erisr

Strange things seem to be happening! On our Zuiderdam cruise in June this year, I was surprised to find that the forward Observation Deck (deck 11, forward from the Retreat) was closed to the public and marked Crew Only. I have never seen this before on a HAL ship. On the Rotterdam last year, this area was definitely open. I was never a fan of that area because the wrap-around tinted glass made it useless for taking pictures (except on the fondly remembered Prinsendam and Maasdam which had no glass, only rails). But, in the past it has sometimes been a useful dark area at night for an astronomy lecturer to point out stars and galaxies to groups on trans Pacific cruises.

Can't think why they would close these areas except maybe staff shortages are making it attractive to close little used deck spaces to reduce the workload of cleaning and tidying them?

21 hours ago, Aloha3 said:

Port charged notified today.

Was this an official ship excursion only?

What did you do on the day

We were at Kuri Bay on a Maasdam cruise in January last year. Kuri Bay is a working pearl farm owned by Paspaley Pearls; there is nothing else there. As it is all private property, we could only go ashore if we were on a ship’s tour. There were a number of these to choose from including a zodiac tour (Maasdam has its own zodiacs) and flights on Paspaley’s flying boat. We did one called “Kuri Bay Walk & Pearl Farm”, which was a guided tour (by Paspaley employees) of the pearl farm operation and the surrounding property. This tour was running pretty much all day, lasted about 2 hours and was fairly modestly priced. I have zero interest in pearls but I found it very interesting and thoroughly enjoyed it. It helped that the farm manager had joined the ship a couple of days earlier and gave a few talks on board about pearling. The coast around there is quite spectacular. The ship anchored in a sheltered bay and landing was by tender. It was extremely hot the day we were there and the pathways around the property are a bit rough and rugged, but the guides were very good; they took us up to a spectacular lookout as well as explaining the pearling operation. There were plenty of places to sit under shade, and cool drinks, around the farm buildings. I thought it was a great experience to be able to go there.

OlsSalt, thank you for all the great information you’ve been sharing about this new cruise format. We’re very interested as we’ll boarding the Maasdam in Sydney in December. We’re wondering about the time of the main seating fixed dinner; is it 7:45 or 8pm or later? On our recent cruises it has been 7:45 which we really like, as 8pm is just getting a little late for us.

Has anyone stayed here? The room description states it has an 'open-plan' bathroom. This doesn't sound very attractive to me and might be the deciding factor in choosing our airport hotel.

I have asked the hotel to explain, but thought that personal experience would be more useful.

Thanks

We have stayed there many times on the night before an early morning overseas flight and found it very pleasant, quiet and comfortable. The location can't be beaten; it's a level 2 minute walk to the International Terminal.

The bathrooms are spacious and don't have a door. They open onto the hallway to the front door, not the sleeping area. There are separate cubicles for the toilet (with a door) and the shower (without a door). On recent visits, we've found that there is a shower curtain in front of the very roomy shower. It's a bit quirky but we've never found it a problem.

Sounds like a real bucket list destination. I also googled it and P&O,s port guide came up. The pearl farm was also the only tour and they also stated that only those on the tour would be able to go ashore. Looking forward to hear how HAL handle the call .

There won’t be many people on our planet who are able to say they have been there. Enjoy.

Thanks. I'll let you know when I get back.

Change of maps brings it up.

 

Doesn’t look to be much there.

 

There is an aboriginal art centre that could be a good visit.

Thanks for looking it up. It comes between Broome and Darwin on our cruise so it's somewhere in the Kimberley. I guess we'll probably do the pearl farm excursion and see what else presents itself for the rest of the day.

Can anyone give me any information about this port? We will be there next January on the Maasdam. The only tour offered so far is a 1¾ walking tour of a Paspaley pearl farm for US$60. I suspect that the pearl farm may be about all there is there. Are there other things we can do on our own here? Beaches? Walks? I think that P&O and Princess call there occasionally. HAL has no information on its website apart from the tour details. Any information would be appreciated.

The HAL website now shows itineraries for the Maasdam right through to April 2019. And what itineraries they are! Many new ports in the South Pacific, South East Asia and the Indian Ocean and then making its way back to San Francisco, arriving there in May 2019. They seem to be using the Maasdam to pioneer some new cruises which is great to see. It gives us small ship lovers something different to be tempted by!

Check out the website for Dunedin Railways which runs the tour:

www.dunedinrailways.co.nz/our-journeys/taieri-gorge-railway/taieri-gorge-to-pukerangi

You can see full details there and make bookings with them; this would be the most cost effective way of doing it. You would need to get yourself to the Dunedin Railway Station to board the train but this is in the city quite close to where the shuttle from the port should drop you.

We did this tour some years ago and it was a very good trip. What they did then, and I'm unsure but it's probably the same now, was to run a special extra train for the ship's excursion which picked up passengers directly from the dock. We took the regular train which runs every day from the Railway Station and saved quite a bit.

We just got off the Maasdam from the 47 day Rio Amazon cruise. The ship had a lot of mechanical problems, mainly cabins flooding from over flowing toilets, three members of our roll call had to be moved to new cabins. From the first day we left Ft Lauderdale there were buckets catching water in the halls & stair ways & fans trying to dry out wet carpets. One day they had 5 buckets in the Lido, 3 at the coffee machines & 2 at the salad bar. The sight lines from deck 8 in the Show Room at Sea are terrible, none of the seats face the stage you have to turn your head to look at center stage. People get up & move 4-5 times every time they came into the show room trying to find a seat to see the stage.The glass partition at the front has a bar along the top which is right at eye level, so to see the stage you have to try & see over or under it. The new bar in the Crows Nest takes space away from the floor area so when we had a ships function there it was very, very crowded. We found most of the chairs in the public area uncomfortable, the top of the seats cut across your back. This is not sour grapes, we are four star mariners & have cruised on HAL ships for many years and will continue to cruise HAL. We just found that the Maasdam was the worst ship with the most problems we have seen in all our cruises.

We were also on the recent Maasdam 47 day Rio Amazon cruise and had a totally different experience. It was our first time on the Maasdam and we loved it. I know a lot of people had water problems in their cabin and that would have been awful but we were very fortunate and had no problems at all. I had been worried about how the air conditioning would cope with Amazon but I was very happy with it both in our cabin and in the public rooms. I saw some buckets catching water in the Lido and elsewhere but it didn’t seem to inconvenience anyone. I had done 2 cruises on the Statendam so I knew about the poor sight lines from deck 8 in the Show Room at Sea so I mostly sat downstairs.

One feature I loved was the observation deck above the Crow’s Nest; unlike most ships in the fleet, it isn’t enclosed by smoked glass panels so the views from up there were wonderful. Overall, apart from the leaks, I found the ship in excellent condition and very comfortable. But above all, the staff were remarkable; it seemed a very well run and happy ship and we had just about the best service we’ve ever had on HAL. I very much hope to sail on the Maasdam again.

It was kind of sad. I am a French Polynesia junkie and I thought Fiji would be similar. I guess you need to go the resorts. Much like Jamaica is a dump unless you go to the all inclusives.

Suva is not my favourite port but I liked it quite a lot. It's certainly not a tropical paradise but, if you arrive with an open mind, there is much to enjoy. There is an excellent museum, a nice shopping area and a wonderful fruit and vegetable market very close to the dock. And if you are lucky enough to have the Fiji Police Band greet and farewell your ship, as we did, you are in for a treat. They are magnificent and brought a tear to my eye.