Maasdam gone by 2018

[RuthC]

My tendency is to believe this report, and it saddens me. I will miss the S-class ships, as they were such fun to sail on. Next, I expect to see the R-class ships leave the fleet, one by one. And, of course, the Prinsendam (which I love) has a short future with HAL.

The HAL that made me love cruising will be gone for good. :(

 

I want very much to be on her final cruise. Doesn't matter where it starts, or ends. I need to be there, if humanly possible.

[rkacruiser]

We sailed the last voyage of the Statendam, and we're booked on the Maasdam to and around Australia in the fall. The Statendam was kept up until we disembarked in Singapore. We did have a problem with a wet stateroom, but that was fixed by moving us and we also received a credit for our trouble. We'll let everyone know how the Maasdam appears for our cruise.

 

I was on the final voyage of the Statendam as well and I agree with your comment about the ship being "kept up". I really wondered why she was being sent to P & O Australia.

[Seavoyage]

I submitted a review on the Maasdam a few days ago but Cruise Critic has yet to post it.....

[Willem Ruys]

I was on the final voyage of the Statendam as well and I agree with your comment about the ship being "kept up". I really wondered why she was being sent to P & O Australia.

 

 

We were aboard. LOVED that trip even though the floor in the main bathroom and walk-n closet in our penthouse flooded, wetting the carpet in the bedroom...but the food and service were wonderful, much unlike what we were treated to on subsequent HAL sailings since then.

[3rdGenCunarder]

My tendency is to believe this report, and it saddens me. I will miss the S-class ships, as they were such fun to sail on. Next, I expect to see the R-class ships leave the fleet, one by one. And, of course, the Prinsendam (which I love) has a short future with HAL.

The HAL that made me love cruising will be gone for good. :(

 

I want very much to be on her final cruise. Doesn't matter where it starts, or ends. I need to be there, if humanly possible.

 

I don't think I could do the last cruise for a ship I loved. One last time near the end, yes. But not the final. That would be too sad for me.

[OlsSalt]

My tendency is to believe this report, and it saddens me. I will miss the S-class ships, as they were such fun to sail on. Next, I expect to see the R-class ships leave the fleet, one by one. And, of course, the Prinsendam (which I love) has a short future with HAL.

The HAL that made me love cruising will be gone for good. :(

 

I want very much to be on her final cruise. Doesn't matter where it starts, or ends. I need to be there, if humanly possible.

 

A lot of us do. What a Roll Call that will be. They will need to stock extra Kleenex.

[Btimmer]

On that final voyage of the Statendam, our room developed a leak over the headboard. After repeated attempts to "fix" it, we were finally moved. At the end of the cruise I asked our first stateroom attendant if it was fixed and he said, "No".

 

We left the ship, did a 20 day trans Atlantic on the NA, and 7 days in the Caribbean on the Eurodam and were on a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle the second day after the Eurodam docked. This delayed flight was due to the plane being over weight and not all passengers were accommodated. On this flight, I'm in the middle seat and talking with the gentleman to my right about having just gone round the world on 3 cruise ships. The younger man on my left asks me which ships I was on. When I told him, he said he was a contractor for HAL and had been on all of them including the Statendam and Ryndam in drydock in Singapore. When I related the account of the wet stateroom, he asked, "was it on deck 7 forward around the jog in the hallway on the inside?" I said, "Yes" and he produced cellphone pictures of the stateroom with plastic piping being used to route the water from over the headboard to the shower. It turned out that there was a high pressure water leak 50 feet in front of our stateroom and it took the drydock time to find and fix it.

 

What's the chances of sitting next to a contractor on an airplane who had been working on a ship one sailed on 30 days prior on the other side of the world?

 

In any event it was a good story and we enjoyed our flight to home to Seattle.

[RuthC]

I don't think I could do the last cruise for a ship I loved. One last time near the end, yes. But not the final. That would be too sad for me.

Within a few days of boarding the ss Rotterdam (V) I knew 1.) she didn't have a lot of years left, and 2.) I wanted to be on that final cruise.

When the date of that cruise was announced, I requested a booking immediately. We didn't even know the itinerary! Didn't matter. The bookings were so popular that names were taken, and would be granted based on HAL history. I made the cut.

 

Yes, in many ways the cruise was sad, but it was also fun to be with so many people who loved that ship as much as I did. It was like a really good Irish wake, with the booze flowing. :D Loads of things went wrong, and that only added to the good time. We were sending the old girl off in style!

 

No doubt that the fact it was the HAL Flagship made a difference. And, different times probably added to that. But I have regretted that I couldn't fit the final cruise of the Ryndam into my schedule.

 

Final cruises may not be for you, or for everybody. But I have such fond memories of the one, that I would love to do it again.

[rkacruiser]

We were aboard. LOVED that trip even though the floor in the main bathroom and walk-n closet in our penthouse flooded, wetting the carpet in the bedroom...but the food and service were wonderful, much unlike what we were treated to on subsequent HAL sailings since then.

 

As to food, service, and entertainment: it seemed to me that HAL's budget for this cruise provided us with a cruise that was what I remember from the days of Rotterdam V. Embarking in Seattle and learning that Mike Mahn was the Hotel Director made me think: this will be a good one!

 

I wonder if we met? Did you attend the 3rd Officer's Navigation presentations held, after the first two, in the Wajang Theater? I usually sat near or next to the Australian gentleman who had been the Master of cargo vessels and who asked very interesting questions of the 3rd Officer and the Cadets during the program.

[rkacruiser]

On that final voyage of the Statendam, our room developed a leak over the headboard. After repeated attempts to "fix" it, we were finally moved. At the end of the cruise I asked our first stateroom attendant if it was fixed and he said, "No".

 

We left the ship, did a 20 day trans Atlantic on the NA, and 7 days in the Caribbean on the Eurodam and were on a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle the second day after the Eurodam docked. This delayed flight was due to the plane being over weight and not all passengers were accommodated. On this flight, I'm in the middle seat and talking with the gentleman to my right about having just gone round the world on 3 cruise ships. The younger man on my left asks me which ships I was on. When I told him, he said he was a contractor for HAL and had been on all of them including the Statendam and Ryndam in drydock in Singapore. When I related the account of the wet stateroom, he asked, "was it on deck 7 forward around the jog in the hallway on the inside?" I said, "Yes" and he produced cellphone pictures of the stateroom with plastic piping being used to route the water from over the headboard to the shower. It turned out that there was a high pressure water leak 50 feet in front of our stateroom and it took the drydock time to find and fix it.

 

What's the chances of sitting next to a contractor on an airplane who had been working on a ship one sailed on 30 days prior on the other side of the world?

 

In any event it was a good story and we enjoyed our flight to home to Seattle.

 

A great story! I wonder if we met? Did you attend the 3rd Officer's Navigation Presentations in the Wajang Theater?

[iancal]

I would not count on the constant A/C issues on any of HAL's older ships being fixed. Most especially the ships that have been sold.

 

The fix to the issue is very expensive and requires a longer dry dock period. These systems loose efficiency over time. Could never understand why HAl would send ships like Veendam on the Panama Canal run when it is so hot there.

 

It is one reason why we avoid them.

Edited April 13, 2016 by iancal

[3rdGenCunarder]

Within a few days of boarding the ss Rotterdam (V) I knew 1.) she didn't have a lot of years left, and 2.) I wanted to be on that final cruise.

When the date of that cruise was announced, I requested a booking immediately. We didn't even know the itinerary! Didn't matter. The bookings were so popular that names were taken, and would be granted based on HAL history. I made the cut.

 

Yes, in many ways the cruise was sad, but it was also fun to be with so many people who loved that ship as much as I did. It was like a really good Irish wake, with the booze flowing. :D Loads of things went wrong, and that only added to the good time. We were sending the old girl off in style!

 

No doubt that the fact it was the HAL Flagship made a difference. And, different times probably added to that. But I have regretted that I couldn't fit the final cruise of the Ryndam into my schedule.

 

Final cruises may not be for you, or for everybody. But I have such fond memories of the one, that I would love to do it again.

 

I understand the attachment to a ship you've sailed on a a lot. I did the last westbound crossing on QE2. After that she returned to Southampton and then went to Dubai. I cried when I left the ship. That evening, I cried as I stood in Battery Park with some friends to watch her leave NYC for the last time. But at least my last memory of her is lights on, full of passengers, doing what she was born to do. So much better than walking away knowing she was just going to sit at a dock and not sail again.

 

My HAL cruises have been on different ships. Only the Veendam twice. So I'm unlikely to develop that kind of attachment to a ship again.

[Btimmer]

A great story! I wonder if we met? Did you attend the 3rd Officer's Navigation Presentations in the Wajang Theater?

 

Thanks. For some reason that I can't remember, I wasn't able to make those presentations.

 

It's almost an equally nice story to learn of others on that same Statendam cruise.

[Topsham]

I wonder if we met? Did you attend the 3rd Officer's Navigation presentations held, after the first two, in the Wajang Theater? I usually sat near or next to the Australian gentleman who had been the Master of cargo vessels and who asked very interesting questions of the 3rd Officer and the Cadets during the program.

 

Do you remember any of the questions?

[Topsham]

Within a few days of boarding the ss Rotterdam (V) I knew 1.) she didn't have a lot of years left, and 2.) I wanted to be on that final cruise.

When the date of that cruise was announced, I requested a booking immediately. We didn't even know the itinerary! Didn't matter. The bookings were so popular that names were taken, and would be granted based on HAL history. I made the cut.

 

 

Final cruises may not be for you, or for everybody. But I have such fond memories of the one, that I would love to do it again.

 

 

Ruth,

 

Yes, I still have very fond memories of ROTTERDAM V. Between 1993 and 1997 I made 20 HAL cruises.... 13 of them in the ROTTERDAM... 316 days! I was on board for the last three cruises, the two in Alaska then continued with the Grand Final. It was a brilliant cruise, but so sad at the same time. The follow year I was back on board as REMBRANDT for another 21 days. The ship is still fantastic.. even as a static hotel in Rotterdam!

 

The only other ship that come close was SAGAFJORD/SAGA ROSE, also 13 cruises and 303 days. I booked the final cruise in the SAGA ROSE three years before we even knew when it was going to happen. I was in the ship and the announcement came out during the world cruise. They told they would open the book for the passengers. I immediate called the Managing Director at Saga and reminded him that I had already made a deposit three years before. He laughed and said, "You name is already at the top of the list!" Never knew what cruise it was, but turned out to be a 35 days Mediterranean cruise. A fantastic farewell cruise as well. At the same time to make a sad farewell to two great ships.

 

Back to the original point... ROTTERDAM was 49 years old on that final cruise. SAGA ROSE was 44 years old. Worried about a ship falling apart? Nah... they were perfect ships! :-)

 

The ROTTERDAM five career stops

The ROTTERDAM six is a flop

It might have been cheaper

To fix her and keep her

Than buy a new one from the ........ errrr, Italians!

 

 

Written and composed by the 'Oceaan Bar Crowd' on the final cruise. Posted over the midday PA by Captain Bos. (He changed the last word.) ;)

[dogo88]

Ruth,

 

Yes, I still have very fond memories of ROTTERDAM V. Between 1993 and 1997 I made 20 HAL cruises.... 13 of them in the ROTTERDAM... 316 days! I was on board for the last three cruises, the two in Alaska then continued with the Grand Final. It was a brilliant cruise, but so sad at the same time. The follow year I was back on board as REMBRANDT for another 21 days. The ship is still fantastic.. even as a static hotel in Rotterdam!

 

The only other ship that come close was SAGAFJORD/SAGA ROSE, also 13 cruises and 303 days. I booked the final cruise in the SAGA ROSE three years before we even knew when it was going to happen. I was in the ship and the announcement came out during the world cruise. They told they would open the book for the passengers. I immediate called the Managing Director at Saga and reminded him that I had already made a deposit three years before. He laughed and said, "You name is already at the top of the list!" Never knew what cruise it was, but turned out to be a 35 days Mediterranean cruise. A fantastic farewell cruise as well. At the same time to make a sad farewell to two great ships.

 

Back to the original point... ROTTERDAM was 49 years old on that final cruise. SAGA ROSE was 44 years old. Worried about a ship falling apart? Nah... they were perfect ships! :-)

 

The ROTTERDAM five career stops

The ROTTERDAM six is a flop

It might have been cheaper

To fix her and keep her

Than buy a new one from the ........ errrr, Italians!

 

 

Written and composed by the 'Oceaan Bar Crowd' on the final cruise. Posted over the midday PA by Captain Bos. (He changed the last word.) ;)

 

We were on Rotterdam V for our honeymoon in 1978. Sailing out of NYC while skirting a hurricane on our way to Nassau and then Bermuda. The first cruise always sets the stage for future cruises. We have a great time bouncing around the decks. We had an inside cabin at the stern. Young, just married and little money. But boy oh boy did that engine crank it out as we raced around the storm. It was one noisy room.

 

Dan

[Topsham]

Doggo80,

 

Great! here a couple of photos of your ladies... Rotterdam and Statendam at anchor Grassy Bay, May 1974. Also Bermuda Star (ex Veendam).. also a good ship. BSL were not quite top to HAL, but still good fun.

 

My first time in the ROTTERDAM 3 January 1993. Sailed midnight. Frozen night, beautiful. Next morning I was down on my knees in the WC calling for those two plumbers.... "Hughey and Luke!" Went as far as Honolulu and flew overnight to Lauderdale, a night there and next day joined STATENDAM... maiden trip to Los Angeles.

[dogo88]

Doggo80,

 

Great! here a couple of photos of your ladies... Rotterdam and Statendam at anchor Grassy Bay, May 1974. Also Bermuda Star (ex Veendam).. also a good ship. BSL were not quite top to HAL, but still good fun.

 

My first time in the ROTTERDAM 3 January 1993. Sailed midnight. Frozen night, beautiful. Next morning I was down on my knees in the WC calling for those two plumbers.... "Hughey and Luke!" Went as far as Honolulu and flew overnight to Lauderdale, a night there and next day joined STATENDAM... maiden trip to Los Angeles.

 

Topsham,

 

Thanks for the pics and memories.

 

The Bermuda Star trip actually went through a hurricane. Since the cruise was from NYC only to Bermuda they couldn't swap ports like the Rotterdam did in 1978. There was some good bouncing on that trip. Saw a Grand piano get tossed across the Crow's Nest, and the bow go under water with every swell as we plowed towards Bermuda! Over half the ship was seasick.

 

Dan

[sammiedawg]

I would not count on the constant A/C issues on any of HAL's older ships being fixed. Most especially the ships that have been sold.

 

The fix to the issue is very expensive and requires a longer dry dock period. These systems loose efficiency over time. Could never understand why HAl would send ships like Veendam on the Panama Canal run when it is so hot there.

 

It is one reason why we avoid them.

 

It boggles my mind why cruisers continue to book these old ships, it is one of life's great mysteries to me. Nostalgia doesn't cut it for me if my AC dies or the cabin floods.

There are so many alternatives.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Doggo80,

 

Great! here a couple of photos of your ladies... Rotterdam and Statendam at anchor Grassy Bay, May 1974. Also Bermuda Star (ex Veendam).. also a good ship. BSL were not quite top to HAL, but still good fun.

 

My first time in the ROTTERDAM 3 January 1993. Sailed midnight. Frozen night, beautiful. Next morning I was down on my knees in the WC calling for those two plumbers.... "Hughey and Luke!" Went as far as Honolulu and flew overnight to Lauderdale, a night there and next day joined STATENDAM... maiden trip to Los Angeles.

 

That's the Statendam I sailed to Bermuda on my first ever cruise! I remember seeing Rotterdam anchored out in the bay. I was glad we could (barely) get into Hamilton and didn't have to tender.

[Topsham]

Kathy,

 

STATENDAM was just a little one for Hamilton! Back in those days STATENDAM and DORIC were usually in together on Monday to Thursday. Now VEENDAM is easily slipping into Hamilton. Mind that is just at the max size for Hamilton.

 

Here a few photos for you of STATENDAM in Hamilton in the mid 1970s.

 

Stephen

[rkacruiser]

Do you remember any of the questions?

 

Some of the gentleman's questions concerned navigation questions; some were quite technical, particularly after we lost an engine for a few days. Those questions caused an Engine Room Cadet to begin attending. That led to a Power Point presentation "tour" of the Engine Room.

 

We were constantly battling winds coming from the West and Northwest for most of our trans-Pacific crossing and that led to interesting presentations on the weather and the Captain's attempts to provide us with the best sea conditions that he could.

 

I'll check my journal for the cruise and see if I recorded any speciific questions that the gentleman asked. If I find any, I will make another post about that for you.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

It boggles my mind why cruisers continue to book these old ships, it is one of life's great mysteries to me. Nostalgia doesn't cut it for me if my AC dies or the cabin floods.

There are so many alternatives.

 

I booked and sailed Maasdam in June 2015, and I had every bit as nice an experience as I have had on Westerdam and Nieuw Amsterdam. I supposed it's the luck of the draw. We had a nice cabin with no HVAC or plumming issues, and the public areas of the ship were very up-to-date.

 

Maasdam was our ship because it was sailing from Boston to Montreal in June and that is when we wanted to go. I'm glad I was able to sail her. That said, I'm also very excited about Pinnacle II, which is her likely replacement.

[erewhon]

We have 42 days booked on Maasdam while she is "down under" later this year.

I sincerely hope that HAL will be sending a problem free ship, to this rapidly increasing cruising market.

[MMDown Under]

We have 42 days booked on Maasdam while she is "down under" later this year.

I sincerely hope that HAL will be sending a problem free ship, to this rapidly increasing cruising market.

 

Bon Voyage. Is that cruise around Aus and NZ for 42 days?

 

I'm sure you will let us know if all is not as it should be on the ship.