Cruising Rob's Blog: Eurodam Coastal Trip Review

Greetings everyone, over the next few days I’ll be uploading the travelog of my 4 day voyage on the Eurodam. Originally I was booked on the Emerald Princess which was sailing a nearly identical voyage, deparing only 2 days later, and ending in Los Angeles but ended up switching to the Eurodam to try something a bit different than Princess which is the line we typically cruise with. What attracted me to this itinerary was the only port call, Astoria, Oregon. Most folks have never heard of this little stop or would scoff at it as a port of call, but it's actually a great little town to visit. When I was growing up in the Seattle area, we’d visit my grandparents in Portland, Oregon and occasionally take a day trip out to Seaside or Astoria so I suppose there is some nostalgia that keeps me coming back, but it's truly a fun little town that has a thriving microbrew scene, a great marine museum, the Astoria Column (more on that later) and some impressive views. I’ll discuss more about Astoria later, but this 4 night voyage departed on Oct 17th from Vancouver with a port call in Astoria, and ending 2 days later in San Diego. Going back to the Emerald Princess; I’ve been on just about every Grand class vessel (except the Emerald), and at this point, it's so much of the same when you cruise on the same line over and over again. When I noticed the Eurodam was doing a sailing with the identical itinerary (other than the disembark port), I thought it would be interesting to try something a bit different. I’ve sailed on the Maasdam, Amsterdam, Westerdam, Oosterdam, and Koningsdam, so the only class (not including the Prinsendam) I haven’t sailed on for Holland America is the 2-ship Signature class. I know the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam are very similar to the Vista class ships, but I also know they are different enough to warrant a look. I’ve also heard they are a more modern take on the Vista class, and I also know that the Eurodam was drydocked within the last year, so I was curious to see what they updated to bring her in line with some of the venues I experienced on the Koningsdam in early 2017.

My voyage began at 4am on Wednesday October 17th with a 4 alarm wake up call coming from my phone and tablet. Yes, 4 alarms, I really didn’t want to be stressed before a vacation - I find it can really ruin the first day. I left the house at about 4:30am and was at the parking lot at the airport catching the shuttle to the terminal by 4:50am. Security was a breeze and I made it to the concourse to see several folks sleeping on the airport chairs near my gate. Been there, done that, and I feel for those that get stuck in that situation. But surely these people weren’t waiting for the flight to Vancouver? Well, after a bit the Air Canada agents showed up and began the boarding process, for all 14 of us on this CanadaAir Regional Jet (CRJ900). So with 76 seats, only 14 had souls in them meaning early departure heading toward Vancouver. We passed an aircraft on the deicing pad, which our pilot taxiied right by without slowing down which made me slightly nervous.

My aircraft to Vancouver

45 minutes to departure and no signs of an agent yet

Plenty of available seats

Hard to make out the Eurodam, but she is there

Anyways, the flight was uneventful and I even was able to watch some movies on the plane given that Air Canada outfits some of their larger regional jets with personal video screens with on-demand movies and shows; an unexpected and appreciated gesture. With so few passengers on the flight, it practically felt like a private or chartered jet.

Landing in Vancouver was a breeze, as was customs since we arrived before the majority of trans border flight from other US cities arrived. A quick ride on Sky Train took me to the Waterfront station downtown right near Canada Place where the Eurdoam was docked. I have been to Vancouver several times before and it has so many great spots where one can spend half a day, but today I tried something I have always wanted to, but never done. I went over and hopped on the SeaBus over to North Vancouver which has always looked like a nice place to visit. A 12 minute ride later and I was walking around the Lonsdale Quay district in North Vancouver.

US Gates at Vancouver Int'l Airport, aka YVR

Skytrain Station at the Airport

The air was crisp and the sky was blue; it was a classically beautiful Pacific Northwest fall morning. I strolled around a bit to look at some of the new towers that were being built, hopped into Tim Hortons for a coffee and donut, and then swung by a liquor store (for shipboard provisioning). Like every country, their liquor stores provide a keen insight into the people and they are always interesting to visit, even region to region. Wayne Gretzky branded wine? 2 Liters of Hard Cider? I settled on some Okanagan wine for my voyage which turned out to be a nice syrah blend with spicy notes.

Entrance to Seabus

On the Seabus

A nice outdoor area adjacent to a cafe near Lonsdale

Wayne Gretzky sells wine?

2 liters of Cider?

Coffee wine?

After my liquor store tasks were completed, I strolled back down to the waterfront to see if I could get any good photos of the Eurodam in dock. Unfortunately, due to the alignment of Canada place with Londsdale Quay, most of the images I was able to capture were of the bow only which doesn’t do justice to this attractive ship. I also had a freighter competing for camera time which made getting even a decent photo a challenge, but I did manage a few. I visited a toy store to see if they had any good jigsaw puzzles and then hopped back on the SeaBus to get back downtown; it was 11:30 and I still wanted to get a few photos of the Eurodam from the pier.

After a few more photos of the Eurodam from the convention center just north west of Canada Place, then I noticed folks strolling around on their balconies so I decided to begin the embarkation process.

Lovely Canada Place

Entrance to Canada Place when walking

The majority of my sailing history is with Princess and, as such, I’m elite level and generally, the embarkation process takes less than 20 minutes. Even when I didn’t have status, the embarkation process was usually pretty smooth. In the past I have had to wait for the Holland America boarding process and was slightly apprehensive that I might need to again. Fears came true and after clearing US Customs really quickly with a short line, we were led to a room to wait while 4 and 5 star Mariners embarked (I’m only a 2 star Mariner presently). I understand that I came at the peak time, but if Princess can board a 2600-3000 grand class ship with minimal waiting, why can’t Holland America get their 2200 person ships boarded just as quickly? I’ll discuss my top 5 and bottom 5 experiences on the Eurodam in the final post, but waiting an hour certainly made its way to the bottom 5 of the list. This also brings up another point, with Ballantyne pier closed to cruise embarkation now, I can only imagine the horror of Canada Place when there are more than 2, 3000+ passenger ships docked on turn-around day. As Vancouver gains more passenger market share back from Seattle, they really need to find a way to become a more efficient operation which may need a new cruise terminal, and help with the cruise lines figuring out ways to innovate their embarkation and disembarkation procedures. That’s unfortunate because Canada Place is probably the most convenient and affordable embarkation cruise ports in North America given the downtown location and easy access to/from the airport, thanks to SkyTrain.

After the wait, I made it onboard and got to my room, 1015, an oceanview room on the bottom passenger deck which was a decent upgrade from a guarantee interior J category booking. My only complaint about the room location is that it's a LONG way to casual food. The cabin design is somewhere in the realm of minimalist or sparsely decorated, but it was nice and the materials were good quality. One of the really nice features was the LED light in the bathroom that was always on. It was bright enough that you could use the bathroom without turning on the light, so in the middle of the night you could see without blinding yourself with a bright light when your need for sleep was competing with another bodily need.

Level 1 forward elevator lobby

See the little light? It's always on and provides soft light in the bathroom.

The Eurodam has the new larger TV set with on-demand offerings securely attached to the wall across from the bed. It’s a nice feature and has a lot of entertainment value and takes up no desk space. The only downside is that it’s harder to watch from the couch. While on the subject, the couch was a nice, firm seat (for a hideabed) and is about the width of a loveseat. The window is nicely sized and provides an expansive view of the ocean. My only substantial complaint is that the desk chair in my room was so soft, it essentially made the desk useless for typing or using my tablet on.

After settling in I walked around a bit to take some random shots around the ship as we pulled up the anchor and sailed out of the harbor. For those that have had the experience, its well known that the sail-away speaks for itself. Pictures barely do it justice.

The remainder of my review will focus on aspects of the trip rather than being timeline based. I’ll be posting it over the next several days. I also plan to provide a video review later on as well, but in the meantime enjoy the pictures (many many more coming). Thanks for reading along.