Cruise Reviews

Reviewed By: samuels, Edgware on 24th Jan 2008
Cruise Line: Holland America Cruises Times cruised before: 6-10
Cruise Ship: MS Maasdam Sailed: September, 2008
Destination: Canada Age: 56-65
This was our 2nd cruise with Holland America this time to the Maritime Coast of Canada/USA (Colours of Canada & New England) & again did not disappoint. The Maasdam is one of the smaller ships but did not feel crowded. Paid extra for the Pinnacles Restaurant which was well worth it apart from a noisy table near us. It would be nice if groups realised there were other people in the same dining room! The only restaurant not to my liking was the buffet restaurant but I am not a fan of buffet food at the best of times. We prefer to have freshly cooked food with waiter service. We found the entertainment of a very high standard & very varied but obviously not everything is to everybody's taste. We particularly enjoyed the disco/bar (the Crows Nest) at the top of the ship. Activities are there if you want them incl. sporting & exercise opportunities. I personally enjoyed the art seminars given by Ian the art auctioneer which were given in a clear & simple way & also the spa treatments. Treatments seemed expensive at first glance but they also do special offers each day. No complaints about the cabins - ours was a reasonably spacious outside cabin & it was lovely to have a bath, even if it was smaller than I am used to. Boarding at Montreal was very quick & efficient. Bit of a delay getting off at New York but you have to wait for US Customs to come on board so not the fault of Holland America. Good choice of excursions but due to bad weather we could not do the Cabot Trail & had to stay at sea. Howevever, it would have been nice to had talks in the theatre on the excursions as opposed to seeing details on the cabin t.v. To sum it up, if u like a tradional type cruise without razzmatazz, good polite service & high standards as we do, then Holland America is right for you.
Quality of Food4
Tried to avoid buffet restaurant. Twice in Pinnacles (extra payable) otherwise in main dining room.
Entertainment4
All shows very good & very varied apart from jazz evening which is just not our taste.
Shore Excursions4
New London trip to Aquarium was good but would have been better to have cut out shopping village which was waste of time & money.
Staff5
All the cabin staff were just so polite & helpful including room attendant & staff bringing us our breakfast.
Children's Facilitiesn/a
Onboard Activities4
No complaints but bear in mind we only had one day at sea due to bad weather.
Cabins4
No problems here.
Overall Rating5
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