Maasdam 2012 - 25 Collector's Cruise This will be a long review and may take a while to post. I took tons of pictures but will not include them all in this review. Comcast has us using a new system in our area so I hope I can get pictures added without too much difficulty.
We left home on Feb 2 to stay at the Embassy Suites near our airport before a very early flight to Ft Lauderdale.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft Lauderdale for 3 days precruise.
Just a few photos of the pool area -- they have gotten new chairs and loungers for outdoors.
On Monday, Feb 26 we called for a cab to pick us up at 10:30 to go to the pier. For a Monday it was a very day for ships in Ft Lauderdale. Besides our ship there was the Emerald Princess; the Carnival Miracle; Zuiderdam; and Seven Seas Navigator. (Two days before the Crown Princess arrived in Code Red and never left until 10:30 in the evening -- on the 5th the Ruby Princess arrived in Code Red but left on time. On Feb 4th the MSC Poesia arrived and divers hit the water -- she damaged her hull in one of the ports -- she didn't leave until 8:30 that evening.)
Just as we were getting into the cab the heavens opened up for a second time that morning. It was like a monsoon. But by the time we got to the pier the rains were over for the day. Maasdam was at pier 25 -- very long walk from where the cab drops passengers and luggage off to where the check-in desks are. Thankfully there was a wheelchair there. Once inside the terminal I was transferred over to another wheelchair to go to check-in. This was much more organized than when we were on the Noordam. It was only a couple of minutes and those of us in the wheelchairs were zipped right by the photographers and onto the ship. When we got to the cabin I was happy to see my walker/rollator already there. I had rented it through Care/Vacations as HAL no longer supplies them.
The first thing we did was reconfirm our prebooked dinner reservations. Then we headed to the dining room for lunch. After that it was back to wait for luggage and take a couple of pictures of Ft Lauderdale. For the first time in years Port side of the ship was actually looking out towards the ocean and inland.
There was actually fresh flowers in our cabin -- not like the dead ones on our Noordam cruise. The cabin does have new carpeting, new drapes, new cover for the sofa, new sink and tiles in the bathroom. I had ordered through HAL a toilet seat riser and it was there.
I always read about people saying that their luggage arrives by 1 or 1:30. Not for us. Two of 4 suitcases arrived around 3. We had just gotten those done and it was time to go to lifeboat drill at 4:15. BIG difference from our Noordam joke of a drill. Everyone was quiet -- names and cabin numbers were called out. It was announced that you had to attend or you would not sail on the ship. No drinks, no partying. It was over at 4:30. The Maasdam does have new life jackets -- but we were not required to wear or take them to the drill.
By the time we got back to our cabin our other 2 pieces of luggage were there and we got them emptied and got ready for dinner at 5:30 at the Pinnacle. I am not happy with HAL's new ruling that we now have to use our free American Express Platinum dinner on the first night. This makes for a rushed dinner as our Deluxe Suite Cocktail party is always from 7:15 - 8 PM. For a change it was held in the MIX which is nicer than the crowded Neptune Lounge. Only about 30 people showed up for the cocktail party and I can see why. The invitation was under the postcards inside the cabin directory. Many people did not think to look there.
Since the Zuiderdam was already there when we arrived, we decided to avoid the crowds and stay on the ship. We have been there many times. Also the Zuiderdam got to use the islands 2 main tenders while we had to use our own tenders. One was pulled out of the water around 11 and a second one shortly after that as not many of our ship's people went ashore. Lucky us -- port side faced the beach and we were able to hear the HAL Cats screaming -- I mean singing and playing music -- from our verandah from Noon until 1 PM.
We decided to try the Happy Hour on this ship -- it was a joke. HAL has cut back so many crew members that there was only 1 waiter and 1 waitress to serve everyone. They could not keep up with the orders. Happy Hour was from 4:30 - 5:30 in both the Ocean Bar and the Crow's Nest. They did not even have time to get peanuts to everyone or serve appetizers.
We spent most of our time on the verandah. Joe wanted to have lunch in the dining room -- big mistake. Quite a few of us ordered the chicken soup -- but what arrived was some kind of a spicey soup. Seems like the kitchen was following the evening menus soup -- not the lunch time ones. I had also ordered a chicken salad -- nope -- dinner menu. Finally I ordered veal and it was so tough I could hardly cut it let alone chew it.
As 200+ day Mariners (actually now 793 days) we get invitations for the Navigators Wine Tasting -- it is free for us. We went to that and it was very nice. At least we had a true Cellar Master and not a couple of wine stewards who had just been promoted on the Noordam and had no idea what they were doing or talking about.
This evening was Formal night and quite a few people were dressed up.
We actually went to a production show -- the only show / acts we went to the entire cruise. It was a remake of a Broadway show we had seen a couple of years ago. Now that the Maasdam has the Showroom At Sea concept there isn't much room for dancing as there was before on the stage.
We were scheduled to arrive at 10 AM but because we had one engine not working (parts were ordered) we didn't get there until 11 AM.
Since we had never been here before here before we booked the Scenic tour so that we could see the island. As we arrived the rains moved in. Our tour was scheduled to leave at 12:45. It is a very long pier here and we had hoped to ride the train -- but it broke down early in the morning and wasn't repaired until late in the afternoon. So we had to walk to our tour -- in the pouring rain. It was hard for me to hang onto my walker and an umbrella. We left the ship at noon to allow time for me to get to the bus area which was not even near where the train would have dropped us off had it been working.
We got to the bus area at 12:30. The buses hold 24 people and allow for only 1 handicapped person per bus. We were assigned the third bus as 2 wheelchair people were taken care of first. Then began the wait -- and the wait. At 1:10 two buses arrived but they took only the passengers who were scheduled for the 1 PM city walking tour. Thankfully the rain had stopped by then. We were told that it would be least another 20 - 30 minutes before buses would be returning from the Serenade's tours. Fur was flying by this time. That meant that our tour would not start until 2 or later -- and it was to have been a 4 hour tour and we were scheduled to leave at 6. We learned that St Croix had booked extra tours for the Serenade -- they have no idea how to handle tours when there are 2 ships in port. They have very few buses.
As it turned out the St Croix person in charge told us that we could turn in our tickets and we would get a refund. The majority of us did that. Later on the ship we learned that the only bus out of 3 scheduled for our tour broke down 30 minutes after leaving the pier area. Since there weren't enough buses -- two other tours were cancelled completely.
So all we got to see was the fort right by the pier, the vendors, and the a little of the beach right there.
It has been several years since we were at this port. There is a new pier. The first time we were here we were docked in town -- but a hurricane destroyed that old dock. Then next few times we were docked at the freight area.
The train tour was started a few years ago and when we booked it then, the train that day was broken down. So we lucked out this time and got to do this tour.
Before we left the ship the captain announced that due to our engine problem we would be leaving at 4 PM instead of 5 in order to get to our next port on time.
On the left is the mill where the sugar cane is ground and the tall stack on the right is where the sugar cane is burned to get rid of the waste product and to make molassas for rum. We passed dozens of sugar cane plantations that are no longer in operation as the government closed them down in 2005 as it was costing to much money to run them.
Our thoughts on the train ride. It is 2 hours long -- they do serve you drinks - alcoholic and non-alcoholic. There are 2 levels of each car. The best view is from the open air part on the second level. A few people chose to sit in the air-conditioned section on the lower level -- they saw a lot of tall grass!! The top level has two long padded benches. We chose to sit on the ocean side facing the plantations. But we had a better view than those sitting on the other side -- they could not see the ocean and the train rocked so much you could not stand up to take pictures. After about an hour it did get boring as you kept seeing the same scenery. You really needed some kind of a map to know where you were on the island. We did not return to the area where the train started. The people waiting to get on the train were very rude hardly giving us a chance to get off the train.
Once back at the pier we walked around and then returned to the ship. It was too far for me to get to the main area of the town.
This was the evening of the VIP (Yea - we got invited this time) - it was from 7:15 - 8 in the Crow's Nest. There was only about 80 people there.
There were very few tours offered for this port. We had booked a what was called a 2 gardens tour. But after reading on another site that the one garden had a lot of steps in it instead of paths I knew that I could get my walker up and down the steps. So we had to cancel that cruise.
Originally we were to arrive by 10 AM but between one engine down and high winds of 35 - 40 knot we didn't arrive until 11:30. Quite a few tours were cancelled. Our departure time of 7 PM was not changed.
Like many others we just walked around the cruise terminal.
The Costa Mediterranean and the Thomson Dream were here. We were close to the terminal so no bus rides for us.
We have been here many times and did Harrison's Caves when we were here in Nov. We were first here in the 80's and had tried a few other times to book that tour. Lots of new changes were done during their closure.
Being as it was a Sunday, there were not many many major shops open in town so we didn't bother taking a taxi to town. We did that years ago -- just walked around and took pictures without the crowds.
At 6 PM the captain came on the PA system and announced that the reason we were leaving at 6:30 instead of 5 was that he had hoped that parts for the engine would have arrived by then. The captain also mentioned that we will be a couple of hours late getting to St Maarten.
After dinner we tried the Crow's Nest for cordials -- the piped in music was too LOUD -- we left.
I didn't take any pictures today.
BIG note for the dining room. The wine stewards only take and serve bottles of wine. Your dining room steward takes all drinks orders -- regular cocktails, sodas, glasses of wine. One more job he has to do besides trying to serve dinners for anywhere from 26 - 30 people. A couple of former assistant waiters deliver the drinks to the work stations. Then the main dining room steward has to stop what he is doing and serve the drinks. Sometimes the assistant will serve the drinks. This new system means the wine stewards have very little to do and as a result 4 of them were cut from the Maadam.
We also noticed that with all the cutbacks in staff that 2 serving areas in the lower dining room (open seating) are no longer in use. They stay perfectly clean all evening.
Once again we were told that we would be docked at Pointe Seraphine and once again we were docked at the Queen Elizabeth dock 2. That is located near the La Place Carenage Mall. At one time there were quite a few stores in this small mall. Now most of them are closed. There used to be 2 elevators to get to the second floor. One is now used only for entrance to the new Our Planet Center. The other one is broken down. We had planned on eating at the restaurant which is located on the second level. Because I can't do stairs we just walked back to the ship.
There is a tiny water taxi that goes between the 2 piers but I can't handle the steep steps getting into and out of the water taxi.
The new Our Planet Center is the Grey building in the back ground -- the old vendor shed was torn down.
In the front of it with the red roof is the "mall" - you can see the restaurant on the second level:
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