Orcrone
November 9th, 2004, 05:49 PM
Just returned from the Maasdam.
Summary. My only other cruise in recent memory was the Carnival Inspiration last year. Some areas I preferred the Maasdam, others the Inspiration and many are equal. I'll get to the details as I come upon them.
Left my house at 11:35 AM. I was at the pier at noon and up at the Lido having lunch at 12:30. It's possible that somewhere, somehow, someone has an easier check-in process. However, I would find that hard to believe. Under an hour from front door to start of cruise. Couldn't be much easier than that.
The weather was perfect. High 70s and sunny. Perfect weather was a trend that was to continue for most of the cruise.
When we arrived the rooms were not ready, so we went straight to the Lido, where we had lunch. Casual dining at the Lido was much better than on Carnival. We ate all our breakfasts and lunches there. The Inspiration's Lido was all neon tubes. Way over the top. The Maasdam's was much nicer. Dining cloths on tables for dinner, stewards taking your trays. Also, the menu was a subset of the regular dining menu, so you didn't wind up with inferior food.
After lunch we toured the ship. DW really enjoyed checking out the artwork on board. She is in furniture retail, so she especially liked the antique furniture on display.
We then returned to the room, and our luggage was there. So we changed into bathing suits and relaxed by the Lido pool. At 3:30 we had our first meet and greet and met some people that we became good friends with (although only one that posts sporadically on CC). Then it was time for the lifeboat drill. I think that they would help to establish the importance of the drill if the ship's photographers were not there taking pictures for people to purchase. After the lifeboat drill we had our second meet and greet at the aft pool. There we met some more people, including JohnR49er and his DW, and Iluvcruzin (Maureen) and her daughter Kelly.
Important Note: When you walk out to the aft pool for the sailaway festivities and they offer you a rum punch in a souvineer glass, just say no. They were probably made a couple of hours earlier, the ice had melted and we paid $7.00 plus tip for what tasted like water. You're better off ordering a drink so that they have to make it fresh.
After sailaway we went to dinner. We were at table 125 for the 6:15 seating. We got lucky here. 125 is a table for six at the stern of the ship, right against the window. We sat with two very nice couple.
I had the Mahi-Mahi which was very good. DW had the chicken cordon bleu, which was dried out. Here is one area where Carnival has it all over HAL. People have talked about the cutbacks on crew, and I can believe it. The stewards were running their tails ragged. However, often times empty dishes would sit in front of us too long, or I would have to wait about 10 minutes after finishing a cup of coffee to find my steward for a second cup. Last year we had much better service, plus we got to know the stewards much better, and they got to know us. There was definitely no time for any personal touch. People who cruised the Maasdam before said that there were many more stewards on previous cruises. HAL needs to reinvestigate their DR staffing.
After dinner we went to the show. We had a ventriloquist, Mike Robinson. Normally I'm not impressed with ventriloquists. However, Mike was phenomenal and hilarious. The cast of the Maasdam opened and closed with a song. However, I don't know about the wisdom of starting a cruise by singing "Rock the boat, don't tip the boat over".:D
Late night we went to the Crow's Nest. The group, Yu 4, sounded good. However, they seemed to play only about 15 minutes and then take a 15 minute break. One thing I found odd. One person kept requesting the Beatles, and they kept ignoring him. I don't know if they didn't know any Beatles, but they didn't respond in anyway; not even to state that they didn't know any songs.
I'll post more later.
Marc
Summary. My only other cruise in recent memory was the Carnival Inspiration last year. Some areas I preferred the Maasdam, others the Inspiration and many are equal. I'll get to the details as I come upon them.
Left my house at 11:35 AM. I was at the pier at noon and up at the Lido having lunch at 12:30. It's possible that somewhere, somehow, someone has an easier check-in process. However, I would find that hard to believe. Under an hour from front door to start of cruise. Couldn't be much easier than that.
The weather was perfect. High 70s and sunny. Perfect weather was a trend that was to continue for most of the cruise.
When we arrived the rooms were not ready, so we went straight to the Lido, where we had lunch. Casual dining at the Lido was much better than on Carnival. We ate all our breakfasts and lunches there. The Inspiration's Lido was all neon tubes. Way over the top. The Maasdam's was much nicer. Dining cloths on tables for dinner, stewards taking your trays. Also, the menu was a subset of the regular dining menu, so you didn't wind up with inferior food.
After lunch we toured the ship. DW really enjoyed checking out the artwork on board. She is in furniture retail, so she especially liked the antique furniture on display.
We then returned to the room, and our luggage was there. So we changed into bathing suits and relaxed by the Lido pool. At 3:30 we had our first meet and greet and met some people that we became good friends with (although only one that posts sporadically on CC). Then it was time for the lifeboat drill. I think that they would help to establish the importance of the drill if the ship's photographers were not there taking pictures for people to purchase. After the lifeboat drill we had our second meet and greet at the aft pool. There we met some more people, including JohnR49er and his DW, and Iluvcruzin (Maureen) and her daughter Kelly.
Important Note: When you walk out to the aft pool for the sailaway festivities and they offer you a rum punch in a souvineer glass, just say no. They were probably made a couple of hours earlier, the ice had melted and we paid $7.00 plus tip for what tasted like water. You're better off ordering a drink so that they have to make it fresh.
After sailaway we went to dinner. We were at table 125 for the 6:15 seating. We got lucky here. 125 is a table for six at the stern of the ship, right against the window. We sat with two very nice couple.
I had the Mahi-Mahi which was very good. DW had the chicken cordon bleu, which was dried out. Here is one area where Carnival has it all over HAL. People have talked about the cutbacks on crew, and I can believe it. The stewards were running their tails ragged. However, often times empty dishes would sit in front of us too long, or I would have to wait about 10 minutes after finishing a cup of coffee to find my steward for a second cup. Last year we had much better service, plus we got to know the stewards much better, and they got to know us. There was definitely no time for any personal touch. People who cruised the Maasdam before said that there were many more stewards on previous cruises. HAL needs to reinvestigate their DR staffing.
After dinner we went to the show. We had a ventriloquist, Mike Robinson. Normally I'm not impressed with ventriloquists. However, Mike was phenomenal and hilarious. The cast of the Maasdam opened and closed with a song. However, I don't know about the wisdom of starting a cruise by singing "Rock the boat, don't tip the boat over".:D
Late night we went to the Crow's Nest. The group, Yu 4, sounded good. However, they seemed to play only about 15 minutes and then take a 15 minute break. One thing I found odd. One person kept requesting the Beatles, and they kept ignoring him. I don't know if they didn't know any Beatles, but they didn't respond in anyway; not even to state that they didn't know any songs.
I'll post more later.
Marc