14 Night Panama Canal Westbound (Ft. Lauderdale To San Diego)
Sail date: March 01, 2016
Ship:
Maasdam
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 414
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
this particular ship needs to be retired as well as most of the staff. The staff was either brand new and not trained correctly, or burned out and didn't want to be good. Long time holland America cruisers we spoke to were very disappointed in overall shape or ship, poor service, not prompt docking by at the end. We docked hours late and many many missed flights home. Didn't plan on spending a night in San Diego plus meals hotel. I can go I and on but will stop now. I'm still upset a week since we've gotten home.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Very poor quality. The pinnacle restaurant for a fee was wonderful. The way all cruise food and service should be and is on other cruise lines
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Below standards. Come on. The cast of entertainers were good but crew show was horrible, waste of time. Comedians acceptable. The show room too small had to get a seat 45-50 minutes ahead of show if you wanted a seat.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
Cabin staff great, dining room very bad. Our waiter was constantly yelling and Asst waiter whom we loved. Food inconsistent. Three people at same table ordered same dish and each plate was with different portions. Sent food back often not served as ordered.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Cleanliness great but at back of ship very rough seas the entire trip without storms or rain. Noisy during day and often strange smells entering cabo from maintenance that was done while at sea. Why not do work when we were at ports?
Ship tip
Very old ship, public restrooms often not working. The ship did have a self service laundry which was great especially on a two week cruise.
Not enough time me to do much. Captain said last tender was at 1:30. We saw tenders coming back as late as 3:00 which meant a late departure therefore we didn't get to San Diego on time, missed our flight had to spend night and leave the next day as our airline offered only one flight home per day.
We spent 25 days aboard her late last spring and there were some issues but nothing like our Christmas/New Years cruise to the South Pacific on the Statendam. Too often ships of all cruise lines spend too much refit money on cosmetics rather than system upgrades. We are still pretty satisfied HAL cruisers. Only 21 more days till the next one.
We're going on this ship April 26th for 7 night eastern Caribbean. Have never had a bad cruise on HAL. Was there a reason for the late docking, weather?
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