Cinder Again

After reading the post dry dock reports of Maasdam I am becoming quite concerned. I am booked to sail on her in June and am hoping to hear positive reports before then.

Everyone has their own opinion and expectations, mine are very basic and I am not hard to please however from what I have read the Maasdam is on a downward spiral :eek: Has anyone had a positive experience on this ship recently?? If so I would love to hear about it. :)

 

Does anyone from HAL read these forums??

Well, I just got off her Friday, after 21 days aboard, and I can honestly say my cabin was too cold, vs. no air conditioning!:D The five big issues (IMHO) for her were: 1. a group of Officers/Cruise Director staff who just seemed to be going through the motions. 2. many public bathrooms were out of service the whole 21 days I was aboard. 3. Internet was not working, especially if you wanted to read emails. After 40 minutes, I got on line, but still couldn't read or send emails. (and yet they continued to sell packages) 4. Two forward and one aft elevator that were often out of service. And, tragically, 5. NO Pizza anywhere on the ship!

They had no availability if you wanted to book the Pinnacle, even 20 days out, so no spur of the moment anniversary or birthday celebrations, and since dinners in the dining room were laborously slow, we rarely made a show, since they only had two, at 8 and 10. Even eating right at 5:45, we rarely got out in time to make the 8 o'clock show. They are clearly understaffed in the kitchens and dining rooms, so it's not the fault of the servers. They were trying, they just had too many tables with too little staff. If we missed a show, we couldn't make a movie, either, so there were a lot of quiet nights... I sent in the worst review I've ever given a HAL ship, and I was on the Rotterdam years ago, post drydock;)

Thanks for the comments, I guess I'll see for myself come Friday! It's never good if your cabin happens to be the unlucky one with issues, but it's never spoiled a whole trip for me. I love the size of the Maasdam and look forward to seeing what they managed to accomplish in such a short period of time!:D

Kathi, I read somewhere here that they're upgrading the Internet on the ships...so that the "On Location" schedule, for example, is available on line. Something like that.

One thing I really liked on another cruise line was the ability to look at your on board account from your cabin. It might create more work initially for the front desk, but as people got used to looking at it there, it would actually cut back on the lines at the front desk, I think.

I will say it pays to check your bill. I was charged $50 for keeping a DVD that I had already returned. They were able to check and remove the charge, but it showed me I needed to be careful with watching my tab! Icy here in VA, can't wait to get aboard!:cool:

New decking will be nice :-) I've been on her many times, but I don't remember the surface by the Lido pool... Ted said some of the furniture in the lounges looked a little tired. Someone told him the wireless was being updated too. On the last cruise, I was lucky enough to have a wireless antennae right outside my cabin, which was helpful. Thanks!

Does anyone know what is planned for the Maasdam's drydock? I know she sails to Freeport today. IflyRC 5 was on her 6 weeks ago, and he was told they were upgrading the wireless and they've already added some new deck chairs, but they weren't sure what else was planned. I sail her right afterward drydock, and I'd love to anticipate her changes!

I have used it several times and love it. The trick is that your flight must leave around 11:00 or later. They do make you leave the ship in a group early, just in case the inspectors have singled out your luggage for inspection before it leaves for the airport.

That said, it's still a great service. One of my bags didn't make it to my home airport, and I called HAL when I got home. It turned out to be the airline's mistake, not Luggage Direct, but HAL refunded the luggage direct fee anyway. (The airline delivered my bag at my home later that night)

I'll use them anytime I can. It's very nice to breeze off the ship with no luggage, and straight out to a cab/shuttle to the airport. I paid a van 10.00 and he took about 6 of us straight to the airport and dropped us at our respective airlines. Very nice indeed! I got a coffee, and settled in to read the newspaper, watching everyone dragging their bags though the airport.

I must be in the minority. I DO like a well prepared, genuine CD. Not only does he/she set the tone for the other staff you may encounter, he communicates with the Captain to set up fun activities, especially when ports are missed, and schedules change. Recently I have had a few excellent, engaging Cruise directors. They can be a great asset to the cruise experience. I for one, admire how hard they work while making it seem like they aren't working at all!

So, I say hats off to this group, who work hard to give all of us the experience we desire...:D

We've booked with Terry's Tours. Lots of great feedback on TripAdvisor.:)

I don't think you will be disappointed. I took a 4 wheeler excursion with Terry last year. Our group enjoyed themselves, very much, and they got us back to the port at the time we requested. Since its a tender port, we didn't want to cut it too close.

I booked a 6 in 1 Zip Line tour with Terry in Samana for our December cruise aboard the Noordam. Looks like a fun excursion and I love zip lining (DH isn't thrilled with zip lining but he's a good sport). I've heard wonderful things about Terry's tours so I'm really looking forward to it, should be fun day of zip lines, waterfalls and the beach.

Last winter, a couple of us did a 4 wheeling tour with Terry and had a superb time. We had some folks in the group that left us part way to do the zip line, while we continued our ride. We all ended up back together for lunch on the beach, and the zip liners reported having fun.

Terry did a very nice job with the tour, I would do it again. The reviews for whale watching weren't too good, with folks having safety concerns, so read those before you book. I would trust Terry, though, if he offers one. There's a lot of poverty on the island, but I also noticed billboards reminding residents that tourism could bring the island out of poverty, and not to litter, so the island is aware of their issues, and they are trying to improve. I never felt at all unsafe, even going off alone to find a wireless connection. They were hungry and persistent, but a pleasant " no thank you" worked.

In some ways, I liked it better than the more commercially advanced islands. No Diamonds International here (at least yet!)

Every once in a while, I re-read this, just to get a good /reminder/perspective on the little "problems" that often arise on a sailing hotel...too funny!

Does this mean there's no longer an aft pool??

There's a Retreat pool, about 12" deep, with small tables and chairs fixed in places in the water. There is a nice outside hot tub, with a "waterfall" into the Retreat pool, which got pretty heavy use on the Tahiti trip, as it could be pretty hot just sunbathing.

Consider them sent. I think I was in 7059

I sent you an email. We were in the last cabin starboard side aft. Kathi

I like trivia in the afternoon in the Crow's nest, so a social beverage can help my ability to come up with answers...:rolleyes:

Also, I pick up a library quiz when I'm out and about each day, and then take it to Crow's nest happy hour... whatever good people I join for a drink can then play it with me...I pick up the correct answers the next morning, then take them to happy hour that night to let the "drinking team" know how we did. Then we work on the next one. I've spent many a happy happy hour discussing the questions with folks, and it's a good way to make new friends!:D