Christmas Cruise - Part 2 - The Maasdam

We boarded HAL's Maasdam on December 21, 2003

Embarkation:

Shuttle - We took a free shuttle from our hotel to the port. We booked the
shuttle for 11:30, but it was 11:45 by the time we actually got on it. At
the port when we got out of our shuttle van there were porters there all
ready taking our luggage. This is fine by me and we of course we tipped.
There were signs saying that tipping was not required, but I took this in
the same way I take that policy on HAL. We tip for good service.

Checking in - As soon as we got to the port and in line we were handed a
yellow sheet of paper announcing that "You're part of history. Port
Everglades sets a one-day world record with 16 ships measuring one million
tons, carrying 50,000 guests." There was also a list of the ships, but on
14 were listed.

The line moved right along. We had all our forms in order, had to show ID
to get into the building and then again at the check-in desk. Our carry-ons
were scanned and we walked through a metal detector. We were on board by
12:45. At 1:00 they announced that all staterooms were ready for occupancy.

Stateroom - We had 2 side-by-side Cat. C staterooms. Plenty of storage.
Almost a full size couch, vanity/desk, TV and safe. No refrigerator.
Hairdryer in the bathroom and amenities of shower cap, shampoo, conditioner
and soap were there also. We bring our own shampoo and conditioner anyway.

The decor was nice, muted and clean. Bed was very comfortable. Air
conditioning was not strong enough at times. We are used to a sleeping
temperature of about 60 and we never could get the room anywhere near that
cool.

The toilets in the rooms on our corridor stopped working twice during
cruise, but were promptly fixed. There was only 1 day that we noticed a
sewerage odor in the hall and that was the first time the toilets wouldn't
flush.

A ceiling panel fell down one day in the entry (scared the heck out of me),
it was never replaced. After asking the steward a second day about this
someone from maintenance did come but said the holes were to big for the
screws and he would try and get larger screws. We never saw him again.

Something we found to be a pain was we had a boarding pass, plus a room key
pass, plus we needed to have another card with magnetic strip for the safe
(no the boarding pass didn't work for this).

Steward: Adequate but not awesome. He came in twice a day to clean and
straighten up, do the bed, fill the ice bucket.

The Ship - This ship is small, under 1300 passengers. Easy to get around. I
loved it. There was some nice art work, as well as some new Peter Max stuff
which I do not care for. There were also many antiques. This ship has a
quiet, understated elegance.

Pools: All the pools are fresh water, not salt. The pool on the Lido tended
to be noisy and full of kids. The whirlpools also had more kids than adults
in them. This deck has a retractable roof which is nice on cool or rainy
days. However, even with the roof open there is an echo, which makes
everything very loud. There is another pool aft and down one deck that is
smaller, but it was much quieter. There were padded and non-padded lounge
chairs here. There was a good amount of open sunny deck space and covered
shady space as well. This is the area that we frequented. My husband is a
sun worshiper and he would be out on deck early. After the first day one of
the bar servers, Sean, would set up 2 padded lounges, with towels for us
every day. By 11:00 all the lounge chairs were occupied on the aft pool.
There were ones open on the Lido deck pool, but, I assume because of the
noise, most of the adults opted for the aft pool. There was also a small
open deck below the aft deck where a few lounge chairs were set up.

Entertainment: The nightly shows varied between comedy and musical
productions. Some were good, some we left and some we didn't bother. This
area is so subjective that I really don't want to waste time commenting.

There is a movie theater that is quite large. My son and many of his new
friends would go here in the late afternoon, when they got tired of the pool
or video arcade. This was a big bonus on this cruise for him. The popcorn
was very good too!

There was Bingo, art & antique tours, kitchen tours, etc.

We did not entertain ourselves at the casino, but the bar there was the only
place that had a TV that showed any sporting events.

The shops are typical of all other cruise ships I have been on. Gold by the
inch, $10 watches, etc. The perfume was less expensive on board than what
we could get in any of the ports, but the liquor was the same or a bit more.

Cruise director and staff: We rarely saw these people other than the
nightly shows. They might show up at a sail-a-way "party", but did not get
a party atmosphere going. If they were there they just stood around doing
nothing. We were a bit puzzled by this.

Also, I'm not sure what kind of activities they had for the younger crowd
(under 13), but there really were NO activities for teens. Luckily this age
group always seem to find each other and things to do.

Food: We all thought the food in the dining room was very good, nice
presentation and variety. We ate dinner in the dining room every night and
did not eat in the Pinnacle Grill gourmet restaurant. The food in the Lido,
was probably by far the best Lido food we have ever experienced for both
breakfast and lunch. Besides the Lido buffet there was also a Taco/Nacho
bar which was good and there were Burgers, dogs and awesome french fries
available at the Grill most of the day and night. Ice Cream with toppings
was also available most of the day and night at another station on Lido
deck. There was no Grand Midnight buffet, but there was always something
available in the Lido by 11:00 p.m. There was also an omelet station in the
Lido every morning.

Coffee: The coffee in the dining room was awful and we ordered either
cappuccino or espresso every night. It was fairly good in the Lido. The
Java Cafe had free Espresso, Cappuccino, Cafe Mocha and Teas. Frappuccino's
were also available for under $3 and if you wanted alcohol added to any of
the coffees it was an extra charge.

Bar staff/services: There is no 15% added to the bill. We really didn't
like this practice. We would rather it be added to make sure all our
servers get tipped. What we did and try and order from a few certain
servers and then we tipped at the end of the cruise. I also like that
drinks are not "pushed" like they are on most other lines. The do not walk
around with "drinks of the day" in special glasses either. However, every
afternoon they would come around and offer lemonade and iced tea!

There are a few very nice bars on this ship. We would enjoy a drink in one
of the quieter ones on the main decks before dinner and then hit the Crow's
Nest later in the evening. There were always a fairly lively group of young
adults there and a DJ. The DJ told us that on most cruises there are almost
no young adults there or even 30 - 40 somethings to do any dancing. He said
that Christmas week and New Year's week were exceptions.

Passenger mix: There was a great mix of passengers on this cruise. There
were no "main" age group. Many extended families. Age groups were fairly
evenly distributed with perhaps a few more in the over 60 crowd. We were
told many times by ships employees that this week and the following week
were big exceptions to the rest of the year.

I really enjoyed this ship! Many of the staff that I conveyed this too told
me that if I liked this ship then I would absolutely LOVE the Rotterdam.
Many of these same staff people were hoping for an assignment on the
Rotterdam some time. Not many wanted to work the larger ships.

Next- Part 3 -The Christmas experience on board and Ports of Call

Yvonne in NH-----------------to be
continued......................................... .

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 14:28:06 -0500, "McCormick's"
wrote:

We are used to a sleeping
temperature of about 60 and we never could get the room anywhere near that
cool.

Naked?


The Not So Fine Art Of Google
http://makeashorterlink.com/?E29A321E6

"McCormick's" wrote in message
...

We boarded HAL's Maasdam on December 21, 2003

snip

The toilets in the rooms on our corridor stopped working twice during
cruise, but were promptly fixed.

I can live with that.

There was only 1 day that we noticed a
sewerage odor in the hall and that was the first time the toilets wouldn't
flush.

I can NOT live with that. We don't do sewerage odor well.

A ceiling panel fell down one day in the entry (scared the heck out of
me),
it was never replaced. After asking the steward a second day about this
someone from maintenance did come but said the holes were to big for the
screws and he would try and get larger screws. We never saw him again.

Reminds me of a story my friend Bill at work told. Seems his brother had a
problem with the mattress in his hotel room when he checked in. After
repeated calls and nothing getting done, he dragged the mattress down to the
lobby and dropped it on the floor and laid on it right there in the lobby.
At that point... he got their attention. They knew that they had to deal
with him. Everything got resolved quickly.

Classic story. Great solution.

Whenever I go to a hotel and have a problem... I relay that story and
usually they start to take me seriously as well.

Sounds like you should have dragged the ceiling pannel down to the purser's
desk and started embarrassing them. You might have gotten their attention.

Steward: Adequate but not awesome. He came in twice a day to clean and
straighten up, do the bed, fill the ice bucket.

Slippage. Not uncommon.

--Tom