Maasdam Review

4.0 / 5.0
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14 Wonderful Nights of Southern Caribbean Hospitality on the Maasdam

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Maasdam
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slabeaume
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2015
Cabin: Verandah Suite
atrium
computer lab
cooking demonstration
theatre and where cooking shows are
lido restaurant
Caneletto
St. Thomas Cowpet Bay
tender port
Shell Beach
Pigeon Island
Folkestone Marine Park
Aquarium beach
Eden beach
Blue Bay
snorkeling Bonaire at Eden Beach
snorkeling Bonaire at Eden Beach
snorkeling Carusao at Blue Bay
snorkeling St. Lucia Pigeon Island
snorkeling St. Barts Shell Beach

We enjoyed our 2014 Maasdam cruise so much, that when we received an email with an OBC offer if we booked a future cruise --- we checked the Maasdam itineraries and decided to go back to the Southern Caribbean in 2015---but for 14 nights this time (our longest cruise yet). I LOVE the water, so usually try to pick a vacation that takes us to great snorkeling areas. This cruise went to 7 great snorkel ports: St. Thomas, St. Barth's, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Bonaire, and Curacoa (with Grenada, Bonaire, and Curacao being new ports for us). We spent 3-6 hours in the water at each port!

We originally booked a Spa Oceanview since we like being higher on the ship and it was almost affordable. A week before our cruise, we got an upsell offer to a verandah suite which I accepted. A couple months after booking our 2015 cruise, they offered a free Beverage Package and a cheaper fare for new bookings. Since it was well before final payment, I called and got the reduced fare and the Beverage package, but had to give up our "welcome back OBC" which was only $50@. After that, we waited about 7 months for the cruise to finally get here. I was surprised the rates never lowered again. Since we're not big drinkers, I didn't figure we'd get much use out of the Beverage package and would have given it up for a lower fare. No further reduction came, but it turned out really nice having the Beverage Package. On board they were charging $44.99/person/day for the package which included up to 15 drinks a day as long as they were under $7@ ---per person! One day I managed to get 10 drinks, but most of them were water, soda, or smoothies. I found I could get a "lite" mango smoothie (half mango puree and half water with crushed ice) which was probably my favorite drink and I had it often. We took 2 large bottles of water on each of our port calls which we got from the very personable young lady, Caryl Carane, at the Explorer's Cafe. I also tried the Drink of the Day everyday---most of which were really tasty. Also would hit up the Lido bar where bar tender Roel would save a hard to find diet caffeine free Coke for me. Usually had a beer or wine for dinner followed by the cordial of the day. They even had a few brews from other countries.

Did have to check our cabin statement a couple times and have corrections made for some of the drink charges. Even ended up with a $25 charge from the lido bar the last night which we didn't bother having corrected on debarkation day since we had $36 in OBC which we weren't expecting for missing Halfmoon Cay. (Called once we got home and were told it was for a bottle of wine that we didn't get and that it would be credited to our credit card along with the remainder of our credit.) We ended up leaving with a credit, but I didn't think you get anything back for OBC for shareholders' credit or credit from Holland America---guess we'll soon find out.

Cabin Review

Verandah Suite

Cabin A

We were put in category A, suite 182, midship on the Verandah level. Good location. No complaints with the room. I've read where some people had problems with their AC or water, but ours was great. Our stewards (Oki and another guy we never met) were very efficient.

Port Reviews

St. Thomas

We have been here 4 times by cruise ship and once for a 9 night land vacation. As we've done the last few times, we rented a car from Budget at the Contant Station. We've had major problems renting from Budget at the airport, but never from Contant. We made our way over to the windmill shown above to the far left and called Budget for our free shuttle. They came within 10 minutes and soon we were on our way to the East end. When we stayed here, we were in the Wyndham Elysian Resort on Cowpet Bay and loved the snorkeling and amenities there, so we headed straight there. We really weren't there very long when my underwater camera died---for good. Odd that my last one died at the same spot! So we swam back in and headed back into Charlotte Amelia to Royal Caribbean where I had bought my recently deceased camera only to find that they no longer sell underwater cameras. I figured Boolchards would be my next stop, but the one downtown was closed due to personal reasons. So we jumped back in the car and went to the other Wyndham Resort closer to town at Bluebeards Beach Resort on Limetree Beach and snorkeled there another hour or so. I was chatting with another Wyndham owner when someone overheard me telling my story about trying to buy another underwater camera and not being able to find any. They told me about another Boolchard's in Havensight that they knew was open, so off we went to Charlotte Amelia again. Their selection wasn't very big, but they did have some and I was in a bind. Ended up with a Nikon Coolpix AW120 for $220. By then, Ken was tired of driving back and forth to Charlotte Amelia, so we went back to the car rental place, returned the car early, and took the shuttle back to Crown Bay where our ship was docked. Good thing we were able to get the camera there since I found out the Maasdam doesn't sell cameras, either.

St. Barts

This was a new port for us. From my research ahead of time, I read there was a beach within walking distance. So we took off to find it---Shell Beach. It really was a pretty walk. The town was beautifully landscaped and the marina full of boats made for a great setting. I had read to walk to the right about 10 minutes. Most of it was along the dock. When the dock ended, it got a little trickier, but a local lady directed us from there. Basically, we just had to follow the road next to the dock and it led us to Shell Beach. It was more then 10 minutes for us, but still a nice walk. The beach made it all worth while. Snorkeling was fun, too. Maybe not the best, but good enough to keep us entertained for quite awhile. I don't recall seeing snorkel rentals, but we bring our own sets. There were bars there.

St. Lucia

We'd been to St. Lucia a couple cruises ago. At that time, we took a taxi to Pigeon Island and really enjoyed it, so we decided to do the same this time. This time the taxi fare was about $25/person rt as I recall, plus there was a $7 entrance fee into the park. Later I hiked the mountain for views of the coastline. There are also fort ruins, restrooms, and a restaurant in the park.

Lots of ship excursion people showed up later, but they didn't get to stay as long as we did. After about 3 hours of snorkeling, we decided to get out and change clothes so as not to get the taxi wet. They had nice restrooms with changing rooms in them.

I don't think we left the port at the scheduled departure time. We were on the side of the ship facing the dock and watched several groups of people arriving back to the port long after the be back by time. Some ran, some walked slowly, one guy even drove a car to the circle in front of the shops and just left it there.

Then we continued on our way down to Soufriere to tender in people who took the ship's excursions there. No kids in little boats here "diving for dollars" this time. There were water patrols there instead.

Barbados

This was our 3rd time to Barbados. It certainly isn't very impressive from the very industrial port. But away from the port is a beautiful pretty wealthy island.

First time we were there I took a photo tour and loved seeing the Scottish district and Bathsheba area. The next time we discovered Folkestone Marine Park. This time we took a taxi and went back to Folkestone. Fare was about $35/person rt. Admission into the marine park is free. This is a great area. We were happy to see more people enjoying the area this year, but we still didn't run across anyone from the ship. I wonder why they don't go here?!

Grenada

Another new port for us. Again I had researched places to go and saw there was an Underwater Sculpture Park. But when we got to the port, we were told by the Tourist advisers that it was too far away. So we took their suggestion as to where we should go and ended up at Aquarium Restaurant beach. The waves were coming in pretty hard and we were doubting our snorkeling would be any good. But with our fins and experience, we gave it a try. The waves were really churning up the sand and visibility wasn't too good until we got about 50' out. Then we got to the good stuff. Seemed the farther down the coast we went the better the snorkeling got. Nice beach quite a ways down, too. I think this is the beach I had thought we were going to, but the taxi driver said it was a much longer walk then to go to the beach by the Aquarium Restaurant. After about 3 hours of snorkeling we went back to Aquarium. The Aquarium Restaurant has quite a view! We even decided to try the local brew---which was quite good. Then came the walk up the hill to where the taxi driver parked. He arrived a little early and even helped carry our gear to the taxi. I believe we paid something like $30@ for our fare.

Bonaire

This was our first time to Bonaire and I was probably looking forward to here the most because of it's reputation for diving. We don't dive, but that usually means snorkeling is very good, too. We weren't disappointed. I had read that the whole island was a Marine Park and that we could walk to nearby hotels where there was good snorkeling. Again the tourist advisers told us we would be better off going elsewhere. So we ended up taking a taxi to Spice Resort/Eden Beach. At least it was only about $5/person@ way. It's where a lot of the cruise people go since there are lots of chairs and a bar, but the water looked promising. There was a rocky ledge by the shoreline, but we used the ladder on the dock for easy entrance and exit. They even had boats running from here to Klein Island (where snorkeling was suppose to be really good) for $15rt. I tried to persuade Ken we should go there, but he was content to stay here and even said maybe we'll do a land vacation here sometime. I hope that happens! I was really excited to see a couple Lionfish. I know they are invasive and will be killed by divers, but I was hoping to see one. There were tons of schooling fish! After about 3 hours, my camera battery gave out. I guess I didn't have it fully charged. Too bad---saw some more really neat stuff by a couple other docks further along the coast and some great coral beds in deeper water. Definitely a great place for snorkelers to go! This was where we actually spent about 6 hours in the water.

Curacao

Another new island for us. I was surprised how modern both Bonaire and Curacao are. I imagine Aruba would be, too. They're known as the Netherland's ABC islands. Definitely I really had a hard time figuring out where we should go in my research ahead of time---not that it really mattered since we didn't do what I planned at the last 2 islands. I had read the best snorkeling was quite a distance away so I reserved us a car. Once we got there, Ken decided he didn't want to drive---especially since it was a holiday there (the King's birthday). So we walked to the tourist booth and were told Blue Bay is where we wanted to go. I knew this is where the ship's Beach Express Excursion was going, but didn't have much luck convincing the taxi drivers we should go to Porto Marie or Pirate Bay or Porto Lagun (which was where I wanted us to drive to). So for $50rt for the 2 of us, we went to Blue Bay--the closest of the snorkel beaches.

There were signs saying $8/person entrance, but noone was there collecting money, so we took our stuff to a tree and left it there. We don't rent chairs because we're usually not out of the water very long. The cruise ship customers had not arrived yet. I see a land trip out to this area in our future. It was a pretty bay, but again we had our doubt about the snorkeling----the bottom of the bay was obviously sandy. Off to the right side where the rocks are. Surprisingly it wasn't bad. Then we went around the point of the bay to the right and found some great coral and lots more fish. The water was super clear again. Colors were so vibrant! Then we swam across Blue bay and into a bay on the other side. Spent quite a while there. Lots and lots of coral and fish in this other bay and a lot of shallow water. Even came across another Lionfish. After about 5 hours, we decided it was time to get out and dry up. Sat at a pic nic table and watched the above ground critters for awhile. Saw some really colorful birds.

Turned out to be well worth going to.

All too soon we were back at the port. It was then we noticed the free Wi-Fi signs. Our room was facing the port, so when we got back on the ship, we checked to see if we could connect from our room. Much to our delight, we could and spent the next hour (until the ship shoved off and our free Wi-Fi dropped) catching up with the "kids" and uploading a couple pictures to Facebook.

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