Maasdam Holiday Cruise - Fantastic!

[WeLoveCruising]

Lots to report, so I’ll post this in segments. I have lots of notes and it will take some time to complete (sorry!), but I’ll try to write a little each day.

Background:

DH and I are both early 40’s, and have sailed on most other cruise lines. We’ve been exclusive to HAL (and Windstar) the past 8 or so years. We love HAL for the smaller ship size, personalized service, and attention to detail. We’ve sailed on the Maasdam before many times, but this was our first holiday sailing.

Why we chose a holiday cruise:

My father passed away on Christmas Day in 2004, and I’m not sure what to do with myself over the holidays. My husband suggested the cruise as a new tradition, and it sounded like a great idea (it was). We went alone this year, but are ready to book again and invite family in 2007.

Embarkation Details:

This cruise had two ports of embarkation – Norfolk on the 22nd, and Fort Lauderdale on the 24th. The price was essentially the same, so we chose Norfolk for the two extra days at sea. We flew in the night before, and stayed at the Marriott Waterside. Note – I booked the hotel a few months in advance for a rate of $159, but checked online the day before we left and saw they had a special for $89. I called and they changed the rate for me, so it pays to check. The hotel was nice, and we had dinner at the Shula’s pub located right off the lobby.

We woke up the next morning and could see the ship from our window. The hotel’s within walking distance to the pier, but not too easy of a walk with the luggage we had – so we took a taxi. We arrived around 11:45. Embarkation was quick and easy, porters were plentiful and helpful, and we were on the ship about 20-30 minutes after arriving.

The Ship:

There’s enough written, so I’ll be brief and just say we were very pleased with the SOE upgrades. I was never a fan of the décor in the Maasdam’s former Crow’s Nest (too dated and cold to me), but the newly updated room is beautiful. I also really liked the Explorations Café and spa (more on those later in the cruise).

(More to come………)

[WeLoveCruising]

Holiday Decorations

Thanks to Copper and Arubalisa I had some idea of what to expect. I thought they did a great job at decorating. The atrium lobby had a big Christmas tree (3 stories?), with a sleigh, reindeer, and presents underneath. The whole atrium was decorated with garland, bows, and white Christmas lights. There were also lots of trees and poinsettias around the public areas. The dining room entrance had a big gingerbread houses, and the dining room was also filled with lights and poinsettias. Oh yes, and there were wreaths on every cabin door. Christmas music was playing throughout the ship. It was really festive and a great way to spread some holiday cheer.

Our Cabin:

We’ve stayed in everything from a suite to an inside, and this time we were in a Cat C outside on the Lower Promenade deck. I would have loved a suite or verandah, but they were all sold out – however – we had no problem with our room at all. We take lots of walks around the promenade and it was so convenient for that. These outside rooms are just a little bit smaller than others. Yes, we noticed but it wasn’t a problem and a small trade off for the convenience to the wrap around promenade. Cabin was super clean and we had no problems with toilet or AC throughout the cruise.

Day 1

After checking out the ship, we went to the spa to purchase passes to the Thermal Suite ($250 for both of us for 13 days). We just love the lounge chairs, steam rooms, and scented showers, and literally spend hours in there almost every day. Luggage was delivered promptly to our room, and for the first time ever we were unpacked before the life boat drill!

There were less than 500 passengers that embarked in Norfolk, (about 800 more in Fort Lauderdale), so dinner was quiet, with a half empty dining room. No complaints from us. We had a table for two, upper level along the balcony, at the 8:00 seating. Our servers introduced themselves and we had a little taste of the exceptional service we would have for the next 12 nights!

After a great meal, we went to the Rembrandt lounge to see the comedian, Frank King - Funny and entertaining, but not great. Afterwards we took a stroll around the promenade (we try to do 4 laps each evening), and went to bed.

(Day 2 report coming soon…..)

[cruiseapril]

Enjoying your review. Looking at the Maasdam for the future.

[Amber14]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. I look forward to reading more!

[WeLoveCruising]

Day 2 – Infirmary and Quarantine!

Yes, that’s what happened. Well, the day started off great. We had the first of what would be all our breakfasts at the Lido. I love the eggs and toast to order, and the fresh squeezed OJ. On this cruise, more so than any other, the staff always seemed to be there at the right time to carry my tray (I’m able to carry my own, and at first was a little embarrassed by all the attention, but then I got used to it…very used to it J. ). The staff would always get our table and drinks for us.

After breakfast, on sea days, it became our habit to visit the thermal suite. We would bring books with us, and relax in those comfy chairs. They don’t look comfy but they really are! I love lounging in them with the ship moving – and on this morning the Maasdam was moving J. We saw a few waves splash up to the window and we were on Deck 11. In the thermal suite we would go from the chairs, to the steam room. There are two steam rooms – one with a eucalyptus scent and the other with a lime/ginger scent. Both were great. A little time in the steam room, followed by a quick mist shower (also scented) and back to the chairs. It was heaven. I have to say, for two weeks we maybe saw 5 other people in the thermal suite, other than that it was ours.

That morning I also had a pedicure, which I have to comment on. I love to get pedicures for vacation, and rarely have the time at home before we leave (busy wrapping up work). I usually schedule a pedicure for the first day. In the past, I haven’t been too impressed with the pedicures on the ship. In fact, before SOE they didn’t even have real pedicure chairs, only a soaking foot tub like I have at home. Now, the pedicure was as good or better than what I can get at home – foot and leg masks, massages, etc. It was great! So much so that I even broke by own rule and agreed to buy some Elemis product (pushed, as always….), and was in such a good mood that I was glad I did.

Lunch at the Lido, and we thought the food quality was much better than on prior cruises. We particularly liked the stir fries. Great service as with breakfast, and it lasted the entire cruise.

Dinner again was a quiet affair, with over half the ship still not boarded (we were arriving in Ft Lauderdale the next day). I don’t remember what I had, but DH had a five spice roasted duck with vegetables that was very good.

The entertainment was a trumpet player who played to rave reviews, but we didn’t see it because here’s where our saga starts…

My DH has a chronic gastro problem, which most times is in remission but at times flares up. These flare ups can be anything from a few days that require medication, to full hospitalization for weeks at a time. He started experiencing some problems a few weeks before the cruise, saw his doctor, and was well controlled with his meds. In fact, it had all but subsided before we left and his doctor gave his blessing for our trip. Must have been the change in diet, or something else, that triggered a horrible flare up this night. My poor husband was in severe pain with intense gastro symptoms all night. It got so bad that at 3AM we had to call the doctor and take him to the infirmary.

Medical Care

Not something I would think to write about in a review, but this is for the curious. The ship is staffed with an American physician (in our case, an ER doctor who was on with his family). My husband needed an IV, Xrays, and several injections. I was surprised to see the level of equipment onboard – it was similar to a hospital room, and we felt very comfortable with the care. They were able to control his symptoms until we could speak to his gastroenterologist in the morning. After sleeping for a few hours, my husband was doing much better, and since we were approaching Ft Lauderdale we were able to use our cell to talk to his doctor. We all determined that it was some type of aggravation to his condition, and that since he was stabilized and doing better we would continue our cruise. (At 4AM in the infirmary I was certain we would be flying home and was mad at myself for not getting trip insurance – we know better).

The Quarantine

What can I say about this? The ship’s doctor told us he was almost certain it wasn’t the Noro virus, and there were no other reports of it on the ship, but since my DH had gastro distress symptoms we both would need to be quarantined for 24 hours. Not great news, and it was Christmas Eve, but we saw the logic in it and agreed. Now, how can HAL make the most of a quarantine? Believe it or not, they did. Our steward and his manager checked on us regularly, bringing broth and ice. We missed the Christmas Eve tree lighting and caroling, so a group came to our door with Santa hats, egg nog, and they were wearing surgical masks. Funny, but sweet and we appreciated it tremendously. The nurses called throughout the day to check on us, and came to our cabin to remove the IV. The ship also gave us a credit for complying with the quarantine.

(More to come….off quarantine and Christmas morning!)

[ger_77]

How awful that you had to miss Christmas Eve and all the associated activities onboard. I'm anxiously waiting for your next installment because we'll be on the Maasdam on Feb 13th and I can barely contain my excitement! I do hope your DH's GI problems were short-lived.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[happy cruzer]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the quarantine.

 

I think it is human nature to share a bad experience or to remember bad incidents. It is very nice when someone takes the time to share a better experience. When i have read of the "totally ignored" quarantined passengers, I have always thought that there must be many more that are not ignored but just simply don't think to post a review. Now at least I get to see a reasonable experience.

 

Can't wait to here the good stuff after quarantine. Thanks!

[WeLoveCruising]

Christmas Morning

The medical staff checked with us around 8AM, and cleared us from the quarantine restriction. The ship was now full with all the passengers that embarked in Fort Lauderdale. This cruise was a nice mix of all ages, and we were told there were about 135 kids onboard.

Santa was scheduled to make an appearance in the Rembrandt lounge that morning, and the cruise director played up the excitement by making announcements that the ship’s radar picked up a red object flying in from the North. The announcements were about 15 minutes apart, the next saying that they picked up audio and detected a “Ho, Ho, Ho”. They then announced that the red object crashed into the Maasdam and to meet Santa in the lounge. (While we were at lunch we heard a few women complaining that the announcements concerned them and they had to ask crew if something was wrong – I just don’t get that!).

Christmas was a day at sea, so we relaxed (thermal suite again). We made a habit of getting a daily iced coffee in the Explorations Café. The coffee drinks there are very good ($2-$3 each), with complimentary pastries. I really liked the music selection in the listening stations there, too.

Christmas dinner was excellent – they had a special menu for the occasion. I was really impressed with one of the appetizers – lobster medallions with Parisienne vegetables. I was expecting a small piece of lobster, but it was an entire lobster tail cut and served in a lobster shell. The head steward told us they serve that on holidays or very long voyages, like the 35 day Trans-Atlantic.

Mr and Mrs. C

With the addition of the passengers in Fort Lauderdale, we now had other passengers at dinner at the table next to ours. I will call them Mr/Mrs. C (for Complainers). Nothing could please these people! They complained about the drinks, food, room temperature, chairs….everything you could imagine. I’m not exaggerating to say that they called someone over to their table 4-5 times per night to complain. Each time they complained about the food they were offered something else and never accepted. In addition to calling staff over to the table (rudely, I might add, by raising their hand, snapping or waving), they would also get up and pace around the entrance by the Yum Yum man looking for anyone in a white uniform. Of course we’ve all seen complainers before, but never on any of my vacations have I ever seen anyone complain to the extent of Mr/Mrs. C. This went on every night the cruise! They even complained that the streamers from the Master Chef’s dinner were fire hazards and wanted them removed.

Crow’s Nest – The Good and the Bad

Service was great. I was happy to see a few staff that I know from prior cruises and am glad they’re doing well. We had a great time getting to know them a little better. The Bad – with it being a holiday cruise, there were plenty of teens in the Crow’s Nest. They all danced barefoot and left their shoes on the edges of the dance floor, in the walkways, etc where they became hazards for others to trip on. They also dominated requests to the DJ who catered too much to their tastes, and didn’t play a wide enough variety for all generations. HAL should have done a much better job at controlling these kids. What puzzles me is that the music was clearly driving away some of the older people (I don’t just mean seniors – we’re in our 40’s and couldn’t find anything to our taste), and its us older folks that were buying and paying for drinks.

Well, for the most part the kids and teens on this cruise were well behaved, most of this was coming from a group of 10-15 older teens that seemed to be running independently the entire cruise. The one time I saw some of their parents was on New Years Eve when they were actually giving alcohol to their kids.

(More to come on ports, New Year’s Eve, and other observations….)

[WeLoveCruising]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the quarantine.

 

I think it is human nature to share a bad experience or to remember bad incidents. It is very nice when someone takes the time to share a better experience. When i have read of the "totally ignored" quarantined passengers, I have always thought that there must be many more that are not ignored but just simply don't think to post a review. Now at least I get to see a reasonable experience.

 

Can't wait to here the good stuff after quarantine. Thanks!

 

Happy Cruzer,

They really did a nice job of caring for us. Since I was feeling fine, they brought me the dinner menu from the dining room to take my order. They also made sure we had plenty of ice and water in the room. Remebering us with the egg nog and hats was really above and beyond, and definitely appreciated.

[Amber14]

Welovecruising,

 

I'm really enjoying your review. We will be on the Maasdam in April.

 

Your experience in the Crow's Nest is similar to one we had on our last cruise with RCCL. It was in June and we had a group of teens that I guess were celebrating the end of school. They dominated the lounge and the dance floor each night with their music and their dances. We are in our 40's also and had a hard time enjoying ourselves there. This is one reason why we decided to try HAL. I hope this does not happen on our cruise.

[rox59]

We were on the same cruise with you. We have to agree that the cruise was fabulous! We have been on over 20 cruises with other lines, and this one was probably the best yet as far as the ship, the crew, and the passengers went. We did not care for the itinerary, but we loved the Maasdam. (we loved that Thermal suite too- and also had the pass for the entire cruise)

[ekerr19]

Joanne -

 

So glad to hear about the trip!!! I am loving your review - I so wish we were there with you guys...

 

We had three weeks of blizzard/heavy snow conditions - Kyle's car is still covered, lol!!! Now we have to put all the Christmas decorations away! I so wished we'd cruised instead... :)

[Copper10-8]

JoAnne, great review of your Christmas cruise on Maasdam! Looking forward to hearing more. Ah yes, the Mr and Mrs C's - bless their hearts! :rolleyes: Glad to hear your husband is doing better and that Maasdam's crew took care of the both of you during the quarantine period!

[WeLoveCruising]

Days 3-4 (at Sea)

More of the same (I could get very used to this)….thermal suite, long walks around the promenade, and great food and service. We had good weather the entire cruise.

I’ll try to hit on some of the most frequently asked questions on this board –

Officers

Captain – Henk Draper

Hotel Manager – Kees Streuding

Cruise Director – Doug Dennell

(please forgive any misspellings)

Entertainment

Piano Bar – Barrie Blyth (ok, but not the most engaging we’ve had. I really like Randall Powell)

Comedian – Frank King

Other – Jack Kalvan (not sure how to categorize this guy, but I liked him a lot. Definitely quirky. He did things like juggle Spam on a unicycle, and have “trained” Slinky’s march through a ring of fire.

A Celine Dion tribute singer – didn’t see her (it would be a stretch for me to see the real Celine – lol – and no disrespect meant to her fans)

Johnny Thunder, one of the original Drifters. He was great, IMO.

Do we dare talk about dress code? J

Being a holiday cruise, most people went all out on formal night. I would say there were more than 50% tuxes on New Years Eve. However, there were a lot of younger cruises (not kids…..young adults), allowed in the dining room in jeans, T-shirts, etc. most nights.

Next taboo subject – smoking!

Not bothered by it at all. HAL does a good job of separating areas. Our room smelled as fresh as can be. I am usually bothered by smoke and would have definitely noticed it. As usual, the casino has a stale smoke odor, but I expect that.

Smuggling liquor and topless sunbathing

Just kidding! Didn’t do it and not going there J

Master Chef’s Dinner

Ummm…interesting is the word that comes to mind. This was my first time seeing it, and I’m glad I did, but not sure I need to see it every cruise. Most people seemed to enjoy it and the crew looked like they had fun. For those of you who haven’t experienced it yet, its dinner in different “theater acts”.

Act 1) Swan Lake Napkin ballet (I’m serious). Music starts, and the crew waves napkins in the air, one at a time, and gracefully places them on your lap.

Act 2) Salad Toss. I think it has a real name (not salad toss), but I cant find my menu. Basically, the wait staff comes out and juggles red, green, yellow, and orange peppers. Musicians make believe to play make-believe instruments made of vegetables – like a cabbage tuba.

Entrée is served

Act 3) Dessert. Staff parades around carrying trays of Chef Rudy’s signature chef hat, filled with chocolate mousse. It’s choreographed to “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies. Some staff have platters, and some have pastry bags (with the tips on the end like to decorate a cake). At the end, all the pastry bags shoot out streamers. (This is what Mrs. C thought was a fire hazard and asked them to be cleared immediately).

Culinary Arts Theater

We attended one of the shows (the free one, not the cooking class). The theater was about half full. It was a lot of fun, although the Chef’s were more entertaining than educational. They made a chicken ginger stir fry, and the chocolate volcano cake. They called audience members up to sample them, and then small sample bowls were handed out to all. We really enjoyed this and will look for them on future cruises.

Premium Wine Tasting

All the HAL ships now have Cellar Masters, who are sommeliers and there to enhance the wine experience. The Cellar Master on the Maasdam was a guy by the name of Fernando. Fernando was very informative, and very patient in helping with wine selections. He was more visible in the dining room than any other Cellar Master I’ve seen, and made a point to stop by our table to ask about our wine each night.

We attended Fernando’s premium wine tasting ($29 each) one afternoon on a sea day. We tasted 5 wines:

Cakehill Sauvignon Blanc

Jordan Chardonnay

Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir

Grgch Hills Cabernet

Moet & Chandon Brut

I was expecting sample pours on each, but each glass was a full pour. Each guest was given a plate of food to sample with the wine: shrimp, smoked salmon, brie, duck pate, and chocolate. We learned a lot and needless to say got very drunk from five full glasses of wine! We slept until dinner.

(More to come…..)

[WeLoveCruising]

Hi Laura

I'm sorry you guys couldnt make it! Tim spent the holiday in Florida with his father, but he would have definitely done the cruise if Kyle was there. Hope you're dug out from under all that snow.

[WeLoveCruising]

Pinnacle Grill

We usually eat here at least once a cruise, but I was a little doubtful if I wanted to pay the $30 extra dollars per person. My husband talked me into it, and we had a very nice meal. I still think $30 is a little steep, though. In a land-based restaurant, the meal would be a bargain at $30, but in my opinion its stretching it too far to be worth $30 over what is already an acceptable meal in the dining room. My husband's opinion, however, is ...relax, we're on vacation...dont worry about $60. Different views make the marriage interesting ;)

Balanced review, or odd yellow spots....

My review of the vacation is so overwhelmingly positive, that I'm trying to think of some negatives to balance out the report. Honestly, it was a great cruise, but here is a small complaint/observation: For some reason, all the towels (and our two robes) in our room appeared dingy yellow, with spots. Now, they were clean (smelled clean), but they were somehow stained. At first I thought it was the light in the bathroom, but I looked at them in the cabin and could definitely see yellow/brown spots. Not just one day or towel, but consistently like that. Yuk. Since I used them for 13 days, I suppose that's all I want to think about that! :eek:

[WeLoveCruising]

Fred and Wilma in Barbados

Since my husband was ill at the beginning of the cruise, we didnt get off in Aruba or Curacao. The first time we left the ship was in Barbados. We had been there before, but many years ago, and at that time took a tour of the island. I remember a very scenic and rugged coast, and thought it would be fun to rent a car and drive the coast. We found a car rental agency right at the port, and rented a Diahatsu something-or-other. Now, we dont have high expectations of Caribbean rental cars, but "car" would have been nice. This was like a souped up metal golf cart. There were no doors, and the back seat was missing the floorboard (ala the Flintstones). I thought to make the most of it, we paid, and drove off. Well well well, a few turns and we were in our little Flintstone golf cart on a highway with real cars doing 60mph! :eek: Scary! Not to mention left-side driving and left side roundabouts. I was thinking of what they would tell the kids when the authorities found our bodies....

 

Needless to say, we returned that car as soon as we found our way safely back to the pier.

[WeLoveCruising]

Sorry...duplicate

[WeLoveCruising]

. Ah yes, the Mr and Mrs C's - bless their hearts! :rolleyes:

 

Copper,

Yup, Mr. and Mrs C :rolleyes: Here are some reasons they called over the head steward (and I'm not kidding!)

• Dining room too hot
  
• Dining room too cold (same evening)
  
• Martinis not made the same as last year
  
• Chairs too close
  
• Turkey dinner had too much turkey, causing upset stomach
  
• Crepe suzette station making gas smells

[ger_77]

Welovecruising: I'm so pleased to read your review of the ship and your experience. We'll be sailing in a bit over a month, amd are excited about it. I was wondering about Barrie Blyth in the piano bar - what type of music did he perform? Contemporary? 30's, 40's, 50's,? Jazz? Did he have a good singing voice? The fellow we had on the Rotterdam in October was a great pianist, but could have cracked glasses with his voice. Yow! He didn't appear to have a great repertoire, either, so we didn't go to his bar often. Can you tell me what the entertainers were like in the Explorer's Lounge?

 

Re: Mr. & Mrs. C ... wouldn't you have loved to put them off at the next port? I can't believe how some people enjoy making people around them miserable with their complaints. Too much turkey served at the turkey dinner? Did you ever hear of stopping eating when you're full ? ? ? (walks away, shaking her head):rolleyes:

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Gerry

[Krazy Kruizers]

Good reading.

 

Hope your DH is feeling better now.

[WeLoveCruising]

Gerry

Barrie had a good voice, I just didnt think he interacted with the audience much. But, in all fairness, we didnt spend alot of time in the Piano Bar this cruise. The times we stopped in he was playing American standards from the 40's/50's.

[carolandphil]

Have loved reading your review and so sorry to hear your husband was unwell. We were on the same cruise and it was our first with HAL. We loved every minute of it.

Re the Crows Nest, we really surprised to find it was taken over by kids, my DH and I went up there a couple of time hoping to have a bop and we left within a minute. The music was terrible.

[WeLoveCruising]

Welovecruising: I'm so pleased to read your review of the ship and your experience. We'll be sailing in a bit over a month, amd are excited about it. I was wondering about Barrie Blyth in the piano bar - what type of music did he perform? Contemporary? 30's, 40's, 50's,? Jazz? Did he have a good singing voice? The fellow we had on the Rotterdam in October was a great pianist, but could have cracked glasses with his voice. Yow! He didn't appear to have a great repertoire, either, so we didn't go to his bar often. Can you tell me what the entertainers were like in the Explorer's Lounge?

 

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Gerry

 

Gerry,

I'll try to respond again to see if it works, but for some reason this thread isnt updating so I started another.

 

Barrie Blyth had a good voice and was talented. I guess I was spoiled by Randall Powell who was much more interactive with the audience - that was the reason for my preference. In all honesty, the piano bar on this cruise wasnt full, so we didnt stay too long any night. Most times we popped in he was playing American standards from the 40's/50's.

[Satisfaction]

Where have you gone? I really enjoy reading about your cruise. Quick, I need more.