This review is a bit long so bear with me. The bottom-line was we had a great time and loved the Maasdam (this was our second trip on her). If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly at jdemaria@carolina.rr.com.

For background, my wife and I are in our mid-40s and this is our 8th cruise (5 on HAL, 1 on RCL, 1 on Disney and 1 on Celebrity). We have 3 children (16, 13, 10) who also were on the cruise with us. We also cruised with my In-laws and Aunt and Uncle, so there were 9 of us on this family Christmas cruise.

Pre-Cruise - We drove to Norfolk the day before and stayed at the Radisson. We were very pleased with their cruise and stay program which included free parking and a free hot breakfast buffet the next morning (we were getting in training for the Lido buffets!). They were very efficient at getting all 9 people's luggage loaded and dropped us off right in front of the terminal about 11:30 AM. Read more