Maasdam gone by 2018

[Adoptionmsw]

We were on the Maasdam for 50 days last fall. We had an inside cabin and experienced no issues with AC or plumbing. We did receive notice two times that the water would be turned off for the afternoon in our section of staterooms. Repairs were being made. On the other hand, our experience in the main dining room with as you wish dining was not good. Service was so slow it always took at least 2 1/2 hours or more for dinner. We finally gave up and started eating dinner in the Lido. We had no issues with the quality of the food in either location. We've come to really enjoy extended cruises which is one of the reasons we stick with HAL.

 

 

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[JudithLynne]

Stephen and Ian....I promise you will not get shot. DH and I are pretty comfortable with a 90% chance of nothing going wrong. This will be our 39th cruise, our 12th to Alaska, so we are pretty cruise ship savvy. I appreciate both of your responses on this thread.....Judith

[Topsham]

Stephen and Ian....I promise you will not get shot. DH and I are pretty comfortable with a 90% chance of nothing going wrong. This will be our 39th cruise, our 12th to Alaska, so we are pretty cruise ship savvy. I appreciate both of your responses on this thread.....Judith

 

 

Good. Have fun with Alaska... all again. Doesn't matter how many times, always enjoyable. My favourite ports are Valdez and Skagway. I missed a ship connection once and had to fly from Seattle to Juneau then to Skagway. Right last ship for the season and no tourists at all.... the last one over night in a hotel. Great and quiet!

 

Stephen

[JudithLynne]

Good. Have fun with Alaska... all again. Doesn't matter how many times, always enjoyable. My favourite ports are Valdez and Skagway. I missed a ship connection once and had to fly from Seattle to Juneau then to Skagway. Right last ship for the season and no tourists at all.... the last one over night in a hotel. Great and quiet!

 

Stephen

 

We have been to both of those ports. Three times in Skagway we have rented a car and driven up into the Yukon and to Emerald Lake. Love that drive!

 

Judith

[EbayCruiser]

ianical....all things being equal, this would make sense. But I am going to repeat what I said in a previous post on this thread. HAL Maasdam has the only cruise that I know of that does a 14 day Alaska cruise. For us, and others there is no "next bus." We also suspect, as others do, that soon the 14 day Alaska cruise will go by the wayside as these cruises do not fill up quickly, unlike the 7 day cruises. This cruise is scheduled for the Amsterdam next year, thankfully. We are unable to take a summer cruise next year do to DH's work schedule.

For some of us, we need to be willing to take a chance with the Maasdam if we want to experience the 2 week cruise. We are regular Alaska cruisers and because my husband has time off from his summer job as an Oregon state visitors guide, we really want to make this cruise while we can.

Does this make sense to you?

 

Judith

 

Same thing for us. We booked the Maasdam (2 week cruise) and it is a charter. Only ship available to book and we are excited about two weeks in Alaska. We have an inside room so we have requested a fan, just in case we might need it and we are hoping for the best.

[Wehwalt]

Take the cruise you want on the ship you want and enjoy yourself! I am thinking about that one, but more likely on the Amsterdam next year.

[Cheekyrn1]

I'm curious now because if the Maasdam has been sold why are there sailings available on her for 2018?? We just booked a cruise for feb 2018 but our suite is listed as a guarantee...would that mean there is a possibility that we will be on a different ship?

[DaveOKC]

I'm curious now because if the Maasdam has been sold why are there sailings available on her for 2018?? We just booked a cruise for feb 2018 but our suite is listed as a guarantee...would that mean there is a possibility that we will be on a different ship?

 

Did you book an SB or SA (or some other category). Most of the times SB cabins are only sold as guarantees.

[rafinmd]

I'm curious now because if the Maasdam has been sold why are there sailings available on her for 2018?? We just booked a cruise for feb 2018 but our suite is listed as a guarantee...would that mean there is a possibility that we will be on a different ship?

 

It's ALWAYS "possible".

 

Roy

[Kentchikan]

I'm curious now because if the Maasdam has been sold why are there sailings available on her for 2018?? We just booked a cruise for feb 2018 but our suite is listed as a guarantee...would that mean there is a possibility that we will be on a different ship?

 

Our suite is listed as guaranteed on this sailing so it may mean nothing. BTW does anyone know how far out they actually assign the accommodation? It's a first guarantee for me and it's unsettling for some reason.

[Adoptionmsw]

We've done guarantees a number of times. We've occasionally received stateroom assignments a day or two before sailing.

 

 

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[sail7seas]

iN THE KNOW PEOPLE ON mAASDAM are saying th ship is sold? Odd.

 

Who knows if they know gbout 3wcjh tthey are spreading rumors?>

fv[/b]

Edited May 13, 2016 by sail7seas

[Kentchikan]

We've done guarantees a number of times. We've occasionally received stateroom assignments a day or two before sailing.

 

 

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Thanks. Does it ever come sooner than that?

[Adoptionmsw]

Thanks. Does it ever come sooner than that?

 

 

 

Last cruise, Atlantic Adventurer, Fall 2015, we got antsy about the guarantee and called HAL. Rep told us we could choose cabin now or hang on in which case we would probably get an upgrade. We had already been offered an upsell which we declined. We need a room with a shower not a tub so we chose a large inside and were done with it. We learned ship was not full so we probably would have gotten ocean view if we had waited but we were very happy with what we had. It was large and quiet.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Adoptionmsw

[Kentchikan]

Last cruise, Atlantic Adventurer, Fall 2015, we got antsy about the guarantee and called HAL. Rep told us we could choose cabin now or hang on in which case we would probably get an upgrade. We had already been offered an upsell which we declined. We need a room with a shower not a tub so we chose a large inside and were done with it. We learned ship was not full so we probably would have gotten ocean view if we had waited but we were very happy with what we had. It was large and quiet.

 

Thanks

[ski ww]

We sailed on her in Jan - Rio Amazon. They had a lot of mechanical problems, toilets, A/C. The ship is old. We did enjoy the cruise the normal HAL good service, food, crew etc. Why keep spending money trying to fix an old ship, makes more sense to spent the money on new builds.

Allan

[Cheekyrn1]

Did you book an SB or SA (or some other category). Most of the times SB cabins are only sold as guarantees.

 

SB suite.

[jtl513]

Thanks. Does it ever come sooner than that?

We've done 9 guarantees, but always on Vista or Signature ships. Six of our assignments came at 11 or 10 days out, one at 7 days, one at 3, and one at 18.

[iancal]

Unless one has an emotional tie to HAL or looks on these ships with nostalgia I would avoid them. The A/C and plumbing problems will probably not be fixed. The A/C fix is expensive and would require an elongated dry dock. These are not new issues. If you scan the review it becomes evident that these challenges have persisted for quite some time.

 

HAL will keep sailing these vessels to the end in order to maximize revenue. Sure the interiors may be kept up but I doubt very much if any significant improvements will be made to the ship's engineering. HAL is not selling these ships because they are in tip top condition nor would they invest heavily in capital improvements to a vessel with only a few years of fleet service left-let alone 18 or 24 months.

 

We have no emotional tie to HAL or sailing history with these ships. Hence the lack of nostalgia. We look at them in the hard light of day and compare them to other ships, other cruise lines. They don't pass our test however I have no doubt the those with fond memories will clamour for a berth and excuse the shortcomings.

Edited May 13, 2016 by iancal

[mamaofami]

Maasdam is one of my favorite ships and I will be sorry to see her go. I love the smaller ships.

 

By the way, when we went to Alaska(you can see the date in my signature) it was in June and 90 degrees every day. It was a fluke, but we really did need that A/C.

[esimon]

Unless one has an emotional tie to HAL or looks on these ships with nostalgia I would avoid them. The A/C and plumbing problems will probably not be fixed. The A/C fix is expensive and would require an elongated dry dock. These are not new issues. If you scan the review it becomes evident that these challenges have persisted for quite some time.

 

HAL will keep sailing these vessels to the end in order to maximize revenue. Sure the interiors may be kept up but I doubt very much if any significant improvements will be made to the ship's engineering. HAL is not selling these ships because they are in tip top condition nor would they invest heavily in capital improvements to a vessel with only a few years of fleet service left-let alone 18 or 24 months.

 

We have no emotional tie to HAL or sailing history with these ships. Hence the lack of nostalgia. We look at them in the hard light of day and compare them to other ships, other cruise lines. They don't pass our test however I have no doubt the those with fond memories will clamour for a berth and excuse the shortcomings.

 

It is so good to know you have no nostalgia - So glad you have chosen another cruise line -- I'm sure Holland is glad also.

[iancal]

I have nostalgia. It is simply that I am not a long time HAL cruiser nor are we dedicated HAL cruisers. We cruise them all because they all have something that attracts us.

 

So we tend to stay away from certain ships of all cruise lines, including HAL, that have known, reported, long standing, unresolved issues. Our view is why take a chance when we can just as easily sail on another ship that is equally attractive to our us and our preferences. HAL is a great cruise line but it is hardly the be all and end all of the industry....at least not for us.

 

We also tend to stay away from properties that are marketing as 'quaint'. Past experiences have led us to the conclusion that someone else's idea of quaint many not be ours.

Edited May 13, 2016 by iancal

[rkacruiser]

For those who have booked advance cruises of the Maasdam, a word of encouragement that your cruise will not be cancelled. Sometimes, ships are sold and then chartered by the cruise company that sold them. If that would happen, HAL could still operate your booked cruises. The cruise product expectation by the guest ought to be able to be maintained.

 

It has been reported on CC that Prinsendam is receiving extensive and expensive renovations during her current drydock. If HAL is spending that kind of money on a ship that is much older than the Maasdam, why would they not also consider doing the same for a ship as much beloved by many, as is the Prinsendam, as the Maasdam?

[DFD1]

We just returned from 10 days on MAASDAM, our fifth and last cruise on her.

 

Lovely ocean view stateroom. No AC or plumbing problems. Beautiful public rooms, fascinating art and antique collection. Staff and crew were extraordinary.

 

Great cruise on a fine ship. We hate to see her go. Ships like Maasdam will not pass this way again...ever.

[JudithLynne]

We just returned from 10 days on MAASDAM, our fifth and last cruise on her.

 

Lovely ocean view stateroom. No AC or plumbing problems. Beautiful public rooms, fascinating art and antique collection. Staff and crew were extraordinary.

 

Great cruise on a fine ship. We hate to see her go. Ships like Maasdam will not pass this way again...ever.

 

Which cabin did you have?