I was worried about choosing the Maasdam, because it is the 2nd oldest and 2nd smallest of HAL's fleet. Let me tell you, for cruises, SMALLER is BETTER! The personal attention we received was amazing, and only once did we have to wait in line for anything!

Typically, on ships with 2,000-3,000 passengers, it can be a chore trying to get to the showroom early to find a good seat, or even find a lounge chair on the deck on sea days. Not on the Maasdam! I never had to look far for an open chair, the showroom was over half empty every night (and not because the entertainment wasn't good), and only once did we have to wait for dinner. It was Christmas Eve, and a formal night, on a port day. Typically, ships do not do a formal night on a port day, but they did in this case because of Christmas Eve. They also pushed the entertainment up one hour (to 7:00 & 9:00 shows, instead of 8:00 & 10:00) in order to fit in a Christmas show at 11. Well, no one showed up to anytime dining at 6:00, but everyone showed up at 7:30 or 8:00, which means half of us had to wait over an hour to be seated after 9:00.

Aside from that, everything was walk-right up, and there were no lines anywhere. I will now always look for the smaller ships whenever possible. The only ammenity I missed from a slightly larger ship was a larger thermal suite area. Oh, well. I was worried a little bit about rough sees tossing such a small ship, and we did have 2 rough days out of 14, but I survived. I will definitely do a smaller ship in the Caribbean. Don't know yet if I'm willing to try a smaller ship on the Pafific!