Maasdam Short Review: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[G&G]

We just completed our 36th cruise on HAL yesterday; 42 day voyage on the Maasdam roundtrip from Ft Lauderdale to Europe. The following are my observations only and should not be considered the opinions of others.

 

Under the new cruise survey by HAL via the internet I gave this cruise a 5 out of 7 rating which is a "GOOD". My wife gave it a "FAIR" rating. I will start with the excellent things about the ship.

 

"THE GOOD". The ports of call were excellent. All our tours, mostly independent, were Five Star, especially the "Eat and Wine Tasting" tour in Sorrento and the Mt Etna tour in Messina. The entertainment was good. The Piano Bar guy Paul was excellent along with Amber with the Halcats. She was the best singer I had ever heard with the group. The accommodations were as expected with the usual A/C problems and pipe breaks flooding some of the cabins (it is amazing that this has become a standard on our cruises).

 

"THE BAD". The MDR experience was inconsistent; some nights the service and food was excellent, other nights very poor. Bottom line is that at Anytime Dining, it is impossible for the waiter and his helper to wait on 30 passengers at one time and provide good service with little assistant from their bosses. We gave up on the MDR on DAY 37 of the cruise when I ordered one of my favorites, meatloaf, I had to ask for a steak knife to cut it. Even the Assistant RM could not figure out want I was served. Overall the meats were undercooked and tough. The senior staff were "out to lunch". Never saw the Captain for the entire 42 days except at parties. Hotel Manager not friendly. Cruise Director ok.

 

Though it maybe expected to run out of food on long cruises, this cruise ran out of a lot of things including fruits, cereals and even HAL cocktail napkins at DAY 28. The Crows Nest used white and brown paper towels and tissues as napkins. Thank goodness we did not run out of toilet paper :eek: ! I had to buy a fiber cereal in port on DAY 32; none available on ship and wife purchased papaya in ports since she kept getting the excuse from the staff that it was never ripe in the Lido.

 

"THE URGY". Passengers and cruise hoarding food ! That's right. I will coin a new phrase; "FOOD HOGS". I observed almost daily passengers and staff taking all of one item of food, mostly fruits and especially grapes; piling on large oval plates. Also saw people fill bags with muffins and pastries. I realize that the food could be for others ?

 

Though the overall experience was GOOD, we are booked on one more HAL cruise in April 2014 where we will receive our Gold Medallion. This will probably be our last HAL cruise.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing your review.

 

Keith

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

[0bnxshs]

Sounds like a disappointing time. :( Thanks for your thoughts.

[DFD!]

This is a review which should be sent directly to the president of Holland America Line. This, coming from such an experienced and loyal cruise passenger, is a sign of real trouble at HAL.

 

IMO

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like more bad than good. Hate to see you go elsewhere but I understand your decision.

[Linda&Vern]

Ouch! Thanks for your trip report, sad as it is. Please forward your thoughts to HAL's guest relations team. I think it important they know about your comments.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Linda&Vern

[sail7seas]

Thanks for sharing your comments with us. DH and I love the Maasdam and her crerw and it is disappointing to hear of your experience aboard.

 

Hopefully your next cruise will be more to your expectation. Congratulations in advance of your receiving your 500 Day Gold Medallion. :)

 

[kazu]

Thanks for the review. I agree with the others - Let HAL know.

 

Hoping the food is better by the time we get on her. It was fine last time although we do fixed dining.

 

Glad your cruise was good overall, but MDR is an important part of any cruise.

 

Food hogs - LOL - I haven't heard that one before!

[G&G]

Thanks for sharing your comments with us. DH and I love the Maasdam and her crerw and it is disappointing to hear of your experience aboard.

 

Hopefully your next cruise will be more to your expectation. Congratulations in advance of your receiving your 500 Day Gold Medallion. :)

 

 

Thanks Sails.

 

We also have sailed on the Maasdam many times and was disappointed. I believe the Senior Staff set the tone for the cruise.

[G&G]

Thanks for the review. I agree with the others - Let HAL know.

 

Hoping the food is better by the time we get on her. It was fine last time although we do fixed dining.

 

Glad your cruise was good overall, but MDR is an important part of any cruise.

 

Food hogs - LOL - I haven't heard that one before!

 

I always write to HAL after every cruise; always identifying those staff who exceeded our expections or making recommendations.

 

As far as the food hogs, I could not believe the a few of the HAL staff hoarded food!

[cruz chic]

Thx for you review. Hal needs to get it together. I don't know why they struggle so much.

[G&G]

Thx for you review. Hal needs to get it together. I don't know why they struggle so much.

 

Why they struggle so much ?

 

We were told by three different officers during this cruise that their hands are tied by the Seattle Office to do things.

 

For example the Beverage Manager who came on the ship on Day 21 in Rome required almost an act of Congress (Seattle Office) to change the second Happy Hour in the bars from 9:30-10:30pm to 7-8 PM; but only last five days of cruise.

[cruz chic]

Why they struggle so much ?

 

We were told by three different officers during this cruise that their hands are tied by the Seattle Office to do things.

 

For example the Beverage Manager who came on the ship on Day 21 in Rome required almost an act of Congress (Seattle Office) to change the second Happy Hour in the bars from 9:30-10:30pm to 7-8 PM; but only last five days of cruise.

 

That's just ridiculous. They need to change (Seattle) how they do things. By being so inflexible it makes then inefficient. I cruise fairly often on Princess and they don't struggle like Hal does. There is something wrong at the top.

[travel09]

Like everything in life we all have different expectations ,and sometimes when one reads reviews we wonder can it be the same cruise we have experienced...

Friends , experienced travellers , one in the Travel industry, were on your cruise, they loved very minute ....!

[geocruiser]

Food hogs, wow! My problem is at the buffet I never take enough (so I will get on line twice) . I put just a little less that what I can eat on my plate, because I can all ways go back for more. I just can't take a lot of food and not eat it and toss it out. I don't do that at home and will not do it when on a ship.

Edited December 7, 2013 by geocruiser

[Vict0riann]

Sorry to hear you did not have a great time on the cruise - the same one we will be on next year (now, maybe). I certainly don't understand why they can't figure out what food supplies they need for a long cruise. Are they unable to purchase in other countries? We certainly have seen "food hogs" (surprisingly, especially with fruit!) before, but yours take the cake! I wonder if they were planning to take it ashore with them so as to not have to buy food. I've seen people doing that, even when we were not supposed to take food off the ship, and they got away with it!

 

BTW, did you manage to anchor at Sorrento?

[TracieABD]

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear your cruise was not fabulous, especially the food and the food hogs. I hope you will let HAL know how you feel. With almost 500 days at sea with HAL, they should realize that you can provide a good comparison.

 

I wish you much luck on your next cruise.:)

[OlsSalt]

Why they struggle so much ?

 

We were told by three different officers during this cruise that their hands are tied by the Seattle Office to do things.

 

For example the Beverage Manager who came on the ship on Day 21 in Rome required almost an act of Congress (Seattle Office) to change the second Happy Hour in the bars from 9:30-10:30pm to 7-8 PM; but only last five days of cruise.

 

I wonder how much prior employment contracts play a role in times of operations. We had a lot of requests once on a TA to start the evening show a half hour earlier since the MDR service was so efficient it was a long lag between the end of dinner and the start of the shows.

 

Everyone seemed to be in agreement this would be a good idea but they reported after many entreaties to Seattle they could not do this. Maybe there was something in the contracts with the entertainment people they would have a certain amount of rest time between shows?

 

Who knows. But maybe there is more than meets the eye when asking for flexibility while on board dealing with employees who have set contract and workplace conditions set up front. (Including rehearsal time showroom temperatures so the Showroom is freezing when passengers come in later for lectures …..brrrrrr???)

Edited December 7, 2013 by OlsSalt

[SilvertoGold]

Thanks very much for this review.

 

HAL and inconsistency is becoming ingrained.

 

Would you let us know who the Captain, HM and CD were?

My opinions as expressed above is that so much of how well a cruise is done comes from the top management. Captain and HM set the tone; CD, GRM, DRM, Front Desk staff make it or break it.

 

As this was a long cruise one would think there would be a bit of extra effort made. At least this is how it used to be on the longer cruises, as little as 2 years ago. Now....

 

Again, thanks for the descriptive review. Hope your next (Gold!) cruise is better.

Edited December 7, 2013 by SilvertoGold

[G&G]

Like everything in life we all have different expectations ,and sometimes when one reads reviews we wonder can it be the same cruise we have experienced...

Friends , experienced travellers , one in the Travel industry, were on your cruise, they loved very minute ....!

 

I agree, but we sailed with several friends on this cruise who all felt the same as I did. Having sailed with HAL for 30 years this was not what I would have expected.

[cle1]

We just completed our 36th cruise on HAL yesterday; 42 day voyage on the Maasdam roundtrip from Ft Lauderdale to Europe. The following are my observations only and should not be considered the opinions of others.

 

Under the new cruise survey by HAL via the internet I gave this cruise a 5 out of 7 rating which is a "GOOD". My wife gave it a "FAIR" rating. I will start with the excellent things about the ship.

 

"THE GOOD". The ports of call were excellent. All our tours, mostly independent, were Five Star, especially the "Eat and Wine Tasting" tour in Sorrento and the Mt Etna tour in Messina. The entertainment was good. The Piano Bar guy Paul was excellent along with Amber with the Halcats. She was the best singer I had ever heard with the group. The accommodations were as expected with the usual A/C problems and pipe breaks flooding some of the cabins (it is amazing that this has become a standard on our cruises).

 

"THE BAD". The MDR experience was inconsistent; some nights the service and food was excellent, other nights very poor. Bottom line is that at Anytime Dining, it is impossible for the waiter and his helper to wait on 30 passengers at one time and provide good service with little assistant from their bosses. We gave up on the MDR on DAY 37 of the cruise when I ordered one of my favorites, meatloaf, I had to ask for a steak knife to cut it. Even the Assistant RM could not figure out want I was served. Overall the meats were undercooked and tough. The senior staff were "out to lunch". Never saw the Captain for the entire 42 days except at parties. Hotel Manager not friendly. Cruise Director ok.

 

Though it maybe expected to run out of food on long cruises, this cruise ran out of a lot of things including fruits, cereals and even HAL cocktail napkins at DAY 28. The Crows Nest used white and brown paper towels and tissues as napkins. Thank goodness we did not run out of toilet paper :eek: ! I had to buy a fiber cereal in port on DAY 32; none available on ship and wife purchased papaya in ports since she kept getting the excuse from the staff that it was never ripe in the Lido.

 

"THE URGY". Passengers and cruise hoarding food ! That's right. I will coin a new phrase; "FOOD HOGS". I observed almost daily passengers and staff taking all of one item of food, mostly fruits and especially grapes; piling on large oval plates. Also saw people fill bags with muffins and pastries. I realize that the food could be for others ?

 

Though the overall experience was GOOD, we are booked on one more HAL cruise in April 2014 where we will receive our Gold Medallion. This will probably be our last HAL cruise.

I hope this was just the ship, and not the "new look" of HAL!:(

[G&G]

I hope this was just the ship, and not the "new look" of HAL!:(

 

We will soon see. Did I leave anything out ?

[Cindy]

Sorry your cruise didn't live up to your expectations. It's disappointing to plan and anticipate something and then have it fall short.

 

Why they struggle so much ?

 

We were told by three different officers during this cruise that their hands are tied by the Seattle Office to do things.

 

For example the Beverage Manager who came on the ship on Day 21 in Rome required almost an act of Congress (Seattle Office) to change the second Happy Hour in the bars from 9:30-10:30pm to 7-8 PM; but only last five days of cruise.

 

That's just ridiculous. They need to change (Seattle) how they do things. By being so inflexible it makes then inefficient. I cruise fairly often on Princess and they don't struggle like Hal does. There is something wrong at the top.

 

We found inflexibility to be a big problem on our Westerdam cruise, and it really contributed to our not having a more positive experience on that trip. It seemed like the people in charge wouldn't or couldn't adapt and adjust to fit the situation. It caused me a lot of frustration.