Maasdam Review
24 Day Panama Canal bucket list cruise
Rating by category
Additional details
We selected the Maasdam Panama Canal cruise since the ship visited 12 ports over the 24 days. We were able to visit 8 ports we had never visited before. There was also no tendering at any port that was great and made the port experience better. Maasdam is an older but well maintained ship. We did hear of shipmates that had some cabin issues but I believe these were few and isolated. This is a small ship with less than 1200 guests and over 500 crew so there was always someone there to assist in whatever was needed. The small ship experience is one that is going away and we really enjoyed the intimacy.
The Maasdam singers and dancers were well polished and we enjoyed all the production shows. Our favorite guest entertainer was David Meyer who played an electric xylophone and had the energy of 3 people.
We did this cruise for the Panama Canal experience and we were not disappointed. There were several lectures about the canal, some better than others. The weather was warm and sunny as we went through the canal. (we had sun all throughout the cruise). We transited the old locks and we did have a view of the new locks and large ships transiting there as we went through. All in all a great experience.
Cabin Review
Large Ocean-View Stateroom
The cabin was aft on the Promenade. We liked the vibration we felt in the aft. DW always slept great. The cabin was larger than we have had on most ships so we never felt cramped for the entire 24 days.
Port Reviews
Puerto Vallarta
we have visited PV several times. Just walking here and a visit to the Cheeky Monkey
Huatulco
Great beaches right at the pier with a good selection of food and drink
Manzanillo
Just a relaxing day in port
Puerto Quetzal (Antigua)
We did a ship excursion here to spend 3 hours on our own in Antigua. The bus ride was about an hour each way and it was quite eye opening. We were glad we went.
Aruba
We took a nice tour around the island with our CC group here. Then we just walked around and enjoyed the port
Curacao
We took a distillery tour on a brightly colored bus. This was fine to buy at the port. We also found a nice place to sit on the waterfront with drinks and food for a relaxing couple of hours
Grand Turk
We did get a taxi ride to town and we walked around for a while. Then we headed back to the port and spent the afternoon at Margaritaville relaxing by and in the pool.