Photos of Holland America's Eurodam

This week the focus shifts to Holland America’s Eurodam. This ship is s Super-Vista class ship, which means that she is an enlarged version of the Vista class design used in ships such as HAL’s Noordam and P&O Cruises’ Arcadia.

In the two years since Eurodam entered service, I have come across her numerous times in my travels. I think this is because Eurodam does not do the same itinerary each week. For part of the year, she is in Europe, for part in Canada/New England and for part in the Caribbean. The ship gets around.

For me, that is just fine. While she does not have the lines of a traditional passenger ship, she is a photogenic modern cruise ship. Also, she is a maneuverable ship and that allows her to do interesting things in close proximity to other ships, which makes for interesting photos. Accordingly, I have put together a new photo essay of pictures of Eurodam in various ports. It is at: http://www.beyondships.com/HAL-Eurodam-Photos.html

In addition, since my profile of Eurodam was done shortly after the ship entered service, I have updated both the profile and the photo tour of Eurodam on Beyondships. This includes lots of new photos. The profile is at http://www.beyondships.com/HAL-Eurodam.html and the photo tour is at http://www.beyondships.com/HAL-Eurodam-Tour1.html

Grandeur of the Seas Profile and Photo Tour

I confess that I was somewhat skeptical when I booked my cruise on Grandeur of the Seas. Because she is much smaller than Royal Caribbean’s more recent ships, she would not have all the features and amenities that make a cruise on a Voyager or Freedom class ship so entertaining. Then, there was the fact that she was 13 years old. Ships such as the QE2 sailed on much longer than that but I wondered how well Grandeur had been kept up.

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. It is true that Grandeur does not have a Royal Promenade or an ice rink but what she lacks in hardware she more than makes up in software. The officers and crew seemed to put an extra amount of energy into everything that they did. As a result, the service was very friendly and the entertainment/activities very good.

The ship has also been well-maintained. She was re-furbished in 2007 and was clean with no visible signs of wear. The public spaces were well-laid out and decorated in a tasteful contemporary manner.

As a result, I was very pleased with my cruise on Grandeur. To get a feel for her yourself, the new Grandeur of the Seas section of Beyondships starts at http://beyondships.com/RCI-GOS-Profile.html The photo tour and commentary begins at http://beyondships.com/RCI-GOS--tour-1.html