HAL Maasdam Review (back to back cruises)

> I loved the traditional dining on the first cruise - we had excellent
> table mates. It wasn't so good on the second cruise because two of
> our four table mates did not come to the dining room for 10 days in a
> row.

I could make a fairly good guess as to why they didn't show up for
10 days in a row.......

--
Charles

>>> Bob went on the kitchen tour. Afterwards he went to a demonstration
>>> by the chef of the Pinnacle grill, where they demonstrated salmon with
>>> lemon glaze and rosemary crumbs and three-grain pilaf with olives.
>>> They gave everyone the recipes. He enjoyed that.
>>
>>Must have gone alone then.
>>
> There were other people on the tour.

I meant without YOU specifically.........

> There is nothing about older people and rice pudding,We have enjoyed
> rice pudding since we were little kids,and it is BREAD PUDDING on the
> HAL ships,not rice.

Bread pudding would be even easier for older people to chew than rice
pudding. Perfect for HALs clientele.

--
Charles

> Stateroom - C
>
> It was an outside window which was nice, but the room was cramped and
> noisy. They didn't have much drawer storage space and no place to put
> things at the bathroom sink without stacking things.

I am surprised to hear the room was cramped. According to travelocity
an outside cabin on the Massdam is about 197 sq ft, which isn't that
bad. On the Volendam we had a Verandah Suite which was 292 sq ft and
we have more storage space and drawers then we needed. In the bathroom
we had a shelf under the sink, don't know if you had one or not.

> There are two nice pools - one outside which I used once, and one in
> the middle of the Lido Deck. They had the water in the Lido Pool even
> though it was a little rough and I was surprised that someone wasn't
> hurt the way the water was splashing around in the pool.

The first two days on the Volendam the seas were very rough. One day
as we were sitting in the hot tub, the pool looked just right for
surfing(grin). We saw a guy get into the surf, do some laps and then
get out. We were both afraid the guy would be slammed up against the
wall of the pool and get hurt.

> They gave us luggage labels with colors and numbers or letters, but I
> could make no sense of what the colors meant. They seemed to be
> random. So one couldn't figure out when they might be called. Maybe
> they did that on purposed, but if I had a deadline it would have been
> anxiety making.

Because we had an early flight we checked at the pursers desk and
found that we would be the second group off the ship.

Glad that you enjoyed your cruise, I know we enjoyed ours!

sue

Rosalie B. wrote:

> I don't know why it is so hard for someone to understand that when I
> book an inside center cabin (under other cabins and not under the
> kitchen or restaurant or someplace like that) that I do NOT want an
> upgrade to an outside cabin under the kitchen.

Next time tell your travel agent that you do not want any upgrade and
that should solve the problem.

sue

Sue and Kevin Mullen <kjmullen@> wrote:

Thank you for your comments

I had tried to tell my TA that I didn't want an upgrade, but he didn't
ask me, and he was never there when I called and did not return my
calls. I didn't check before I went, and that was a mistake on my
part, but I don't think I should have had to do that - I would expect
that a travel agent would ask before giving someone an upgrade. In
the past they have done that, or I have indicated at the beginning
that I would be OK with an upgrade.
>
>Rosalie B. wrote:
>
>> Stateroom - C
>>
>> It was an outside window which was nice, but the room was cramped and
>> noisy. They didn't have much drawer storage space and no place to put
>> things at the bathroom sink without stacking things.
>
>I am surprised to hear the room was cramped. According to travelocity
>an outside cabin on the Massdam is about 197 sq ft, which isn't that
>bad. On the Volendam we had a Verandah Suite which was 292 sq ft and
>we have more storage space and drawers then we needed. In the bathroom
>we had a shelf under the sink, don't know if you had one or not.
>
No we didn't. There was a small shelf above the sink, but that was
all. I think shelf or cabinet space under the sink would be an easy
way to get more storage.

It wasn't so much that the room was actually small. But the furniture
didn't fit very well. The sofa was nice, but the table was very small
(smaller than the breakfast tray), and the little stool at the dresser
was more for show than for sitting on. It could have been left off
altogether.

>> There are two nice pools - one outside which I used once, and one in
>> the middle of the Lido Deck. They had the water in the Lido Pool even
>> though it was a little rough and I was surprised that someone wasn't
>> hurt the way the water was splashing around in the pool.
>
>The first two days on the Volendam the seas were very rough. One day
>as we were sitting in the hot tub, the pool looked just right for
>surfing(grin). We saw a guy get into the surf, do some laps and then
>get out. We were both afraid the guy would be slammed up against the
>wall of the pool and get hurt.
>
Yes that was what we observed.

I do sometimes find that when I point something out to people that
might be a hazard, and they say something like "Oh we've always done
that and never had a problem", that if they DO have a subsequent
problem, they seem to think it was my fault. :-(

>> They gave us luggage labels with colors and numbers or letters, but I
>> could make no sense of what the colors meant. They seemed to be
>> random. So one couldn't figure out when they might be called. Maybe
>> they did that on purposed, but if I had a deadline it would have been
>> anxiety making.
>
>Because we had an early flight we checked at the pursers desk and
>found that we would be the second group off the ship.

Why didn't they just tell everyone?

We were purple 4.
>
>Glad that you enjoyed your cruise, I know we enjoyed ours!

Yes I did enjoy it.

Rosalie B. wrote:
> Sue and Kevin Mullen <kjmullen@> wrote:

>> In the bathroom
>> we had a shelf under the sink, don't know if you had one or not.
>>
> No we didn't. There was a small shelf above the sink, but that was
> all. I think shelf or cabinet space under the sink would be an easy
> way to get more storage.

In addition to the shelf under the sink, we had a corner cabinet with
three shelfs on the right hand side of the sink. Same cruise line,
diffeent ships, different layouts.

> It wasn't so much that the room was actually small. But the furniture
> didn't fit very well. The sofa was nice, but the table was very small
> (smaller than the breakfast tray), and the little stool at the dresser
> was more for show than for sitting on. It could have been left off
> altogether.

The stool by the dresser/desk opened for more storage and I used it to
sit on at the desk. Also our table was a little bigger then the
breakfast tray, so it worked fine for us.

sue

OY VE!
"Sue and Kevin Mullen" <kjmullen@> wrote in message
news:52fg31F1o3dqvU1@mid....
>
>
> Rosalie B. wrote:
>> Sue and Kevin Mullen <kjmullen@> wrote:
>
>>> In the bathroom we had a shelf under the sink, don't know if you had one
>>> or not.
>>>
>> No we didn't. There was a small shelf above the sink, but that was
>> all. I think shelf or cabinet space under the sink would be an easy
>> way to get more storage.
>
> In addition to the shelf under the sink, we had a corner cabinet with
> three shelfs on the right hand side of the sink. Same cruise line,
> diffeent ships, different layouts.
>
>> It wasn't so much that the room was actually small. But the furniture
>> didn't fit very well. The sofa was nice, but the table was very small
>> (smaller than the breakfast tray), and the little stool at the dresser
>> was more for show than for sitting on. It could have been left off
>> altogether.
>
> The stool by the dresser/desk opened for more storage and I used it to sit
> on at the desk. Also our table was a little bigger then the breakfast
> tray, so it worked fine for us.
>
> sue

clint wrote:
> OY VE!
> "Sue and Kevin Mullen" <kjmullen@> wrote in message
> news:52fg31F1o3dqvU1@mid....
>>
>> Rosalie B. wrote:
>>> Sue and Kevin Mullen <kjmullen@> wrote:
>>>> In the bathroom we had a shelf under the sink, don't know if you had one
>>>> or not.
>>>>
>>> No we didn't. There was a small shelf above the sink, but that was
>>> all. I think shelf or cabinet space under the sink would be an easy
>>> way to get more storage.
>> In addition to the shelf under the sink, we had a corner cabinet with
>> three shelfs on the right hand side of the sink. Same cruise line,
>> diffeent ships, different layouts.
>>
>>> It wasn't so much that the room was actually small. But the furniture
>>> didn't fit very well. The sofa was nice, but the table was very small
>>> (smaller than the breakfast tray), and the little stool at the dresser
>>> was more for show than for sitting on. It could have been left off
>>> altogether.


>> The stool by the dresser/desk opened for more storage and I used it to sit
>> on at the desk. Also our table was a little bigger then the breakfast
>> tray, so it worked fine for us.

We had a similar problem on our last cruise. The stool by the
dresser/desk was ideal for the storage of my booze, medicine and shaving
equipment. Then, Mrs. Nonnymus flushed the darned thing and I lost it all.

--
---Nonnymus---

TINSTAAFL
There Is No Such Thing
As A Free Lunch

"Rosalie B." <gmbeasley@> wrote in message
news:5v95s2h1f47bg56gh4fmd8e1utbj2dktef@...

<snipped>

> But I really would have rather had a dresser with more drawers rather
> than that 'dressing table'.


On the Volendam, our desk had six drawers on one side and three on the
other..plenty of space....So much that I did not use all the shelves and
drawers and I tend to overpack everytime.

--Jean