We had no high expectations of the Maasdam as a ship, as she is older than many and we had read reviews that she was showing signs of age. However we were pleasantly surprised to find that she was well maintained and in better shape than we had anticipated. The ship was kept spotlessly clean and although some of the décor was a little dated by current fashions, it was all in perfect working order.

We were in Neptune Suite 026, on Navigation Deck 10. A lovely spacious stateroom, with bath/shower combination, a separate dressing area, seating area and large balcony. We did wonder whether we would hear any noise from the Canaletto dining room or the lido deck above, but we heard nothing at all. Everything worked fine, but we did find a couple of snags with the room. Firstly, it vibrates/trembles when the engines are running (which seemed to be 24 hours a day, even when docked). It is not noisy and it didn't stop us sleeping, but we noticed that other decks in the same area of the ship had the same problem, including in the Lido restaurant, so it must be a feature of this ship. Secondly, although the air conditioning worked fine, there didn't seem to be an "off" switch. One of the units is situated directly over the bed, which meant that you could feel the air flow on your face all night. We would have preferred to have been able to turn it off occasionally and use the balcony door for fresh air when it was safe to do so.

The balcony was lovely, although we were cursed with a neighbour in the next cabin who was extremely loud, very opinionated (well, bigoted, actually) which meant that on a couple of occasions, we had to withdraw to sit inside. We did wonder about making a complaint, but that is not what holidays are about for us. But it does make you wonder why people don't realise that the world in general is not interested in their opinions on everything from the weather to the unsuitability of the British Royal Family! Read more