Tell Me About Maasdam...

[GMoney]

Hi - I'm planning a birthday cruise in 2009, and Maasdam has an excellent 14 night Southern Caribbean itineraries. I'd like to know a bit more about the ship; I know she's a little older and a little small, and that's okay, as long as the ship is in decent shape. I am interested in a Cat B / BA / BB suite.

 

My only point of comparison is the lovely Noordam, which I may do a 20 day B2B on if the Maasdam plan falls through.

 

Any comments or wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Charliesmom]

We were just on the Maasdam on the 9/1 sailing. She was in fine shape. The service on this ship was magnificent - the best we have ever had on any ship.

 

It's going to be a tough act to follow.

 

Roberta

[Two if by Sea]

How stable is the quality of service on a particular ship from year to year? Wouldn't most of the staff turn over or move on from one season to another? Or are most of the publicly-visible positions really a long-term job?

[Hobbsey]

Obviously with 800 to 1000 service staff positions filled on most cruise ships there is always turn-over as personnel end and begin contracts with time off in between. I have found though, that carreer service staff often are posting back on same ships, expeically of the supvervisory staff is left in place since most of the managers want to bring back perople who are already trained on the idiosyncracies of a particular ship and their own management style.

 

So, the answer is, there is both turn over and constancy.