We went into Boston a day early and stated at the Fairmont Battery Wharf, excellent accomodations. We took a "hop on hop off" bus tour which gave us a good tour of old & new Boston. Had lunch at Cheers which was good. All the time keeping an eye on the hurricane and trying to find out from Holland American Line (HAL) what was going on with our upcoming cruise with respect to the hurricane. We had been trying to get some information from HAL about the cruise for four days prior to flying to Boston and all we got was that it was still on with no changes. Saturday morning, the day of our embarkation we finally found information on the cruise. The information was found on Cruise Critic, great job to them, never received anything from HAL at anytime until after we left port. As could be expected we lost our first two ports of call, Bar Harbor Maine and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Maasdam left on time and proceeded to get away from the storm and make it to the protected coast of Nova Scotia. With the rough seas and wind the Maasdam was a smooth cruising ship with little motion. Great job to the Captain and crew for the smooth sailing.

The room accomodations were average as compared to other cruises we've taken. The room and the ship was showing its age and was in need of an overhaul. We also had to take 3 cold showers, because of no hot water in our cabin. Spoke to the cabin steward and front desk about this, but the problem wasn't resolved. I would rate this room a D and the steward an A. Read more