I chose this cruise as I have been on the Maasdam before and really like this size of ship. It is large enough for good entertainment but small enough to get to know fellow cruisers. I took my 80 year old father with me for his first cruise. Unfortunately I suspect that it will be his last cruise. The movement of the ship was too much for him and he spent a fair amount of time in the room sick.
As for the ship itself, I've heard that the Maasdam is on the market as HAL it replacing smaller ships with larger ships. That is very disappointing for me as in think HAL is missing their nitch in the market. Nonetheless, I suspect that the Maasdam is not being cared for at the normal levels understanding that it is phasing out. The motor was incredibly noisy and shook a lot, so much so that regularly things were falling off my nightstand and table. I'm not a mechanic so I don' t know the details but clearly something was wrong mechanically.
There were two things that stood out to support my thoughts beyond the constant tremors. First, my room flooded, along with five others. We were told that a pipe broke. I suspect that the constant heavy vibration may have had something to do with that. Second, one the second night of the cruise, the alarms went off and the captain came over the intercom. I opened my door to see crew running down the halls in full firefighter turnout gear. We learned that the fire alarms went off in the engine room due to smoke but all was under control in about 20 minutes. I was very happy the captain was responsible and awoke everyone. He takes our safety seriously.
I would not choose this cabin. It flooded and was extremely noisy over the engine.
This private excursion with a limit of 14 people was wonderful. Val was fabulous. It was a perfect day and the service could not be better.
Nice port to walk around.
Fabulous island. I wish they would park the ship there for three days.
Busy port city
Very nice and very cheap beer
Scary