Maasdam-Canada/NE-anyone back??

[PZetz]

Would love to hear any comments/reviews from anyone just off the first Canada/NE cruise! We leave in under two weeks. Thanks!!!

[sail7seas]

:D You're 'gonna' love it! We do Canada/New England (back-to-back) every summer on Maasdam and wse wait with great impatience for our turn to board. We have to wait until August. :(

She's a beautiful ship with an awesome crew doing a great itinerary.

Enjoy your short countdown!

[cereus]

We just returned from the Can/NE cruise,from Ft Lauderdale to Montreal. Only my second time on Hollandl, went to Carribean in Jan on Zuiderdam. That was a wonderful ship, food was very good and compared favorably to X. It went into drydock shortly thereafter but we were not unhappy with the ship. The Maasdam was another story. The food was not as tasty or varied. Some of the menus in the DR were unimaginative to say the least. We were upgraded and our cabin was at the front of the ship and was very noisy. Very very noisy. Would not sail on this ship again. Just my opinion of course. We have 2 future cruises booked on HAL already because we liked the Z so much, so I hope this was an unusual trip.:( :(

[nola34]

that sounds awful....what room were you in? We'll be on the Maasdam in June!

[mamadot]

We just returned from Montreal and a lovely cruise on the Maasdam. We have 59 days on HAL so we like the cruise line but we also have done lots of cruises on Celebrity, Princess, Renaissance and even one on Norwegian. We had a great cabin and even tho we had Anytime Dining we ended up at a table for ten where we were wined and dined each night. We all stayed together for the 13 nights and had great fun. Sorry Cereus did not enjoy the cruise but we loved it!

[Copper10-8]

We just returned from the Can/NE cruise,from Ft Lauderdale to Montreal. Only my second time on Hollandl, went to Carribean in Jan on Zuiderdam. That was a wonderful ship, food was very good and compared favorably to X. It went into drydock shortly thereafter but we were not unhappy with the ship. The Maasdam was another story. The food was not as tasty or varied. Some of the menus in the DR were unimaginative to say the least. We were upgraded and our cabin was at the front of the ship and was very noisy. Very very noisy. Would not sail on this ship again. Just my opinion of course. We have 2 future cruises booked on HAL already because we liked the Z so much, so I hope this was an unusual trip.:( :(


Hi Cereus, can you be a little more specific please? What deck were you on? What kind of noise? Ship noise? Crew noise? Passenger noise? Music? Talking? Thanks! Sorry it didn't pan out for you this time!

[cruisin' the carribean]

Would love to hear any comments/reviews from anyone just off the first Canada/NE cruise! We leave in under two weeks. Thanks!!!
Hello PZetz....
We, (9 family members) will be on this trip as well.
Do you have any idea of the weather this time of year??
S t a r t i n g to g e t e x c i t e d :)

[BumperII]

We will be doing the Canada - New England b2b sailing out of Boston next Saturday. This will be our third cruise aboard the beautiful and elegant Maasdam and we will mark 100 days cruising on HAL during this trip. It is a particular delight since the Maasdam was our first HAL ship, and it was where we fell in love with Holland America.

We have cruised in the Carribean out of Norfolk twice on the Maasdam. That we are taking our third cruise on her should say all we need to say. We have enjoyed every minute on this ship, and on both prior cruises we were trying to figure out how to get back on board as walked down the gangway on disembarktion day!

Canada - New England is a new itenerary for us, and that is nice, but for us, the ship is a destination in its own right. If we had to stay tied up to the pier for a week, I believe we would enjoy ourselves anyway. It is that good.

Bon Voyage

[vb,cruisers]

We just got off the Maasdam Cruise, and were disappointed. Mostly from the changes HAL has made. We had late Traditional dinning, and had to make a choice of seeing the shows, or meeting friends for drinks before dinner. Then the Captains "party" was 15 min. Also, unless we were not invited (25 HAL cruises) there was no recognition of Mariner's. Then for a drink at the Ocean Bar it was a 10 to 15 min. wait to get a drink because, with the different dinning times, HAL has been able to reduce the number of bar waiters, since not so many passengers come in at once. When we went, there were only 2 waiters, and they had to leave the Ocean bar and go around the corner to get drinks...no longer at the bar.
Hope HAL will retool their changes.

[mamadot]

We were on this cruise and were invited to a champagne brunch for mariners. It was lovely but we did miss seeing the presntation of awards and honoring employees. I think there are so many mariners on cruises that they are changing the events. I must say we did miss seeing the captain on this cruise. They are often very visible but not this one!!

[Two if by Sea]

Who were the Captain and Cruise Director on this cruise?

[vb,cruisers]

The Captain was Henk Draper, and Cruise director was Savannah Rye...
Carol

[GMWT10A]

We'll be cruising from Montreal back "HOME" to Boston on 5/19...and didn't buy the transfer TO the Maasdam...does anyone have any advice about getting to the ship from the airport?? Costs?? Time of drive?? Bus? Cab? Thanx in advance...haven't cruised in a year due to poor health, but we're ready to roll!!!!

[sail7seas]

The Captain was Henk Draper, and Cruise director was Savannah Rye...
Carol


We love sailing with Captain Draper. Wonder if he will still be aboard when we sail in August. Captain Arjen van der Loo used to alternate with Captain Draper on Maasdam but he moved over to the left coast and Oosterdam. We'll miss him.

[tomc]

vbcruisers -- Also, unless we were not invited (25 HAL cruises) there was no recognition of Mariners. That's odd; they are doing the Mariners up quite well these days. Those with plenty of days (I have a 100-day medallion for 124 days) have their own luncheon -- and I am looking at the small menu I keep posted on my monitor :)

Mariner's Society Lunch
Caribbean Cruise
ms Noordam

Appetizer
Mariner's Seafood Cocktail

Entree
Grilled Flounder Filet
(etc)

or
Braised Beef Steak
(etc)

or
Cheddar Quiche
(etc)

Dessert
Strawberry Napoleon
with chocolate sauce

[cereus]

Hi Folks
Sorry to be so late in answering your questions. We had a guarantee cabin HH and were upgraded to G510. It was all the way forward andevery morning when we docked or dropped anchor or whatever, there was a lot of noise for a long time. One morning about 4 it sounded like something was loose and rolling back and forth into a metal wall. When I complained, they called back and wanted to come into the room so they could listen! I was quite upset already because I could't sleep. The noise was above, below or next door. Evidently, they found it because it was quiet within an hour. The room itself was large and very comfortable. Linens were a little tired. From now on I will do as I've always done, a cabin in the middle on a fairly low deck. I hope this info is helpful as I have learned so much from others on CC.

[PZetz]

Thanks for the input! Maybe someone arriving into Boston on 5/24 can give some thoughts as well. Looks like it's been pretty chilly up there!!

[Two if by Sea]

It has been chilly but tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous.

Happy arrivals!