Maasdam Short Review: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

[Jade13]

We just completed our 36th cruise on HAL yesterday; 42 day voyage on the Maasdam roundtrip from Ft Lauderdale to Europe.

 

"THE BAD". The MDR experience was inconsistent; some nights the service and food was excellent, other nights very poor. Bottom line is that at Anytime Dining, it is impossible for the waiter and his helper to wait on 30 passengers at one time and provide good service with little assistant from their bosses. We gave up on the MDR on DAY 37 of the cruise when I ordered one of my favorites, meatloaf, I had to ask for a steak knife to cut it. Even the Assistant RM could not figure out want I was served. Overall the meats were undercooked and tough. The senior staff were "out to lunch". Never saw the Captain for the entire 42 days except at parties. Hotel Manager not friendly. Cruise Director ok.

 

Though it maybe expected to run out of food on long cruises, this cruise ran out of a lot of things including fruits, cereals and even HAL cocktail napkins at DAY 28. This will probably be our last HAL cruise.

Sad

Edited December 10, 2013 by Jade13

[Jade13]

We were on this cruise.

 

An interesting thing happened, for those CC people who let HAL know who they were, they were invited to a private CC/Captain's Cocktail Party. Nice touch and I thanked all involved; there were at least 8 senior staff members present!

 

We went to the MDR for anytime dining 4 times and each one was less than stellar. We enjoy the experience sitting with new friends, but the service was not good. We ate in Canaletto and Lido most of the time. Interestingly, during our Mariner's meal (ours was at 1:00, yet still call brunch), the service was worse. My wife's empty soup bowl sat in front of her even as the main course was being served to me! We never got the Petit Fours either. That is sad for a Mariner's Meal.

 

Besides the cocktail napkins being in short supply (they didn't even get more when we were in Half Moon Cay), they ran out of large cups in the Explorations Cafe.

 

 

Jim

 

On our last HAL cruise they forgot to invite us to the mariner brunch and blamed it on Seattle that we were not on the list.

[Jade13]

This is a great cruise - however if considering it take plenty of cough medicine and head cold medicine..

 

But was it a great cruise because of the itinerary or because of HAL's crew, including Captain, Cruise Director, and Hotel Manager?

Edited December 10, 2013 by Jade13

[JimnKaren]

Cruise Critic and Holland America

 

We had a large group with our Roll Call (130+ pages), with more than 70 people. HAL is not hosting a Facebook get together that had many CC people attending on the morning of our first sea day. CC had our own thing that afternoon. We had let HAL events folks know about it and they had beverages and cookies available. That was great.

 

Since our cruise was 42-days, most of the passengers were there the entire time. However, it could also be booked as a 21-day cruise FLL to Rome or Rome to FLL. The Maasdam staff had a second get-together after we left Rome and their special events coordinator (I forget her name and that is probably not the official name of the position) asked for cabin numbers then. Anyone who responded (many did not) got the invite to the special cocktail party. Not a huge selection of beverages, but there were three bar servers there. Appetizers were offered and the CD offered a short thank-you and they had a very rich chocolate cake to offer (along with the standard superior HAL coffee).

 

I enjoyed my time with this. It was one of the nicer things that I have seen from HAL and their relationships with Cruise Critic.

 

Jim

[G&G]

On our last HAL cruise they forgot to invite us to the mariner brunch and blamed it on Seattle that we were not on the list.

 

Same thing happened to us and we had just become 5 star. Were we on the same cruise?

 

The staff offered lunch in the Pinnacle as a makeup on a port day! We were on a tour and could not attend. When I questioned the Seattle office about this, the Guest Relations rep said the crew got "dinged" for that one. That gave me and warm & fuzzy feeling :mad:

[Jade13]

Same thing happened to us and we had just become 5 star. Were we on the same cruise?

 

The staff offered lunch in the Pinnacle as a makeup on a port day! We were on a tour and could not attend. When I questioned the Seattle office about this, the Guest Relations rep said the crew got "dinged" for that one. That gave me and warm & fuzzy feeling :mad:

 

Veendam, Valpairaso to NYC April 2012. Almost everyone on board is a mariner. I think they may have offered a complimentary Pinnacle dinner but not the best time slots left and I believe on a port day but it may have been after letting half the ship off in Ft Lauderdale. I think we did go. Even if we got a free Pinnacle dinner it would have been better if we had not been forgotten. In our case we had just gone to the front desk two days earlier since it was a 3 week cruise and we were on our last week. I got the "Madam, don't worry you will get an invitation" speach". They knew they messed up when I went to the front desk 2 days later after lunch and they said. "Didn't you attend today"....

Edited December 10, 2013 by Jade13

[SilvertoGold]

Same thing happened to us and we had just become 5 star. Were we on the same cruise?

 

The staff offered lunch in the Pinnacle as a makeup on a port day! We were on a tour and could not attend. When I questioned the Seattle office about this, the Guest Relations rep said the crew got "dinged" for that one. That gave me and warm & fuzzy feeling :mad:

 

This is ridiculous. Didn't your room card have 5 stars on it? How could you not be "on the list"? Preposterous.

 

Is this Front Desk incompetence, indifference? They do have a job to do, for which they do get paid. HAL really needs to smarten up. The ships are making the Mariner Society look bad and I am unhappy with that because the Mariner Socierty is the best department in Seattle in my experience.

 

Thanks again, G&G, for your review and posts: really interesting cruise you had and I am sorry it was less than a stellar experience

[G&G]

This is ridiculous. Didn't your room card have 5 stars on it? How could you not be "on the list"? Preposterous.

 

Is this Front Desk incompetence, indifference? They do have a job to do, for which they do get paid. HAL really needs to smarten up. The ships are making the Mariner Society look bad and I am unhappy with that because the Mariner Socierty is the best department in Seattle in my experience.

 

Thanks again, G&G, for your review and posts: really interesting cruise you had and I am sorry it was less than a stellar experience

 

Apparently 20-25 passengers were left off the list. What I found ridiculous was to offer an alternate day when we were in port and say, "Well we offered you something", forgetting that it conflicted with a tour on shore.

 

Though my OP was a bit negative, the ports of call were amazing experiences; thank goodness.

 

One thing I failed to highlight was how some of HAL's staff on board were hoarding food; taking all of one kind of fruit in the Lido, stuffing it in a bag and walking out of the Lido. There were other incidents involving junior officers of HAL of similar nature that absolutely amazed me; never seen anything like it before.

[startwin]

OK, at the risk of being flamed.... I have been known to take a ziploc bag to cover a plate of cheese and crackers that I get from the Lido buffet, to take back to our cabin...... does this make me a food hog?:o And I wonder if this is what some of the pax on your cruise were actually doing - not hoarding food.

[LindaM]

OK, at the risk of being flamed.... I have been known to take a ziploc bag to cover a plate of cheese and crackers that I get from the Lido buffet, to take back to our cabin...... does this make me a food hog?:o And I wonder if this is what some of the pax on your cruise were actually doing - not hoarding food.

 

Count me in as being another "food hog". We bring cheese plates from the lunch buffet, and rye krisp, as well. Oh....cookies, too!! I've been known to keep a couple of iced tea in the fridge. On Princess, I'd bring back pizza slices---which caused me to gain 7 lbs. Never again!!

 

I think those people with the sweet rolls were possibly skipping breakfast the next morning, due to an early excursion.

 

Some of us like to snack!! I'd rather have something in the cabin, than calling for room service.

[SilvertoGold]

Apparently 20-25 passengers were left off the list. What I found ridiculous was to offer an alternate day when we were in port and say, "Well we offered you something", forgetting that it conflicted with a tour on shore.

 

Though my OP was a bit negative, the ports of call were amazing experiences; thank goodness.

 

One thing I failed to highlight was how some of HAL's staff on board were hoarding food; taking all of one kind of fruit in the Lido, stuffing it in a bag and walking out of the Lido. There were other incidents involving junior officers of HAL of similar nature that absolutely amazed me; never seen anything like it before.

 

I doubt if they "forgot" that your Pinnacle lunch would conflict with your shorex: I think they didn't bother to find out if what they were offering would work for you. Casual attitude, to say the least, verging on strictly lip-service attitude.

 

We haven't seens anything like the food hording and really have to wonder what was going on. Insider knowledge that the fruit was fast running out? HAL may need some supervision in the Lido perhaps.

 

What a strange cruise! Glad the ports were so great!

[G&G]

OK, at the risk of being flamed.... I have been known to take a ziploc bag to cover a plate of cheese and crackers that I get from the Lido buffet, to take back to our cabin...... does this make me a food hog?:o And I wonder if this is what some of the pax on your cruise were actually doing - not hoarding food.

 

Absolutely not :D !

What I noticed was that passengers and staff would take ALL of one type of food in the serving line; for instance; grapes, crackers, etc.

[Krazy Kruizers]

OK, at the risk of being flamed.... I have been known to take a ziploc bag to cover a plate of cheese and crackers that I get from the Lido buffet, to take back to our cabin...... does this make me a food hog?:o And I wonder if this is what some of the pax on your cruise were actually doing - not hoarding food.

 

We also often take back a plate of cheese and crackers to have with our cocktails on the verandah in the afternoon.

[IRL_Joanie]

As a "Gold" 5 star I thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and there were many wonderful things to say about it.

Oh, and yes we did anchor off Sorrento. And there were food hogs. I especially disliked seeing plates full of strawberries taken so there were none left & then see those plates left on the table with mounds of NOT eaten strawberries.

This cruise had so many 4 & 5 star cruisers it was unbelievable. However, my only complaint is when you have so many 4 & 5 stars. Why does the front office lack in the skills to say NO to some people and to understand the benefits these people are or are NOTentitled to.

They say "NO" to % off for LeCirque, [wrong] they send messages to Seattle's Mariner office and they agree[wrong]. Then, the guests have to fight for what they shoud NOT have to even give a single thought to. This happens on Maasdam time & time & time again. A guest has to battle the front office. You notice I say again & again that is because I DO love this ship. But, why are the front office & night auditor NOT trained in benefits for 4&5 star when the ship is full of them. Amazingly I hear 5 star is new and I reply yeah since Jan. its now November.

As I said a great cruise - but why can this ship NOT figure out there is NO "COPPER" medallion ???????? Why does Seattle send them a list with COPPER as a heading????..... They NEED to understand that it is BRONZE or change the requirements for medallions in Q&A to copper.

Now it's a small thing; and some may say petty, but what an embarassment for the Captain & Cruise director to be awarding a medallion that does NOT exist. They have to fib and say there is some question to whether it is copper or bronze is sad [ but that's what the front office told them]. After the cruise I was on before it never even considered anything but bronze.

This is a great cruise - however if considering it take plenty of cough medicine and head cold medicine. This cruise had more people coughing and sneezing w/o covering their mouths/noses than any I had ever been on before. And I've done this one before.

 

We are 4 Star Mariners and:

 

A. We received Discounts for Pinnacle Grill, Le Cirque and Canaletto on this last cruise which ended 9 December 2013, We took 2 friends (1 star Mariner each) to 1 Le Cirque dinner which cost us a mere $78.00 thanks to our 4 Start Mariner Discount). ALL of our Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto meals received the same discounts, which were reflected on our final bill, EVEN the 2 Pinnacle Grill meals that Hubby had reserved on line, paid full price on line, but discounted on final bill.

 

B. We were invited to a Medallion Ceremony with Captain Turner. Bobhan (Hotel Manager), and other Officers, just prior to our Mariner Brunch, where 3 couples, a solo Gentleman along with hubby & I received our Bronze Medallions, 2 or 3 couples who received their Copper and 2 couples who received their God Medallions.

 

So, the moral of the above is that THERE ARE 3 Medallions, Gold, Copper and Bronze. (I may have the Copper and Bronze switched incorrectly... Cannot remember if ours is Bronze or Copper, BUT it is the FIRST Medallion that is given, and was what we received)

C. I cannot speak for all Food Hogs, However, I can speak for 2, my hubby and our dear friends who were with us on this last cruise.

 

Our Friends and my hubby would get food for either their spouse or myself and bring it to us to eat. Our Dear friend Beth was literally accosted by a fellow Passenger one afternoon as she ordered a Cheeseburger and Hot Dog, both with Fries. When the Chef tried to give it to her on 2 different plates she explained she could not carry 2 and asked all be placed on just 1. The lady behind her rather rudely said, "What does it matter? She will just be shovelling it down her face whether 1 plate or 2, so who does she think she is kidding?" Beth was furious when she brought the single plate back to the table that she, her hubby and I were at. She is handicapped and was having a hard enough time managing one plate laden with food and it should not have mattered but obviously it did!!

 

My hubby would always bring my food for me, whether it was from the Lido or the Terrace Grill. Oh My Goodness, you'd have thought him a real pig if you looked at his plate of Nachos in one hand and in the other 2 slices of Pizza with a bowl of my favorite Pasta nearly every day.......

 

My point is that not everyone you see getting a large amount of food is NOT a Food Hog, I would hazard to guess that perhaps 95-99% are actually getting food for at least one other person, who is either holding a table or relaxing out of sight in a stateroom or..........

 

Another thing to keep in mind is this....On one of our cruises a year ago, the Strawberries were delicious looking, HOWEVER they were super sour. I ate mine, but then again I love to eat lemons:) On the other hand, hubby could not deal with just how sour they were (twas OK by me, I ate his too:)

 

Joanie

[sherilyn70]

My hubby would always bring my food for me, whether it was from the Lido or the Terrace Grill. Oh My Goodness, you'd have thought him a real pig if you looked at his plate of Nachos in one hand and in the other 2 slices of Pizza with a bowl of my favorite Pasta nearly every day.......

My husband would do the same thing, he has issues with letting me get up and get things on my own... especially now that I'm mobility challenged. We often will get one plate to share if we want the same item (like the nachos or a plate of desserts). So I guess just let people judge away all they like. They're likely to get an earful from me (politely but sternly) and feel like an idiot after they're done. :rolleyes:

Edited December 12, 2013 by sherilyn70

[cle1]

The food hogs mentioned here, IMHO were taking the decorations. For instance a whole papaya was taken, when there was Papaya cut up in a bowl, with the whole ones for decoration. Or grapes used for decoration, and bunches being taken.

 

As for mixing things up, we are entitled to 4 free Pinnacle dinners, and wanted to use 2 of them to invite our friends to have dinner with us. It took 2 weeks to get it straightened out.

[cruisemom42]

It seems to me that the OP is not talking about folks taking an extra plate for someone. They are talking about someone taking EVERY grape or EVERY banana and leaving none for anyone else.

 

That doesn't seem right to me, however anyone might rationalize it....

[G&G]

It seems to me that the OP is not talking about folks taking an extra plate for someone. They are talking about someone taking EVERY grape or EVERY banana and leaving none for anyone else.

 

That doesn't seem right to me, however anyone might rationalize it....

 

Yes, I was referring to passengers and staff taking everything on display or in the serving line such as fruit and leaving none for anyone else. As c 2 c stated, passengers were removing whole fruit used as decorations.

[IRL_Joanie]

My husband would do the same thing, he has issues with letting me get up and get things on my own... especially now that I'm mobility challenged. We often will get one plate to share if we want the same item (like the nachos or a plate of desserts). So I guess just let people judge away all they like. They're likely to get an earful from me (politely but sternly) and feel like an idiot after they're done. :rolleyes:

I Really Really LIKE YOU:)

 

Joanie

[Vict0riann]

I guess the moral of the story is just to try not to look at what others are doing. I have to admit it upsets me when I see someone leave a plateful of food behind when they go. It's not even that they load the plate up at the buffet, but that then they don't eat it. How wasteful!

[hallpau]

We were on this cruise and I must admit that I witnessed some thing that just shocked me. I saw one lady take the cover off each of the appetizers during dinner in the Lido and remove the piece of payaya off each plate (which required the crew to remove each of these plates). I also saw a lady put over 10 boxes of cereal in her blue HAL bag (this was the last couple days of the cruise so I don't think she wasn't getting these to eat in her room - may have been souvenirs for her grandchildren...LOL). I didn't see this myself, but a friend of mine said they saw a man put 12 sets of silverware (including the napkins they were wrapped in) into his bag.

 

The ship is beautiful but there were a lot of issues with the AC and plumbing throughout the ship (our stateroom included). The plumbing problems afftected the public restrooms also, so there were times we were walking around the ship looking for a working toilet.

 

The crew worked very hard but it was apparent the "teamwork" we usually see on other HAL cruises was suffering and IMHO this only reflects on poor management.

 

The Captain and Hotel Manager weren't seen around the ship like on other ships we sailed. You couldn't get through the layers of front desk staff and assistant managers to talk to the Guest Relations Manager. Fortunately we finally connected with an assistant guest relations manager that did some follow up on our issues.

 

In spite of all this....any day on a cruise ship is wonderful and we're so blessed to be able to travel and see this beautiful world we live in. We had great port of calls, wonderful friends on board, and a safe trip. But as a 5 star Mariner...I have definitely experienced far fewer problems on our other cruises than we did on this one.

Edited December 12, 2013 by hallpau

[sapper1]

We are 4 Star Mariners and:

 

A. We received Discounts for Pinnacle Grill, Le Cirque and Canaletto on this last cruise which ended 9 December 2013, We took 2 friends (1 star Mariner each) to 1 Le Cirque dinner which cost us a mere $78.00 thanks to our 4 Start Mariner Discount). ALL of our Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto meals received the same discounts, which were reflected on our final bill, EVEN the 2 Pinnacle Grill meals that Hubby had reserved on line, paid full price on line, but discounted on final bill.

 

B. We were invited to a Medallion Ceremony with Captain Turner. Bobhan (Hotel Manager), and other Officers, just prior to our Mariner Brunch, where 3 couples, a solo Gentleman along with hubby & I received our Bronze Medallions, 2 or 3 couples who received their Copper and 2 couples who received their God Medallions.

 

So, the moral of the above is that THERE ARE 3 Medallions, Gold, Copper and Bronze. (I may have the Copper and Bronze switched incorrectly... Cannot remember if ours is Bronze or Copper, BUT it is the FIRST Medallion that is given, and was what we received)

C. I cannot speak for all Food Hogs, However, I can speak for 2, my hubby and our dear friends who were with us on this last cruise.

 

Our Friends and my hubby would get food for either their spouse or myself and bring it to us to eat. Our Dear friend Beth was literally accosted by a fellow Passenger one afternoon as she ordered a Cheeseburger and Hot Dog, both with Fries. When the Chef tried to give it to her on 2 different plates she explained she could not carry 2 and asked all be placed on just 1. The lady behind her rather rudely said, "What does it matter? She will just be shovelling it down her face whether 1 plate or 2, so who does she think she is kidding?" Beth was furious when she brought the single plate back to the table that she, her hubby and I were at. She is handicapped and was having a hard enough time managing one plate laden with food and it should not have mattered but obviously it did!!

 

My hubby would always bring my food for me, whether it was from the Lido or the Terrace Grill. Oh My Goodness, you'd have thought him a real pig if you looked at his plate of Nachos in one hand and in the other 2 slices of Pizza with a bowl of my favorite Pasta nearly every day.......

 

My point is that not everyone you see getting a large amount of food is NOT a Food Hog, I would hazard to guess that perhaps 95-99% are actually getting food for at least one other person, who is either holding a table or relaxing out of sight in a stateroom or..........

 

Another thing to keep in mind is this....On one of our cruises a year ago, the Strawberries were delicious looking, HOWEVER they were super sour. I ate mine, but then again I love to eat lemons:) On the other hand, hubby could not deal with just how sour they were (twas OK by me, I ate his too:)

 

Joanie

 

I am quite sure that the medallions are gold, silver and copper/bronze--- there being some discussion as to whether the 100 day medals are made of copper or bronze.

[RuthC]

I am quite sure that the medallions are gold, silver and copper/bronze--- there being some discussion as to whether the 100 day medals are made of copper or bronze.

Since you were kind enough to correct the list to add silver, may I also add platinum, which has also been around since the Mariner medallion program was changed back sometime around 1999-2000. That was when the first medallion was changed from silver on a blue & orange ribbon, to a copper medallion on a dark blue ribbon.

 

The noticeable differentiation between silver and platinum medallions is the ribbon color; platinum medallions are on a white ribbon.

[dr.dawg]

oh, how i just LOVE it. guests and crew competing for lido lefties. stealing them. because they are hungry. what a 'picture' this presents for a so-called 'premium cruise line'. no food, no napkins, fights over what food is available. wow, wow, wow. crew and passengers hoarding food in their cabins. not even cocktail napkins in the bars. yeah, pay a primium price, but you will have to put up a fight for the food. ha. buy your food in port and bring it onboard -- just not with wine. is hal advertising that now one must bring food onboard to avoid starvation? remember college dorms? don't forget the burner and the noodles. and pack a small pan and some plastic ware. welcome to HAL.