First time with HAL Maasdam / never again

[urlaub]

we are just back from the Maasdam Montreal to Boston back to back. We were not satisfied with HAL. First of all we got, before we booked fix, an information about accessibility of HAL ships. They noticed that not all ships were equipped with a wheelchair lifter and a special tenderboat but Maasdam has. In Bar Harbor, the only tender port, they didn't tender my husband who is always in a wheelchair and not able to stand. I asked for this special equipment two days before and they told me that Maasdam has no special lifts. Also they told me that they never will tender people in a wheelchair. The water was really flat ( we tendered before with other cruise lines with much more waves) like a lake but no chance to leave the ship. At home, long before the cruise started, I booked a tour with HAL just in Bar Harbor. They send me a paper to fill out of the needs and if my husband can walk a little bit and so on. Then they offered us a tour to Arcadia NP. We paid long before we started and then two days before we reached Bar Harbor I asked for tendering and for the tickets of the booked tour, the lady at the tour desk told me, we were cancelled because they didn't find an accessible tour bus. I was really angry because they didn't tell us before and only as I asked for the missing tickets. I told her that ADA doesn't allow such a reason ( I think she thaught because we are German - the reason my English here is not perfect :-) - and do not know ADA ). A couple of minutes later she could offer us an accessible bus but with the words " but you need to come to shore" !

We had a HC stateroom outside 709. The room itself is big, roomy, dark because of the four portholes ( they are really holes and you cannot see a lot). If you are not able to stand then the beds must be separated. So the wheelchair goes between the beds. If the beds are together there is no space for a wheelchair beside. The bathroom ist the smallest we ever had in an accessible cabin. There is a roll-in shower, a seat and grabs. But if someone needs assistance in the bathroom there is really few space.

I hope, someone helps this experiences

[PennyAgain]

HAL's misrepresentation of what they had and could actually do for your husband really is fraud.

 

If they had told you the truth, you never would have booked this travel.

 

At the least I would demand a refund.

 

It is very difficult to win an argument with a company based on the ADA and the ADA has little enforcement power. In fact some parts of the ADA concerning service animals have recently been tightened up to exclude many catagories of service animals from any protection at all under that law.

[mamaofami]

Sorry you had so much trouble with Maasdam. We were on her in June and I used a scooter. I did sign up for the Arcadia Trip and they had all my info. I can walk, but when we got to Bar Harbor, it was cold and raining and I decided not to even try the tender. As fora all the other ports, the crew was extremely helpful taking my scooter down the gangplank and back up again and aiding me when I need to go up. I found the staff wonderful and am sorry you had this experience.

[Ians Grandma]

I am sorry to hear about your cruise experience. My son, who is a chair fulltime, and I have had similar problems. It is our experience that even with the special tenders we can only get off about a quarter of the time. Reasons given to us have been rough seas, broken equipment, timing issues, and passport collection issues(weird), So we just hope that we can get off but we never expect it. I think that passengers who can walk a few steps do okay, it's just those that cannot transfer that have problems. Overall, we feel that Holland America does it a good job assiting the disabled. As far as the shore excursions, I think that it's best to prearrange your own excursion, but remember that many places do not have curb cuts and accessible restrooms. I hope that helps...we still have a lot of fun on our cruises.