Maasdam June 2, 2007 Montreal to Boston review

[chcats]

I first want to thank everyone for the great advice that was given on this message board about the Maasdam cruises which was very useful and made our cruise more enjoyable. Now it is time for me to give back and write a review of my cruise. My husband and I sailed from Montreal to Boston from June 2nd to June 9th and then spent a week in Newport Rhode Island on our own which is why I am just now writing this review.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation was very efficient and I found the crew of the Maasdam to be very well organized. There are two ports which require tenders which are Charlottetown PEI and Bar Harbor and this was also very well organized for Bar Harbor. We didn't go into port in Charlottetown which I will discuss further below.

 

The service was up to the usual high standards for HAL. Barrus was our waiter, AG (nickname) was our busboy, Rebecca was the wine steward, and our room steward was Abdul. All gave great service and were very friendly particularily AG. Also there was a very cheery staff member that always greeted us in the Lido for breakfast.

 

We stayed in an outside cabin on the Lower Promenade deck. The room was a decent size for a cruise ship and as previously mentioned on this message board the beds were extremely comfortable, and I slept like a baby. The only issue with the Lower Promenade deck is that the walking deck is on this level so this does affect the view somewhat. The windows are tinted in such a way that people can't really see into the room which we checked. The rooms have hair dryers which worked well but do not have irons, but there are laundry facilities with irons. We could find only one electrical outlet which was in the bathroom and this was slightly inconvenient for me since I had several camera batteries that I needed to charge. Also there was no alarm clock in the room so we brought our own.

 

We ate in the dining room every night and in the Lido for breakfast, and lunch on the sea days. The Lido had a wide selection and the food was very good. The food in the dining room overall was decent and I found the appetizers and the desserts to be generally better than the main courses. Our tablemates who have sailed for more than 100 days with HAL commented that the food tends to be better on longer cruises (> 7 days). Our tablemates went to the Pinnacle grill one night and said that the main courses were better than the dining room, but the side dishes and desserts were about the same. One night there was a dessert extravaganza by the swimmeing pool on the Lido deck which I spent as much time photographing as eating. I am dreaming of this as I am starting my post cruise diet. There were two issues that we did have in the dining room. One involved the wine. We ordered the Navigation package which is cheaper than ordering the wine individually with the understanding that they would have the wines on the list. The problem was that they were out of or ran out of 3 wines on the list and our tablemates also ordered a bottle of wine that they were also out of. Rebecca did her best and managed to scrounge up one of the wines and reserved it for us which was nice. The explanations we were given was that the wines are purchased in Boston and sometimes on the Montreal leg of the trip they run out of certain wines. In addition, they are in the process of changing their wine list and are getting rid of their inventory. Hopefully this will be resolved on later cruises. Also I was under the impression that we would have lobster tails with melted butter on one of the nights which I was looking forward to. Instead they had something called lobster thermidor which was awful. Several people including our tablemates complained about it. Otherwise the main courses were OK.

 

We really enjoyed the entertainment. There were several shows with singing and dancing which I am normally not into that much, but the choreagraphy in these shows was very sophisticated and quite entertaining. Chris Michaels was the comedian and was very funny. He also could make music from just about any item such as a saw. The other performer was former Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Lance Ringnald. They hung a curtain from the ceiling and he performed a varety of gymnastics moves using this curtain. The seas were rough that night so the ship was swaying quite a bit which made it even more remarkable. He also was quite funny and played the piano as well.

 

Our favorite hang out was the Crow's Nest which is a nice place to relax and have a drink. The ocean views are really great since there are windows on all sides. Some of the couches in the lounge are shocking pink or orange in color and I think the person who picked these colors probably had one too many when making the color selections.

 

We took this particular cruise because of the shore excursions. Several people I talked to liked Quebec and Bar Harbor the best. We also really liked Halifax, but would have liked to have 2 days there since there is so much to do and so little time. We hired a private guide, Jonathen Duru, to take us to Peggy's Cove where there is also a memorial for the Swiss Air crash which ocurred off the coast of Nova Scotia. He is originally from Africa but has lived in Halifax for several years. He not only was extremely knowledgeable about Halifax but I felt like I had made a friend by the end of the tour. He made stops wherever we wanted, introduced us to a lobster fisherman as well as a friend of his who lost a daughter in the air crash. I would highly recommend his tour and for two people, it is slightly more expensive than the ship tour, but for four people or more it is cheaper. I will post his website later I would strongly suggest taking a ship excursion in Sydney since there is very little to see in Sydney itself. Cape Breton island has a lot of great scenery and one of the more popular ship excursions was Fortress of Louisbourg. We did the Bras d' or Lakes grand tour which we enjoyed in spite of a foggy day. The ship did not go into Charlottetown presumably due to the weather, however it turned out to be one of the nicest days on the cruise with fairly calm seas. There must have been a bad weather forcast and they did not want to take a chance with the tenders. I did talk to a staff person, and he told me that this particular captain (Henk Draper) was very conservative and frequently cancelled the Charlottetown excursion. He also thought that most other captains would have gone in that day. Henk Draper went on vacation after our cruise so hopefully most of the future cruises will make it into this port. I was disappointed since I really wanted to see as much of eastern Canada as possible. but I suppose with tenders they have to be careful. The weather generally averaged in the 60-70s with one foggy day and it only rained on one of the sea days.

 

Since we had two sea days, there were a lot of ship activities most of which we didn't do. We did go to a wine tasting, saw the movie "Catch and Release", worked out in the gym, and bought a painting at the art gallery which had a variety of good art.

 

What I really liked about this cruise was the people that we got to know. Although the age group tended to be older, there were also a number of younger people as well as families. We really liked our tablemates and enjoyed talking to them about all of their travels around the world. We also hung out with a nice couple in the Crow's Nest and met some people from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

 

In summary, if it is glitz and a party cruise that you want then the Maasdam is not for you, but if you want a relaxing cruise with elegance and a nice ambiance then the Maasdam fits the bill. She is still a grand old gal, and Sail if you read this we left "your Maasdam" in good shape. In spite of some of the glitches, we really enjoyed this cruise and I will be happy to try to answer any questions.

chcats

[Jade13]

Thank you for the nice review.

[grannynurse]

chcats,

Thank you for you very informative review. They must have put in the loud color couches in the CN during the SOE refit. There were none when we were on in 2005.

Many of us take extension cords with more outlets on all HAL ships for the reason you stated. This does not seem to be a problem in the suites which have more outlets.

Thanks again,

GN

[earl_m]

Great review. I am glad that you enjoy your cruise. I will be going in the fall on the Maasdam!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Glad you enjoyed your Canada/New England cruise on the Maasdam.

[hammybee]

Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise with us. I think the Lower Prom is a great location for a cabin because all you need to do is slip out a door and you have the entire deck and chairs at your disposal.

[lkmamom]

Thank you so much for your very wonderful review! We will be cruising onboard the Maasdam in August so I am so excited to read anything

about this cruise.:D

Linda

[sail7seas]

Thanks so much for your nice review. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

I'm sorry you encountered glitches about the wine.....that could be annoying to not be able to enjoy the wines you have been promised.

 

Also sorry you missed PEI. Disappointing but you have a great attitude about realizing safety has to be first consideration.

 

AND, especially appreciative you took such good care of "My" :) Maasdam for us. We only have three days and a wakeup until we cross her gangway. Can't wait.

 

Welcome back and thanks again for a wonderful review.

 

Time to plan your next cruise........ :D

 

[brightonguys]

Thanks for your review. I've been wondering how everyone has been enjoying the last few voyages on the Maasdam. Glad to hear your experience was a positive one. We're going on 6/30 and we're really looking forward to experiencing HAL for the first time, especially the great service and touch of elegance you noted.

 

You mentioned that you used the gym -- how was that? Did you use the Thermal Suite (if that's what it's called on the Maasam), and if so, did you find it worth the extra money? Thanks in advance for your input.

[chcats]

For those who might want a private tour in Halifax, Jhonathen Duru's website is http://www.yourcab.ca.

Brightonguys, the gym was quite well equiped. It had a number of Cybex machines similar to the ones in my local gym. It also had treadmills, stationary bikes, exercise balls and an assortment of weights. You get a great view of the ocean while working out. I didn't go to the thermal spa so I can't help you there. Have a great cruise.

[sail7seas]

We have used the gym on Maasdam on all of our cruises on her in recent years and always enjoy it. They have all the basic machines and for the most part, there is no problem getting an available one. Sure, there are occasionally times there's a short wait but more often than not we simply walk in and get on a treadmill or bike or whatever.

 

[brightonguys]

Thanks for the info CHCATS and SAIL -- I appreciate it. I have got to find a way to NOT gain the pounds I've gained on the last few cruises, and somehow saying "no" in the dining room doesn't seem like it will work. :)

[dvdfreakmc]

Thanks so much for your review. We just booked this cruise for next year at this time while on the Oosterdam this week. Good to know that the ports were great. Thanks for taking the time to review.