Less than three weeks before departure, we bought an inside category guarantee stateroom on Holland America Line’s ms Maasdam for a 7-Day Canada and New England cruise from Montreal to Boston. When the price dropped two days later in the same category on the same promotion, we requested to be moved up an outside guarantee.
Our stateroom assignment was Category G, Ocean-view stateroom 700. The deck plan warns that this cabin has portholes instead of a window. We also noticed that it was located on A Deck (the lowest passenger deck) as far forward as the passenger staterooms go.
We did not have high expectations, but we were unwilling to pay more to upgrade our stateroom.
It turned out that we enjoyed stateroom 700 at the end of the hall.
Stateroom 700 features a sofa (where we stored our backpack and briefcase filled with our computers), a desk with three good-sized drawers, and plenty of closet space for hanging your clothes, or folding them on pull-down shelves.
This view above gives you a better sense of the hallway with the door on the left leading into the bathroom. This cabin does not have a refrigerator, but our excellent room stewards kept our ice bucket refilled, and there are in-room bottles of water and cans of soda for purchase.
The bathroom features a shower in a small bathtub. We appreciated the adjustable shower head.
Our bottom line on the Holland America Line Maasdam Category “G” Large Ocean-View Stateroom #700:
- While we had low expectations, we enjoyed this stateroom. At the end of the hallway, we heard no noise from the hall, or overhead.
- Since we paid for an inside guarantee, we were happy to be assigned this outside stateroom.
- The area by the portholes took up cabin space, but offered a nice storage space for books, etc.
- One note, however, for stateroom 700: every time the ship approached a dock, we heard some kind of motor / mechanical noise loud enough to wake us up.
Should you choose a stateroom guarantee rather than a specific cabin?
- It depends on your priorities. If a room location will make or break your cruise experience, you are better off to choose a cabin that you know you will like.
- If you book last minute, only guarantees may be available. This does not necessarily mean that you can’t have impact on your location. If you don’t like the assigned cabin, your travel agent may be able to arrange for a special paid upgrade to a specific category.
- If you are willing to roll the dice, you might get a free upgrade. You might also get a noisy stateroom that no one else wants.
Have you sailed on Holland America’s Maasdam? Do you have a favorite stateroom? Please share in comments below.
To tour cabins on other cruise ships, check out these posts:
- A Look Inside a Verandah Stateroom on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Ship
- A Look Inside Suite 325 on the Seabourn Pride
- A Look Inside Interior Cabin #10425 on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas
- A Look Inside Ocean-view Stateroom 2641 on Holland America’s Volendam
- A Look Inside Interior Cabin B-625 on the Star Princess Cruise Ship
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