Short Review: Maasdam Dec 12-23

[terrascape]

We arrived home in Seattle last night after a great 11 day Southern Caribbean pre-Christmas cruise. The ship was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season in most of the public rooms. The decorating began about day three and was completed by the end of the first week.

 

First time on Maasdam since 2005. We were very pleased will all aspects of the ship, and especially the level of service from the staff. The ship in no way shows its age !

 

Our service in the MDR was friendly and very efficient. We had a table for two, and were in and out in under an hour and a half each night. I did notice a decline in the quality of some of the cuts of meat, especially in the Prime Rib and Steaks. The two dinners in the Pinnacle and the one dinner in the Canaletto were excellent, and once again the service was very attentive and friendly.

 

Happy Hour each day in Ocean Bar and Crows Nest along with peanuts and the usual good "morsels" to munch on to bring on the appetite for dinner. The Adagio Strings played to "standing room only" each night in the Explorers Lounge.

 

It was difficult to keep our room at a cool temp for sleeping - the thermostat was always at maximum cool, but without a thermometer to judge - I would guess low to mid 70's. Our room steward, Matt was very attentive to all our needs.

 

The weather - more wind and moderate to rough seas both to and from Fort Lauderdale than in past cruises. We are probably in the minority, but for us it is very appealing and restful. We know we are aboard a ship on an ocean.

 

The ports - not the usual "run of the mill" Caribbean ports. Enjoyed all the islands very much, especially St. Lucia and St. Vincent. Did three tours on our own with local operators and one ship sponsored excursion. We were very pleased with both our independent operators and the ship sponsored excursion.

 

This was the final trip for Captain Draper on the Maasdam. He departed the vessel in Fort Lauderdale, and as mentioned a few weeks ago, will be joining the Volendam in Australia in a few months. This will be his first time in Australia/New Zealand as captain on a cruise ship. I asked who would be taking his place, and I was told it will be one of the Chief Officers in the fleet, but the name has not been made public yet.

[RMLincoln]

Welcome home and glad you had a nice cruise. We are booked on Maasdam in March and I'm very interested to hear reviews, so thank you very much for posting.

 

I am a little concerned about the temp in the room so will plan to take a small travel fan, a fold up model. I have a hard time sleeping in a room over about 74F so I'm tracking what folks have to say about their experiences. m--

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home.

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review, sounds like you had a great time.

[GatorV]

We also sailed this Maasdam trip, second time on this ship. it was beautiful and in good order, clean and with the bonus of a Lanai and Christmas decorations, really shined and made the trip for us.

Good thing, because husband's got sick as we sailed out of the cut. Travel friends (hubby) in next cabin started with a cold. Mine had a virus (only fever and cough) but what a virus, on his back, fever in bed for 3 days...the LANAI saved it for us. He could look out and I could step out.

The stewards helped with ice, and bed changes as needed etc. stayed put for 3 days.

We found the food in MDR a little lacking ...service very slow at times, but staff too sweet to get upset with.

We really had a hard time with some of the meals, finding them too salty or as in one case, rack of pork...came out as 3 thin (lunch meat slice thickness) of pale pink rectangular meat, recoving husband took one bite and that was it...BUT we all agreed it was not appealing and not too good either...allowing for the subjective eater, others may have found this OK...we did not.

Pinn and Can and Lido were all fine..except the stuffed quail, breaded crusty chicken (as an example)..too salty.

The Ports were different and enjoyable. Private tours in St. Kitts, St Lucia and Barbados were fab.

Lanai, OH THE LANAI! we loved it, had no problems that were not easily fixed...others used our chairs for sunset views, (no problem with us if we did not want it) windows cleaned and wiped every morning about 6:15...

I did have somoone pinch my cushion one afternoon but, they made the mistake of taking the one with the white mark on it...i found it easiy down the line and took an old replacement for it, swapping it out after moving a book that was on the chair...I explained it belonged at my Lanai...no problem and off i went. These cushions are thicker and much newer, also different colors from old ones.

There are PLENTY and I mean PLENTY of chairs NOT in front of the lanais and also PLENTY in front of open rails.... for easy and wonderful views. We had great, friendly neighbors on both sides and had long vists a time.

Computer service was awful and taking 20 minutes to sign on one time...an eldery lady complaing next to us was given the explanaiton of the satelite was "way up in the sky and the signal taking a very long time to go so far up and back down" awful! the problem was on going the entire trip.

We go on the Ryndam in 2 months and cannot wait!

Happy Holidays to all

[mamaofami]

We leave on the Maasdam in less than three weeks, so happy to read your review and very glad to hear about all the chairs on the promenade deck.

 

Many people have been writing about the lower quality of food lately and my guess is this is HAL's way of cutting costs, but it's not a good idea because many people who don't like the food will try another line.

Were there any items in the MDR you would suggest trying? My DH will be disappointed about the beef since he loves that.

 

You don't mention the piano bar. Any idea who was playing there? I was considering not bringing my laptop, but remembering how slow the internet was, I think I'm reconsidering.

[cruizn2escape]

We arrived home in Seattle last night after a great 11 day Southern Caribbean pre-Christmas cruise. The ship was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season in most of the public rooms. The decorating began about day three and was completed by the end of the first week.

 

First time on Maasdam since 2005. We were very pleased will all aspects of the ship, and especially the level of service from the staff. The ship in no way shows its age !

 

Our service in the MDR was friendly and very efficient. We had a table for two, and were in and out in under an hour and a half each night. I did notice a decline in the quality of some of the cuts of meat, especially in the Prime Rib and Steaks. The two dinners in the Pinnacle and the one dinner in the Canaletto were excellent, and once again the service was very attentive and friendly.

 

Happy Hour each day in Ocean Bar and Crows Nest along with peanuts and the usual good "morsels" to munch on to bring on the appetite for dinner. The Adagio Strings played to "standing room only" each night in the Explorers Lounge.

 

It was difficult to keep our room at a cool temp for sleeping - the thermostat was always at maximum cool, but without a thermometer to judge - I would guess low to mid 70's. Our room steward, Matt was very attentive to all our needs.

 

The weather - more wind and moderate to rough seas both to and from Fort Lauderdale than in past cruises. We are probably in the minority, but for us it is very appealing and restful. We know we are aboard a ship on an ocean.

 

The ports - not the usual "run of the mill" Caribbean ports. Enjoyed all the islands very much, especially St. Lucia and St. Vincent. Did three tours on our own with local operators and one ship sponsored excursion. We were very pleased with both our independent operators and the ship sponsored excursion.

 

This was the final trip for Captain Draper on the Maasdam. He departed the vessel in Fort Lauderdale, and as mentioned a few weeks ago, will be joining the Volendam in Australia in a few months. This will be his first time in Australia/New Zealand as captain on a cruise ship. I asked who would be taking his place, and I was told it will be one of the Chief Officers in the fleet, but the name has not been made public yet.

 

I was on this cruise and had my camera lost/stolen from the MDR. I have been looking for someone from this cruise who would be willing to share photos with me from embarkation, Half Moon Cay and St. Criox. I did buy a camera in St. Kitts. Any help is much appreciated. My email is marejmc@hotmail.com

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review.

Happy you enjoyed Maasdam so much.

She's a great ship with a wonderful crew. :)

 

Welcome Back.

[terrascape]

Playing in the Piano Bar was "Barry From Boston". Excellent piano player & good humor and stories. Not overly impressed with his singing, however.

[hokiecruisers]

Thanks for the reviews...We will be on this ship in April. How did you like the entertainment? Were the shows any good?

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for the good news about there being plenty of deck chairs for non-lanai passengers. Glad you enjoyed your lanai but sorry tohear DH was ill... no fun. m--

[peaches from georgia]

Playing in the Piano Bar was "Barry From Boston". Excellent piano player & good humor and stories. Not overly impressed with his singing, however.

So glad to hear Barry from Boston is back in one of the Piano Bars. He is a great entertainer in that venue and make it a whole lot of fun. He was on the Oosterdam when we were many years ago, but was headed to Celebrity the next week. The place was packed every night, SRO.

[mamaofami]

So glad to hear Barry from Boston is back in one of the Piano Bars. He is a great entertainer in that venue and make it a whole lot of fun. He was on the Oosterdam when we were many years ago, but was headed to Celebrity the next week. The place was packed every night, SRO.

 

I really hope he's good. Last January we had the same group at the piano bar every night and also filled the room(that was before The Mix) and it was the highlight of every evening. We had such a good time with Mark Farris. In June, we had a large turn out every night for Jimmy Maddox who's supposed to be the best, but he just didn't have the audience and participation that Mark had. Wish HAL would bring him back.

[Himself]

I enjoyed reading your review of your cruise on the Maasdam. I am glad to her you saying positive things about this ship and the shape it is in. The Maasdam is the second oldest ship in the fleet now. She was the second of the four "S" class ships.

[kazu]

Thanks so much for your review. We'll be sailing on her in March for the first time and so looking forward to it. Happy Holidays:)

[tangerinebunny]

satellite was "way up in the sky and the signal taking a very long time to go so far up and back down"

Gotta love it.