Anyone sailed the Maasdam?

[Oceanwench]

DH and I are considering a cruise on the Maasdam.

We've sailed Vistas and had no problem But we are concerned with this older, smaller ship.

HAL sent us some pix of one of its sister ships -- cabin 704, which is on A deck.

[Massdam has only 6 HC cabins!]

 

If anyone has sailed on this ship -- especially if you were in this room -- would you please tell me your opinion of it?

 

From the pix, it looks as if the bathroom space is a little tight for a power wheelchair.

Also, we are concerned about the space between the bed and the wall. He needs to get his chair into it, to transfer to the bed.

 

Also we are wondering about the configuration of the shower. When the curtain is closed, is the toilet on the outside or the inside?

 

The toilet, from the pix, does not appear to be raised and there don't seem to be grab bars nearby.

 

Thanks!

[Splinter]

We have been on the sister ships (Ryndam and Statendam) a number of times. We like these ships. We have stayed in cabin 704 (and 709, which is identical), which is nearly at the water line, and has port holes (not windows).

 

The cabin is big. We have 3 of us staying in that cabin, with me in a roll-away, and have never had any problems with space. My mother uses a power chair, and we use a lift. With the regular bed position, we find it best to separate the beds and put them on either wall, with the space (and bedside stands) in between. This gives plenty of space for the wheelchair and lift, and also puts the grab-bar (on only one wall) on the far side of one bed, where it can be used for turning and ADL assistance. The closet space is plentiful, and we put two suitcases under one bed and one at the foot of the bed so the is no need to put suitcases under my mother's bed (which would interfere with the use of the lift).

 

The bathroom is a little smaller than some, and we find that we cannot shut the bathroom door if my mother is sitting at the sink. A minor problem. The toilet is ADA height (although just so), but it is at a 45 degree angle to the wall, which does make the grab-bars a little difficult to use. We don't have a problem with this as we bring our own travel shower/commode chair which we roll over the toilet and then into the shower. We stow the lift and the shower chair in the shower stall during the day so it is not in the way in the room. The toilet is not inside the shower stall...the curtain separates it. Knee clearance under the sink is a little less than ideal...I have to take my mother's feet off her foot pedals for her knees to fit.

 

While you are in the front of the ship, since HAL does not use room service carts, you don't have to worry about getting trapped by these carts.

 

A plus on these older, smaller HAL ships is that they have a self-service laundry (which is right across the hall), so we can wash a few things without having to pay the high ship's laundry prices. This also comes in handy if we have the rare "accident" to deal with.

 

I can share some photos if you want to PM me.

[Oceanwench]

Thank you for the wealth of information!

 

I am not sure how to PM on this site. I wasn't aware you could!

[Oceanwench]

Thanks again for the info.

 

More questions.

We would probably keep the beds together.

What about the height of the mattress? We don't use a lift -- DH can transfer from chair to bed. But if it's an SOE pillow-top mattress, it may be too high. That is a concern.

 

Can you guesstimate the width of the space between the wall on the left [as you face the bed] and the bed itself? Big enough for a powerchair to get into?

 

You can send pix to me at msoceanwench

at yahoodotcom.

;-)

[Splinter]

There definately was not room for the power chair on one side of the bed if you but the beds together, unless you have them put one side of the bed right up to the wall. I have sent you a couple photos from the Statendam cabin 709, which is the twin of 704.

 

My understanding is that they have replaced the beds on these ships since we last went, and that they are higher, but I don't know how high. The Special Needs office can get you that info (along with the height of the toilet). They have provided this information to us in the past.

[CaptData]

I have pics of H709. If you would like them please e-mail me at Capt Data at WCG wave dot ca. Close it up and use symbols.