Maasdam is still great!

Well, we have been on the wonderful Maasdam since 30 January when it got out of its abbreviated drydock. The ship is in very good shape and there were very little changes that we could make out. The Ocean Bar area appeared a bit different in that they have expanded the shops somewhat. Most of the work that we could understand from Firmin (hotel manager) were underpinnings such as pipe replacement through most of the ship. The outside of the ship looked tiptop, so I suspect they painted it while in port.

The crew is very good and attentive as usual, the food is great, and the excursions for the Caribbean area were lots of fun – we have been mainly catamaraning in most ports …

They were trying fixed early seating at 5:30, which in our opinion was not good as we do not have time for cocktails before dinner – not good. Further, we tend to clash with the 2 for 1 crowd from 3:30 to 4:30 who hang around afterwards. Further planning is needed there. Further, the Crow’s nest has bingo at 4:30 which made it off limits for pre-dinner drinks as well Not sure why this was happening, but it probably won’t continue.

Overall all is well with this dear ship and we are having a great time. Neptune Lounge is its usual self – great coffee .. good service, and lots of fun interacting with other guests.

harry

Harry...... :) Yours is the first report re: my ;) beloved Maasdam since her drydock. So happy to hear she looks her beautiful self.

Firmin is a fantastic Hotel Manager, isn't he!!! One of the best.

Were you in 'our' cabin? :D

Welcome back.

Hi Harry. Welcome back. Great to hear about the Maasdam after her recent drydock. Our group is about to take her from Florida up north to the summer run and we were anxious to learn about her shape. Anyone else going on her for the repositioning cruise feel free to join our group. We have a thread started and need lots more members to join our M&G already scheduled. Colakid.

Thanks for the update. I'm trying the Maasdam myself for the first time in June and looking forward to sailing on her. Glad to hear she's in good shape and fulfilled your expectations.

David

Hi everyone ... we are still onboard until this coming Friday. In Tortola today and the weather is beautiful. The only problem seems to be related to the rework of pipes .. as usual, there were a few glitches, but they seemed to have worked them out.

No, I was not in 'our' cabin this time .. was a couple down as we wanted to try a different location just to avoid boredom .. haha.

Firmin is not only good and attentive, he is a funny guy too.

Hope the weather back in the world is not too bad. Must run as we have an early excursion.

harry

It's so great that you checked in here, Harry. Seems like I just can't get enough news of the gorgeous Maasdam.

Give her a hug! :)

So good to hear your news from the Maasdam. We will be boarding on Friday for the next 2 weeks. Is the Crow's Nest not available for cocktails during the Bingo time? We usually go there at 5 for our pre-dinner cocktails and would miss that.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Thanks for the info............. it's fun to hear about the Maasdam.

RL

The Crow's Nest is available for cocktails - they have bingo AND cocktails concurrently on this cruise. As best I can tell, they explained that the new shows they are doing required the personnel to practice in the afternoons and that took up the Lounge where normally Bingo would be happening. Probably this won;t continue if that is the case as it seemd very unusual.

As I have mentioned, the ship is in great shape, the crew is as well, except as noted below. The excursions were really fun - we did one in every port. The catamarran ones were truly worth the time/money.

Now for my only real criticism which I hate to make but must .... About the only thing we can complain about is Pinnacle Grill. Of all the ships that we have been on both HAL and Crystal, this is the only one where we felt that we were in a European stuffy place. From the moment we arrived we did not sense a comradery among the help staff. This is highly unusual across the various HAL ships we have criused. The Pinnacle staff is usually very light hearted, happy to serve, and elegant in their mannerisms – it was very lacking here. It made me think of a sweatshop mentality. (Even in the morning in Neptune, the Pinnacle person assigned to oversee the Lounge was somewhat dour.)

Additionally, they always were booked – unlike any other HAL ship where, if you wanted to dine the next evening or later, they would somehow find an opening for you. They might suggest you would have to wait awhile in the cocktail lounge, but you would get a table. On this ship, they did not do this. The philosophy was borne out at breakfast as well. Rather than clearing tables by the window so that late risers who came for breakfast would get the same lovely view of the islands that earlier diners did, they left the table either dirty or not set – we saw both. So those of us who came later would get seated in the corner away from the view – ok for eating breakfast, but scene deprivation is not part of the expected outcome.

Consequently, they lost our business. We always order reserve wines when we go to Pinnacle – which is three or four times a cruise. Here we went once and, since they were booked for the rest of the cruise, we never went again. Seems odd to me, but we take these things in stride not letting them upset us or ruining an otherwise wonderful cruise on a great ship.

That withstanding, we will be booking this ship again .. we do enjoy it.

Harry

Harry - I'm so sad to hear that things have gone downhill with the Pinnacle there. Last November, it was absolutely perfect. Do you know if they have changed managers? Matej was the one we had and he was amazing - both he and his staff were a pleasure to be around. They even asked if all was well after we missed breakfast with them one day.

very glad to hear that the beautiful Maasdam got a 'pretty-ing' up.. Firmin is definitely the best.. he always treats us extremely well onboard the Maasdam... we last were on it in November..

originally from the scuttlebutt we got while onboard early last year.. the Maasdam was supposed to be the first of the class to go into extended drydock this month for the entire month .. then somehow things got changed...it'll now be the last to get all those upgrades

we're a bit disappointed this year in that the Maasdam wasn't doing the Canal roundtrip .. we were on it for the 30 days last Jan-Feb... heading on to the Statendam next week Feb 20th Canal R/T 28 days starting in Ft Laud... it'll be our first time on it

looks like the Maasdam will be back to a roundtrip canal itinerary next Jan thru April--2010...yippee:D

Darn. :(

We've done the Canal roundtrip so many times.

Not an itinerary I really want to do again right now.

I loved the 14 day itinerary she is now doing. We so enjoyed our December cruise doing that.

I agree .. the 14 day itinerary has been absolutely great. We thoroughly enjoyed this port-intensive cruise. While there were only three sea days, the port excursions or just renting taxi to beach was delightful. This is by far our favorite itinerary in Caribbean and we have done many.

The Pinnacle Grill is currently managed by Goran and I would place most of the issues on his shoulders sad to say. BUT ... we surely did not let that bother us - the rest of the ship/crew/trip has been wonderful - as we expect from Maasdam.

harry

ps they said the original plan was to extend suite deck and take out pool on 10 but due to unmentioned issues (read that as 'economy') they decided on an abbreviated drydock and that was why they reintroduced the Jan 7 sailing.

Sad to hear about the Pinnacle Grill issues - I hope they are resolved by July when the Maasdam is doing the Canada trip. I already booked the Grill for the evening of my birthday so I'm hoping for a nice meal and celebration. :)

Nice to hear you are enjoying the ship though overall. This report is making me more wishful to be on her now more than ever. In fact - not even having sailed on the Maasdam before - I already have her as the screensaver on my computer at the office. :D

David

Sad to hear about the Pinnacle Grill issues - I hope they are resolved by July when the Maasdam is doing the Canada trip. I already booked the Grill for the evening of my birthday so I'm hoping for a nice meal and celebration. :)

 

Nice to hear you are enjoying the ship though overall. This report is making me more wishful to be on her now more than ever. In fact - not even having sailed on the Maasdam before - I already have her as the screensaver on my computer at the office. :D

David

David,

Don't fret about Pinnacle - the food is still superb even if the management is below par. We are just use to much better quality service and happier personnel, so we are being finicky. You will enjoy yourselves.

As we sit here in Half Moon Cay thinking about making the effort to put sunblock on our overstuffed bods, we can tell you that your projected thoughts are reality waiting to come true!

Harry

I agree .. the 14 day itinerary has been absolutely great. We thoroughly enjoyed this port-intensive cruise. While there were only three sea days, the port excursions or just renting taxi to beach was delightful. This is by far our favorite itinerary in Caribbean and we have done many.

The Pinnacle Grill is currently managed by Goran and I would place most of the issues on his shoulders sad to say. BUT ... we surely did not let that bother us - the rest of the ship/crew/trip has been wonderful - as we expect from Maasdam.

harry

 

ps they said the original plan was to extend suite deck and take out pool on 10 but due to unmentioned issues (read that as 'economy') they decided on an abbreviated drydock and that was why they reintroduced the Jan 7 sailing.

Harry..... It is still the plan to extend Navigation Deck to add cabins and to extend Lido Deck to include what will be the new 'fountain' area with sun lounges. Veendam will not be the first ship to get those changes plus the other scheduled work.

It is my understanding the plans were not complete soon enough for Maasdam to get that work done in January as originally scheduled so she will have another dry dock (2011) to get that work done. She was to be first among the five ships getting those changes but will not be last.

We sailed with Goran as Pinnacle Manager in December and absolutely had a blast with him. 'Something' must have been going on about which guests would not be aware as he is a truly wonderful Pinnacle Manager. (DH wanted to e-mail him when we got home to tell him something and lost his e-mail address so couldn't write.) I do not for a second doubt you had a bad experience but am shocked to hear it. Our 14 days with him were outstanding. We had at least 4 dinners in Pinnacle and I think we went to lunch as well and he took wonderful care of us.

I am very sorry you were disappointed and wonder what happened. Something was very off for you to have been treated poorly.

[i was going to ask a favor of you to mention to Goran my DH lost his e-mail and ask Goran to write him at my Yahoo address in my signature but I wouldn't do that seeing as you are not pleased with him. He really is a very competent, very funny, nice man but you have not witnessed that...sadly. I don't know the answer but something happened since we were aboard in December. [/b]

very glad to hear that the beautiful Maasdam got a 'pretty-ing' up.. Firmin is definitely the best.. he always treats us extremely well onboard the Maasdam... we last were on it in November..

 

originally from the scuttlebutt we got while onboard early last year.. the Maasdam was supposed to be the first of the class to go into extended drydock this month for the entire month .. then somehow things got changed...it'll now be the last to get all those upgrades

 

we're a bit disappointed this year in that the Maasdam wasn't doing the Canal roundtrip .. we were on it for the 30 days last Jan-Feb... heading on to the Statendam next week Feb 20th Canal R/T 28 days starting in Ft Laud... it'll be our first time on it

 

looks like the Maasdam will be back to a roundtrip canal itinerary next Jan thru April--2010...yippee:D

We were just on the Maasdam for the 14 day cruise just prior to drydock. It was a great itinerary albeit very busy going on island excursions every day. Here she is at St. Croix:

[i was going to ask a favor of you to mention to Goran my DH lost his e-mail and ask Goran to write him at my Yahoo address in my signature but I wouldn't do that seeing as you are not pleased with him. He really is a very competent, very funny, nice man but you have not witnessed that...sadly. I don't know the answer but something happened since we were aboard in December. [/b]

Sometimes these things happen .. don't know why, but it was quite a disappointment for us as we always eat three or four times there every trip - but not this one.

For your husband .. here is Goran's email address: GRAMIC100@yahoo.com

harry

Thank you, Harry. That was very kind of you to get the address for us. My husband thanks you as he really enjoyed sailing with Goran and wanted to share something with him.

Very generous of you to do this for us.

I'm sad for you, your cruise comes to an end. Hopefully you have another booked. :)

Travel home safely.

Some great shots courtesy of DutchbyAssociation's blog (via Maasdam's photo/video mngr) of Maasdam in drydock (I'm thinking Freeport, the Bahamas) before the cruise Harry is on

It's getting closer for me! I start packing next week for my annual New England/Canada cruise July 11.

Ok, maybe it's a bit early, but you do have to be ready. These things arrive faster than you expect.

Some great shots courtesy of DutchbyAssociation's blog (via Maasdam's photo/video mngr) of Maasdam in drydock (I'm thinking Freeport, the Bahamas) before the cruise Harry is on

 

 

 

 

 

All I'm getting is the dreaded red 'x' but I have seen photos of 'my' :) Maasdam in drydock. The bulb and hull seemed to have very little paint. She sure needed some TLC below the water line. :) (I'm guessing those are the photos you tried to post here, John? )

Thank you, Harry. That was very kind of you to get the address for us. My husband thanks you as he really enjoyed sailing with Goran and wanted to share something with him.

 

Very generous of you to do this for us.

I'm sad for you, your cruise comes to an end. Hopefully you have another booked. :)

 

Travel home safely.

You are welcome for the email .. and Paul says hello. Yes, we are on Prinsendam in the fall to Black Sea and then b2b to Israel and Egypt .. looking forward to it. We are torn between booking Maasdam in January or just after Thanksgiving in the future ... an R&R for us each year. The January trip was truthfully quite relaxing after the hubbub of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But the water is warmer pre-Christmas ... either way, I have to confess, we truly love that trip each year.

harry

Time for the Maasdam to retire!! There was constant noise and vibration in all locales at all times, but the food and service was good!! Susan12

Oh my goodness...... you wound me. :)

We have sailed Maasdam a great many times, our last cruise as recently as December. We have three more cruises booked on her and can't wait to cross her gangway again. We love that ship and her amazing crew.

I hope HAL keeps her (and her sisters) sailing a very many more years.