Live from the Maasdam - March 28th Southern Caribbean

[Skipper's Mom]

Our dining experiences in the main dining room was OK. If we needed extras, i.e., more lobster, etc., we got it. There were a few yuckkie items but we just soldiered on...all in all, we enjoyed a wonderful cruise. Our DR staff maintained a good level of service. Our cabin steward, likewise, kept our stateroom immaculate, etc.:)

[shrimpboat123]

Kazu has done a great job with her review. Just wanted to had my experience with a few more “Hiccups”!

 

First, I must say, overall the cruise was great. We left 3 feet of snow behind and two more major dumpings after we left.

 

The issues I had were annoying but in no way did they ruin the cruise.

 

I had three hiccups:

 

1. On the first night, the Prime Rib I had was not up to par. It was slightly over cooked and dry and tuff. I figured it was just the first night blues. I had Prime Rib two more times during the cruise and both times they were very good (not excellent).

 

2. One of my white Polo Shirts came back from the Laundry full of “Pulls” on the front and back as well as the collar. I took it to the Front Desk and complained.

 

They filled out a claims form and said it would be reviewed by various people/departments and an assessment would be made. Later that day the Front Desk called and said they would give me $30 for the $50+ shirt and they would keep the shirt. I said OK, as I wasn’t going to waste anymore time debating the issue.

 

The next day I was called and asked to come to the Front Desk to sign a claims form. I went down and noticed the form had a $50 OBC compensation on it and so I signed it expecting to see the $50 on my account. After I checked my account a couple of days later, there was a $30 OBC on it. The next time I went to the Front Office, I asked why I only got $30 after signing a form for $50. They said they forgot to change the form to $30. A while later I noticed a copy of the claims form stuffed under my door with the $50 crossed out and $30 written in. Case closed.

 

In my opinion, this is pretty poor customer service. They made a mistake and didn’t honour it.

 

3. I purchased a couple of Internet packages on board. The internet is a bit better than it used to be. They have the new system on the Maasdam. Depending on the time of day (very user sensitive) the speed you get and connection reliability varies greatly.

 

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in charge. In the past there was an Internet Manager that had some technical capabilities to resolve any problems you may have. The Librarian is now the contact person. I was having an issue with sending emails (same problem on every HAL ship I’ve been on). She told me to talk to the Techspert for a resolution. Problem is he is not readily available except for specific times when he has “Techspert Time” sessions.

 

On one ship, the Internet Manger reconfigured my SMTP outgoing mail address to the one HAL uses. The new system does not allow this to be done anymore. Although he wasn’t able to resolve my problem, he did offer a work around solution so that I could use my Mail program to interface a different web mail account (Gmail) to make it more transparent.

 

Now for the really big hiccup. About two days left in the cruise, I logged out of the system and it said I had 44 minutes of time left. The next time I logged in, it said I needed to ensure there was sufficient money available in my account to purchase a new package. So I went to the so called Internet Manager and explained the problem. She said she would send off an email and see what was going on. I came back a few hours later and was told that I would have to go to the Front Desk as they were in control of the internet. So down I go. They confirmed I had 44 minutes left. After much discussion, they tell me to try a few things (which I did), but nothing would work and back to the Front Desk I go. Now they tell me they did some further checking and that another system report showed that I had no minutes left.

 

I told them this started on the same day they gave me a 10% credit to my account for signing up for a package on the first day (but that’s another story). Long story short, whatever they did during the credit process, they zeroed out my minutes and had the nerve to suggest I forgot to logout and used up all my minutes. At this point I said I was very upset with them and said I was expecting a credit for the missing minutes. They finally did credit me with $25. At least they finally provided decent Customer Service, but it came with a fair amount of aggravation.

[kazu]

Thank you Kazu for your review.

I am just catching up with everything.

After reading reports from other people and your experiences on the Maasdam, I am really glad that we cancelled our 25 day on the Maasdam for 2015. We eat a lot of dinners in the Pinnacle.

 

KK, I talked to passengers that stayed on from the Amazon and the previous Pinnacle was wonderful. They were very disappointed.

 

Now, that being said, the MDR was decent enough on this cruise that you could forego the Pinnacle if you so chose. How many filets can you eat in a cruise anyways? I really think HAL blew it when they changed the menu. They could have reduced it but there were other options than the ones they chose.

 

On the whole, the Maasdam was wonderful and we had a fabulous cruise.

[kazu]

Kazu has done a great job with her review. Just wanted to had my experience with a few more “Hiccups”!

 

First, I must say, overall the cruise was great. We left 3 feet of snow behind and two more major dumpings after we left.

 

The issues I had were annoying but in no way did they ruin the cruise.

 

I had three hiccups:

 

1. On the first night, the Prime Rib I had was not up to par. It was slightly over cooked and dry and tuff. I figured it was just the first night blues. I had Prime Rib two more times during the cruise and both times they were very good (not excellent).

 

2. One of my white Polo Shirts came back from the Laundry full of “Pulls” on the front and back as well as the collar. I took it to the Front Desk and complained.

 

They filled out a claims form and said it would be reviewed by various people/departments and an assessment would be made. Later that day the Front Desk called and said they would give me $30 for the $50+ shirt and they would keep the shirt. I said OK, as I wasn’t going to waste anymore time debating the issue.

 

The next day I was called and asked to come to the Front Desk to sign a claims form. I went down and noticed the form had a $50 OBC compensation on it and so I signed it expecting to see the $50 on my account. After I checked my account a couple of days later, there was a $30 OBC on it. The next time I went to the Front Office, I asked why I only got $30 after signing a form for $50. They said they forgot to change the form to $30. A while later I noticed a copy of the claims form stuffed under my door with the $50 crossed out and $30 written in. Case closed.

 

In my opinion, this is pretty poor customer service. They made a mistake and didn’t honour it.

 

3. I purchased a couple of Internet packages on board. The internet is a bit better than it used to be. They have the new system on the Maasdam. Depending on the time of day (very user sensitive) the speed you get and connection reliability varies greatly.

 

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in charge. In the past there was an Internet Manager that had some technical capabilities to resolve any problems you may have. The Librarian is now the contact person. I was having an issue with sending emails (same problem on every HAL ship I’ve been on). She told me to talk to the Techspert for a resolution. Problem is he is not readily available except for specific times when he has “Techspert Time” sessions.

 

On one ship, the Internet Manger reconfigured my SMTP outgoing mail address to the one HAL uses. The new system does not allow this to be done anymore. Although he wasn’t able to resolve my problem, he did offer a work around solution so that I could use my Mail program to interface a different web mail account (Gmail) to make it more transparent.

 

Now for the really big hiccup. About two days left in the cruise, I logged out of the system and it said I had 44 minutes of time left. The next time I logged in, it said I needed to ensure there was sufficient money available in my account to purchase a new package. So I went to the so called Internet Manager and explained the problem. She said she would send off an email and see what was going on. I came back a few hours later and was told that I would have to go to the Front Desk as they were in control of the internet. So down I go. They confirmed I had 44 minutes left. After much discussion, they tell me to try a few things (which I did), but nothing would work and back to the Front Desk I go. Now they tell me they did some further checking and that another system report showed that I had no minutes left.

 

I told them this started on the same day they gave me a 10% credit to my account for signing up for a package on the first day (but that’s another story). Long story short, whatever they did during the credit process, they zeroed out my minutes and had the nerve to suggest I forgot to logout and used up all my minutes. At this point I said I was very upset with them and said I was expecting a credit for the missing minutes. They finally did credit me with $25. At least they finally provided decent Customer Service, but it came with a fair amount of aggravation.

 

There was no question in my mind that the front office was lacking (that includes the concierges on this ship). Fortunately I was able to get my issues resolved, but it did take follow up.

 

I forgot about the laundry. I've had a wonderful experience with HAL laundry always. This time I had two items that came back with stains that were not there before. Fortunately, when I sent them back with special remarks they rectified the problem.

 

There were several people that were in the Neptune lounge on (I think) the last night with clothes with blue stains.

 

I agree - if they just fixed the problems up front they would have loyal passengers. Instead they basically stall and make you wait or fight for what is rightfully yours. Those little things add up and if HAL doesn't get it right, they risk losing some of their followers.

 

They need to differentiate between the cheapo who doesn't want to pay anything and removes their hsc and the passenger with a legitimate issues. JMO though;)

[shrimpboat123]

As a follow up on the laundry. I too have had no problems in the past. I forgot to mention that I had a stain on one of my shirts that I think I got on the tender to St. Barts. It looked like a bit of grease.

 

The first time I sent it to the laundry I highlighted on the form that there was a stain and could they see about removing it. It came back with the stain still there (figured they didn't see the note). So a couple of days later I sent it out again with a larger note about the stain. It came back with the stain removed and you'd never know there was a stain.

[Skipper's Mom]

On the last day, after keeping track of my internet usage, I had 88 minutes remaining. The next time I logged on, I had 54 minutes...what happened? I managed to deplete all minutes but was skeptical of how the minutes were managed. Go figure. :confused::confused:

[Mtn2Sea]

Jacqui, I enjoyed your detailed review very much. Thanks for taking the time to do this; a live review is a lot of work. You certainly deserve a big pat on the back! We just started going to the Pinnacle in December (old menu) and in March (new menu). The menu change itself is causing us to rethink whether to try it again. We also enjoyed the MDR during our last two cruises. I hope the internet issues get resolved before our next cruise this fall.

 

Robert

[POA1]

Sorry to see that we weren't alone in being disappointed by the Pinnacle. I think that the Explore 4 simply overloaded the system. There were 900± advance reservations for Explore 4 on our Noordam sailing and more than 1,300 the week before. We were so disappointed with the meal - service more than food - during our first meal that we swapped our Amex one out for a lunch. It was much better at lunch.

 

Our breakfasts were good, but we are bummed that no one offered us prune tea. ;) I bet it's delicious hot, with a bran muffin and a bowl of Fiber One.

[kazu]

Sorry to see that we weren't alone in being disappointed by the Pinnacle. I think that the Explore 4 simply overloaded the system. There were 900± advance reservations for Explore 4 on our Noordam sailing and more than 1,300 the week before. We were so disappointed with the meal - service more than food - during our first meal that we swapped our Amex one out for a lunch. It was much better at lunch.

 

Our breakfasts were good, but we are bummed that no one offered us prune tea. ;) I bet it's delicious hot, with a bran muffin and a bowl of Fiber One.

 

It might be good hot (the prune tea that is) but it was served cold.

 

I do believe that the Explore4 did overwhelm the PG originally but so many cancelled within a few days that there were no excuses left.

 

The place was getting empty very, very fast.

 

After all a 'free' dinner that is not well done is not worth doing.

 

We did do a lunch there with some old cruising friends from a prior roll call we ran into. DH had the steak and it was good. The three of us ordered the hamburgers as I remembered how good they were on the P'dam.

 

I ordered mine medium. I love rare - medium rare steak but my hamburger is always cooked. After a few bites around the edges I headed for the main part and I saw pink - I opened it up and flipped it over and it was practically raw in places. I left it on the plate and no one even asked if there was a problem when they removed it.

 

So, lunch which to me is a bargain in the PG was a write off as well. After that, we decided we were Pinnacled out and cancelled our remaining reservations.

[POA1]

Hey, while you're here... Did they record what wines you brought onboard? We just got counted, stickered, and charged.

[ger_77]

Kazu, thank you so much for taking the time to keep us informed about the happenings on the Maasdam this trip. You keep referring to your experience in the Pinnacle on the Prinsendam and how it is tough to compare it with all the other ships in HAL's fleet. I couldn't agree more.

 

Our first Pinnacle experience was on the Prinsendam and it certainly set the bar high for all other dam ships. I found myself needing to use the ladies room between courses, so went to the Maitre d's station to ask for directions. He simply offered me his arm and walked me to within about 6 feet of the ladies room. When I emerged a short time later, he was waiting a discreet distance away, admiring the artwork, and once more offered me his arm to escort me back to the dining room and our table. That kind of customer service - in addition to absolutely wonderful food - is what remains in people's memories long after the holiday has ended.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[PathfinderEss]

There was no good and bad on this ship. It was either excellent or ugly. The ugly didn't ruin this wonderful cruise but it HAS to be commented on.

 

So, I guess, we could consider this the kazu review.

 

So, let's begin - the excellent - the service in the MDR - fabulous - wonderful dining room stewards, pretty dam edible food (I would rate it just below the Prinsendam) and efficient service. Our head waiter got to know us and yes we had fun with him. After day one, we got our tea pots so all the ladies were happy (sans prune juice). MDR service after we got through a couple of minor hiccups (to be expected on day one or two) was impeccable and get's a kazu's thumbs up.

 

More excellent - our cruise director - Rick Barnes - he was fantastic - he was everywhere making sure things were ok and touching base with the passengers. From greeting you onboard and saying farewell, he was seen in the dining room, the PG and just out and about the ship. He brought in fresh entertainment so it was not the same the entire 14 days and you can just tell he loves his job. He said he was a 'bandaid' - I guess that means they are short a cruise director but we consider ourselves blessed that we had the pleasure of him when we were on board. He has to be one of the best if not the best that we have ever seen. If you have the pleasure to be on a ship with him, you are in for a good time. A three thumbs up from kazu

 

Lido food - I am not a Lido fan by nature - but the food here was quite good so we did use it a few times. The bar waiters were around frequently whether you wanted a glass of cold water or a beer. Service here was very good IMO and the food selections were very, very nice. Another thumbs up from kazu

 

Entertainment - we liked a lot of the entertainment. Some of it was very different and very good. The only negative is that the HAL dancers are inadequate compared to the singers (who were very good). and by the way, the HAL Cats can really play when they drop the singer. They supported the performers and did a very good job.

 

Adagio - superb. One wrong note the first night and I could see and feel the violinist's pain. I am sure she went back to practice for hours in her room. She was very adept and played a nice mix of music that could keep anyone happy for hours. They had a huge following and deservedly so.

 

The Piano man - what can I say - he was FANTASTIC - there were many in the Mix every night (and kazu was there a few too).

 

Music on this ship was dam good and gets a kazu thumbs up.

 

And now.........the UGLY..... and it was ugly. I thought I had worked through this hiccup - we talked to the manager, then the MDR manager, then his manager and when we went back it seemed better - alas a brief moment in time. Yes, it's the Pinnacle Grill - ugggh. Absolutely the WORST Pinnacle Grill experience I have ever had on any ship anywhere. No butter, no napkins, no service, no people - just sad, sad, sad. Ciopalla (can't spell it) so salty you can't eat the fish in it (even after asking how salty it was and that I can't eat a lot of salt). Breakfast in there was hit or miss at the very best. The prune juice was funny, but seriously that pretty much summed up this Pinnacle Grill. 10 of us cancelled our remaining reservations and not one person asked why. hmmmmm???? I don't know about you but if I had a business and was losing it I would be asking why. It's pretty sad when suites say they are going to eat in the Lido the last day or those staying on say they will do room service. One waiter there was sweet and felt bad for her. Last day in the PG for breakfast - we had just her. The poor thing was running. I've never been in a PG on the last day for breakfast without the full staff being there (including the manager) - after all, this thank you and tip day.

PG on the Maasdam gets a huge thumbs down from the kazu - and it's a shame as our last PG experience there was wonderful. But it is what it is so now you can flame me for complaining;):rolleyes: :rolleyes: and yes, I have said so on my survey to HAL for what little that will do.

 

The ok - the suite luncheon. The captain and hotel manager left without even so much as making a toast or thanking us for coming. The appetizer (sushi) didn't appeal to everyone and the plates sat in front of us for a very long time. Frankly, I don't enjoy watching most tables get served and sitting there. One table had to ask for dessert (?) and we waited until it finally came. 2 hours for a lunch while everyone else but 3 tables is gone is not my idea of fine dining or appreciation. thumbs down from kazu.

 

The excellent - the roll call - had fun meeting and re-connecting with people. It was so nice of our cruise director to come and we really enjoyed our time there.

 

The excellent - the ingenuity of 2xayear who created the magnets for each port for all of our roll call. The steward 'caught' me in the act towards the end of the cruise.

 

Kazu's overall assessment - the cruise was wonderful. Service great everywhere but you know where by now. Great ports, great service, good food - who could ask for any more?

 

We weren't going to let the PG experience ruin our cruise - but it was a shame to see that this venue was handled in such a shabby manner. It was my first time with this experience in the PG and to put it mildly I was absolutely shocked.

 

Final analysis - Maasdam still remains one of our favourite ships :)

 

Great itinerary, good port times, great crew, great passengers - how could you go wrong?

 

ask away and if I can answer I shall:D

 

Love the review of your Maasdam cruise, but was saddened to hear about your PG experience. Every cruise of late that we have taken it seems to us that PG was getting better and better, so hate to hear what happened on the Maasdam. We tend to eat a lot in the PG. I think if we ran into the same situation you did, I'd do the same and try lunch. I believe lunch at the PG can be better then their dinners.

Edited April 13, 2014 by PathfinderEss

[BeagleOne]

Thank you, Kazu! I will keep the Maasdam on my list of possibilities for a cruise in 2015.

[kazu]

Hey, while you're here... Did they record what wines you brought onboard? We just got counted, stickered, and charged.

 

yes, they recorded what wines we brought on board - both the free ones and the ones that were charged corkage.

[kazu]

Kazu, thank you so much for taking the time to keep us informed about the happenings on the Maasdam this trip. You keep referring to your experience in the Pinnacle on the Prinsendam and how it is tough to compare it with all the other ships in HAL's fleet. I couldn't agree more.

 

Our first Pinnacle experience was on the Prinsendam and it certainly set the bar high for all other dam ships. I found myself needing to use the ladies room between courses, so went to the Maitre d's station to ask for directions. He simply offered me his arm and walked me to within about 6 feet of the ladies room. When I emerged a short time later, he was waiting a discreet distance away, admiring the artwork, and once more offered me his arm to escort me back to the dining room and our table. That kind of customer service - in addition to absolutely wonderful food - is what remains in people's memories long after the holiday has ended.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

what a nice story. I agree that the PG on the Prinsendam simply shines. At least it has for us on the last two cruises :) We already have bookings for our next cruise on her. Somehow I don't think that her PG will disappoint. And, since we did report the PG issues on the Maasdam, hopefully they will be rectified quickly for the future passengers on her.

[cbr663]

Just curious, kazu, did you experience any erroneous charges to your on board account?

[taxmantoo]

Seems to me that there were enough hiccups on this cruise to cause an indigestion :rolleyes:

[chrispb]

 

They filled out a claims form and said it would be reviewed by various people/departments and an assessment would be made. Later that day the Front Desk called and said they would give me $30 for the $50+ shirt and they would keep the shirt..

 

How petty! Why on earth would they want to keep the shirt?

[LindaM]

How petty! Why on earth would they want to keep the shirt?

 

In case someone challenges their decision about giving the passenger a credit. Also, they may need it to figure out what went wrong so it can be rectified. If I were in charge of laundry, I would want to keep the evidence.

 

I may do our wash on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise, but there is no way I would ever trust a cruiseline with my wash----ever! We have gotten other people's clothing in our cabin. I like my clothes too much to take that chance!

 

When a washing machine is on it's last legs, sometimes it leaves stains on clothes. I've gotten stains on clothes by accidentally leaving something in the pocket.

[kazu]

Just curious, kazu, did you experience any erroneous charges to your on board account?

 

yes we did. We were charged for a red wine from our mini bar. Now, the nice thing is that they went through a couple of times during the cruise and left the replacements (yes, they replaced:D), so I caught it right away and asked it to be reversed. The kazu does NOT drink red wine as they all don't like her so she doesn't take chances on a cruise UNLESS she knows it is a safe one.

 

It was reversed off in a couple of days.

 

Fortunately, I was in the room when the wine steward came to replace another bottle of red wine. She had to look in the cupboard and the mini bar to satisfy herself and then ripped up the bill.

 

Other than that, everything was fine as far as the onboard account went :D

[jaspersmycat]

I am on the Maasdam now. I have to believe the PG got the word. It has only been 2 days but the breakfast service has been efficient with no problems.

 

I agree about Rick Barnes - I told him that Manu had written on CC how good he was. He turned to the HM and said "see I told you that I'm an internet star."

 

He is everywhere and always friendly and helpful.

[kazu]

I am on the Maasdam now. I have to believe the PG got the word. It has only been 2 days but the breakfast service has been efficient with no problems.

 

I agree about Rick Barnes - I told him that Manu had written on CC how good he was. He turned to the HM and said "see I told you that I'm an internet star."

 

He is everywhere and always friendly and helpful.

 

Trust me, the PG more than got the word and so did Rick Barnes. I am so glad it is better already.

 

Rick was wonderful and I told him I would be reporting. I am also writing Seattle on him. That's how impressed we were with him.

 

by the way? who is Manu? LOL

[kazu]

Seems to me that there were enough hiccups on this cruise to cause an indigestion :rolleyes:

 

Nope - no indigestion - it was a great cruise - the hiccups were minor IMO other than the PG. I wasn't going to let the PG destroy my time and neither was anyone else - we just cancelled our remaining reservations :)

 

We talked with our wallets.

 

Please don't misunderstand. I was just trying to do objective observations but overall I was serious in my rating for this ship. It's in great shape overall and there were so many pluses that the PG wouldn't make us not book it again.

 

Now that I see a post that it is fixed (curious who the PG manager is now) it makes me wonder why they didn't fix it while we were on for 14 days. oh well.

 

But it was a great cruise and we had a great time - and no indigestion ;)

[gigianne]

I am glad that there has been an improvement - but, it is too bad about our experiences in the PG. I guess we talked enough to the powers that be and obviously they listened.

[erewhon]

Linda,

 

the wine menu seemed pretty much the same. There were a couple of new ones in the Navigator pack. Now, bear in mind we are white wine drinkers primarily (DH likes red but some don't like me so we seek good white wine selections). The Admiral pack is still primarily California wines which doesn't thrill me (but that's just personal selection).

 

There are some new wines on the menu. They seem to be trying but the mark up (sorry if I say this) is much higher than say Grey Goose ordered to your cabin. I believe the house Pinot Grigio is changed. By the glass it seemed different but the bottle (which was around $23) was somewhat drinkable ( I use that term loosely). There were some nice New Zealand wines on the menu along with a couple of others from South America. Overall, I didn't see a huge difference. They are marking down what we bring on board and pay corkage on (or the free allowance) so I don't know if that may lead to changes or not.

 

Thank you for your thorough reports of your cruise.

 

Sorry about your Pinnacle Grill experience.

 

Do you recall the names of the "nice New Zealand wines"?