MS Massdam

[BeansoBob]

Well on Sunday, I came back from a great trip aboard the Massdam. It was a 15 day transition cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Montreal. After taking a 12 day trip last year on the Oosterdam I didn't know what the activities would be like. Well, for those that have cruised before during the Muster drill there is no need to wear your life jacket. It seems that HAL has this new rule, to deal with the stomach vicus, that the first three days of a voyage that everything is very cleam. There are: no salt and peper shakers, you are served one role at a time, in Lido there is Plastic Rap and they have to server you. Before we were told this we were thinking that something was messed up. Luckly, after hearing from other people that the ship lost power at sea we atleast lost power in port. The food aboard this ship is okay to pretty good. But as you would all know that when food is mass produced that they can't always get it right. Beyond that there were problems with the AC but after screaming at a manager we finally got it repaired. Ohhh if you are a light sleeper then be weary of when you pull in or out of port. The bow thrusters tend to vibrate the ship. I asked my waiter and he said that it was the prop. Ohhh if you get a room on Main Deck with outisde views (atleast for us) we noticed that we could hear the walkers on Prominade. Beyond all that we had a great cruise.

[tomc]

I love the Maasdam and take it every year on the NE/C cruise. I was in an outside cabin with the one-way windows and, after I got used to it, was ok with getting dressed while people walked right by me. Kind of a naughty feeling.

 

Heading out in 2.5 weeks.

[Davidson Duo]

Ohhh if you get a room on Main Deck with outisde views (atleast for us) we noticed that we could hear the walkers on Prominade. Beyond all that we had a great cruise.

 

 

We were in an outside Main deck room for 28 days in March/April this year and never once heard walkers above us on the Promenade Deck. And I am an incredibly light sleeper. So I guess it just depends on who you are, what room, and what footwear is being worn. As no one can run or jog on the Promenade, it is only used for walking and we couldn't hear anyone. Interesting how different things can be for different guests.

 

We loved the Maasdam and had no problems with any of our mechanicals other than a note left in our cabin saying the toilet was checked one day while we were out as another cabin had flushed foreign objects down theirs which caused a problem, so they needed to make sure ours wasn't affected, as it was on the same line. No other problems, which was really nice.

 

I find the idea of the Lanai cabin windowed doors a little unnerving too - curious as to if I would be comfortable with them or not. I can see where you would feel a little naughty with the drapes open. Definitely something I would have to check out big time before I'd feel comfortable doing that!

 

Glad you enjoyed the Maasdam. We also loved our cruise on her and wish we were heading out again in 2 1/2 weeks. Guess we'll have to wait till our next one we have booked for March. It gives us something to look forward to. :)

[Sea King]

 

Beyond that there were problems with the AC but after screaming at a manager we finally got it repaired.

 

just curious .. why was it necessary to "scream" at the manager

 

from the sounds of your overall cruise, it appears "speaking" with the manager would have gotten you the same results

[kyriecat]

It's sad to hear that Maasdam is STILL experiencing A/C problems. They were having them last year when I sailed in April. We had maintenance in our cabin 8 times over 14 days plus 3 meetings with the hotel manager. It was never fixed. We were eventually told that our cabin was the last one on that A/C vent run and the ship simply wasn't putting out enough air flow to service all the cabins. The ones at the end of the vent runs simply had no air flow to cool the cabins. We were given a fan, but it was still too warm most of the time. We were told they were supposed to increase the A/C capacity during the next dry dock (I forgot when that was scheduled), but it sounds like they either didn't upgrade it or didn't upgrade enough.

[jolivia]

It's sad to hear that Maasdam is STILL experiencing A/C problems. They were having them last year when I sailed in April. We had maintenance in our cabin 8 times over 14 days plus 3 meetings with the hotel manager. It was never fixed. We were eventually told that our cabin was the last one on that A/C vent run and the ship simply wasn't putting out enough air flow to service all the cabins. The ones at the end of the vent runs simply had no air flow to cool the cabins. We were given a fan, but it was still too warm most of the time. We were told they were supposed to increase the A/C capacity during the next dry dock (I forgot when that was scheduled), but it sounds like they either didn't upgrade it or didn't upgrade enough.

Hello, I will be sailing on the Maasdam July 10th 2010, Montreal to Boston

My cabin is on the A deck, center ship, just curious as to where your cabin was positioned, I would hate to have the A/C not working with these "Hot Flashes" LOL!!!!

[kyriecat]

Hello, I will be sailing on the Maasdam July 10th 2010, Montreal to Boston

My cabin is on the A deck, center ship, just curious as to where your cabin was positioned, I would hate to have the A/C not working with these "Hot Flashes" LOL!!!!

I had cabin 196 on Verandah deck. Hopefully this is correct information - it came from one of the engineers while I was onboard. On Maasdam, there are approximately 12 cabins per A/C vent run. I don't know how much that number varies based on deck. On the port side, the air flows from forward to stern. On the starboard side, it flows from stern to forward.

 

I learned that is doesn't help to call to ask whether your cabin A/C is working properly. I had read several complaints about Maasdam A/C problems before we left. I called the Seattle office to ask if there were any reports of problems with the A/C in our cabin. My husband is very sensitive to heat. I was told that there were none. When we got onboard, it was really hot in the room. I called the front desk and was told that it would cool down once the ship started moving. Never happened. If we didn't have the balcony door that we could leave open at night to get some air flow, it would have been unbearable.

 

If it helps, we heard some complaints of it being too cold onboard. We were on an excursion with a couple in cabin 754 on A deck who complained that their cabin was so cold that they had the temperature set on "hot" and still had to ask for extra blankets in order to sleep. I think they must have been the first cabin on the A/C run.

[mamaofami]

We have 196 on the Veendam next January. I can deal with too cold, but not too hot. Has anyone had 196?

[Y's Owl]

I had Cabin 596 on the Main deck in November, and the AC did run a bit warm during the heat of the day, but at night, things were fine. I don't stay in my cabin much during the day anyway and the public areas were plenty comfortable. You have to remember you are on a big steel ship that is painted a dark color. It's always going to be a challenge to get the HVAC going just right in those conditions. We have the same problem at work. You could have ten people in the same room and 4 are too cold, 3 too warm and the other 3 just don't care. As long as it's below 88 degrees and above 68, you should survive fine.

[mamaofami]

I had Cabin 596 on the Main deck in November' date=' and the AC did run a bit warm during the heat of the day, but at night, things were fine. I don't stay in my cabin much during the day anyway and the public areas were plenty comfortable. You have to remember you are on a big steel ship that is painted a dark color. It's always going to be a challenge to get the HVAC going just right in those conditions. We have the same problem at work. You could have ten people in the same room and 4 are too cold, 3 too warm and the other 3 just don't care. As long as it's below 88 degrees and above 68, you should survive fine.[/quote']

 

Hmmm. Just below 88 degrees would be too hot for sleeping IMHO. Then , people open the balcony doors to get air and make the conditions worse for other people in that line of cabins.

[RossTheBoss]

The Maasdam was here in Charlottetown today. On behalf of all the Islanders I'm sorry that it rained most of the day. :o We all hope our cruise visitors will get good weather and experience why we are so proud of our island and it's little capital city (population just 32,500). I suspect most visitors stayed on board today -- but I hope they'll give us another chance. Next time the weather will be perfect. I promise!

 

Regards, Ross

[Jade13]

The Maasdam was here in Charlottetown today. On behalf of all the Islanders I'm sorry that it rained most of the day. :o We all hope our cruise visitors will get good weather and experience why we are so proud of our island and it's little capital city (population just 32,500). I suspect most visitors stayed on board today -- but I hope they'll give us another chance. Next time the weather will be perfect. I promise!

 

Regards, Ross

 

Would love to know what we should do in PEI in late August. Thanks!

[peaches from georgia]

Would love to know what we should do in PEI in late August. Thanks!

I for one would go to Anne of Green Gables' home no matter what the month. :)

[ellieanne]

If we didn't have the balcony door that we could leave open at night to get some air flow, it would have been unbearable.

 

If it helps, we heard some complaints of it being too cold onboard. We were on an excursion with a couple in cabin 754 on A deck who complained that their cabin was so cold that they had the temperature set on "hot" and still had to ask for extra blankets in order to sleep. I think they must have been the first cabin on the A/C run.

 

I was on this cruise in cabin 801 on A Deck. The day we boarded, the ship lost power for a while and that affected the A/C for a while afterwards. It took a full day to get the ship cool again. And then it was too efficient. It was freezing in my cabin until I called for maintenance and it was fixed in 2 hours. After that it was comfortable. But one of the biggest problems, as the Front Desk told me, was people leaving doors open and throwing the system out of whack.

 

But even the cold cabin could not ruin my cruise. This was one of the best I have been on.

[sail7seas]

The Maasdam was here in Charlottetown today. On behalf of all the Islanders I'm sorry that it rained most of the day. :o We all hope our cruise visitors will get good weather and experience why we are so proud of our island and it's little capital city (population just 32,500). I suspect most visitors stayed on board today -- but I hope they'll give us another chance. Next time the weather will be perfect. I promise!

 

Regards, Ross

 

Hopefully, the rain reached to Quebec to put out the fires. We are north of Boston and had smoke filled air all day yesterday from those fires. I can't imagine how horrible it is for folks living in the area and send them best wishes they get those fires out soon. The wind carried the smoke so far from Quebec it was shocking.

 

We adore Charlottetown and PEI. It is one of our favorite stops each time we sail Maasdam Boston to Montreal to Boston. We love walking to your Government House and your downtown, the lovely shops, underground shopping and especially love your Mussels for lunch. They are The BEST!!! :)

 

We are looking forward to our upcoming visits to PEI.

[sail7seas]

We recently spent 14 days on 'our' Maasdam and loved our time aboard.

The ship looks beautiful and her crew is, as always, so outstanding. It was interesting to us how many senior officers are new to Maasdam and others who had been there for a number of contracts are on other ships now. It demonstrated to us leadership and direction on the ship really does come right from the Captain, as Captain Henk Draper is still there...... HAPPILY as we think very highly of the wonderful job he does. :)

 

With Captain Draper in command, service remained as smooth and professional as always, ship looked terrific and everything flowed wonderfully. Maasdam's crew seems to be a happy crew and a happy crew usually means happy guests. While we saw crew we knew, we enjoyed the chance to meet many new. Maasdam has a truly special crew IMO

 

There was a time or two when I was warm aboard but that is more me than the ship. I call it my 'private summer'. Other [people were comfortable so it was me; not the ship. Those who report they received service promptly upon reporting a problem report what has been our experience on Maasdam. If you need assistance about something, just ask. It would be rare to not have the issue addressed within a very reasonable time span.

 

We had great dinners in Pinnacle, dining room was wonderful service and food was well prepared and plated beautifully. We had outstanding dining stewards and especially good cabin Stewards. Hari and Nina were excellent and took such good care of us. Peter was one of the best concierges we have ever been lucky to have assisting us. Dining Room Manager, Johnny, is outstanding and this was the first time we recall sailing with him. I think he's been with HAL as Maitre d' for years but somehow we have not sailed with him but sure enjoyed doing so now.

 

Weather on our cruise was near to perfect and the 14 day Southern Caribbean itinerary is one of HAL's best Caribbean routes. What a treat to visit St. Bart's. Gorgeous island and then Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao (as well as HMC) and other wonderful ports made for a terrific two weeks.

 

Enough..... I didn't mean for this to be a review. Just got carried away as I usually do whenever I start to talk about Maasdam. :o

 

For those with a Maasdam cruise booked, you are so lucky.

Hopefully you'll love that ship as much as we do.

 

[kyriecat]

I was on this cruise in cabin 801 on A Deck. The day we boarded, the ship lost power for a while and that affected the A/C for a while afterwards. It took a full day to get the ship cool again. And then it was too efficient. It was freezing in my cabin until I called for maintenance and it was fixed in 2 hours. After that it was comfortable. But one of the biggest problems, as the Front Desk told me, was people leaving doors open and throwing the system out of whack.

 

But even the cold cabin could not ruin my cruise. This was one of the best I have been on.

We tried to live without the A/C, but it was 80+ degrees in the cabin during the day (even worse if our steward left the drapes open). At best it hit around 76 degees at night. I personally called maintenance 8 times plus our cabin steward mentioned that he called them a few times because of the heat. The maintenance people were the ones who suggested leaving the balcony door open and putting the fan in front of it to help the air flow. For whatever reason, they couldn't get the A/C to work in our cabin.

[cruisin'girl]

Sails, I'm glad you had no AC problems or any other problems for that matter, but it certainly sounds like many posters do when they are on the Massdam. It sounds like they never really get it fixed and a lot of people get the run-around, doesn't it. I'm getting very nervous about our August cruise. August is HOT!

[sail7seas]

I agree they can't all be wrong. Some clearly have had a/c problems.

August on a Canada/ New England cruise does not have Caribbean heat very often but, of course, you want a/c if you need it.

It certainly can be warm in Maine in August but don't fret too much it will be 'sweltering'.

 

 

[Two@Sea]

... There was a time or two when I was warm aboard but that is more me than the ship. I call it my 'private summer'.

 

Thank you for the great chuckle! "Private Summer"... priceless! :D

[Jade13]

I for one would go to Anne of Green Gables' home no matter what the month. :)

 

Ok, thanks peaches from georgia. You have been there, right?

[jolivia]

I was on this cruise in cabin 801 on A Deck. The day we boarded, the ship lost power for a while and that affected the A/C for a while afterwards. It took a full day to get the ship cool again. And then it was too efficient. It was freezing in my cabin until I called for maintenance and it was fixed in 2 hours. After that it was comfortable. But one of the biggest problems, as the Front Desk told me, was people leaving doors open and throwing the system out of whack.

 

But even the cold cabin could not ruin my cruise. This was one of the best I have been on.

I rather have it cold than hot any day. My cabin 813 is on A deck . Anybody stay in that cabin???

[Krazy Kruizers]

Would love to know what we should do in PEI in late August. Thanks!

 

One time when we were there we did the Ann Of Green Gables tour.

This is what I wrote up about our tour:

Charlottetown, PEI

 

Our cruise was only there until 2 PM. Again we did a ship tour knowing we had so little time here. We chose the Ann of Green Gables House tour. Very enjoyable. On the way out to the house we stopped at the PEI Preserve Company. They had some great preserves and teas - got to sample a few. You could buy them and take them with you or send some home - a bit pricey. Once we got to the Ann of Green Gables house we were given a bit of a tour and history. Then we got tour around on our own - see the garden, the barn, etc. They had a shop there where you could get a couple of refreshments. Then we all ended up in the gift shop - lots of things to choose from. On the way back to the ship we stopped at the National Park Beaches where we were able to walk the boardwalk and wiew the beaches. Very pretty scenery. We also went by the 8 mile bridge - really a long bridge - we were able to see quite a bit of it from the distance. Our guide felt bad that we had to be back by 1:30 as we misse one part of the tour - a stop at Rustico Harbour, a local fishing village where we could have learned about PEI's fishing industry.

 

Another time we were there we did the Trolley Tour -- a waste of money -- you can walk around and see everything at your own pace. Had a great lunch at the Lobster at the Wharf which is close to the pier.

[Jade13]

One time when we were there we did the Ann Of Green Gables tour.

 

This is what I wrote up about our tour:

Charlottetown, PEI

 

Our cruise was only there until 2 PM. Again we did a ship tour knowing we had so little time here. We chose the Ann of Green Gables House tour. Very enjoyable. On the way out to the house we stopped at the PEI Preserve Company. They had some great preserves and teas - got to sample a few. You could buy them and take them with you or send some home - a bit pricey. Once we got to the Ann of Green Gables house we were given a bit of a tour and history. Then we got tour around on our own - see the garden, the barn, etc. They had a shop there where you could get a couple of refreshments. Then we all ended up in the gift shop - lots of things to choose from. On the way back to the ship we stopped at the National Park Beaches where we were able to walk the boardwalk and wiew the beaches. Very pretty scenery. We also went by the 8 mile bridge - really a long bridge - we were able to see quite a bit of it from the distance. Our guide felt bad that we had to be back by 1:30 as we misse one part of the tour - a stop at Rustico Harbour, a local fishing village where we could have learned about PEI's fishing industry.

 

Had a great lunch at the Lobster at the Wharf which is close to the pier.

 

This sounds good. We will probably do this. We are scheduled to dock from I believe 8:00am to 4:00pm, so will still have time to walk around town when we get back. The current tour does not include Rustico Harbour. The advantage of renting a car is that we could drive the entire Island but my DH does not want to do that this trip. There is another tour without the Ann of Green Gables House that sounds like it drives around the whole Island and stops in another town.

[sail7seas]

It's a short walk from where the ship docks to downtown.

Very nearby the terminal, is a tourist shopping area with some cute shops to putter around in if you want to do a little shopping. It's a stone's throw from the ship.