Maiden Voyage

[MGH521]

Have any of you cruised on a maiden voyage? I heard that Holland America will have a new ship in 2016. How hard is it to get a reservation on the maiden voyage? Is it special?

[Hlitner]

We have been on 2 maiden voyages and will never do it again! There are just too many bad possible outcomes. For example, ships are sometimes not completed in time for their first voyage (or get delayed because they fail sea trials). Another issue (and we think the major problem) is the crew. It takes time for even the best crews to learn how to work together as a real team (necessary for smooth operation on any ship). A new vessel gets various crew members from other ships plus new crew and it normally will take several months until they have worked out all the kinks. And speaking of kinks, on our maiden voyages the ships were not actually finished although they did sail. Se you find that there are some workmen aboard working on final touches inside the ship. On one of our maiden voyages (I think it was the Enchantment of the Seas) they even had large boxes in many places on the ship since they had not yet unpacked all the furniture because they were still laying some carpet.

 

Hank

[Krazy Kruizers]

We accidently ended up on 2 maiden voyages -- we hadn't planned it that way -- but due to delays in the ship yard -- we were on them.

Now we wait until at least 5 months from the scheduled inaugural before we book a cruise.

Way too many things happened.

[jtl513]

I wasn't there, but many who were on the maiden voyage of the Eurodam commented on being treated as second-class to the VIP's on board.

[RuthC]

I wasn't there, but many who were on the maiden voyage of the Eurodam commented on being treated as second-class to the VIP's on board.

 

I was there.

The consensus among my (rather large) group of friends was "Had this been my first HAL cruise, it would have been my last".

 

The ship was technically finished, but it sure wasn't put together. One friend was in the shower, all lathered up getting ready for dinner, when the entire shower fixture came down on her. The Front Office said they would put in a work order. :eek: Her reply was something to the effect of "Get someone down here NOW!!! :mad:".

Doors fell off the service stations in the dining room.

Construction dust coated the surfaces in the cabins.

 

On the 3-day pre-inaugural, the show was held up an inordinate amount of time one night so the VIP's could get there. They were in no hurry to leave their dining table conversations, so everyone else had to wait. And wait. And wait.

 

The dining stewards did their best, but they were not yet in sync, and didn't have the rhythm of a team. Many didn't know where things were.

 

Never again.

[Ine]

I wasn't there, but many who were on the maiden voyage of the Eurodam commented on being treated as second-class to the VIP's on board.

 

Indeed, that was what I wanted to post re Eurodam at that sailing. Also waiters were not all very well trained.

[HALrunner]

Whenever I hear "maiden voyage", the only thing that comes to mind is the Titanic

[zelker]

Conversely, our first cruise ever was on the maiden Westerdam voyage out of Venice, it was fabulous, and we've been sailing ever since (that was in 2004).

[Mary Ellen]

We were among those on the E'Dam Inaugural. Ruth pretty well summed up our experience. Yes, one night we were kept waiting 20-minutes past the announced start time of the post-dinner show because the CEOs of CCL an HAL hadn't finished their dinners and made their way to the showroom. HAL charged a very high premium for the Inaugural, particularly the 3-day portion from Rotterdam to Copenhagen. They also wanted something like $300/pp to attend the ceremony - on top of the high cruise price. I could well be wrong on the ceremony price, we didn't give in and pay that.

 

Yes, we were very much treated as second-class passengers compared to the 'comped' TAs and travel writers. The only thing 'special' we experienced wasn't anything done by HAL. The city of Hamburg put on a wonderful fireworks display the night we were there. That was done in honor of the ship's maiden call.

 

We expected the crew to not be used to working together. We also expected there to be some work left to be done. Those didn't bother us. At least it wasn't either of us who had the shower fixture fall on them - hair full shampoo and all. Then we might not have been so forgiving about things not being finished. There is no forgiving the "work order" dismissive from the Front Desk. That should have been met with 'I'll get someone there right away' and a 'What can I do for you right now?'

 

Will we ever take an Inaugural cruise again? NO

[djhsolara]

How much more is the chance that the planned maiden voyage will be postponed because the ship is not complete...or is this one of those situations that the ship will sail ready or not?

[Typhoon1]

As KK mentioned, one of the hotel managers told us it takes about six months to shake all the bugs out of a new ship.

 

Wait a little then book, hopefully, all the problems will be gone by then.

[RuthC]

How much more is the chance that the planned maiden voyage will be postponed because the ship is not complete...or is this one of those situations that the ship will sail ready or not?

 

Just an observation of anecdotal evidence, the first ship in a new class is more likely to be late than subsequent ships of the same class.

[HamOp]

As KK mentioned, one of the hotel managers told us it takes about six months to shake all the bugs out of a new ship.

 

Wait a little then book, hopefully, all the problems will be gone by then.

 

I think I found one of them!!!:D

[Ray in NH]

We have done two cruises on "Brand New" ships -- one Inaugural Cruise and on Maiden Voyage.

The Inaugural sailing was on Maasdam (Dec. 1993). We checked in boarded the ship, then for those interested, we went back out on the pier for the "Christening Ceremonies". June Allyson was Godmother. The only "problem" we encountered was that the officials could not open the large bottle of champagne to pour over the ship's bell and then pour for the toasting of the vessel. The Port Manager fortunately was a very resourceful woman, who just happened to have a pair of vice grips in her purse -- pop went the cork. :) The cruise itself was wonderful.

The Maiden Voyage was aboard RCI's Serenade of the Seas (Aug. 2003). RCI took ownership on Friday afternoon and we sailed from Amsterdam (to Boston) on Sunday afternoon. This sailing was very different from the Maasdam Inaugural. There were no christening or naming ceremonies -- those took place after the cruise a week later in New York City (after a couple of "Big Wig Sailings"). The only "problem" on our Maiden Voyage was due to weather (outer decks were closed for some periods due to high winds (lost a couple of "landing mats/tiles", from the base of the rock climbing wall.

From our limited experience, we would not hesitate to book a Maiden Voyage. Nor would we necessarily go out of our way to do so -- if the itinerary, pricing and timing works, "Go For It".

Ray in NH