We flew to the Boston airport and took the Adams Inn Best Western free shuttle to the hotel on Thursday, October 8, 2015. Then we took the Gray Line "Bean Town Hop On Hop Off" bus tour and harbor cruise on the following day. The trees were gorgeous red, yellow and gold colors on this trip. We should have arranged at least another day in Boston, because we didn't have time to take a guided "Freedom Trail" 2 1/2 mile walk in downtown Boston. The Gray Line tour included pick up and return trips to our hotel. Since we'd never been in the New England states, nor had we been to the eastern seaboard of Canada, this was very interesting for us.

There were 4 sisterships of similar design. Holland America sold the Ryndam and Statendam in November of 2014. The 2 remaining ships of that class are the Veendam and the one we sailed on, the Maasdam, commissioned in 1994, 1,358 passengers, 57 tons. The embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly, as per usual with HAL. Our room steward and our table stewards were terrific. The Indonesian wait staff and room stewards, and the Filipino bar staff are thoroughly professional, and take pride, rightfully so, in their work. This was a port intensive cruise, with just one sea day. The onboard Microsoft classes and the culinary classes are top notch. We're ball room dancers, so we were fortunate that both the Ocean Bar "Neptunes" band, and the Halcat band which played in the Crows Nest played great music, and took requests.

The cuisine on this cruise was outstanding. The pumpkin stuffed quail with pork belly cracklings was probably my favorite dinner. Every day of the cruise, the main dining room, the lido (day time and late night snack), Terrace Grille, Pinnacle, and Canaletto all had different menues. Read more