Body of Indulgence package offers a hot stone massage and facial bamboo massage for $256, while the Skin Renewal includes facial rejuvenation acupuncture and a marine facial for $289. His Sanctuary features a grooming treatment and shave and deep tissue massage for $189 and Bliss for Two provides couple’s cabana massages for $242.

The public areas . . .

The public rooms and lounges for the most part are tastefully furnished. But it is the art and sculpture found throughout the ship that salute the rich Dutch Golden Era of yesterday, some with a modern twist. Old Dutch Masters reproductions, sea maps and nautical equipment are placed in the lounges, the corridors and even by the stairwells. Other art works offer a bit of whimsy, such as a display case at the entrance to the Rembrandt dining room containing broken ceramic plates, Delftware and Chinese spoons from a Chinese ship that sank 300 years ago near Indonesia, then a Dutch colony. In the Atrium, look up at the ceiling and you will see a glass chandelier-inspired sculpture which depicts flowers that are lit up in different shades of light—lighter during the day and richer tones at night. In the Tamarind restaurant, Asian antiques are part of the décor while at the restaurant’s entrance a pair of lion dogs stand guard with a sculpture of Buddha.

Elsewhere there are artistic flora displays, water sculptures at the Lido Pool and photos of legendary baseball players (Sports Bar). Even the ship’s richly ornate burnished elevator doors are a work of art. At times, looking at the variety of art on board, one feels that this more a floating museum than a ship. And to complement that feeling, you can take a self-guided, narrated iPod tour offered free of charge to guests.

Activities…

Guests will find a variety of activities or instructive lectures to fill their sea days. Free workshops led by Microsoft-trained “techsperts” instruct the novice camera or computer user how to take better vacation photos, make movies, edit pictures and create scrapbooks using a variety of Microsoft Windows and Windows Live services. One Digital workshop I attended was very instructive, showing how load the photos from your camera to your laptop, edit them and email the finished photos to family or friends.

Then there are the cooking classes and demonstrations held at the Culinary Arts Center, that is part of the Queen’s Lounge. One class showed how to make pasta dishes such as Ricotta Tortellini while another

Digital workshop

demonstrated how to successfully bake bread. The classes led by both ship and visiting celebrity chefs are instructive and will give you some creative ideas on food preparation and tips on table settings.

Other activities include competitive board and card games, pool sports matches or jogging workouts on Promenade Deck. Those wanting to try their luck will want to head to the Casino, located on Deck 2. The expanded gaming room features five blackjack tables; one Fun 21 blackjack table; one American roulette table; and 126 slot machines, plus a new touchscreen poker table, PokerPro, which shuffles, deals, splits pots and generates side pots instantly.

As for the younger passengers . . .

The popular Club HAL offers programmed activities for youths ages three to12 and Teens 13 to 17 can enjoy their own lounge named the Loft, which resembles a city artist’s loft where teen guests can enjoy their generations music, games and just hanging out. Club HAL and teen activities operate all day during sea days with breaks for meals. Programs also operate on port days if kids and teens sign up the day before. A complete set of daily programs for kids 3-17 years old are handed out at the gangway upon embarkation.

 

Sports for kids and their parents--or grandparents -- include a basketball court, golf putting area and an open area up on Deck 12 behind the funnel where games such as dodge ball can be played.

There is a wonderful jogging track on the Promenade Deck lined with traditional teakwood lounge chairs along the interior sides—a nice place to relax when not jogging. It takes three times

Basketball court

around the deck to equate a mile—a good workout for getting rid of those extra calories.

Shopping . . .

The Signature Shops on Deck 3 are grouped within a large open space that on this ship was enlarged considerably. Guests can indulge in some quality purchases of the fine jewelry and designer clothing being sold in this wall-less area. In one section, there are the requisite souvenir items for sale; other sections sell duty-free perfumes and cosmetics as well as duty-free liquor and fine chocolates.

 

Overall assessment . . .

The Eurodam is a striking addition to HAL’s 14-ship fleet. Filled with rich furnishings and artworks, it offers premium cruising with a traditional flair. What’s more, the food and service are quite good considering there are more than 2000 passengers on board. A visit to the ship’s galleys that prepare the foods for all of the ship’s eateries showed gleaming steel kitchens providing the stage for the orderly cooking of foods, and how the dishes are assembled.

Then there is the attention to service that is everywhere evident as you walk through the ship.The crew, most of them transferred from the line’s other ships, offer professional courtesy and experience in servicing the bars and restaurants. Their congeniality was an added plus to my cruise

The ship’s galleys

So for those who like their cruises sprinkled with maritime history, top-quality food, instructive lectures or classes and lots of art, I strongly recommend a cruise on the Eurodam. What’s more it is premium cruising at rates that are affordable.

Itineraries

After her inaugural 2008/09 season in the Caribbean (November to April), ms Eurodam will sail back to Europe for her spring/summer season of Baltic/Northern Europe cruises. Next fall, she again returns to North America for her New England/Canadian maritime cruises followed by the 2009/10 season in the Caribbean. Website: www.hollandamerica.com

P W Mooney, Editor

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More about Eurodam:

Ship Statistics

About Holland America Line

Photo Gallery

(October 2008)