24 Night Polynesian Crossing (Auckland To San Francisco)
Sail date: April 14, 2019
Ship:
Maasdam
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 198
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Leadership on this ship was bad. Captain is arrogant and had zero personality. Hotel direct Florin was the exception. He was absolutely all in and did a fabulous job. If there was a problem he fixed it, then followed up with us to let us know what had been done. Best ship hotel director ever! Best room stewards ever! Food? Here’s a shocker for you: on a 24 day French Polynesia cruise where everywhere you stop is lush with bananas and coconuts... you can’t get EITHER on board!!! About 10 days into the cruise I asked why and was told by the food and beverage director that the ship buys NOTHING from any of the places we visit!! That ALL THEIR FOOD, 100%, comes from the US because one time they had a problem with food purchased elsewhere. So this cruise left from Singapore, then took on more passengers in Brisbane, then more in Auckland. And all our food was from the US! So zero bananas for us. That was a problem for MANY passengers. I asked the food and beverage director why we couldn’t have some tropical fruit sorbets like coconut and was told they buy them all from the US also and don’t make them. He was insulted when I asked! But confirmed that they don’t. This was my first (and last) Holland America cruise. I’ll stick with Celebrity and NCL thank you very much. No problems with either.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Nothing to do after 10:30 pm. Nothing. All music venues and bars CLOSED. Big beautiful bar on 12th deck with great dance floor. BUT ONLY OPEN FOR ONE evening social EVENT! And it was packed out that night!
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Nice cabin. Great room stewards!
Ship tip
Guest laundry rooms are available! What a great bonus, especially on a 24 day cruise!
Disappointed. Did a tour of the west side of the island. Tour guide not so good. First time ever in over 20 years of cruising that I saw a tour guide COUNTING HER TIPS BEFORE EVERYONE DEPARTED and displaying her total displeasure over what she received!
Didn’t find out til the next day that we’d crossed the equator during the night! The captain on this ship was appalling...so full of conceit and totally unpersonable. The friends we made during the voyage all said the same thing. He was a horrible communicator and had an ego bigger than the ship. Sheesh!
Had to clear immigration ON THE SHIP! It’s a small ship and disembarkation was poorly organized. Massive lines wrapped around the public areas. Little direction. Cruise director did a terrible job of pretty much everything she did. She had an assistant! And still all that any of us saw the cruise director do was introduce the evening show performer. KK was departing her duties in San Francisco thankfully, so hopefully someone really good took over after she left. Literally all we (and our friends) saw her do onboard was show up to the evening stage show, talk about herself and how wonderful the captain is, and then leave!!!! She was the least visible cruise director we’ve ever seen on any of our 20+ cruises.
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