Maasdam 11-8-06 Review, including a note on the near-grounding

[Operator]

Thanks to all for the comments on the OP and on the Maasdam. I am tickled to hear that folks have enjoyed these posts, as I have taken a great deal of information and enjoyment from these boards, and am happy to be able to give back. A few notes:

 

Sea King: several people have missed an important note in my recent post, so here it is again for clarity: "...but there are other circumstances that also contributed to our decision to repeat on the Maasdam; these other circumstances are irrelevant and so are not included here."

 

I'll clarify - by "irrelevant" I mean "none of your business". What if one or more of these were true?:

 

My spouse's sister is a TA and insisted we use HAL, rather than divorce over the issue, we repeated on HAL.

HAL offered us a $3,000 credit on a future cruise after a letter I wrote last year.

Our firm's workload allowed me to vacation only from 11/8-11/19, and DS insisted on another cruise.

My brother is Henk Draper.

Time heals all wounds.

 

Might any of these reconcile your concerns? Let's hope so, as the actual reasons for our decision are somewhere in the middle. And yes, that last one was a little far-fetched. Sorry.

 

I agree that the actual list approaching Norfolk may well have been less than 30-35; I can tell you WITH CERTAINTY that the roll was severe enough to jolt my spouse and I both from bed before anything hit the floor, and that the shock of the extreme motion combined with the explosion of several bottles on the floor of a dark room DID IN FACT create panic for both of us. Deck furniture on our verandah slid - that takes quite an angle. Thanks to Rev for confirming the fact that water from the pool emptied into the forward elevators - this was announced by the CD at 7:00am. It was nearly impossible to get an elevator on Nav deck forward through the disembarkation, as only two were working (starting around 9) and the crowded lower decks intercepted all available cars. We took the steps. Water also entered the starboard hallway on Nav deck, and the carpets on the stairs from Nav to Lido decks were wet. Finally, please remember that the closer one is to the metacenter of the vessel, the less the impact of the roll; simple geometry dictates the a forward suite on deck 10 moves more than a midships inside on deck 3. "These are the facts, and they are not in dispute."

 

DesertSunset: I respectfully clarify that the fact of the error being caused by "A miscommunication between the tower and the pilot" was the verbatim explanation given to us onboard. I simply inferred that the cause of the miscommunication could have been language, as we found - as noted in the OP - that the crew and staff seemed to have more limited English than the crew and staff we encountered last year. Could it have been a failed radio or a drunk pilot? Surely.

 

Don't get me wrong here folks - we enjoyed our trip, as spouse and I enjoy any time alone in the tropics. In total, this trip was considerably better than last year's. My review simply points out the challenges, and describes my personal preference for a more seamless experience when vacationing. Perhaps cruising simply isn't for me, and that's fine too.

 

-Operator

[NoNoNanette]

I enjoyed reading your post, Operator. And I certainly wouldn't question your experience with the elevators/pool. ;)

 

But then again, I'm not an APOLOGIST for ANY cruiseline. Some folks around here get all puffed up when anything the least bit negative is posted about HAL. :)

[sail7seas]

My spouse's sister is a TA and insisted we use HAL, rather than divorce over the issue, we repeated on HAL.

HAL offered us a $3,000 credit on a future cruise after a letter I wrote last year.

Our firm's workload allowed me to vacation only from 11/8-11/19, and DS insisted on another cruise.

My brother is Henk Draper.

Time heals all wounds.

 

 

THE Henk Draper......as in Captain, Master of the Maasdam Henk Draper?

[jtl513]

We were fortunate enough to recently sail on the Noordam - a beautiful, new ship in perfect condition. However, you can’t compare a new vessel to a ship that is 13 years old (not that anyone was comparing); and an older vessel will, of course, show occasional signs of wear.

 

Even a "brand new" ship can have problems. We were on the Noordam's 14th cruise in June, and were among the the 80 or so cabins at the aft end of decks 6, 7, and 8 that were "smoked out" of our cabins at 4:45a by an overheated a/c bearing. The problem was found and the smoke was cleared in about 20 minutes, and by noon the a/c was working normally again! :)

[DesertSunset]

Quote from Operator: “The ship listed severely (at least 30-35 degrees), sending furniture and glass crashing everywhere, wreaking havoc in the kitchen, and emptying the Lido pool into the forward elevator shafts. I honestly thought we were going over or down.”…….”.Finally, please remember that the closer one is to the metacenter of the vessel, the less the impact of the roll; simple geometry dictates the a forward suite on deck 10 moves more than a midships inside on deck 3. "These are the facts, and they are not in dispute." “I can tell you WITH CERTAINTY that the roll was severe enough to jolt my spouse and I both from bed before anything hit the floor, and that the shock of the extreme motion combined with the explosion of several bottles on the floor of a dark room DID IN FACT create panic for both of us. Deck furniture on our verandah slid - that takes quite an angle.”

 

DesertSunset’s response: Our cabin must have been very close to yours as we were on Navigation Deck 10, Forward (near the penthouse), starboard side. As we previously mentioned, a couple glasses fell off our bar, but many other items remained. The glasses full of water on our night stands next to the bed did not move. No furniture moved at all, including that on the verandah, which we checked specifically. I find it extremely difficult to believe that any passenger could have been “jolted” out of bed. Having been there, I can tell you WITH CERTAINTY, it was very minor to us.

 

Quote from Operator: “Thanks to Rev for confirming the fact that water from the pool emptied into the forward elevators - this was announced by the CD at 7:00am. It was nearly impossible to get an elevator on Nav deck forward through the disembarkation, as only two were working (starting around 9) and the crowded lower decks intercepted all available cars. We took the steps.”

 

DesertSunset’s response: Yes, I, too, can confirm that Jason, the CD, made an announcement which stated “SOME water from the Lido pool spilled into the forward elevators”. However, once, again, having been there, I can also confirm that the Lido pool was not “emptied”. When I disembarked shortly after 9 a.m., the forward elevators were operating. I did not stop to see how many were working, as we also took the stairs.

 

I am not trying to dispute anyone’s recollection; I am just recounting the incident from my personal observation. Could passengers in two separate Deluxe Verandah Suites on Navigation Deck 10, starboard side, forward, in close proximity (I believe), have two extremely opposite experiences? I suppose it is possible?????

[zaandam_2]

great format for a review. very funny. thanks!

[Operator]

S7S - Yes, that Draper. But no, he isn't my brother. I was throwing out fantastic contingencies to make a point.

 

Sunset - We had the same experience, but you have accurately refined my apparently cavalier word selection. Our jolt was of fright :eek:, not a "sudden or jerky motion" (Webster's). The pool did empty water into the elevators, though my OP did not specify the amount; this could have created the impression that the pool was emptied entirely, which was obviously not the case, nor my intent. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Thanks to all who have posted helpful info hereon, and also to those who posted their kind remarks about this review. Look for future installments of "Operator's witty Q&A" on the Crystal or Regent boards, coming in 2007. :D

 

-Operator

[seapointe406]

I guess some of you will not believe my story either for this trip since you questioned Operator. I had a terrific time on my cruise in spite of a few things. We were also "jolted' from bed due to the ship listing that early morning returning to Norfolk. All I could say was "WHAT WAS THAT!"Then we heard the elevators were out due to the pool water running into the elevators. None of that bothered me once we knew everything was OK. What did bother me was the way we were treated about the heat in our rooms. When we first went to our room, the smoke smell was overwhelming and it was very warm. I asked to be moved at that time. They said they would look into it. They came and put something down which did take away the smell but we had white powder along all the walls, dressers, and by the bed. The heat was never addressed. We called again the next day. No one word from anyone. Then we receive a message wanting to know if all was OK. Well, NO, so we called again. Fri(the 3rd day) still warm so we called before left to go to Half Moon Cay. When we returned we had another message wanting to know if all was well. The room as very hot. We went downstairs and asked to speak to the manager. Jai talked with us and said he had never received word of our problems. On his little piece of paper he held said our room temperature was 94 degrees. He said he would move us and we didn't have to pack as they would take the drawers and place them in the other room. That is not what happened. When we went to our new room, all our clothes were tossed on top of the dresser and the bed. I do not especially care to have my lingerie handled by just anyone and tossed about. What a mess! We got another manager down. He couldn't have cared less what happened. We heard him say offer them a bottle of water! Another supervisor was called ( I believe the lady of housekeeping). She listened but wasn't quite understanding why us girls were so upset. We asked to speak to her supervisor. Thank goodness, we received someone who had customer skills. She could hardly believe what happened and was shocked. At least she knew there needed to be better training for the stewards and offered us a night at the Pinnacle Grill. We declined and asked for shipboard credit instead.Needless to say we had to stay that evening straightening out the mess they made. At least this room had AC. There was a real communication problem between staff. Of course compensation was not readily applied to our accounts. 4 days later we asked if we were getting any shipboard credit and the next thing we knew it was there(but only because we pursued it).

 

We did have a good time on the cruise, but unfortunately I was still disappointed in the dining staff at the Lido and the dining room. I was accustomed to extremely good service on the other cruises I had taken(RC). I aonly in the dining room twice because of this. The servers were very nice and friendly, but service definitely could have been improved. I hope I can take a cruise on one of Holland's larger ships to see if service is any better.

[BumperII]

I guess some of you will not believe my story either for this trip since you questioned Operator.

No doubt in my mind that things happened just exactly as you say. Everyone has to pick out his or her own way of handling a problem. I prefer to try to get to the folks that actually do the job first. We had the air conditioning - heating problem too, but we asked the cabin steward about it, and he had a maintenance guy up there in minutes and resolved the issue. No problem at all for the rest of the cruise.

There was one cabin on our cruise, near the stairwell, where the passenger was smoking cigars, and that pretty will stunk up the hall way by the elevators, so I'm not at all surprised if someone gets assigned to a cabin that reeks of smoke. Fortunately, we were midships, so the stink didn't reach our cabin. Again, if we ran into that problem, we would take it up with the cabin steward first. We have been on nine cruises now, tenth coming up. I've never tried to resolve anything by talking to a supervisor, simply because I don't want to see the guy who is assigned to us get embarassed in front of his boss. Mistakes get made, and we prefer to leave the guy with enough room to correct the problem without getting the brass involved.

[seapointe406]

We did ask our cabin steward. He was intimidated and said they would not listen to him. It would be best for us to call. We did not ask for supervisors until the 3rd day when no response had been given to our situation by calling and going by the front desk. We were told maintenance would be down, but no one ever showed when we were around and we could tell the AC was not fixed. For some reason there was poor communication among all of them that week. The best service we had was from our new cabin steward 'Rudi" once we got to another room. He could not do enough to please us!

[happy cruzer]

Thanks to Operator and Bumper, your reviews in the Q&A format were fantastic.

 

I will say I have had almost the exact cruise experience that Operator had except it was on a Celebrity ship. It was the cruise where DH and I first formed the opinion that if you end up at the front desk with a problem you are already doomed. In general, we have found that complaint handlers in all companies are well trained in deflecting troublesome issues just like the OP experienced. Very occasionally a customer support person will be helpful and I think that is because of that individual's nature not company policy or training; my opinion and a dark one at that.

 

Operator if you ever find that cruise line that you described in the first post for close to the same price point as HAL, please come back and tell us. Many of the problems we experience are caused by the marketing profiles that the lines are trying to please i.e. low cost etc.

 

I really enjoyed this whole discussion. And Operator and Bumpers post were fantastic!!!

[whogo]

Thank you, Operator, for the review. Sorry that things did not go better. I am surprised that two people suggested that you try HAL again.

 

"before you "totally give up" on HAL, suggest you might wish to consider another cruise aboard a newer ship than Maasdam: my recommendation(s) would be Rotterdam, Zaandam, Volendam, Noordam, Amsterdam or Veendam"

 

"Rather than give up on HAL, I think Sea King's recommendation you try another ship might be something to consider."

 

I think you have suffered enough at HAL's hands. Why would anyone but HAL/Carnival Corporation care whether you sail with them again? Do not reward them by returning. Decline any offers of credit on a future cruise.

 

I plan to have a great time on my HAL holiday cruise. I have made a note to take a thermometer and will address cooling problems as needed.