Back from Maasdam. Some observations...

[DFD1]

Just back from the 10/23 sailing of Maasdam and wanted to share some observations. Many of you will already be familiar with these.

 

Lido service line has been broken up into stations for salads, Asian dished, Entrees, etc. The result is there is not one continuous line, but rather people using the different stations at the same time. As result, we did not miss the trays and we liked the new set-up better than the old single line with people lined up out into the hall.

 

The ship was full of beautiful fresh flowers. They were watered and changed throught the cruise.

 

The shop inventories were much improved over previous cruises. The fine jewelry shop did a good business including one sale of over $26,000.00.

 

Fixed dining table # 64 for eight, upper level. Excellent service and the menu never disappointed in the entire two weeks. Not one item was returned as unsatisfactory. Reports of spotty and slow service downstairs in "as you wish" dining were rampant.

 

Piano Bar was hopping every night. Don't ask me the piano player's name, but we surely did enjoy him.

 

In talking with our cabin stewards (two of them) we learned they were responsible for 30 staterooms! Service from them was generally good, but we never knew when they would make up the room. These guys were busy from 6am until late at night.

 

Room Service was prompt and accurate. No problems at all.

 

Entertainment was good. Small quality acts such as individual performers were much better than the larger review shows. There was a superb woman singer from Scotland who sang Andrew Lloyd Weber better than Sarah Brightman. An excellent painist one night, a violinist one night. All quite good. I hope HAL continues this trend of quality over quantity.

 

Elevator, Front Desk and Shore Excursion service was quite good.

 

Movies were a mixed bag, but some were quite good (subjective, I know).

 

Tea every afternoon in Crow's nest or Explorer's Lounge. Very well done.

 

There were virtually no children on board and the median age was probably sixty.

 

This cruise was void of glitz and glitter. It was a fine, solid, well run cruise on a really fine ship. We were a group of thirteen and there were no complaints.

[aliaschief]

Thanks for taking the time for the great overview of your cruise. Everything you stated was very much in line with how our 28 days on the MS Maasdam went this year. Great ship and outstanding officers and crew. If you train a young Holland American employe on the Maasdam they are going to learn how to do it right.

 

Thanks

[JimVrhovac]

Short, swee, and to the point.

 

Thank you for taking to time to write a review

 

Ruth & Jim

[sail7seas]

Seeing as Maasdam is one of my two favorite ships, your review makes me happy. :)

We have sailed Maasdam many times, have three more cruises booked on her and she has never once disappointed. As much as we think the ship very beautiful and love her art and flowers and and and......

 

It is her Officers/staff/crew we love the most.

 

Happy Maasdam provided your group a wonderful cruise.

Welcome Back.

 

[SwissMyst]

Something really clicked on the Maasdam for us too. The croissants were the best I have had anywhere. They were a disappointment on the Rotterdam and I now wonder what they will be like on the Oosterdam. I assumed if one HAL ship got things right, one would find the same quality on all the other ones too. Not so.

 

Maasdam seems to be in a class by herself but I need a few more HAL trips to confirm this. Looking forward to another sailing on the Maasdam while I also conduct my HAL field research to see what works and what does not on all of their ships. I will now have "S" class, "R" class and Vista for comparisions and so far give me an "S" class any day.

[IRL_Joanie]

Just back from the 10/23 sailing of Maasdam and wanted to share some observations. Many of you will already be familiar with these.

 

Lido service line has been broken up into stations for salads, Asian dished, Entrees, etc. The result is there is not one continuous line, but rather people using the different stations at the same time. As result, we did not miss the trays and we liked the new set-up better than the old single line with people lined up out into the hall.

 

The ship was full of beautiful fresh flowers. They were watered and changed throught the cruise.

 

The shop inventories were much improved over previous cruises. The fine jewelry shop did a good business including one sale of over $26,000.00.

 

Fixed dining table # 64 for eight, upper level. Excellent service and the menu never disappointed in the entire two weeks. Not one item was returned as unsatisfactory. Reports of spotty and slow service downstairs in "as you wish" dining were rampant.

 

Piano Bar was hopping every night. Don't ask me the piano player's name, but we surely did enjoy him.

 

In talking with our cabin stewards (two of them) we learned they were responsible for 30 staterooms! Service from them was generally good, but we never knew when they would make up the room. These guys were busy from 6am until late at night.

 

Room Service was prompt and accurate. No problems at all.

 

Entertainment was good. Small quality acts such as individual performers were much better than the larger review shows. There was a superb woman singer from Scotland who sang Andrew Lloyd Weber better than Sarah Brightman. An excellent painist one night, a violinist one night. All quite good. I hope HAL continues this trend of quality over quantity.

 

Elevator, Front Desk and Shore Excursion service was quite good.

 

Movies were a mixed bag, but some were quite good (subjective, I know).

 

Tea every afternoon in Crow's nest or Explorer's Lounge. Very well done.

 

There were virtually no children on board and the median age was probably sixty.

 

This cruise was void of glitz and glitter. It was a fine, solid, well run cruise on a really fine ship. We were a group of thirteen and there were no complaints.

 

 

Thank you for the excellent review!!!

 

Joanie

[bob brown]

I wasn't aware that the buffet lines were rearranged to 'stations'. Is this done on all HAL ships?

While this may be good for eliminating waiting in a slow moving line, it was nice to get a tray and get help if needed at the end to a table.

What happens to the guys like 'Hunky Dory' and 'Burt Reynolds' who handed out trays at the beginning?

Their personal greeting was always a nice welcome.

[SwissMyst]

I believe the trend to no trays is to cut down on food waste. In another setting where this was tried they found they cut food waste down 35%. With a tray people were found to often take more than they ultimately ate was the theory.

 

So in our cost-cutting days to keep quality up and costs down, this is a worthy and proven way to approach buffet lines and also reduce the amount of waste disposal which has to be problematic (and expensive) on the high seas with the need to incinerate everything. When the old days I sure was to just toss if over board for chum.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Your review made me even more excited about our Maasdam experience happening in three weeks. Thank you.

 

Barbara

[sail7seas]

I wasn't aware that the buffet lines were rearranged to 'stations'. Is this done on all HAL ships?

While this may be good for eliminating waiting in a slow moving line, it was nice to get a tray and get help if needed at the end to a table.

What happens to the guys like 'Hunky Dory' and 'Burt Reynolds' who handed out trays at the beginning?

Their personal greeting was always a nice welcome.

 

Hunky Dory, John Wayne, Burt Reynolds et al have most likely taken a significant hit to their 'income stream'. They had quite a thing going and got lots of tips at the head of the buffet line. They're all really nice guys though and probably will do just fine. :)

[toban1]

I contacted HAL corporate office to ask about the elimination of trays in the Lido. They responded that it was a cost cutting measure because of the cost related to washing the trays. I was not surprised that it would be entirely self serving on the part of the cruise line. I have no idea where the figure of 35% reduction in food waste came from.

[sevenseasnomad]

Thanks for your lovely review of Maasdam. We have sailed only once with HAL. You guessed it---on Maasdam. Our experience was similar to yours. We could not wait to book with HAL again. This time on Zuiderdam. Do hope she measures up to her "smaller sister." Have heard mixed reviews about her. We are approaching this next cruise with an

open mind and lots of positive reinforcement from our first HAL cruise.

 

Know we will have a wonderfull time, but Maasdam will always hold a special place in our memories & hearts.:)

[Johanna7]

DFB1, thank you for the review of the Maasdam. We will be on her for 35 nights this July and August on the Voyage of the Vikings and are now looking forward to it even more. Sounds good to us.

 

As for the trays preventing waste, yes, I can see that. I sure wouldn't want to grow out of my clothes on those 35 days.

[K&RCurt]

Thanks for your great review.

 

The Maasdam is one of the HAL ships on our short list to sail on.

 

On a side note, it is discouraging that people are still "outraged" at the months-old "No Trays in the Lido" chestnut.

 

Some things just won't die!

[DFD1]

One additional note about the Lido. The Lido on this cruise (10/23) was very well staffed, with waiters always available to help passengers get their food from the line to the table. Many passengers asked these waiters to bring their drinks as well.

 

In addition, there was a moving trolly with coffee and tea on both sides of the Lido.

 

Table clean-up was generally prompt. In a couple of cases, the bus-boy took my plate right out from under my sandwich!

 

The lido dining room was managed by a young 36 year old named Phillipe from Lisbon. He did an excellent job.

[pms4104]

I contacted HAL corporate office to ask about the elimination of trays in the Lido. They responded that it was a cost cutting measure because of the cost related to washing the trays. I was not surprised that it would be entirely self serving on the part of the cruise line. I have no idea where the figure of 35% reduction in food waste came from.

My uneducated guess is that is was more polite for HAL to explain traylessness as related to the costs of washing them ... rather than to indicate that every day on every ship there likely is enough foodwaste to feed a small village somewhere in the Third World. Hence, the cost reduction likely has more to do with not garbaging untold quantities of food taken by people whose eyes are way bigger than their stomach.

[airlink diva]

Thanks for the short review on your recent sailing on the Maasdam!

I fell in love with her in 2007 and since then sailed with her again in 2008 and booked in 2010.

There's something about the "S" class ship that seem to click with me. I love the small size of the ship, the great staff and guest on board.

[mammy123]

We were on the same cruise and totally agree with you. We were glad to see the old times back with the shows - 8 & 10, but were a little disappointed that on several nights there were "special events" and thus the shows were back to the earlier times, thus we chose not to dress early to make them (we had the set late seating). We wish they had more at the set times. Smoothest cruise we've had in 7 cruises. Totally relaxing and great ! ! Also, had the silent disembarkation and we were very glad to get the 8:15 a.m. time.

[Laurie S.]

I can't wait, I'm going on the Maasdam holiday cruise next month! :)

[SwissMyst]

I contacted HAL corporate office to ask about the elimination of trays in the Lido. They responded that it was a cost cutting measure because of the cost related to washing the trays. I was not surprised that it would be entirely self serving on the part of the cruise line. I have no idea where the figure of 35% reduction in food waste came from.

 

The 35% food reduction waste figure came from me. I saw it at a large institutional buffet line explaining why they no longer had trays. Makes sense.

 

Throwing food out has to be heart breaking particularly when there is such limited space to store it in the first place.

 

Personally think if it is in HAL's best interests, it is not an unreasonable stretch to think it is also in our best interests too as they find ways to cut down on costs and waste. Environmental laws are also stricter about ship wastes too.

 

Getting rid of trays moving slowing down a buffet line for me is a good thing. I always found it difficult to be behind people who had a hard time making up their minds and never knew if it was good etiquette to cut in front of them to get where I wanted to go or leap into a line that had already formed elsewhere but was clogged up further down the line.

 

But anyway, I like room service breakfasts and the main dining room for lunch so this is not really a problem for me. Hope it works out for others who do love the choice and convenience of the Lido. Nice to hear how helpful the waiters are to make it work out for those who need and want the extra assistance. That is a real concern. HAL will not do well annoying its passengers so I hope for the best for all concerned.

[marysb]

A little exercise to go back and get that dessert certainly won't hurt anyone. Man..what a lot of whining over a tray! It NEVER stops!

[toban1]

A little exercise to go back and get that dessert certainly won't hurt anyone. Man..what a lot of whining over a tray! It NEVER stops!

 

Oh my goodness, I was not whining; I thought I was being helpful by giving you the facts as I was given them. Apparently it is a more sensitive issue than I thought. So sorry.