Maasdam Review Part II

[jbhcw]

MY REVIEW OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT MAASDAM

November 5, 2005

Part II

 

Our experience with the Lido was wonderful. I spoke to Shy the first afternoon and he remembered our names from then on. We saw him every morning and afternoon handing out trays. He is certainly a special person with his great smile and wonderful personality; he was one of the highlights of our cruise.

 

The food on the Maasdam was great, everywhere, in the dining room, on the Lido, room service, hors d’oeuvres in the Ocean Bar, we enjoyed it all. One of the best breakfasts we’ve ever had on a cruise was the one we ordered one morning from room service, delivered with a smile and hot! I enjoyed the variety of food served in the dining room and on the Lido Deck. Had Osso Buco one night, and a lamb shank another night. The barbeque on HMC was good, with the ribs being excellent. Another plus for HAL was the beef served. I usually do not order beef on a cruise because to me it usually is not as good as what I can get at home and not cooked correctly, (usually overcooked). But all the beef dishes I had were excellent, good flavor and cooked as requested. I did try the bread pudding but thought it was a little sweet for my taste. It certainly went fast every day at lunch. What I thought was really good were the fruit tarts and pies they had everyday at lunch. They were wonderful. We only ordered a room service meal once on the cruise which was the breakfast I mentioned above, but I loved the extensive menu you can order from, if you weren’t feeling well enough to go out to dinner, you could still order dinner brought to your cabin.

 

The ports in no particular order: This is not detailed at all as we really cruise for the ship experience and for just being away from home and our routine. We don’t do many shore tours as we were involved in a MVA in St. Thomas one time, had to leave the ship, so we are now very careful about what we do when onshore.

 

Dominica – got off the ship and shopped. It poured rain while we were there, and we were in a large building with a tin roof, the rain was really neat as it was also nice and warm. The people there were very friendly and I enjoyed the little bit of shopping we did.

 

St. Kitts – beautiful, landscape reminded me of southern Ireland! They are in the process of building a nice port shopping area, with some of it completed. We bought some alcohol and wine there at very good prices.

 

Half Moon Cay- probably one of the best stops we made. The weather was perfect. I had rented a clam shell but we really did not use it that much. I enjoyed the water and the beach area. Husband does not like the water at all, but even he went in. Water was so clear we could see angel type fish swimming right by us! Friends went kayaking and she said it was a great time. Also talked with someone who had done the Sting Ray tour and she said it was good. I like the idea of being able to do the sting ray on the island, we’ve always done them in Grand Cayman, where you take a boat out to the sting ray area and sometimes the water can get a little deep for me. We walked along the pathway to the lunch area, just soaking up the sun, beach, birds, tropical plants, just the whole atmosphere of the place. They had a small band playing near one of the bars near the covered serving area. As everyone says, wished we could have stayed longer. We watched the island as the ship was leaving, it was getting dark and we saw them burning something on the island, we could see the flames (trash we think). We also saw a small ferry type boat, taking the people who work at the little shopping area to wherever they live. At least that’s what we thought it was. To me and I know to everyone else, it’s a special place. I’ve been to three other private islands and the only one that comes close to HMC is an island we visited when we sailed the Big Red Boat in the 1990’s. Think it was near the Abacos Islands.

 

St. Thomas- We have been many times, we just got off the ship and shopped a while, had a drink and got back on the ship and went to the aft pool, which I loved.

 

Barbados – We met a tour guide there, who is a friend of the family and he gave us a wonderful tour of Barbados, we had lunch at the Round House, a neat little restaurant with a great view.

 

San Juan – Met an internet friend from another cruise board and her husband at their hotel right next to the pier that morning. They were getting ready to board the Destiny for a 7 day cruise that Sunday. We shopped a little while, and then it was back onto the ship. There is not much time in this port, I would love to have a complete day in San Juan.

 

Miscellaneous thoughts on our 11 day cruise:

 

We had a self-service laundry on our floor but I opted to use the $12.00 “All you can stuff in the bag” option. We sent it off one morning and it was back the next day, foldables (underwear) in a nice little wicker basket and everything else pressed on hangers looking perfect.

 

We really enjoyed the entertainment on the ship. For the size of the ship I thought the production numbers were very good. The choice of music played on this ship, everywhere was geared to an older crowd and I loved it. Don’t think I’ve every heard Sinatra being played on a Carnival ship. The band playing in the Ocean Bar was very good, we did not check out the piano bar, but one person traveling with us did and he said he was great. We did go to the crew show, the dancer at the beginning was super great, she did a Balinese dance, but it turned out she was a guy!

 

The style and beauty of the Maasdam grows on you each day that you are on board. The flowers, artwork, tableware displayed, and artifacts all add to the beauty of this ship. We enjoyed the shops, didn’t go to the spa or gym. I loved the promenade deck and we walked several mornings and also made use of the deck chairs. One of the major pluses for me on this cruise was the availability of deck chairs at either pool, especially the aft pool. We went there several afternoons to get some sun and there were always empty chairs.

 

Husband kept telling me before the cruise that we would be dodging, walkers, canes and wheelchairs on this cruise and he was partially correct, (Even though we are old too), but overall all the guests we came in contact with were friendly and polite, no grumpy old people did we find.

 

The young lady at the Java Café, where we went most nights for a Latte or an Irish coffee was very sweet and probably personifies the service that HAL advertises. She was always friendly and out-going. She made me and another passenger I had struck up a conversation with, paper flowers out of a napkin and straw, brought it over to us and thanked us for coming to see her each night.

 

We did not go to the movie theatre, but did watch several movies in the cabin, there was a good variety being played. The library and internet room were both very nice. I loved all the available magazines and all the jigsaw puzzles laid out on the tables.

 

We did not go to the Pinnacle grill. If we had been traveling by ourselves, we would have gone one night, but the other couples did not want to go, and we just never did make it there. If we sail on the Maasdam again I would love to go to lunch one day.

 

Everything everyone says about the beds on the Maasdam is true. Our bed was the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on. We just purchased a new mattress a few years ago and it doesn’t come close to the HAL mattresses. Bedding was also wonderful. I’m waiting for the sheets to become available for purchase on-line.

 

I had pre-ordered a bottle of Absolute and a bottle of Jim Beam to be delivered to our cabin. Steward brought the Absolute about 5 p.m. day of embarkation, but no Jim Beam. I called the Purser’s Office and asked, they said they would check and call me back. When she called back after sail away she stated that there was no Jim Beam on the ship, so we would not get our order. I told her my husband had just had a drink made with Jim Beam at one of the bars and he was going to be very disappointed if he did not get his bottle I had ordered. When we got back from dinner the bottle was in the cabin, guess they went to one of the bars and got one!

 

We had perfect weather and smooth seas the entire trip except for about 24 hours leaving San Juan. Seas were rough but the Maasdam rides so well with a side to side roll, it would take very rough seas to make anyone sick.

 

We’ve been back for over a month now, but with Thanksgiving, a side trip to the coast, work, Christmas, plus sorting out in my mind about our cruise I am now just getting my thoughts into words. Hopefully I will have the pictures ready to view after Christmas.

 

Sailing on the Maasdam, even with our not so friendly waiter was a wonderful experience. I am definitely going to be sailing HAL again. I want to thank everyone on the HAL Board for all the great information I’ve gotten over the past few years, it definitely helped in the planning of this cruise. Know it’s a bit long and disorganized but that’s kinda me anyway! Any questions, fire away. Oh, one more thing please forgive any typos and or grammar flubs, know there are some in here!

[kryos]

Sailing on the Maasdam, even with our not so friendly waiter was a wonderful experience. I am definitely going to be sailing HAL again. I want to thank everyone on the HAL Board for all the great information I’ve gotten over the past few years, it definitely helped in the planning of this cruise. Know it’s a bit long and disorganized but that’s kinda me anyway! Any questions, fire away. Oh, one more thing please forgive any typos and or grammar flubs, know there are some in here!

Quite the contrary, your review is excellent. Thank you for letting us share your cruise experience.

 

Blue skies!

 

--rita

[NapTown Jim]

Thank you so much for your review of the Maasdam!! Its things like this that make me more and more excited for my first ever cruise, and we will be sailing on that very ship. Will you be posting photos? I am particularly interested in ship photos of the Maasdam so I hope you have plenty of those. :)

[jbhcw]

Rita, thanks for the good words for my review! Jim, I do have lots and lots of pictures, will try to get them posted in the next few weeks. When are you sailing?

[Krazy Kruizers]

You did an excellent job. Enjoyed your review.

[jimmy2x]

Wonderful review - thank you so much for taking the time. We are just about two months out from our Ryndam cruise and starting to get very excited.:)

[NapTown Jim]

Rita, thanks for the good words for my review! Jim, I do have lots and lots of pictures, will try to get them posted in the next few weeks. When are you sailing?

 

May 13 departing Montreal for Boston

[FlorenceItaly]

Jane - Really enjoyed your review. Thanks so much for posting. I am sorry for the unfortunate experience in the dining room, how awful. Your review makes me want to go on the Maasdam again. She was my very first HAL cruise, so she will always be special to me. I cruised on her last year, the Canada/NE route, out of Boston.

 

Marie

[jjdc]

Jane,

 

Great review -- lots of good information! I'm sorry to hear about your dining room experience. As bad as it was, it sounds like you managed not to let it ruin your whole cruise. Not everyone would handle that situation as well as you and your companions did. I so agree with your comments on HMC, everything about the island was wonderful.

 

I still need to do a review of my 26 November Maasdam cruise--maybe I'll finally get to it this week.