CCL Legend vs Maasdam

['The Bear']

My DW and I are about to book our first HAL cruise -- the Maasdam mid-January 07 cruise.

 

We are relatively new to cruising, but once bitten ---- we have become addicted! We have previously sailed on 3 CCL cruises --- Glory 04, Victory 05, and Legend 06; and although we loved all 3 cruises, the smaller Legend appealed to us more than the others. (Hey! Maybe size does matter!) ;)

 

The Maasdam itinerary is awesome, we have visited 3 of these islands previously, and my initial searches on these boards reflect nothing but good reviews about the Maasdam;;; but I would appreciate some re-assurance from more 'seasoned' cruisers that we are making a good decision.

 

We are 60 and 58 respectively, but are quite active for (despite ?) our age. We don't tend to party too much, as is sometimes the case on some lines, (although we do party !!); and we prefer longer cruises in order to maximize our time away from the frigid Canadian winters, as well as to minimize the chance of having a cruise over-run with teens.

 

Can you seasoned cruisers, with your vast experiences, reassure this Crazy Canuck that straying from CCL this time, is not a bad thing, and that I'm about to make a GREAT decision?:D

 

Thanks !

[satchiesmom]

Hello Bear,

DH and and I are about the same age (61 for him, 58 for me) as you and we tried HAL for the first time last January. We loved it and are actually going on a 10 day Maasdam cruise on Jan. 24 2007.

We are pretty active, but also like time to relax around the pool. There will be plenty for you to do if you choose. We are not big partiers either, but we do enjoy having a few drinks and visiting the different venues in the evening. There are some Canadians going on the same cruise as us, check out our roll call, you may want to join us unless you have already chosen another date, or want a longer than 10 day trip.

In any event, I know you will enjoy your cruise with HAL and the people on this board are awsome. They're what convinced us to go with HAL to begin with.

Best of Luck,

Susan

[obriendan]

You have made a wonderful choice. We much prefer the size of the HAL S class ships. The smaller ships have a more intimate feel and you never feel crowded. From our point of view, at 88000 tons and 2124 passengers, the Carnival Legend is hardly "small". We have sailed on the Maasdam recently and the Indonesian and Filipino staff are wonderful. They truely make you feel like a guest!

[grannynurse]

The maasdam is beautiful. The overall color scheme uses alot of blues. My DH thinks it's the prettiest of the HAL ships we've been on. We were on before her SOE upgrade and so cannot comment on the Crow's Nest. We loved it the way it was and AMOF I don't know if it was changed at all.

What we like:

The size of the ship, the reduced walking even without the midship elevators that we're used to on "R" class, the atmosphere, the art, the flowers, THE CREW, the service, all blend together for us. We feel very much at home on HAL. We really like the "ocean-liner" feel as opposed to the large resort atmosphere found on other lines. We've never felt nickle-dimed. I know the amenities are not free but at least someone doesn't always have his/her hand out everytime you turn around. ...and except for some BINGO messages, the anouncements are kept to a minimum.

I hope you'll like HAL and the Maasdam as much as we do,

and BTW, thanj Sail7Seas as it is HER MAASDAM.

GN

['The Bear']

Thank-you all for your re-assurances ----- I bit the bullet and notified my TA to confirm the Jan. 14 cruise on the Maasdam !! :D

 

As you can imagine we're both very happy!

 

Although we're new to HAL, we're quite anxious to meet a whole new group of cruise fanatics!!

 

Thanks again, :)

[newmexicoNita]

Thank-you all for your re-assurances ----- I bit the bullet and notified my TA to confirm the Jan. 14 cruise on the Maasdam !! :D

 

As you can imagine we're both very happy!

 

Although we're new to HAL' date=' we're quite anxious to meet a whole new group of cruise fanatics!!

 

Thanks again, :)[/quote']Good for you; we are a little older and have cruised all but one of the mass marketed lines. Our only experience with HAL so a zillion years ago. Being strong NCL loyalists it was hard for us to book HAL, but the itinerary was just what we wanted and being a TA I do need to experience as many lines as possible. Now we are so excited we can hardly wait for November 29th. We know we will love the Amsterdam. NMNita