I'm back home to the real world after my 14 day cruise on the Maasdam!! Overall it was a great cruise, but I noticed changes in my 10 day sailing last year compared to this sailing. I will only judge my recent sailing to the April 2008. BACKGROUND: This was my second time on the Maasdam. I also sailed on the Oosterdam and Westerdam. I've also sail with Carnival and the Alaskan state ferry. Overall this was my 8th cruise and my 5th (or 6th) solo. I booked this cruise early January because I enjoyed the ship so much the year before and because there were several ports that I really wanted to visit. The pricing was reasonable when I first booked the cruise and got really good (several price drops) prior to sailing. I booked with a cruise agency listed on this website and had a very good agent. In fact, I called her to enlist for a cruise in early 2010. I started the roll call for the sailing in late January and we had a high turnout of regulars and alot of new people close to sailing. I also reviewed other posters recent sailings, went to the port of call section for advice for all of our stops and I really think this enhance my cruise quite a bit. TRAVEL TO PORT OF EMBARKATION: I work for a regional airline and receive good flight benefits. However, the drawback is waiting until the last minute of knowing where and what flight I'm on. I always fly in a day early, but didn't know until prior to checking in if I was going into Fort Lauderdale or Miami. I end up flying into Miami. The flight left on time and we arrived early. I met some brave souls flying into Miami to sail out that day and they were on pins and needles until we landed. I tell anyone if you can, fly in a day early to save yourself this stress and worry. I used Super Shuttles that accept walk ups to my hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The cost was very reasonable and the ride was comfortable,but it was alot longer than the 45 minutes to a hour that I was quoted. In addition to dropping people off at hotels, they also drop off at people homes. I did get to see alot of the area between Miami and Fort Lauderdale while heading to my hotel, but the trip time was almost three hours. It also took my drive awhile to find the hotel and this added to the time. It bothered me slightly, but if I was really press for time, next time I would book a one way car rental instead. HOTEL: Due to the great AAA rate and wonderful reviews from this website, I booked with the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport. The hotel was really nice. The room was very spacious and modern. I loved the large flat screen tv and sectional sofa. The products offered were of good quality. The hotel is also within walking distance to a supermarket, restaurants, CVG, Walgreens and other stores for last minute items. The hotel also offers free online with two computers and free wifi. They also offer a free breakfast buffet and other food items at cost. There's free shuttle service to the airport and port. TRAVEL TO THE PORT OF EMBARKATION: I used the hotel free shuttle to the port. The ride was a short easy one because the hotel is very close to the port and we were the only ship in Port Everglades that day. EMBARKATION: I don't like to arrive early on the ship,but rather after 1 p.m.. I arrived about 1:10 p.m. My bags were collected and I was greeted by a HAL rep and directed inside. After filling out the short medical form, I walked right up to the counter for check in. In all it only took about 15 to 20 minutes from the time I step out of the hotel shuttle to walk on board. I know talking to some of my fellow CruiseCritic.com people, it was a mad house right before noon. I also had my dining assignment placed on my ship card. I had fixed dining at 8:00 p.m. at table 303. I know that some people had mentioned having fixed dining with their documents and then having open dining on their cards, but I didn't encounter this. The rooms were not ready yet so I headed to the spa to purchase my thermal spa pass. I really enjoyed this last year and wanted to purchase this again. The cost was $150 for a single person and $250 for a couple. They have a sign stating that they only sell 20 per cruise. I walked into the Lido and it was still packed. I knew that once the rooms were ready it would clear up so I headed down to Explorations Library until the rooms were ready. At about 1:35 p.m. the announcement that all the rooms except for a small number on the Navigation deck were ready. SHIP: One of the primary reasons that I picked this cruise is because I love the S class ships. The size is perfect because it don't take long to get around and it very rarely feel crowded on board. The ship was always clean and someone constantly working to ensure this. STATEROOM: I had cabin 554 on the main deck. The cabin was in a great location. I was only steps away from the elevators, the escalator (great for getting to deck six and to the promenade for walks) and the self laundromat. I received an upgrade from a FF to DA. This moved me from the front of the ship to almost center. Since I was traveling alone, the room had plenty of space and storage. I really enjoy sitting in the room several afternoons looking out the window. My cabin steward was Jaya. He was good and kept my room up. I also brought a small cooler and he kept with filled with ice everyday. However, there is a slight change in the steward procedures that was explained to me by Jaya. They only do a primary cleaning during the day and a touch up at night. He also asked me about when did I want ice (as I stated above, I wanted my cooler filled). Also, the fruit basket wasn't in the cabin, but a fruit menu instead. I mentioned about just a touch up cleaning because there were a few times when I came back to the ship after 3 p.m. and took a bath where the tub wasn't clean or the trash not dump in the cabin. While these were minor things that I noticed from my previous sailings and wasn't a big thing to me, some of my tablemates and others viewed this as a lack of cleaning the cabins. I don't know if they have increase the cabins for the stewards,but this might be the case. I know that Jaya and the other cabin stewards always greeted me with a smile in the hallways. I had no problems with the temp in my cabin. The room temp was perfect, but I know that quite a few people had major issues with this. On one of my tours, several of the people stated that their rooms were very hot and they were promise that it was being worked on. This was a common theme with people that I met at lunch,at tea or in the Lido. Even on the last day when I was at the front desk, there were several people receiving adjustments because of the cabin temp. I also had a problem at times with people in the laundromat. While during the day and early evening, loud talking wasn't an issue, one night it was 11 p.m. and it was a small group in there rather loud. I, along with the people in cabin 552 had to stick our head out and ask them to lower their voices. I could here the various announcements in my cabin if I stood near the door or bathroom. In the seating area and bed I couldn't. The same went for the elevator. If I was in the bathroom or near the door, I could hear the ding. Overall, I would pick this cabin again because of the great location. FELLOW CRUISERS: The cruise had a nice mixture of people. There were more children on board than I expected. While the ship was primary in their 70's, you had a good number of people in their 30's to early 60's, a small number in their 20's also. There were alot of solo cruisers on this ship also and I also ran into several people that I sailed on the Westerdam and last year on the Maasdam. We had people from Canada,Bermuda,Barbados,England,Scotland,Holland, Germany,Italy and from quite a few states on board (I met more Alaskans on this cruise for some reason!!) and I really enjoyed their company. There were also quite a few first time cruisers on board. There was only lady that I met was from a small town with only about 600 people and she was amazed that the ship had more people on board than at home. CREW: The captain on this sailing was Henk Draper, the cruise director was Michelle Worthely ( I recalled her from the Westerdam in 2005), Simon de Boer,Hotel Manager (he left the ship early due to a family emergency towards the end). The ship also added a travel guide Greg Miller and a party planner Patricia. The DJ was Daniel (he also ran the bingo), the shopping ambassador Linda and Steven in the Piano bar. I also had the best Crow's Nest server Jan!! She greeted me with a smile and made me feel like I a VIP. Overall, most of the crew that I encounter were great and greeted you, but there were a few times when I ran across one or two that act like it was a chore to assist you and answer a question. DINING: I received fixed dining at 8p.m. My table was 303. This table is a eight seater towards the back. There were one couple, two sisters traveling together and four solo cruisers. Half of my table was from Canada. One of my tablemates was a World War Two vet that flew missions in the Battle of Britain, over Germany and was captured after being sent to the Pacific and work on the road to Buthan. We had another lady with us on the first night, but she moved to another table. Another thing that occurred was two nights we had the Purser Danny Djasmin to dine with us and the Party Planner Patricia to join us. On these nights we had free wine for dinner. I talked to a few people that had the open dining. One couple I met on a tour loved it because they ate early some nights and other nights as late as 8:45 p.m. They also like meeting new people every day. Others found a table and serving crew they liked and more or less. I also met others who didn't like meeting new people every night. I also noticed that we had empty tables during our dining time that never had anyone sitting at them. I can't recall my servers name, but they did the job. Any request that anyone had, it was taken care of. Bea, one of my tablemates only wanted half portions of the meats and this was taken care of. One night Maureen,one of my tablemates, stated that her pasta was cold, she got a new dinner fresh cooked. I admit that a few nights that I didn't find anything appealing and pick something from the optional menu that's offered everynight. I ordered Room Service a few times and the orders came within a reasonable time and were always hot and good. I was pleased that tea time was expanded to a hour and took advantage of having tea several times. I ate in the Pinnacle Grill one night. The service started off slow, but was good after that. The steak was excellent and the creme burlee was out of this world!! I loved the burgers at the grill!! They were always yummy and a great meal if you came back too late for the Lido. I enjoyed the Lido dining. The food was good and it was alot of selections. My only complaint about it was they need to change the lunch time to 2:30 p.m.. SHIP ACTIVITIES: This is one area when I noticed a vast difference in my 2008 Maasdam sailing. There were alot more going on board,esp on sea days last year. I recalled that on the first sea day last year, I was exhausted from doing so much. This year, I had more blocks of time where either you had two things going on at the same time or the usual port shopping talks,bingo or other things that require payment. PORTS OF CALL: On this cruise our ports were Half Moon Cay,San Juan, Puerto Rico,.St Thomas U.S.V.I.,Basseterre St. Kitts,Roseau Dominica,Bridgetown Barbados,Castries St. Lucia,Pointe A Pitre Guadeloupe,Philipsburg St. Maarten and Road Town Tortola B.V.I. The fact that the ship was visiting St. Kitts,Dominica, and Guadeloupe was another factor for picking this cruise. I only booked a ship tour in Barbados and the remaining tours with local guides suggested on this website and one with my travel agency. SAN JUAN-We were in this port until 10:30 p.m. I walked Old San Juan with a map provided by their tourist board and went to one of the forts. I also at breakfast at a local bakery. I booked with Segway tours midafternoon and really suggest their tours! It was a fun way to see the city. I wanted to book the bio tour with the ship (due to the time and distance of this tour) but it was cancel. The same went for their other evening tour. I express disappointed with HAL of not offering late tours since we were there so late. ST THOMAS-This was my first time here and I really didn't enjoy the port due to the large number of people there. We had people from two other ships with over 3,000 people and it was packed. My original tour guide never showed up and I picked up a local tour with someone else. It's a nice island,but I really didn't enjoy it because of the crowds. ST KITTS-I toured with Ilva Wallace and it was really a wonderful tour. I was her only person that day so the tour was at my call. I stayed at some sites longer and others a short time. Ms. Wallace also took me to a local restaurant where the owner explained each dish to me and thank me for dining there. I had a great time in St. Kitts and want to return DOMINICA-Due to the Auroa being downtown,we were placed at a shipping dock. It was a hectic place at time. I had a tour with Beno with Joseph as our guide. While the island is stunning and Joseph was great, I was with five of the most rude people that I ever encountered in my life. I now see what people overseas mean about rude Americas. These ladies made degrading comments about the food,the people,the pricing of souvenirs (I found the prices in Dominica to be the best and the most local handmade items) I was ashamed to even be with them. This is an island I want to return to and just do a private tour. BARBADOS-This was the only port where I did a ship tour. I did the in focus photo tour. Unlike most ship tours, there was only five people on this tour. The local tour guide, Mr. Harrington was a wealth of knowledge and the tour was a really good value. The only fault was one of the people on the tour booked another one that overlap and we had to cut ours short. I also went to the Boatyard. The cab driver was suggesting another beach, but I picked this one because it was close to the port and the $20 cost also covered your return cab to the port. The driver tried to tell me that the owner didn't like blacks to visit his beach, but I told him I wanted to check it out. The beach was nice and plenty of chairs. You also receive one free drink. The music is loud, but I went down a bit and had a good time. The staff was nice and only had one vendor to come around. I stayed for a few hours and returned to the ship. Once again HAl didn't offer any late tours (we were in port until 11:30 p.m.) and quite a few people wanted to do a ship tour for the evening. ST LUCIA-I toured with Cosol again and it was wonderful like last year. There was 16 people, but Cosol used two vans so everyone had plenty of space. The hotel between the Pintons is being worked on so we went to another beach, they are still working on this beach, but when it's completed, it's going to be a gem. I had another good time with Cosol and he's always a good pick GUADELOUPE-This was another port where HAL could do so much better. They only offered one tour at the port. One of my tablemates took the garden and rum tour and stated it was good. There were taxis at the port area, but you had negotiate. I heard of a few drivers trying to change the rates once the people were far from the port. Two of my tablemates took a tour with six others for $30 each and did a short tour of the island, visited the rum factory and went to a beach. I booked a tour with shoretrips.com. The tour was rather high (due to the strong Euro) at $159, but it was so worth it and made this port the highlight of my cruise. I was met at port by my guide. He also had a family from France and was excellent in constant translation between French and English. We had a Land Rover and when off road deep in the middle of a sugar plantation along winding paths. We stopped to eat fresh fruit picked along the way and sugarcane. We then went off road again to a small beach that only a local person would know about. The water was very clear and the beach very clean. We drove along the small fishing towns and then when for lunch at a local woman's home in Deshaies. She greeted us with fruit punch and rum punch. The fruit in the punch were from her garden. We also had lunch where everything was prepared from her garden and home. She explained what she cooked with for each dish. We had a fresh salad,blood sausage, a platter of fresh fruit, stewed chicken,breadfruit,plantain and other local items. We also had coffee from bean in her garden. Her porch overlooks the ocean and it was a nice setting for lunch. Our last stop was a local waterfall. We had to climb down quite a bit to get to it, but the waterfall was refreshing. There were quite a few families around enjoying the area and I could tell that I was the only tourist. Overall I got a wonderful view of Guadeloupe and it's a stunning island. HAL really need to push the local vendors to offer tours around this island. I know that the majority of the people didn't like this port, but miss out on this wonderful island. Also, HAL need to push for English pamphlets at the small tourist booth at the port area. While the people in the booth were most helpful,all of the items were in French. Also, there was no ATM in the port area so if you wanted Euros, you had to travel a distance. The vendors only had their prices in Euro in the port area where they need to be also in dollars. This port is a true gem that HAL is to me not putting the effort to let the cruisers enjoy. This also reflect in the crew. Several people stated, oh it's nothing to do there. This is not what you want your people to say to guest, you need to seek out things so you can tell guest, I can suggest this to you. ST MAARTEN-This is a port that I always enjoy no matter how many times I visit. I end up being the only person on my tour because the other people from the ship cancel at the last minute. Once again I had just a guide to myself and the freedom to enjoy at my pace. I toured with Joyce and had plenty of time to shop for local art,spices, and rum. I also went to a local diner and had a wonderful lunch. I love St Maarten and the people. ROAD TOWN-I took a local tour for a good price. We went around the island, stopped at Cane Garden beach and was back in the port area in plenty of time. The shopping in this port to me is not good so I head back to the boat. UGLY AMERICAN- I hate to say this, but some of my fellow cruisers in some of the ports really behave in such rude manner. I view visiting the ports as this is someone country and I have respect that. The comments the remarks from quite a few cruisers really show me why some people don't care for Americans thermal SPA-I booked the spa pass for this cruise and use it alot. I only went in the late afternoon around 4:30 p.m. and only one time was there anyone else in there with me. The other days I had the place all to myself. I really felt like I had my own private spa on board and enjoy this. CHILDREN CLUB-There were about 20-25 children on board. In this number were quite a few school age children. My only complaint was at the first Karaoke night there were children in the Crow's Nest after 10 p.m. Their parents were with them, but it made little difference. One of the boys had the tennis with the skates on them and several times rolling across the dance floor. Also, they let the children do Karaoke. While in the afternoon this would not be a problem, having children at 10:30 p.m. doing suggestive songs wasn't. This really soured me and quite a few others. I left during the second child performing and didn't return to Karaoke. I can clearly recall last year on the Maasdam when some teens came to the Piano bar one night, they were nicely told that they could not be there that time of night. Other than this, I did see the children on board, but mostly with their parents. ON DECK FOR THE CURE-I have a close friend that have breast cancer and I did walk in the walk for the cure (I was a little late due to a minor issue at the front desk). We were cheered and encouraged by those lounging on deck and by the crew. SHOWS-I only went to the very first show. It was ok. But I only say this because I know people who dance in Las Vegas and New York and strong singers. I know that my tablemates went to most of the shows and really enjoyed Jim Curry tribute to John Denver. Quite a few people complained about the show times also. With our 8 p.m. dining, you had to head to the 7 p.m. show. CASINO-I know that they made quite a bit of money on this sailing,esp from my tablemates! I only played $10 in good spirits, but only heard of small winnings. CruiseCritic.com MEETING-We had two meetings while on the ship. The first one was during sail-a-way. We met at the pool on the Navigation deck. We had a very nice turn out. We also met late afternoon on Sunday. Both the cruise director and hotel manager came by. The cruise director only spoke for a few minutes, but the hotel manager, Simon de Boer did talk in depth and answer our questions and concerns. It was nice also meeting everyone and on some of the islands, doing tours with each other or meeting. I really enjoy meeting everyone and we had a great group. We were also invited to a VIP cocktail during the cruise which was very nice. FUTURE CRUISE CONSULTANT-I took advantage of this and purchase a deposit for an upcoming cruise. You can't beat $100! MARINER LUNCH-The ship now have a lunch for the mariners. They had one on two of the sea days. I went to the second one. You had a nice crowd and I met some great people. The lunch was good and talk about the changes in the fleet and thanking us for sailing was the normal. SHOPS-I only purchase one bottle of rum from the ship and another card for my camera. Both times, the shop clerks were very friendly and spoke when passing by and more than once ask about how my cruise was going. FRONT DESK-I used the front desk quite a bit on this cruise. Each time, the person that waited on me was friendly and eager to help. If that person couldn't answer my question, they found someone who could. My bill was correct and I got money back from my cash deposit. I did encounter some guest talking very rude to the front desk clerks. DISEMBARKATION-I used the HAL service to Fort Lauderdale airport. I had a late flight and was in no hurry to rush to the airport. They only made one announcement that we were clear to leave. Everyone had the times to leave the board with your disembarkation paperwork. My time frame was 8:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. I left out of my room at 8:45 a.m. and walked right off with no lines. I gather my luggage and took it to the bus. Once at the airport, went in and waited until 4 p.m. to leave. FINAL THOUGHTS-Overall the cruise was great! I got away from my stressful job and on board a wonderful ship. I loved the ports,walking the ship decks and meeting new people. I feel that HAL is cutting back on the number of people in the dining room and cabin service. Also, I received a refill on the products four times on my 10 day cruise, but only two and half times on the 14 day cruise. While I had a great cabin, there were quite a few on board who had problems with their cabins the whole cruise. HAL also need to a better job for Guadeloupe. I will sail HAL again because I enjoy their ships and it's a good value. If you have any questions, email me!!