Basic Alaska Cruise Aboard the Eurodam
Eurodam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 10
Review summary
A Great Glimpse Into the Alaska Shoreline & It's Wildlife!Embarkation
Boarding the Ship was super easy & quick. The Check In staff were friendly and helpful. From arrival on the dock to boarding the Eurodam, about15 minutes!!! A record. NOTE: There are Porters to transport your luggage from the drop off zone to the Cruise Ship. Please TIP them at least $5 per bag!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Quality of food is Mediocre! Eurodam did offer many choices of Menu Items in the Main Dining Room however, service tended to be slow, 2 hours for a dinner, which is too long. We ordered several entrees to make sure we would eat at least one. Wondering if some meals were frozen and then heated up?
The first morning at Sea, I ordered lemon blueberry pancakes. They took over 30 minutes to be served. Upon their arrival, they were very dense/thick, super cold and the bacon was paper thin, fatty and undercooked. The Guests next to our table experienced the same thing.
Onboard Activities
Charge of $50 daily to use the Therapy Pool!!! Are you kidding HAL? Speaking with other Travelers on the Eurodam, they also observed that they never saw any one in the pool and wondered why the $50 per person daily fee??? We would have loved to enjoy some R&R in the pool as we had brought our swimsuits.
Entertainment
The Comedian: Lemont Ferguson, was great! Audience appropriate. The other entertainment: Song and Dance, ick!
Children's Programs
No kids for Us on this cruise.
Service and Staff
Excellent Steward Service twice daily. BTW, you can pre-pay the tips before your trip, or HAL will charge your account daily for tips (about $34). Feel free to give a little extra $$$ directly to your favorite Cabin Steward, Waiter, Bartender, etc. They work hard and long hours.
Ship Quality
All the Staff warmly greeted us everyday no matter where we were on the Ship. The Ship was immaculate. Overall the carpet on the Eurodam reminded us of a Casino in Las Vegas. They could tone down the pattern, pretty bold.
Cabin / Stateroom
Balcony Room has a tub/shower combination!!! Over 40 years of Cruising, this was our first tub/shower combo. When the waters are rocking the Ship, the tub has hand rails to hold so you don't slip and fall. Complimentary blankets and white HAL Robes while you are enjoying your Cruise.
Huge choice of What To Watch on your Stateroom TV: including Prime News, HGTV, Food Network, Sports, Entertainment, Movies, etc. Usually, it's the same 10 movies playing over and over or bad local fuzzy reception of News or foreign language stations.
Ship tip
PORT side Balcony is the best side of the Ship to travel up and down the coastline for spectacular views: Mendenhall Glacier, Ports of Call and Sunsets ;)
Thumbs up
1
Ports of call
My Kids live here and any time we can visit, we are there! Tons os things to do in Seattle!
There are several Vendors located on the Pier as you disembark your Cruise Ship. We booked a Trolley Shuttle for $80 per person to take us to the Mendenhall Glacier through Juneau Tours.
Upon arrival at the Glacier, there is a walking path which takes about 10-15 minutes to get "close" to the Glacier. Not our planned Helicopter trip landing on the Glacier but, we still got to see the Glacier and it's surrounding waterfalls.
After taking lots of amazing photos, stop off at the Visitor for a complimentary 12 minute movie about the Glacier. There is a small Gift Shop and clean bathrooms.
We had a port, balcony stateroom and I have to say it was totally worth the $$$. We ordered room service for breakfast as we entered into the Park. Opened our balcony door, and sipped coffee as we slowly sailed north to the farthest point of Glacier Bay. Our Cruise ship sat in the bay for about 3+ hours and we stayed on the balcony until our tummies told us it was lunch time. We went to the Lido Deck for lunch and decided to sit on the starboard side to get a different view of the Glacier. Still amazing but, it was not the Glacier.Halfway through lunch, the ship started turning around. Again, BIG ship, even bigger waters! We got to enjoy the scenery of the Glacier for a 2nd time.This time we saw some dots, that turned out to be seals.
Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska
Icy Strait is a small, quiet little port that the Cruise Ships added after the Skagway Port was temp closed due to rock slide activity had damaged the Pier. There is a small cannery museum, gift shop, coffee house, restaurants and a short walk to the Tlinglit Village of Hoonah.
We decided to explore the Alaska Wilderness and pre-booked a shore excursion through our Holland America Cruise Ship. $110 Per Person.
After you disembark, there is a green Gondola which is complimentary and will take you to the next "level". From there, we gathered our tickets for the next super steep ride up the mountain on the Red Gondola.
WooHoo! What an amazing ride. If you are skittish of heights, DO NOT look down! It's a spectacular view of the Port and all of the surrounding water and Islands.
Once on top of the mountain, we were warmly greeted by several Tour Guides and were told to wait for the next Tram. There are bathrooms and a concession stand but, this is the wilderness so, not much else.
The Hubby and I were on a 7 day Alaska Cruise and Sitka was on the schedule. As usual, I scoured VIATOR looking for a private or semi-private tour to give us an in depth experience to Sitka.
We ended up booking with Sitka Wildlife Tours.
From our Cruise ship, we boarded a local bus (no charge/complimentary) to take us to the Chamber of Commerce meeting destination for the Wildlife tour. Very easy to follow instructions ;)
We boarded the cargo mini van and Brett, our tour guide for the excursion began our Sitka adventure!
The tour included visits to the Alaska Raptor Center, Fortress of the Bear Sanctuary, and the Sitka National Historical Park, featuring the iconic totem poles. Each stop offered a unique glimpse into the natural beauty and cultural richness of this incredible region.
I pre-booked this Whale & Wildlife Tour in December, 2023 for our Alaskan Cruise scheduled for June 2024. My Hubby gets sea sick and we choose this specific boat perfect for small Groups. Hence the early booking.
Captain Jesse and 1st Mate Kaylee, were our experienced Guides for the day.
The tour began with a brief but informative introduction about the types of whales we might encounter and the conservation efforts to protect these magnificent creatures. As we ventured into the open sea, the anticipation grew, and we were not disappointed.
The Tour boats communicate with one another to provide info on where the Whales are feeding for their morning breakfast. It took about 30 minutes to arrive at the site.
Pretty thrilling to see Whales surface/breach, dive and spout water high into the air!
The Tour lasted about 3 Hours and we were fortunate to not only see Whales but an Island with chillaxing Sea lions and a convocation of Bald Eagles.
BONUS: This is the only authorized area, where the Crew can toss frozen herring to the Eagles. Super cool to see them swoop and dive and catch them in their beaks. Get your camera's ready, they are quick!
On the way back, we saw a few deer on the coastline grazing. As we docked at the pier, another wildlife bonus: Otters swimming under the pier.
Overall, I highly recommend Eagle One looking for a semi private Whale watching excursion. EO provided complimentary blankets, hot chocolate, water and snacks. Bring your own binoculars our borrow a pair, totally worth it! BTW, Bathroom on board, but steady yourself, male or female ;)
Victoria, British Columbia Did not visit port
Disembarkation
Eurodam could have been a little clearer about taking luggage off the Ship ourselves versus waiting for a color to called. We put our suitcases out the night before so HAL could take them off the ship. It took longer than they/we thought. Taxi Cabs are at the dock as you leave the building to take you to your new destination.
Traveler Photos
