Eastern Caribbean on the Maasdam
Cabin #362- Voyage #299
By:  Trudy & Sid 
SKLEINER@AOL.COM 

What We Liked About the Cruise:

• Plenty of room to roam without shipboard congestion
• Friendly, interactive staff
• Ship was easy to board and exit
• Nice movie-theater with free popcorn
• Plenty of deck chairs and tables
• Food and beverages available all afternoon
• Afternoon tea with appropriate snacks and music
• Afternoon coffee/tea bar with cappuccino, snacks, and other options
• Easy to understand overhead announcement sound system
• Better-than-average cabins
• Very nice captain's reception
• Knowledgeable, affable, personable cruise director
• Fast, readily available elevators
• Good on-board direction-markers
• Orderly, thoughtfully planned, embark and disembark procedures

Negatives about the Maasdam that are worth noting:

SMELL:

We'd read about the stench that greets newcomers when first traversing the hallways. You eventually get used to the septic system-like odor, but it does get things underway on a negative track. There should be some way of deodorizing these areas. 

DINING ROOM:

Food is served in a very attractive, upscale setting. We were warned that Maasdam food is heavily salted, and it was just that. Despite our requesting unsalted, non-spiced food, certain dishes were still very spicy and salty. After sending back several entrees, we settled for plain vegetables accompanied by a baked potato.  We felt that we were being pushed or rushed through our evening meal.  Staffers appeared to be eager to get us served and get us out of the dining room. Succeeding courses were served in a rapid, staccato-like manner. Rather than being able to enjoy a leisurely dinner, we felt that the service was more like that of a fast-food eatery. Table service during breakfast and lunch was varied and unpredictable. Some guests didn't get their eggs without seeking out a server and inquiring about their order. Dishes were served that weren't as ordered, or they were really intended for someone else. Pastries and rolls are baked on board and are very good. Bagels were served slightly charred, more often than not. 

Maasdam's servers (other than for the baked Alaska) didn't do the typical entertainment antics that we'd come to expect on other ships. They serve up the food and smile a lot, but that's about it. Alex, our dining room steward was concerned, accommodating and eager to right the wrongs of the kitchen staff. He was fighting a losing battle. To be totally fair, several tablemates praised the taste and appearance of some items that were served. Our evaluation of the dining department is that it did not measure up to that which we'd experienced on other cruise lines. Even the veggie burgers were highly seasoned and salty. Some other comments as respects our adventures in the dining room: We found it quite incredible that guests who preferred soft drinks to tea or coffee had to pay about $1.75 for the privilege of drinking Coke at the dining room table. It is possible to purchase a one-week soft drink ticket, but alternate, non-alcoholic beverages at the dinner table would appear to be a part of the meal and should be complimentary. This is something we'd never experienced on other cruise lines. Then too, if someone at our table were celebrating a birthday or anniversary, the staff would serve the cake as dessert, not asking guests if they'd also like to order from the dessert menu. The flyer that is handed out for the kitchen tour is riddled with spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. For a ship that aims for perfection, this is not really acceptable. 

MOVIE THEATER:

The Maasdam's movie theater is easily accessed in the atrium area. The seats were typical theater style, though somewhat on the hard side. The selection of films was excellent but guests complained that the sound track was often too soft and unintelligible. We expressed our complaint to the front desk and the next film we viewed was definitely louder. However, when we returned to watch a movie the next day, the sound track had defaulted to its lower-volume status. Trudy went to the front desk and requested that they contact the projection booth and ask the operator to turn up the volume once again. Several minutes later the volume was turned up and we were able to enjoy the movie. Unless the default is changed, or projectionists are told to crank up the gain control, this would appear to be an ongoing problem. The theater seemed to be liberally sprinkled with speaker systems, but the sound quality did not measure up to the equipment that was in the room. 

CABINS: 

Our cabin had a large view window, ample storage space, a bathtub-equipped bathroom, limited TV selections, remote control, and a very ingenious switching system that enabled us to control almost all the room's lights from our bed, fresh fruit and ice were supplied by the room attendant. Classical music could be turned on by a control built into the bed's headboard. We were advised to bring a clock-radio, but there wasn't an outlet at bedside to plug it in. There isn't an electric-shaver outlet in the bathroom.  

There were numerous complaints about the ship's air-conditioning system.  Several guests complained to us that their rooms were uncomfortably warm, and nothing was done to resolve the problem. On Sunday morning, we observed several floor fans being taken out of cabins that were down the hall from us. Their usage confirms that these rooms were indeed uncomfortable and not adequately air-conditioned. Since the ship was filled to capacity, room changes were not an option. Various public areas seemed to be uncomfortably warm too. The ship was immediately going out on a Western Caribbean cruise, so it's doubtful that the apparent shortcomings in the air-conditioning system were resolved prior to embarkation. Indications were that this was an ongoing, unresolved problem.

Then there was the "toilet problem." Towards the mid-point of the cruise we noticed that our toilet wasn't flushing on command. If we waited a while-sometimes quite a while-the toilet would ultimately flush. But on the final morning of the cruise it refused to flush at all. Trudy reported the problem to our cabin steward while I sought out public restroom facilities. Then, quite suddenly, without human intervention, the toilet started flushing on its own. I'm glad I wasn't sitting on it when it decided to do the self-flushing routine! Our cabin steward advised that a group of toilets in this area of the ship were having similar problems. As was the case with the air-conditioning, we doubt that repairs were made to assure that ensuing guests wouldn't have to endure this inconvenience.

Finally, there were wide cracks in our bathroom sink. This, by itself, is not a big deal. However, guests could interpret it as a sign that maintenance crews are either unable or unwilling to make needed cabin repairs. 

ENTERTAINMENT: 

The Maasdam's activities and entertainment menu was not up to the level of professionalism and intensity that we'd experienced on other ships.  Vegas-style reviews were not in evidence, although a small dance group did an excellent job on the few occasions that they performed for us. The handbill that provides biographical sketches of cast members is in dire need of a healthy re-write. The ship's evening entertainment was anchored by a comedian and a ventriloquist---fine performers but hardly a match for the extravaganzas we'd enjoyed on previous cruises. The Maasdam's house band was slick and professional, but some of the other musicians aboard the ship lacked similar skills. The poolside steel drum band was on the loud side, making conversation in the area almost impossible. 

Other Thoughts About the Cruise:

Let's share some thoughts about the cruise with you. We had a very nice stateroom (or cabin) that was conveniently located adjacent to the doorway leading to the promenade deck. This was the first time we ever had a bathtub in an on-board stateroom. Then too, this is the first shipboard cabin that had a bathroom suitable for two occupants simultaneously. On all of our previous cruises, it was nearly impossible to simply turn around in the bathrooms---which only had showers and no bathtubs. 

Holland America Lines even offers an ingenious switching system that enables guests to control most of the room lights from the bed's headboard. In the middle of the headboard was a rocker-switch that, when activated, caused soothing classical music to waft through the cabin. We wisely requested a room with a large picture window so we could enjoy watching whatever scenarios were unfolding outdoors. But there is a catch: if one should neglect to secure the blinds after dark, a walk on the Promenade Deck becomes a voyeur's Nirvana, satisfying all sorts of warped desires and lusts. We were very mindful of the "show" that would take place had we neglected to close those draperies!

The majority of the Maasdam's 600-person crew is from Indonesia and the Philippines. They keep your room clean as well as prepare and serve the 6,000 daily meals that satiate the appetites of some 1,300 passengers. It is the people of these lands who constantly paint the ship, clean the ship's swimming pools, and dispose of tons of refuse each day. Is there a communication problem with the Indonesians? We felt that this was a problem. One example is that when we'd request grape juice for breakfast we'd get grapefruit juice. These young men tried to please, but they just didn't understand English. 

Our younger son, Mark, gave high marks to a tour of the Bacardi Rum Distillery in Puerto Rico. He told us how to get there without signing up for an expensive ground tour, so we followed Mark's instructions. It was all quite simple and included a 25-cent ferryboat ride across the bay to Catana. We really enjoyed touring the Bacardi premises while learning so much about how sugar cane becomes rum. You might say that the best part of the trip is when you're given two tickets to have complimentary Barcardi-based drinks at the company's open-air bar. Our first drink was called "Passion On The Beach." After the tour was over we cashed in our second brace of tickets and enjoyed a plain old rum and Coca-Cola beverage. When the distillery visit was over, we sailed back to San Juan and hopped aboard an air-conditioned bus that took us around the city. 

In addition to Puerto Rico, we visited Nassau in the Bahamas, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin islands and, finally, we spent a glorious day at Half Moon Cay, which is a 2,000-acre, waterfront preserve owned by the cruise line. We'd been to private islands before and, typically, we found them to be bare-bones and primitive in nature. Half Moon Cay had a little shopping plaza, plenty of shade for comfortable dining, two steel-drum bands, special showers, and a gigantic serving line that offered a wide variety of freshly prepared food. The day we were there was blessed with abundant sunshine. The beach was covered with very white sand juxtaposed against clear, blue water. Very beautiful, but very, very hot too! After a couple of hours of walking and talking we headed back to the ship and enjoyed an air-conditioned dining experience at the Maasdam's Lido buffet.

Some of our more interesting moments were spent speaking with the natives on the islands we visited. Trudy has this uncanny knack for sorting natives from tourists and then getting the locals to share all sorts of thoughts and feelings with us. We had a lengthy chat with a young couple in Nassau, Bahamas that was very interesting. They were both involved in hospital work, he being some kind of psychologist and the wife working as a nursing assistant. Living in the Bahamas is not cheap, they told us. Gas is about $3.00 per gallon and almost all grocery and drug staples have to be brought in by plane and ship. They also remarked that Nassau hardly resembles the idyllic town we last visited over twenty years ago. There were traffic jams galore, accompanied by the honking horns of impatient drivers. Sound familiar? Just like back home, eh? 

There was much to laud about the Holland America Lines' way of doing things. Shortly after we arrived back in Naples I made a list of the reasons why I would consider another cruise aboard one of their ships. Here it is, along with some explanations: There's plenty of room to roam without shipboard congestion. We'd cruised on the "superships" in recent years and found them to be jam-packed with amenities as well as jam-packed with bodies! The elevators were crowded and always in use, deck chairs were scarce, and lines were almost invariably too long to bother with. The Maasdam, on the other hand, had mostly short lines, plenty of table-space and deck chairs, along with non-congested public areas. This made for a more enjoyable cruise. 

Maasdam's crew was friendly and interactive. Earlier we hinted at a communications problem. Surely, there were too many staffers who really spoke very limited English. But there were those who'd been aboard ship for quite a while and had become quite fluent in our language. Regardless of lingual proficiency, crew- members were eager to accommodate, smiling, and surprisingly interactive. It was not unusual for an Indonesian or Filipino staffer to spend considerable time chatting with us. Alex, our dining room steward, remembered my name and would greet me when we crossed paths around the ship. I guess he couldn't forget Sid because Sid was the guy who looked at the vegetarian menu each evening and then settled for a garden salad and a simple plate of fresh vegetables. Each day's luncheon and dinner menu offered a different vegetarian entrée and a list of health-oriented selections. The problem was that the Maasdam serves salty, spicy food, which is hardly pleasing to this writer's palette. When I asked for low-salt or no-salt meals, they couldn't seem to come up with anything that was interesting or tempting. 

The ship was easy to board and exit. The last two cruises we took (NCL) involved ships that were at least as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Thus, we got aboard via "Burma Road-type" ramps that took forever to traverse. When we docked at San Juan, Puerto Rico, we left the ship and found ourselves up on the second floor of the terminal building. No such problem with the Maasdam. One walks down a short gangplank and you're ready to interact with the natives. 

Then too, HAL's boarding procedures seemed more streamlined and simple than NCL's. We were aboard ship in minutes and our luggage was in our stateroom very promptly. Debarking the ship when we returned to Fort Lauderdale was much quicker and simpler too. It could be that when there are close to 3,000 passengers involved, things necessarily move at a snail's pace. 

There was a nice movie-theater with free popcorn. One reason we enjoy cruising is that it affords us the opportunity to catch up on movies we may have missed during our busy season. Maasdam's theater was up on the main deck, not tucked away down in some musty hold. It was designed to look, feel and smell (popcorn) like a typical theater. We saw several popular movies including "Shreck" and "Cast Away." We had to complain to management that the volume was much too low, but that problem was remedied before the week ended. The movie theater doubles as a venue for daily Catholic Mass, and is also the site for Friday evening Jewish Sabbath services. 

The ship offers afternoon tea with appropriate snacks and music. People take cruises for innumerable reasons. One of them is to be waited upon and pampered as if they were visiting royalty. Maasdam's food service people serve delicious tea and accompanying delicacies every afternoon between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. While sipping a delicious brew, guests are treated to excellent semi-classical music provided by a trio of Hungarian musicians. The major problem with afternoon teas was that they only lasted for thirty minutes. For those who feel as though they were penalized for arriving late, there is an all-afternoon cappuccino bar just across from the movie theater entrance. On a few occasions, Trudy and Sid stopped by to enjoy some de-caf cappuccino and a tasty chocolate-chip cookie or two. (Please promise not to tell my attending physician about these apparent incidents of patient non-compliance.) 

CONCLUSION:

The Maasdam is a gorgeous ship, but obviously in need of a routine overhaul. Friendly, courteous staffers from Indonesia and the Philippines applied their skills to help make our excursion pleasant and memorable.  There was much to commend, but based on our observations and the experiences of other passengers, there is much that can be improved. We would've preferred to have softer, more-comfortable seats in the public areas too.

Would we return for an encore? Possibly. But we'd check things out much more thoroughly before embarking on another Holland America Line cruise. 

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