Veendam vs Maasdam?

[Suite_Gurl]

We have cruised the eastern car. on the Veendam a little over a year ago in an A cat. and truly loved her. We have also sailed on the Zaandam in Jan in an S cat. and are now spoiled! Now we have some friends who are interested in going with us in the fall and we are trying to decide if we should do the Veendam again or try the Maasdam. Big question...how does the Maasdam compare to the Veendam? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[ShipMaven]

They're sisterships...basically a difference in decor (color schemes). Veendam has the brighter colors seen in the later HAL ships. Maasdam has beautiful darker woods. Cabin size, layout, etc. are the same.

:USA :UK :AUSTRALIA :USA

 

[sage]

I have also been on both ships, and I think that you would be happy on either one. I think that I would tend to go with the ports that appealed to me and the price. I have heard some complaints about the Maasdam, but I think that the problems are or will be fixed soon. As ShipMaven has said, the Maasdam does have the beautiful rich dark woods.

 

[wendyandbarry]

Where are you planning on going too? That has a lot to do with what ship you are on, but if you only have the two to choose from, I would look at the Pic's on this site and others to decide, because as was said above they are sister ships.

Barry

 

[Sabina]

We just returned on a trip 9 days ago on the Maasdam. Just a word of advise if your planning to book a trip on her - I don't think I would.

We had a wonderful cruise and the problems experienced on board really didn't affect us too much, but if they had I would have been really upset. When we were in San Juan the power was off with some sort of generater problem for most of the day. This also means that the water didn't work to even flush a toilet in the dark! We got off the ship when the problems first started and luckily were gone most of the day. I guess it didn't come back on until shortly before we boarded the ship about 6 hours later. Some passengers were really steamed and they ended up providing an open bar for 1 hour the following day to everyone as an apology.

Another thing that caused problems was some sort of sewage problem onboard. Again, we were lucky that our cabin didn't smell like sewage, but many others were effected. There were 2 floors of cabins that smelled absolutely horrible and you could also smell it in the hallways for a couple of days. I had read something about this in previous reports of the Maasdam or one of her sister ships, but understood that this had been taken care of. I guess not

The final thing that happened while we were onboard was that the ships stabilizer went out during dinner. This we were a part of, as the poor servers had stacks of entrees toppling over, plates were crashing off the tables, people were screaming (seriously), and the ice sculpture and large flower arrangements crashed to the floor. We were literally holding the dishes on the table and our chairs were starting to slide backwards because the ship rocked so far over to one side. We had just reached the level of panic (we really thought the ship would go over on its side) when it suddenly stopped and shuddered for 10 minutes or so. The ships captain later came on the intercom explaining what had happened and telling us that the problem had been corrected.

Like I said before, we did have a great trip. I know I just wouldn't even consider booking another one on her out of fear that we wouldn't be so lucky a second time. I hope that helps

 

[Cruzman]

Having sailed on the Maasdam 2 years ago and experienceing none of the problems described, I can only say that while unfortunate, such problems will occur on any ship from time to time due to the fact that anything mechanical is subject to malfunction. Perhaps one should focus on the fact that the problems were addressed and corrected in short order.

 

[Sabina]

Point well-taken. I realize the fact that not everything always goes as planned and that includes time spent aboard ships

However, these 3 incidents together during a one week long trip seemed a little odd to me considering we've never experienced anything like this on any of our other cruises. I just wanted to warn anyone considering a future cruise so that they may make an informed decision and possibly avoid problems. I know that my husband and I only have so much vacation time (and funds) per year and we try to plan things for as few upsets as possible.

Everything else was great on the cruise. Wonderful food, service, and time spent at ports. Happy cruising to all, no matter what ship you may chose!