Just Back From The Maasdam

[Travelnuts Wife]

The Soda Cards Are Back. $40.75 For A Ten Day Cruise With A Refillable Large Plastic Hal Glass. Apparently The Air Conditioning, Plumbing And Engines Were All Fixed While On The Four Day Wet Dock In Norfolk Before We Boarded. I Did Hear One Man Complain About His Toilet Once But I Think That Was Fixed Right Away. We Had No Problems With Any Of The Above. We Did Have A Lot Of Problems With The Internet. The First Day Rodim Was Fixing Computers So We Couldn't Get On And They Lost The Sattelite System More Often Then Not. I Ended Up Getting A Refund For My Internet Package Because I Could Only Get On It For 10 Minutes The Entire Trip. Whenever I Went In The System Was Down. Everything Else Was Great Except For The Tour Of St. Maarten Which The Ship Refunded 50% Of The Tour Price To Us After We Filled Out A List Of Our Complaints About It.

[who3333]

We just returned from the same cruise and really enjoyed it. Our first on HAL and we will definitely return. Really a superior service crew and although the ship needs updating ...she represents the right size vessel for us.

The only downside for us was the Hotel Manager and the hasssle we got about the international calls billed to our phone. Continualy implied we had made them even after telling us it was a new system and they could not trace who made them. Final effort was to tell me my wife had made them without my knowledge. Only problem with that ugly assertion is that we were at dinner together when they were made.

Like I said we would go back in a minute but did not need the dondescending attitude in resolving the only problem we had on the cruise.

[LizB1]

So glad to hear that the problems seemed to have been fixed when the ship was in wet-dock. We were getting a little nervous about our long cruise in July on her and perhaps experiencing the same thing that happened on the Rotterdam last summer when they lost power in the North Atlantic.

[localady]

Welcome Home to you all!:D

Glad to hear you had a generally good cruise!:cool:

[cheric]

Thanks for the up-date on the problems on the Maasdam. We leave from Norfolk on 2/27 and this being our first HAL cruise, I was getting a bit nervous. You have set my mind at ease. I am so looking forward to it.

[elmorejj]

Thank you for the report. One comment, I just wish HAL could be more consistent across the board in its charges. On your 10 day cruise, a soda card was $40.75, on our 10 day Xmas cruise a soda card was $50. I have noticed lots of other charges not being consistent fleet wide.....jean :cool:

[RuthC]

Thank you very much for the update on the A/C and plumbing issues. I feel relieved to know that things are better than they were.

How (and who) was the entertainment?

Welcome home.

[alex_drew]

Travelnuts Wife,

Which tour did you take in St. Maarten? I've been trying to look at which tours we will do in March, so I'd like to know which ones to avoid. Thanks so much.

[Ziggy7]

Travelnuts Wife,

Which tour did you take in St. Maarten? I've been trying to look at which tours we will do in March, so I'd like to know which ones to avoid. Thanks so much.Me too please! Please tell us what happened :)

Welcome home and thanks for sharing your cruise with us!:)

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks Travelnuts wife and who333 for reporting back to us re the Maasdam. I was starting to worry a little that the "bugs" would not be ironed out before July.

I am so glad you had a great cruise and enjoyed your HAL experience.

Jennie

[CaptData]

Hi Travelnuts Wife and who3333. I'm leaving6 Feb on her. Could you please tell me who the Hotel Manager, CD and Capt are. any of the shows or piano players you liked. Thank you inadvance.

[karbar]

Hi all,
The S.O.E. is starting to take shape on the Maasdam...
The new mattress are incredible and they have new phones that display your name (after a few drinks at the dolphin bar it can be a challenge to push the correct button.)
We were the 1st ones to use the new Terra Cotta Cabana ...last one on the beach and it was so nice!

They have fixed the engines and stabilizers and even with the 20' seas on the way home she sailed beautifully.
They also have a new "state of the art" navigation system.

The pilings are slated to be put in place and the beginning stages of the new Norfolk terminal will begin this week.
Maasdam has signed a 3 year contract to sail from Norfolk which makes me ever so happy as these smaller ships wont be around forever!

To all that are aboard now ,or are going in the near future have fun and make sure to stop by the piano bar and have the bar tender Cesar sing
..he is the BEST ! :)

[like-to-cruise]

I agree it was a great cruise. The only problem I encountered was the arrogant and pushy attitude of some of the "Senior Citizens" on board. They routinely cut line and berated the crew. I am not far from that catagory myself and hope I never behave in that way!!:)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Welcome back to all of you! Love to hear more about the actual cruise, but good to know that basically you had a good time.

So sorry about the senior citizens onboard. We can be such a pain, I know. It's too bad they can't think of a way to get rid of us:D

Good thing those phones display your name! If you're having a good enough time, you might forget it;) . Karbar, aren't those beds the best? What I would give to be on one right now. So glad you enjoyed the cabana. We sure loved ours.

[Aussie Gal]

Heather,

What age denotes a Senior Citizen or is it a state of mind. I know you and I are similar ages and yet I do not in anyway regard myself as a Senior Citizen. I don't even think I look like one!!

Jennie

[Linda&Vern]

Thank you for the report. One comment, I just wish HAL could be more consistent across the board in its charges. On your 10 day cruise, a soda card was $40.75, on our 10 day Xmas cruise a soda card was $50. I have noticed lots of other charges not being consistent fleet wide.....jean :cool:
On our 11-day Maasdam Holiday cruise the unlimited soda card package (with plastic HAL glass) was $44.50 PLUS 15% gratuity automatically added ... total being $51.18.

[Travelnuts Wife]

THE CAPTAIN WAS HENK DRAPER AND THE HOTEL MANAGER WAS KEES STREUDING. AS FAR AS THE TOURS WENT -- MY SON WENT PARASAILING AND MY DH AND I DID THE ECO LAGOON CRUISE BOTH WERE PLEASANT EXCEPT THAT IF YOU ARE TALL THERE IS NOT MUCH LEG ROOM ON THE BOAT AND WE REALLY DIDN'T SEE A LOT OF FISH. WE DID SEE A LARGE STINGRAY AND SOME CORAL. IT WAS VERY RELAXING AND WE ENJOYED IT.
IN ST. THOMAS WE WENT TO PARADISE POINT & ST. PETER GREATHOUSE WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL AND WE HAD A WONDERFUL TOUR GUIDE. MY SON WENT SEA TREK HELMET DIVING AND ENJOYED THAT. IN ST. JOHN'S, ANTIGUA WE DID THE OVERVIEW OF ANTIGUA WITH THE BEST TOUR GUIDE STEADROY) HE WAS INFORMATIVE AND FUNNY WE WERE JUST SURPRISED AT SOME OF THE AREAS WE DROVE THROUGH THEY WERE REAL SLUMS BUT WE WENT TO A PLACE CALLED I BELIEVE THE "BEACHCOMBER" AND IT WAS VERY PEACEFUL AND PRETTY. MY SON HAD PLANNED ON SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS BUT WE RECEIVED A NOTICE FROM THE SHORE EXCURSION OFFICE THAT THE AREA WAS UNDER RECONSTRUCTION SO THE TOUR WAS CANCELLED. oN ST. MAARTEN WE DID THE ISLAND DRIVE. THE TOUR WAS SUPPOSED TO START ON THE DOCK AT 8:45. THE NIGHT BEFORE WE WERE TOLD THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO TENDER IN AND HAD TO MEET IN THE LOUNGE AT 7:45. IT TURNED OUT THAT THERE WERE 9 SHIPS IN PORT THAT DAY. WE ARRIVED EARLY AT THE DOCK AND WERE LINED UP FOR 15 MIN. BEFORE THEY STARTED TO WALK US TO THE BUS. ON THE WAY WE WERE STOPPED HALF ON THE SIDEWALK AND HALF IN THE STREET WITH TRAFFIC COMING VERY CLOSE TO US AND WE HAD TO STAND IN THIS AREA FOR ANOTHER 15-20 MIN. MAKING SURE WE DIDN'T GET HIT BY A PASSING CAR THEN WE WERE PUT ON THE BUS AND AGAIN MADE TO WAIT ANOTHER 15 MIN. THERE WAS NO ONE AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO FIND OUT WHAT THE DELAYS WERE. AS WE WERE LEAVING WE SAW A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE EXCURISION OFFICE WITH TWO PASSENGERS STANDING ON THE CORNER WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR BUS BUT THERE WASN'T ENOUGH ROOM ON THE BUS. THEN OUR ILL FATED TOUR BEGAN. THE SOUND SYSTEM ON THE BUS WAS AWFUL AND THE DRIVER HAD A VERY THICK ACCENT THEREFORE WE COULD ONLY UNDERSTAND MAYBE ONE OUT OF EVERY TEN WORDS HE SPOKE. WHEN SOMEONE ASKED HIM TO TELL US SOME HISTORY OF THE ISLAND HE SAID (HONESTLY) THERE IS THE ANGLICAN CHURCH AND THERE IS THE BAPTIST CHURCH (END OF HISTORY LESSON). WE HAD TO GO UP A VERY LARGE HILL (SMALL MOUNTAIN) TO GET TO THE FRENCH SIDE OF THE ISLAND. THE DRIVER STALLED FIVE TIMES AND THEN WE WERE TOLD THIS WAS HIS FIRST TIME DRIVING A BUS. WE DIDN'T KNOW IF THIS WAS A JOKE OR NOT, HOWEVER, COMING DOWN THE HILL INSTEAD OF DOWN SHIFTING HE PUT HIS FOOT ON THE BRAKE AND THE OTHER ON THE CLUTCH. AT THIS POINT WE BELIEVED THIS WAS HIS FIRST TIME DRIVING A BUS. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME EVER THAT WE DID NOT TIP A TOUR LEADER. HE WAS BOTH DRIVER AND TOUR LEADER. WHEN WE WALKED AROUND THE TOWNS AFTER OUR TOURS WE FOUND MANY LOCAL DRIVERS GIVING THE SAME TOURS FOR A LOT LESS MONEY THEN HAL. MANY WERE RIGHT AT THE DOCKS WHEN WE GOT OFF THE SHIP. WE WERE SO UPSET WITH THE LAST TOUR THAT WE CANCELLED OUR TOUR OF PUERTO RICO WHICH I BELIEVE WAS $29. WHEN WE GOT OFF THE SHIP THERE WERE PLENTY OF TOUR DRIVERS THERE THAT WERE CHARGING $10 FOR THE TOUR AND WERE WILLING TO DROP YOU OFF BACK AT THE SHIP OR DOWNTOWN SHOPPING AREA WHEN THE TOUR ENDED. THEY DIDN'T EVEN COLLECT THE MONEY UNTIL THE TOUR WAS OVER TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE SATISFIED WITH THE TOUR. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TOUR OF PUERTO RICO. THE LAST TIME WE WERE IN P.R. WE DID THE BACARDI TOUR AND ENJOYED THAT TOUR TOO. AFTER COMPLAINING TO THE EXCURSION OFFICE WE DID RECEIVE A REFUND OF HALF OF THE PRICE OF THE ST. MAARTEN'S TOUR.
WE DROVE TO NORFOLK THE DAY BEFORE OUR CRUISE STARTED AND STAYED AT THE HOLIDAY INN SELECT. I THINK THE PRICE WAS AROUND $125 TO $130 AND WE WERE ABLE TO LEAVE OUR CAR PARKED THERE DURING THE ENTIRE CRUISE AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. THEY DROVE US TO THE SHIP AND PICKED US UP WHEN WE RETURNED. THERE ARE ONLY ABOUT 15 MIN. FROM THE CRUISE TERMINAL. THEY WILL ALSO DRIVE YOU TO SHOPPING AREAS OR OTHER RESTAURANTS WHILE YOU ARE STAYING WITH THEM. THEY ALSO HAVE A RESTAURANT ON THE PREMISES. THIS IS A VERY SAFE AREA AND I THINK A GREAT DEAL FOR THE MONEY.
1/6 Welcome Aboard - Casual - show Maasdam Cast and Gary Wick a comedian and ventriloquist who was very good.
1/7 At Sea - Formal - Maasdam cast rock & roll, doo-wop, motown etc.(very good)
1/8 Half Moon Cay - Casual - Barnaby a juggling (did not attend)
1/9 At Sea - Informal - Greg Frewin magician (did not attend) Turn clocks ahead one hour
1/10 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas - Casual - Maasdam cast "Party Gras" (very good)
1/11 St. John's, Antigua - Formal - Robin Fellows also Indonesian Crew show (I guess we were vacationing to hard we fell asleep and missed dinner and the show) We work up around 8 and ordered room service) We didn't have to be back on the ship until 6:30 even though our dinner was at 6 so this was part of the reason we were running late and took too long of a nap.
1/12 - Philipsburg, St. Maarten - Casual - Robin Fellows apparently they changed last nights show at the last minute so I don't know what or who they had because I was sleeping and I am only going by the daily programs for this information
1/13 - Puerto Rico - Informal - Janine Gardner comedian she was pretty good not great
1/14 - At Sea -Formal - Maasdam Cast "Romance on Broadway" very good
1/15 - At Sea -Casual - Janine Gardner and Robin Fellows

It seemed very strange to have a Formal night when we didn't even have to be back to the ship until 6:30. It was also strange that we were told one Informal night and they had two. I hope this answers all the questions, if not I will write again.

[Travelnuts Wife]

I forgot to mention that the Cruise Director was Rick Hinkson. I live in an "Adult Community" so I guess I qualify as a senior. I think there are many seniors here who think they are owed everything but there are also many wonderful seniors who would give you the shirt off their backs. You should have run into some of the seniors that were boarding for the next sailing as we were waiting for our ride back to get our car at the hotel. They were awful and I was very happy not to be cruising with them. Our table mates on the ship were staying in the (I think it's called the) Presidential Suite. They were very senior citizens and the nicest people you could ask to be seated with.

[the2ofus]

Travelnuts wife,
Was your St. Maarten tour the 3 1/2 hour Sea & See Tour? Ours in Dec. was the pits! Driver said no more than 2 words except for "here is where we stop for the Sub ride" and "be back in 45 minutes" in Marigot. The semi-sub ride was interesting and narrated, but we learned nothing about anything on St. Maarten during the bus ride. We asked, in writing, for a 50% refund of the cost of the excursion. Did not receive even an acknowledgement of our request from the Shore Ex. manager, even tho we checked later in the cruise. Have written to HAL but no response yet.

[slineberry528]

Glad you had a wonderful time. We were on the NOv. 20 sailing. Our soda card was $38 something, we had a plastic glass also.
For those intereted in St. Martin, we got off the ship and the first booth bought a package to the resort across the canal. for $75 we got reef snorkeling, jet skis, mats to float on. Well worth the money, the time we were in St. Martin we went to Orient beach, the beach is prettier over there but the snorkeling was great on the Dutch side.
Susan

[who3333]

We really enjoyed the Stars and stripes regatta in St. Marrteens. Since I have sailed for many years, I thought I would give it a go. It was the highlight of my cruise and probably one of the greatest sailing experiences of my life. I had the helm after the race and was able to sail her myself. Wow!

Things in St Maarteens as a whole were really out of control with 9 ships and 25,000 plus onshore. Really packed

[who3333]

Sorry I did not respond to some of the other posts. We did the catamaran "champagne" (rum) trip to St. Johns and highly recommend it. We had originally booked a daysail on Fantasy that did not workout because of the arrival and departure time. Thanks to the tour folks we were able to replace it the night before with the cat cruise.

We were scheduled to take the Eli Eco tour on Antiguathat had been so highly recommended on these boards but they got their times reversed and we missed them. They apologized and refunded the deposit. They seem like really fine folks and I regret not getting with them.

We rented a taxi and covered the history of the island by auto...really enjoyed the time at Nelsons dockyard without the time constraints. We ended the day with a beach swim at an isolated beach the driver took us to. She qouted 60 for the day at Nelsons and we rounded it to 100 given all the extras she brought to the experience.

I really enjoyed the piano bars on board but we arent partiers so I cant give you much insight.

I abolutely loved the feel of the ship and not getting hawked on every conceivable sale as we had experienced on other cruises. We plan a back to back next year for eastern and western.

[Travelnuts Wife]

We Did The St. Maarten Island Drive - 2-3/4 Hour. We Do Not Recommend It. I Went To The Casino Everynight And The Music From The Piano Bar Was Really Good, I Thoroughly Enjoyed It. I Believe We Were On St. Thomas Walking Around Waiting For Our Tour To Start And A Local Offered Us A Tour For $20 For A Two Hour Tour. The Woman That Was With Us Took The Tour And Said It Was Very Good. Our Tour Was A Different One But Cost $49 And Took In A Lot Of The Same Things Her Tour Did. Ours Was A Three Hour Tour. My Dh Has Two Bad Knees And A Bad Back So We Are Limited In What Kind Of Tours We Can Take. My Son Is 37 And Does The More Exciting Tours. He Really Did Enjoy All The Tours He Took. He Also Rented A Jet Ski On St. Maarten For A Cost Of $40 And Loved It.

[starysacz]

Thank you Travelnuts Wife for the excellent report and the updates. We were concerned about some of the problems reported several months ago. We are booked on the Maasdam in May and for the 35 day transatlantic in July.:)

[getaway101]

Karbar - Could that be the same karbar from the corolla lighthouse cafe????? I thought you 2 fell off the face of the earth. It's D&D and we will be at Shipswatch in Feb. Were there in Nov. but y'all weren't.

Let me know if this is you :confused:

[karbar]

Rico is talking to you as I write this!
We have been traveling quite a bit on various ships...
We still need to sail with you someplace warm on HAL
Give us a call when you get down here.
Miss you.
Eric & Kari :p

[getaway101]

Karbar - Has Rico made a decision yet on the 4/21 Maasdam sailing? We are thinking of doing that one. We will be at SW Feb 9th thru the 23rd. Will you be there? It is a work trip for me http://smileys.******************/cat/3/3_4_25.gif (http://www.******************/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSXXXXXX47US) , but Don can play http://smileys.******************/cat/36/36_11_6.gif (http://www.******************/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSXXXXXX47US)

[the2ofus]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, we had a very disappointing 3 1/2 hour See & Sea tour in St. Maarten. The semi-sub part was very interesting and informative but the bus ride around the island included NO narrative and not even any interaction or courtesy by our driver. We submitted a written request for a partial refund while still on board the Westerdam. Heard not one word in response from the Shore Ex manager.

Today I received a timely reply to my Dec. 31 letter to HAL from Jennifer Cozby, Special Advisor, Office of the President. She basically thanks me for the feedback, regrets the inconvenience and frustration of our shore excursion but says I must realize these are independent vendors whom HAL tries to hold to high standards. She's also sorry I didn't like the prices of the shore excursions offered on board. She regrets also that our interaction with some staff members affected our overall enjoyment of the cruise. Makes me wonder if she really read our letter in it's entirety.

I have sent a follow-up letter explaining that our contract for the shore excursion was with HAL. It is their responsibility to make sure the tour is as advertised, or, implicitly, to refund payment. Also, I have very carefully explained that this was the only HAL tour we took that we did not consider good value for the money. We just want half of the price of that one tour refunded to us, since half of it was as advertised and the other half was not.

I hastened to assure her that our overall cruise experience was not ruined, that the staff was as gracious and helpful as we have come to expect, but that one unresponsive department manager can initiate a slow deterioration in service throughout a department or an entire ship.

All we want is a refund of $54 and to give HAL a heads-up that their St. Maarten tour vendors might be ripping them off. We'll see what response this next letter brings.

[getaway101]

Good Luck on getting it. I agree with you. When an excursion is sponsored by the cruise ship then they should know the quality of it.