Maasdam-specific questions

[Sayyadina]

Hello, getting ready for our first cruise and I have some questions I was hoping someone could answer for me. I already did a search for and got answers for some other questions...

 

These are for the current Caribbean 10-day cruises on the Maasdam

 

1) Is HMC the only port that tenders?

 

2) We can bring soda, bottled water and wine onboard? Is there a limit to these?

 

3) How is the drinking water on board? Do they sell bottled water and is the $ reasonable?

 

4) This is a more generic question: we do not have passports but have our birth certs. I do not carry a purse (neither does my husband :p ), does anyone have any suggestions on how to securely carry our BCs with us off ship?

 

5) Another more generic question: I noticed that some members of Cruisecritic have 5,000+ and 10,000+ after their names. Is that cumulative days on board ships? :eek:

[wwinfl91]

I will try to answer a couple of your questions although I don't know if I can answer them all.

 

1. There is always a possibility that you will have to tender at St Thomas because of the number of ships that stop there. The last time we were there there were 10 ships and there is only dock space for 4. The other ports all have docks but again depending on the demand tendering could happen.

 

2. As far as I know they have not implemented any rules about how much soda water or wine you can bring onboard. We brought 6 bottles of wine on our last HAL cruise and a case of Diet pepsi cans and no one said anything.

 

3. As far as the water goes cruise ships all make their own and it is very clean as it is made by distillation. What we do is bring a couple of water bottles and then fill them in the room and put them in the frig and then bring them back after shore trips and do it again. They do sell bottled water and it is not very expensive.

 

4. You will be able to get away without passports for another couple of years but you need to consider getting them if you plan on traveling out of the country even on a cruise within a year or two. What you might consider getting would be a safety pocket or next pouch from Samsonite. Check at a travel or luggage store. You can keep your credit card, some cash and your cruise card as well as your drivers license in one of them.

 

http://www.traveloasis.com/moneybelt1.html

 

5. The numbers refer to the number of posts that the CC member has made.

 

Hopefully these answers will help you have a great next cruise.

[grannynurse]

The numbers after the names indicate numbers of posts on the CC board.

 

The drinking water on HAL ships is very good. The bottled water is a little expensive but is very available. If you have a refrigerator in your room it will have bottled water and will be restocked as you use it ...for a charge of course.

 

We were on the Maasdam last summer for a NE/Canada cruise from Montreal to Boston.

When we were on the Zaandam for 11 day, we tendered into HMC and Grand Cayman. In the Caribbean ports tendering depends on the size of the ship and how many other ships are there at the time. Even docking in St. Thomas is the luck of the draw. Sometimes it's Havensight but we docked at Crown Bay which is less desireable IMO, but there were 6 other cruise ships in port.

It was also crowded in St. Maarten, I think I remember that we did dock there too.

The Maasdam is a lovely ship; it's my DH's favorite. My favorite, however is still Rotterdam having been aboard her four times, I really love her.

The layout, apart from the midship stairs and elevators is very similar. Maasdam has a very blue color scheme, very restful and elegant. The food was great, better than Rotterdam, except for the pizza. The crew was fabulous as usual on HAL.

Hope this helps,

GN

[Krazy Kruizers]

Check cruisecal to find out how many ships will be in port with you.

 

January of 2005, there were a lot of cruise ships in St Maartin the day we were there. We were on the Westerdam and the Maasdam was anchored next to us. Carnival and Princess got to dock.

[Sayyadina]

5. The numbers refer to the number of posts that the CC member has made.

 

I didn't think it could be days on ship, but I couldn't find it mentioned anywhere else. 5000+ days on ship would be almost 14 years. Sounds divine....

[pcs15]

We just disembarked from the Maasdam this past Monday - had a wonderful 11 day cruise!

 

Regarding your birth certificates, you should not need them on shore. I would recommend leaving them in the safe in the stateroom. What you will need to take with you when you leave the ship is your ship ID card and a photo ID. You do not need a passport or birth certificate. In some ports they check the photo ID, in some just the ship card.

 

We took soda and boxed wine on board with us - no problems. If your stateroom has a refrigerator you can ask your steward to empty it out if you want so you have room for your drinks. You will have fresh ice daily.

[Bubski]

Is it possible to bring beer on board or just wine, soda and water?

Thanks

[gizmo]

No beer, only wine, soda, and water.

[caribbean girl]

pcs15...I assume you sailed out of Norfolk? How were the seas? We did an 11 day last year from Va. and it was a bit rough on the way down. We didn't make it to HMC:( . Do they still have the S. African crew in the photo dept?

[zaandam_2]

We had very rough seas coming back into Norfolk last April. It was a wild ride the last night, with strong pitching (up and down). Booming and shuddering. sounds of glass breaking. everything that was on the counters when i went to sleep was on the floor in the morning. Captian van der Loo came on the next day and said he had to slow the ship down. I'm odd, I like rough seas. I thought it was get fun.

[pcs15]

pcs15...I assume you sailed out of Norfolk? How were the seas? We did an 11 day last year from Va. and it was a bit rough on the way down. We didn't make it to HMC:( . Do they still have the S. African crew in the photo dept?

 

Hi,

We did sail out of Norfolk. For us non-seafaring folk we thought the first day out and last day back out of Norfolk were a little bit rough. It also was a little rough around Barbados. However, we were told that what we were experiencing was not rough at all compared to the past 2 cruises. We did make the Half Moon Cay stop and thoroughly enjoyed it. The previous 2 cruises out of Norfolk did not stop at Half Moon. I think we were very fortunate with the weather on our particular cruise - it was great throughout. Of course the first and last day were cold - only outside weather when we were bundled up in winter coats, hats and gloves. Because of the roughness and the cold days I would not choose to cruise out of Norfolk again even though we were able to drive to it. I would rather fly to FL and be in warmer weather to start the cruise.

 

The photo dept included Stacey, Johan, and Dave from South Africa. Lukasz was from Poland and a few others. We chatted with them all quite a bit and bought some very good pictures. This was our third cruise and my husband has finally warmed up to the idea of having his picture taken and now grins and bears it!

 

Pat

[caribbean girl]

pcs15...yes...Dave was in the photo dept. on our trip last year! Honestly, the pics we got from that trip are just beautiful! And the staff was so very nice and accomodating! We really grew to enjoy chatting with them, whenever we saw them working. Do you remember if Bram was still with them? I have a photo of myself with him...

 

I agree about sailing out of Norfolk, as I think after our experience last year, I would be afraid to do it again. I don't like to fly, so driving from Pa. to Va. was appealing. Next time, I think we will sail from Fla. in order to start the vacation off with warm weather right off the bat.

You are so fortunate to have made it to HMC, as many Maasdam cruises out of Va. seem to have been missing it lately. And, zaandam_2, your trip sounds like ours...:eek: . The seas were sooooo rough! I was very scared...it did completely sound like large chunks of the ship were breaking off... On the way down, we were at sea for three days, trying to outrun a storm. The third day was the most bearable, although it was not calm by any means. Good thing you enjoyed that!:o Once we arrived in the Caribbean, the weather was terrific for the rest of the trip. And then it was back to the N. Atlantic...:eek: .

[Babs1121]

I will bring Pepsi with me because I don't drink coke. When you brought the case of Pepsi did you put it in a cooler or just bring the case by itself? Did you check it? I was wondering how rough they are with the check in luggage etc. and wouldn't want the soda to spring a leak..Thanks

[senator6]

We have never had a problem checking in soda, of course something can always happen. Will be sailing out of Norfolk soon on the Maasdam though we have been on the Maasdam several times we have never gone out of Norfolk so find this thread helpful. I will say the one time we had to tender in St. Thomas was one of our best trips there. We found it very easy.

[caribbean girl]

Maybe this is a silly question, but, if you bring soda in your suitcase, won't it get shaken all over the place en route?:eek: It sounds like a major mess, to me. We have never smuggled anything on board, so I have not idea how one would handle this...

[pcs15]

Caribbean Girl, I'm glad we did not have the rough seas you did! We had a family member that was seasick even with our minimal waves.

 

Regarding taking soda on board, we wanted diet ginger ale in case of sea sickness so packed some 20 oz. plastic bottles in a separate small duffle bag and padded it with bubble wrap. We only had flip flops, etc. in it so if anything were to spring a leak it wouldn't hurt anything else. We did this since we were driving and one more bad was not a big deal. I probably wouldn't bother if I had been flying - too much hassle. We also packed a box of wine in the same duffle. Very convenient for his verandah happy hour and much safer than bottles. My husband did have to apply some duct tape to the box on board but it was a minor repair.

Pat

[caribbean girl]

You are lucky it wasn't so bad! Truly, it was pretty wild! Even many crew members were ill. You know when that happens, it's serious. We had some good laughs over it with the housekeeping manager, who said we would forget all about it, once things became calmer. And he was totally right!:p