Many parents left their children unattended at the Lido Pool; meanwhile, those who stuck around…
Our family cruised to Alaska with Holland America Line.
We loved our Alaskan itinerary, but we had a frustrating time aboard the Eurodam. One of our biggest complaints was that unruly children made the pool unusable for most of our trip.
Pools on the Eurodam
The MS Eurodam has two pools and six hot tubs, all of which are located on Deck 9.
Sea View Pool (Adults-Only)
The Sea View Pool didn’t see much action on our Alaskan cruise because the weather was too inclement to swim outside. Pictured here: a sunny day in Seattle, shortly before our departure.
The Sea View Pool is an outdoor adults-only pool that is flanked by two hot tubs. Despite the heated water, it remained empty for most of our cruise because of cool, windy weather.
Unfortunately, the Sea View Pool is also beside the ship's designated smoking area.
Lido Pool (Family Pool)
The only time the Lido Pool was calm was when it was closed for the evening. Beginning at around 9 a.m. each morning, the pool was mobbed with unattended children.
The Lido Pool is the largest pool on the Eurodam. It's located beneath a retractable ceiling that remained closed for most of our trip (because of the cool Alaskan weather).
There are four hot tubs surrounding the pool and the deck is filled with lounge chairs.
For most of our trip, this pool was overrun with unattended children. A pair of young girls bragged to our daughter "Our parents let us go anywhere and do anything." Indeed.
During our cruise, we saw:
Teenagers jumping and wrestling near toddlers;
A boy diving head-first into shallow water from the top of the pool ladder;
Children intentionally kicking water onto adults; and
A boy cannonballing into a hot tub filled with strangers.
The Lido Pool was like this each day, for most of the day (starting at around 9 a.m.).
Who Is Responsible?
The pools on the Eurodam have no lifeguards.
Parents are responsible for watching their own children. But, shouldn't the crew intervene when pool safety rules are being dangerously violated. We think so.
Instead, the pool deck had a Lord of the Flies atmosphere. We (begrudgingly) allowed our daughter pool time each day, carefully supervising to make sure that someone else's kid didn't injure her by doing something stupid. That's no vacation.
