We chose this cruize because of the amazing locations packed into the Christmas Holiday. The service and food were exactly what we have come to expect on Holland America and we were not disappointed. Through the ports and shore excursions, plus watching from the ship, I saw over 120 new species of birds. (I am a hard core birdwatcher and we chose wildlife tours that would enable me to identify the new birds). The wildlife opportunities plus natural beauty made this itinerary feel like getting Alaska and Hawaii plus marsupials all in one. Really astounding nature that should be on everyone's bucket list.

A few aspects of the itinerary made this stand out against other similar itineraries--one was the scenic cruising of Fijordland National Park. Another was a day of scenic cruising before the final port of Auckland. This allowed the ship to circle spectacular White Island twice (once for the port side and once for the starboard side. The day we visited there were dramatic plumes of smoke and sulfurous gasses coming out. The sun shown on the yellow-sulfur deposits. The power of geology was in full force. Later that day, while we sat at dinner we notice a large number of giant petrels feeding in a group. My teen, well trained from so much wildlife watching said "there must be something feeding below." Just then a pod of about 7 orcas started breaching. On a medium-sized ship, it was still our own private moment with the sea.

The only negative we had was the "Loft" teen program on this ship. There were about 15 teens onboard during Christmas holidays, as we had predicted. Unfortunately, there were enough younger children that all the club HAL space was used for them. My daughter really missed having a hangout where she could reliably find her friends. Instead, there was a daily schedule that they had to follow being shuttled around to different locations--Hudson Room, Lido, etc. The teens were not impressed with being told to follow a schedule. So we would be leary of booking the Maasdam again.