Great trip on the Maasdam

[richnorto]

We traveled on the Maasdam for a 9 night cruise over Christmas. It was wonderful! The staff was great, the food was good and the kids made friends!

We loved our cabin steward, Emam! He was always available, but never underfoot and our cabin was magically clean all the time! The spectacular thing was he managed the same with our three kids cabin?!!! HOW? They are slobs!

The pool staff and dining staff were spectacular! We wound up at a dinner table with a couple from our cruise last Christmas on the Sun Princess. It was fun sharing stories about the horrors of being on a sick ship as compared to this HEALTHY ship! We also had a wonderful couple from Montreal at our table. We really enjoyed the dinners!

We didn't see much of the entertainment. If we didn't go LOSE money at the casino, we went to bed...usually. I wasn't pleased with the casino dealers - YUK! NO personality. They won't make it to the big time as they weren't just boring, they were negative. Nobody seemed to like most of them. I think they hate their jobs!

It was a great cruise! The entertainment staff went out of their way to be fun, Bingo was entertaining and the staff treated you like you were special! My only request would be for afternoon bands at the pool!:)

[sail7seas]

Happy you and your family had such a great time on Maasdam. She really is beautiful ship with a fabulous crew, isn't she?!

 

Too bad about the dealers. If we go to the casino, we play a few minutes on the slots so really haven't interacted with the staff at the tables.

 

Welcome Back.

[sail7seas]

Happy you and your family had such a great time on Maasdam. She really is beautiful ship with a fabulous crew, isn't she?!

 

Too bad about the dealers. If we go to the casino, we play a few minutes on the slots so really haven't interacted with the staff at the tables.

 

Welcome Back.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home

 

Glad you had a great Christmas cruise.

 

Isn't it great to run into old friends?

[Two if by Sea]

We traveled on the Maasdam for a 9 night cruise over Christmas. It was wonderful! The staff was great, the food was good and the kids made friends!

 

Thanks for the review. Tell us more!

 

How old were your kids? We have an 8-year-old girl, so I am certainly interested in finding out what she might most enjoy doing onboard. I don't know if she'll end up wanting to hang out in Club HAL, so I'm eagerly reading these boards to find out what other areas of the ship will most appeal to her.

 

Did your kids use Club HAL at all? Did they like it?

 

What sort of music WAS there, if no afternoon bands at the pool? Afternoon bands anywhere? Showtime? Ragtime? Classical? Jazz? Inquiring minds want to know!

[casavaha]

We are booked on this ship, Dec. 19, 2008, 14 days.

Hope the music is as good as we had it on the Noordam, this last Christmas.

 

We were tied up next to the Maasdam in St. Martin, last month.

 

Looks like an interesting ship, smaller than the Noordam, which equals less

passengers.

 

Greg

[richnorto]

Thanks for the review. Tell us more!

 

How old were your kids? We have an 8-year-old girl, so I am certainly interested in finding out what she might most enjoy doing onboard. I don't know if she'll end up wanting to hang out in Club HAL, so I'm eagerly reading these boards to find out what other areas of the ship will most appeal to her.

 

Did your kids use Club HAL at all? Did they like it?

 

What sort of music WAS there, if no afternoon bands at the pool? Afternoon bands anywhere? Showtime? Ragtime? Classical? Jazz? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Sorry about the delay in responding. Life has caught up with us again!

 

My children are 12,14 and 16 so I can't say much about the activities for the younger groups. I did see them about the ship as part of the Club HAL and there were probably 10 - 15 actively participating in that age group. The teens had scheduled activities to which they could come and go and pick and choose. That group became quite close and spent a lot of time together.

 

The Maasdam is a small ship - I really liked that, but it does limit the activities available on board (no skeet, golf, rock walls or ice rinks). There was a theater, shuffleboard, 2 pools, 2 hot tubs, a well stocked library, great newly released movies, Bingo, cooking demonstrations etc. We never got bored, so there seems to be plenty to do!

 

There was music aboard - Piano bar, classical, possibly other and of course the shows, but although the band was set up by the pool, I only heard them 1 time and that was cut short by weather. This may have been an unusual occurance, but a member of the staff told us they were only scheduled to play twice this cruise.

 

The best part of being on a smaller ship is that the staff all get to know you by name and you can meet and get to know so many more people on the ship as you see them all the time. There were always chairs available by the pool, good seating in the show lounge and never a line for anything!!!

Thanks

[DFD1]

It's nice to hear a happy cruiser home from the Maasdam. She's a great ship and has been raked over the coals here recently.

 

Not deserved, IMO.

[casavaha]

We do not go to shows but rather dance to the different bands in the

crow's nest and Ocean bar.

 

How was the music in these venues?

 

Greg

[Spender Nui]

We traveled on the Maasdam for a 9 night cruise over Christmas. It was wonderful! The staff was great, the food was good and the kids made friends!

We loved our cabin steward, Emam! He was always available, but never underfoot and our cabin was magically clean all the time! The spectacular thing was he managed the same with our three kids cabin?!!! HOW? They are slobs!

The pool staff and dining staff were spectacular! We wound up at a dinner table with a couple from our cruise last Christmas on the Sun Princess. It was fun sharing stories about the horrors of being on a sick ship as compared to this HEALTHY ship! We also had a wonderful couple from Montreal at our table. We really enjoyed the dinners!

We didn't see much of the entertainment. If we didn't go LOSE money at the casino, we went to bed...usually. I wasn't pleased with the casino dealers - YUK! NO personality. They won't make it to the big time as they weren't just boring, they were negative. Nobody seemed to like most of them. I think they hate their jobs!

It was a great cruise! The entertainment staff went out of their way to be fun, Bingo was entertaining and the staff treated you like you were special! My only request would be for afternoon bands at the pool!:)

 

 

Glad to her you enjoyed your cruise. Casino dealers (at least in the real world) aren't generally graded on how well the participants like them.

[Harry1954]

It's nice to hear a happy cruiser home from the Maasdam. She's a great ship and has been raked over the coals here recently.

Not deserved, IMO.

I must have missed that thread. We really think the Maasdam is a fine ship, the crew is great, and for the size, perfectly suited for cruising.

harry

[Two if by Sea]

Maasdam is a fine ship, the crew is great, and for the size, perfectly suited for cruising.

harry

 

People keep talking about how small the ship is! The largest ship I've cruised on was the Seawind Crown, which according to a website I found was 23,145 tons, 641 feet, and carried up to 728 passengers. It was a long time ago (the ship has long since been abandoned) but it sure felt plenty big to me!

 

So I am anticipating that the "small" Maasdam will feel huge to us.

 

P.S. I forgot -- I was also on the SS United States as a small child. But that was a crossing, not a cruise. Anyhow, a 60-foot yacht would have felt huge to me at that age so nothing I remember from that could possibly be used as a basis of comparison.

[Compass Rose]

Love to read these favorable reviews about the coziness of the Maasdam. We are scheduled for an April 4th departure, and we cannot wait!

[Deb C.]

I have sailed 4 weeks on the Veendam and just loved it. Since Maasdam is identical (I hear), I am considering a 14 day cruise in Oct.

Does anyone here know if she has been to dry dock lately or scheduled this year for one? Also, does Maasdam have the Explorations Lounge yet? I thought that was a very beautiful addition on the Veendam.

Thanks, Deb C.