K548 Inside Room Maasdam

For anyone interested, I just submitted photos & they are posted on Halfacts.com of the large inside stateroom K548 on the Maasdam.

I searched all over for pictures of these rooms before booking and could not find any so I vowed to take photos as soon as we could access the room and they are now on the net.

This was a charter cruise and rooms were quite expensive so we chose an inside for the first time. I have to honestly say that we really did not miss a balcony all that much since the weather was quite chilly to enjoy a balcony and we saved a lot of money with the inside.

Any questions, just ask!!

I have a good friend who always takes an inside room, despite being quite wealthy. His philosophy is that he spends most of the day outside his room and only goes there to sleep.

He loves to lay around poolside on at sea days, and when in port he is on land (usually laying around on some beach).

I am different, I spend a lot of time in our room. I love to sit on the balcony even when it is chilly. At sea days are usually spent on my balcony, sometimes only leaving the room to eat. I never lounge around in pool areas.

So, different lifestyles require different kinds of cabins.

Thanks for the information. Always good to see photos and very helpful ones, too.

How was your cruise?

I'm very happy to see this post today because we recently considered K548 on an upcoming cruise but I had some worries about noise problems due to its location. From your comments on Halfacts.com it seems you didn't experience any problems. From the deck plan I had noted this forward to aft inside had corridors on two sides, a white space (crew area?) on another side, and the dreaded forward staircase on the fourth side. The stairs worried me the most as I have heard people stomping up or down the stairs before. You really didn't hear staircase noise? They must have insulated the walls better than normal. Your cabin appears more spacious than the side to side ones. I'm glad it turned out to be a good choice for you.:)

This cabin is one of two matching cabins, the other being on the starboard side. I've stayed in that cabin on the Maasdam and the (former) Ryndam. These are what are commonly termed "sideways" cabins, and are larger than the other "large" insides, as well as configured differently.

I've stayed in identical cabins on every R-class ship, too. All have the passageway on two sides, and a staircase on a third side. They are my favorite cabins on these two classes of ship.

Thank you! We're booked in that cabin on the Veendam next year.

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I have a good friend who always takes an inside room, despite being quite wealthy. His philosophy is that he spends most of the day outside his room and only goes there to sleep.

He loves to lay around poolside on at sea days, and when in port he is on land (usually laying around on some beach).

I am different, I spend a lot of time in our room. I love to sit on the balcony even when it is chilly. At sea days are usually spent on my balcony, sometimes only leaving the room to eat. I never lounge around in pool areas.

So, different lifestyles require different kinds of cabins.

We spend a lot of time in our stateroom too so we usually do book a balcony this cruise was almost twice as much as regular price because of the balcony, so we had to chose the inside. We did get to pick our choice and chose this stateroom because it was larger than most insides.

Thanks for the information. Always good to see photos and very helpful ones, too.

 

How was your cruise?

Cruise was wonderful (although we both returned home with the flu).

It was a charter with Garrison Keillor A Prairie Home Companion. This was the 10th HAL cruise for APHC. He took over all of the entertainment and it was fantastic! Even the captain joined in one night (it was funny to see Garrison joking around with the captain, not sure if he knew how to take him). :)

Weather was just so-so. Rained in every port but Ketchikan where it was sunny but only in the 50's and windy.

We saw lots of wildlife. I Love Alaska!!!

Also, APHC announced their next charter for next year (everyone thought this one might be the last since he has retired from the radio show). It will be a two-week cruise on the Rotterdam to Norway 6/10/17 - 6/24/17. Not sure now if we will be able to do this one.

Anyone know the best inside rooms on the Rotterdam??

I'm very happy to see this post today because we recently considered K548 on an upcoming cruise but I had some worries about noise problems due to its location. From your comments on Halfacts.com it seems you didn't experience any problems. From the deck plan I had noted this forward to aft inside had corridors on two sides, a white space (crew area?) on another side, and the dreaded forward staircase on the fourth side. The stairs worried me the most as I have heard people stomping up or down the stairs before. You really didn't hear staircase noise? They must have insulated the walls better than normal. Your cabin appears more spacious than the side to side ones. I'm glad it turned out to be a good choice for you.:)

We heard some noise during the day as the crew were moving around but nothing really bad. There would be some traffic at night with passengers returning from shows but we got used to it.

We usually travel on the aft so very little foot traffic.

This cabin is one of two matching cabins, the other being on the starboard side. I've stayed in that cabin on the Maasdam and the (former) Ryndam. These are what are commonly termed "sideways" cabins, and are larger than the other "large" insides, as well as configured differently.

I've stayed in identical cabins on every R-class ship, too. All have the passageway on two sides, and a staircase on a third side. They are my favorite cabins on these two classes of ship.

Ruth,

I booked this room because of your recommendation. Thank You!!

Do you have a recommendation for an inside on the Rotterdam (just in case we decide to book the charter for next year)?

Ruth,

 

I booked this room because of your recommendation. Thank You!!

 

Do you have a recommendation for an inside on the Rotterdam (just in case we decide to book the charter for next year)?

In that case, glad it worked out for you!

If you really liked this cabin, then 2619 is the same configuration on the Rotterdam. It's on Main Deck, precisely at mid-ship. Perfect location.

If you want to upgrade just a bit, I will recommend any inside cabin on Lower Promenade, between the atrium and the mid-ship elevator. I was partial to 3345 there, but any of them will do.

K548 was my first HAL cabin ever, and is still a favourite.

@EBay Cruiser: thanks to RuthC I've fallen in love with the midship lower prom deck insides on both the S and R class vessels she just recommended. I could happily travel on a full world cruise in one of those cabins.

We have 549 booked on the Maasdam for February. It doesn't look like there are many closets. Was that a problem for you? We're going with cheaper cabins now that my husband is retired so we can go on more cruises but will have to learn to pack a little differently.

Mary

We have 549 booked on the Maasdam for February. It doesn't look like there are many closets. Was that a problem for you?

My memory is that there were two full closets (on different walls), and the closet with shelving, safe, and lower hanging space. But there were six drawers in the desk, so quite a bit of storage in there.

Thank you,

We have the cabin for a 30 day cruise and in the photos I only saw the closets that look like they are by the door where you enter the cabin.

Mary

My brother had this cabin on the Ryndam (before it was transferred) and he really enjoyed it, but did mention a quirk. For some reason, he could clearly, and loudly hear the alarm that sounds when the sliding down cover over the Lido Pool area is being opened or closed in the cabin. He said it was the only real downside of that cabin, but was not enough to prevent him from booking it again.

It was incredibly spacious -- definitely large enough for our traveling party of 5 to use when we all wanted to get together or meet before heading out.

We had this cabin when sailing on the Veendam and absolutely loved it! We called it our 'inside suite' because of the amount of available floor space. First stateroom we've ever had where we were not tripping over each other trying to get ready for dinner.

The closets provided more than enough storage and because of the way the room was laid out, when you opened the doors you still had a lot of overhead lighting to see what you were choosing. Because they were to the right of the bathroom (instead of directly across from it) you could stand there with the doors open and not have to jockey for position if someone needed to get in/out of the bath.

If I ever chose to book an inside again on that class ship I would seek out that room again in an instant.

We have 549 booked on the Maasdam for February. It doesn't look like there are many closets. Was that a problem for you? We're going with cheaper cabins now that my husband is retired so we can go on more cruises but will have to learn to pack a little differently.

Mary

We did notice the smaller closets. We were on a 14 day cruise and took more clothes than needed (especially since we had the unlimited laundry pkg.). It does have a lot of drawer space. We did not use the ones in the night stands.

In that case, glad it worked out for you!

 

If you really liked this cabin, then 2619 is the same configuration on the Rotterdam. It's on Main Deck, precisely at mid-ship. Perfect location.

 

If you want to upgrade just a bit, I will recommend any inside cabin on Lower Promenade, between the atrium and the mid-ship elevator. I was partial to 3345 there, but any of them will do.

Thanks Ruth, I will check out these rooms!

My brother had this cabin on the Ryndam (before it was transferred) and he really enjoyed it, but did mention a quirk. For some reason, he could clearly, and loudly hear the alarm that sounds when the sliding down cover over the Lido Pool area is being opened or closed in the cabin. He said it was the only real downside of that cabin, but was not enough to prevent him from booking it again.

 

It was incredibly spacious -- definitely large enough for our traveling party of 5 to use when we all wanted to get together or meet before heading out.

We never heard the pool cover being opened or closed and it was opened quite often. They had several barbeques on the pool deck and opened them for ventilation.

 

Also, APHC announced their next charter for next year (everyone thought this one might be the last since he has retired from the radio show). It will be a two-week cruise on the Rotterdam to Norway 6/10/17 - 6/24/17. Not sure now if we will be able to do this one.

 

Oh you should try to go to Norway next year! It's absolutely fabulous! We've gone several times and would go again in a heartbeat. But if you have an inside cabin spend as much time as possible outside or in the Crow's Nest viewing the fjords and other gorgeous Norwegian scenery.

Oh you should try to go to Norway next year! It's absolutely fabulous! We've gone several times and would go again in a heartbeat. But if you have an inside cabin spend as much time as possible outside or in the Crow's Nest viewing the fjords and other gorgeous Norwegian scenery.

We did spend a lot of time outside our room on this cruise to view the scenery it was spectacular.

We are excited about Norway but not sure we can go. The price of the airfare seems awfully expensive (almost as much as the cruise). When is the best time to look for airfare and does it really take 11-14 hours to fly to Rotterdam?

Thank you,

We have the cabin for a 30 day cruise and in the photos I only saw the closets that look like they are by the door where you enter the cabin.

Mary

My memory of location on two different walls may be faulty; the Maasdam and Ryndam had a different set-up. But there were definitely two full closets; I use one for daywear and one for evening, and would remember if I had everything in the same one. Of course, there was also the one with shelving and the safe.

We've never flown on them but I've heard that Icelandic air has really low prices. I believe the seats are more traditional though (not much legroom).

The only time that we've ever been on the Ryndam we had the penthouse suite on a 10 day Sea of Cortez trip. HAL had mispriced the sailing for a few hours and I was lucky enough to find it so we only paid $3,000 for both of us. That was our best price ever! Our best friends got a regular suite for $2000 for two. Awesome trip.

Mary

We've never flown on them but I've heard that Icelandic air has really low prices. I believe the seats are more traditional though (not much legroom).

We flew Icelandair last year one-way from NY to Copenhagen with a several day stopover in Reykjavik. If you have several days to spare, I highly recommend it. The fare was reasonable. We flew premium economy (forgot what Icelandair calls it) and the only difference between it and first class was they served a different meal. The seats are like domestic first class...no pods or fully reclining. I would definitely book them again to fly to Europe and hopefully have enough time for another stopover in Reykjavik. :)