New Maasdam Booking - Really Like This

[bellebaby]

I like the one Sail is doing as well, but don't really want to go to Nassau, and do enjoy the ABC's....and the 14 days! ;)

 

I agree with you! Not so fond of Nassau and love the ABC's... And what's not to like about 14 days!

 

B

[kazu]

They're Dutch, of course. :)

 

Aruba

Bonaire

Curacao

 

Just about our favorites.

 

Every time we go to Curacao, we like it more and more and we've been going there for years.

I love the beaches, food, shopping, weather and people in both Aruba and Curacao.

 

We love the beautiful clean, clear blue water of Bonaire. It's so clean, the fish swim right up to the sea wall at high tide. No need to bother snorkeling. Fish pretty enough for aquariums swim right up to the edge of the sea wall. Walk along and view them. See the beautiful pelicans and just a brief ride away from where we dock, see pelicans in the wild.

 

 

 

duh :o I had the Aruba figured out but didn't clue in :o Thanks for not laughing at me ;) I love Curacao - never get tired of sailing into that port.

 

with all the Caribbean - haven't been to Bonaire yet - looking forward to getting that one in on an itinerary someday. Thanks :)

[Stevesan]

Extend your cruise with fun pre and post cruise stays in FLL. We always turn a ten day cruise into at least a 13-14 day vacation.

 

 

I arrive a day or two early precruise. In the past, I've stayed at The 17th St. Renaissance.

Their rates are usually reasonable, but are inexplicably high for my next getaway date.

I took your lead and priced Hyatt Pier 66.

I was pleasantly surprised by their rates for seniors. I booked a tower deluxe for less than Renaissance's standard rate.

I think I've found a new precruise home.

Thank you.:)

[mamaofami]

I arrive a day or two early precruise. In the past, I've stayed at The 17th St. Renaissance.

Their rates are usually reasonable, but are inexplicably high for my next getaway date.

I took your lead and priced Hyatt Pier 66.

I was pleasantly surprised by their rates for seniors. I booked a tower deluxe for less than Renaissance's standard rate.

I think I've found a new precruise home.

Thank you.:)

 

Based on Sail's suggestion, we stayed in a tower room at Hyatt Pier 66 for four nights pre cruise in January. It was a really lovely big big room, water taxi stop right at the hotel, several good restaurants, a very nice breakfast restaurant, and good service. We did eat several evenings on Los Alos Blvd. Very nice restaurants there too.

[Sage]

We found the Atlantic hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, and I can not say enough good things about them. I look forward to going back and spending a week or two.

 

These itineraries sound wonderful. Sail, how is the Maasdam these days? I have not sailed on her in years.

[mamaofami]

Sage, not Sail, but we did just sail on the Maasdam for the first time. I've always loved the Noordam, but there's something very special about the Maasdam. The service is excellent, the front office the most responsive of any sip I've been on, music in the piano bar was excellent. Ditto for the food, entertainment and service all over the ship. She's going into drydock for some refurbishing and also getting the Mix,and lanai cabins, but thankfully, no retreat on the aft deck pool. It's a wonderful ship and I loved the smaller size. Can't wait to sail her again next year.:)

[Sage]

Carol, thanks for the quick reply. I too love the Noordam, but the smaller ships do offer some nice touches. I will have to give her a try again.

[sail7seas]

I arrive a day or two early precruise. In the past, I've stayed at The 17th St. Renaissance.

Their rates are usually reasonable, but are inexplicably high for my next getaway date.

I took your lead and priced Hyatt Pier 66.

I was pleasantly surprised by their rates for seniors. I booked a tower deluxe for less than Renaissance's standard rate.

I think I've found a new precruise home.

Thank you.:)

 

 

Stevensan,

Hope you enjoy this hotel as much as we do. They are starting to refurb the Tower Rooms so they will be even better. They are not the most luxurious we have ever stayed in but are very comfortable, always clean, large bathrooms, great views and the hotel is very fun to stay at. The lunch patio and bar at the pool are perfect for lunch and/or a drink, walk over to the Marina and see the gorgeous world class yachts and lunch at the Pellican at the Marina. Dinner at Grill 66 is great.

 

(No.... :D I don't get any commissions. )

 

 

 

Sage:

 

We found the Atlantic hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, and I can not say enough good things about them. I look forward to going back and spending a week or two.

 

These itineraries sound wonderful. Sail, how is the Maasdam these days? I have not sailed on her in years.

 

Where's the Atlantic? I'll have to google and read about it.

 

Maasdam is terrific as always. She goes to dry dock next month and she can use the new carpets, curtains, cabin refreshing including bathrooms. Most of that they will be doing is great but I'm sad they are tearing apart her gorgeous showroom. It's a beautiful room with all that fabulous Delft tile but they are tearing all of it out. Breaks my heart. There's so much lovely tile and to see it torn out seems shocking to me. But they didn't ask my opinion...... :eeke"

 

[peaches from georgia]

We found the Atlantic hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, and I can not say enough good things about them. I look forward to going back and spending a week or two.

 

These itineraries sound wonderful. Sail, how is the Maasdam these days? I have not sailed on her in years.

 

We have friends who stay at the Atlantic pre-cruise and say it is the best. Used to stay at Pier 66 but say the Atlantic is so much better. I do trust their judgement so we may try it next time.

[innlady1]

Carol, thanks for the quick reply. I too love the Noordam, but the smaller ships do offer some nice touches. I will have to give her a try again.

 

Ditto to everything Carol said. You can't beat the itinerary we did this year...that's why we're doing it again next 1/13! I'd rather later in January but it was only offered mid January and mid February....which is spring break in the Northeast (we like to be home for the grandkids at that time).

[sail7seas]

Sheila,

We did that itinerary April 30, 2010 but seems they have swtiched to the one we are doing April 2012. Both are wonderful.

 

I'm happy we 'stumbled' across this one and it was by accident we discovered it.

[zookiebird]

Sail: We haven't been to the south caribbean in quite a few years and are thinking of going back next year. Your itinerary sounds great. Just wondering how you think it compares with the other Maasdam south caribbean cruise of:

FLL

Half Moon Cay

At Sea

St Croix

St Kitts

St Vincent

Barbados

St Lucia

St Maarten

At Sea

At Sea

FLL

[innlady1]

IMHO, all the Maasdam itineraries to the Caribbean are excellent! Can't go wrong with any of them....

[sail7seas]

Just my personal opinion, Zookieland, but I like either the 14 day Innlady and Mamaofami have listed or the ten day cruise I opened this thread with better.

 

We have done the itinerary you list several times and definitely would do it again but I prefer the other two. We just did your itinerary December 6, 2010, had a good time but truthfully it is not my favorite.

 

St. Croix needs more work getting back up to handling cruise ships. They stopped going for years and the tour people, taxi companies, even store keepers etc are out of the swing of coping. It shouldn't take that long for them to 'get it together' but we had a less than great visit there.

 

Barbados is a good port. Some good tours, beautiful beaches, fun things to do there.

St. Kitts is not a favorite of ours nor is St. Vincent.

Remember these are just personal opinions.

 

We like St. Maartin and, of course, HMC is glorious.

We often book our cruises (in the Caribbean by date and ship) and not necessarily by itinerary as we go quite often. If we have friends on a ship we love that is sailing when we want, the ports are less important to us.

 

If it's Maasdam and the Caribbean, you'll have a good time. :)

[BumperII]

We sure can understand how Maasdam loyalists could get excited about this. We went to the website of an online TA where you could single her out and just look at her intineraries for 2012. There are a lot of nice combinations that would enable one to stretch this out quite a bit. Methinks these collectors cruises have been marketing quite nicely, and they won't have any problem filling the ship with folks that want to stay on for two weeks or longer, maybe ending up in Montreal!!

[innlady1]

I've not heard good things about St. Vincent either. A shame St. Croix can't seem to get it together. Sail, what is it you don't like about St. Kitts? I've not heard much about St. Kitts in years...a friend used to vacation there quite often.

[zookiebird]

Many thanks Sail & others, your input most appreciated. Wish all my decisions were as enjoyable as deciding where to cruise next.

[lawyerrose]

Sail: We haven't been to the south caribbean in quite a few years and are thinking of going back next year. Your itinerary sounds great. Just wondering how you think it compares with the other Maasdam south caribbean cruise of:

FLL

Half Moon Cay

At Sea

St Croix

St Kitts

St Vincent

Barbados

St Lucia

St Maarten

At Sea

At Sea

FLL

 

That's the one we're going on. Lots of islands I've not experienced before and three sea days - yippee!! Can hardly wait!!

[Oceanwench]

Love the itineraries ... but unfortunately the Maasdam does not have HC cabins above oceanview level. And most of those cabins have only portholes.

 

I'm not sure we want to sacrifice a balcony - and possibly suite amenities - to cruise on this ship. Tough choice!

[kazu]

Sail - I am so glad you posted this.

 

Made me take another look at this itinerary. We really need to escape next year. I was focusing on a 14 day - but this 10 day has my favourite port of all (San Juan).

 

The itinerary is in front of dh for his final approval - we are going on March 2nd next year:D

 

Thanks again :)

[sail7seas]

I rarely would think to post a Caribbean itinerary. While I certainly like some more than others, most of them have a port or two we like and that is good enough. I put Panama Canal cruises into their own wonderful category.

More often than not for a Caribbean cruise, the ship is more our destination than the ports.

 

But both of the itineraries posted here really stand out from the others IMO as outstanding.

 

We usually have to be home within 16-17 days as that is as long as DH wants to walk out of his office but we do want in the 14 day range as less than that just isn't enough for us these days.

 

We (almost always) turn a 10 day cruise into a 13 or 14 day vacation with pre and post cruise stays in FLL where we have friends, favorite hotel and restaurants. For us, it is an integral part of our vacation and not just a safety net to be sure to be at the embarkation port on time.

 

DH was leafing through the Americas brochure the other night waiting for me to finish cooking dinner and came across this itinerary. Truthfully, I had missed it. When he saw it was Maasdam, that 'sealed the deal'.

 

San Juan is, for sure, one of our few favorite ports. We always enjoy dinner ashore, shopping, the historical feel of Old San Juan...... we like that port a lot. St. Bart's, HMC, and a few other great ports and we think Maasdam has two of the best Caribbean itineraries of most of the major cruise lines.

 

I wanted to share our 'find' :) with CC'ers.

Happy you are finding it of interest, Kazu. Maybe you'll join us?

[kazu]

so glad you did share it. We are the same 14 days minimum. But, we will do the same thing and turn this into a 13 or 14 day getaway before and after (have to leave early anyways in case of storms :eek:).

 

It is a very nice itinerary. Will be my first time on the Maasdam & I am betting we will love it. (I'm not too worried about dh's approval, as you can tell) :) Thanks again:):)

[cruisin'girl]

This would be a great cruise to get a CC group together for! A favorite ship, great itinerary, and 10 days is perfect. We have always found April to be the best month to sail the Caribbean. We'd be up for it, I know.

[kazu]

I rarely would think to post a Caribbean itinerary. While I certainly like some more than others, most of them have a port or two we like and that is good enough. I put Panama Canal cruises into their own wonderful category.

More often than not for a Caribbean cruise, the ship is more our destination than the ports.

 

But both of the itineraries posted here really stand out from the others IMO as outstanding.

 

We usually have to be home within 16-17 days as that is as long as DH wants to walk out of his office but we do want in the 14 day range as less than that just isn't enough for us these days.

 

We (almost always) turn a 10 day cruise into a 13 or 14 day vacation with pre and post cruise stays in FLL where we have friends, favorite hotel and restaurants. For us, it is an integral part of our vacation and not just a safety net to be sure to be at the embarkation port on time.

 

DH was leafing through the Americas brochure the other night waiting for me to finish cooking dinner and came across this itinerary. Truthfully, I had missed it. When he saw it was Maasdam, that 'sealed the deal'.

 

San Juan is, for sure, one of our few favorite ports. We always enjoy dinner ashore, shopping, the historical feel of Old San Juan...... we like that port a lot. St. Bart's, HMC, and a few other great ports and we think Maasdam has two of the best Caribbean itineraries of most of the major cruise lines.

 

I wanted to share our 'find' :) with CC'ers.

Happy you are finding it of interest, Kazu. Maybe you'll join us?

 

Apologies Sail, I didn't answer your question. We are doing the March 2nd sailing - by April, there's no point in getting 'outta here'. perfect timing, with luck, spring may be on it's way when we return.

 

wish I was joining you - but March is just such nice timing. Just have to get through most of February and I'll have the thoughts of this cruise to keep me strong next winter.;)

[sail7seas]

so glad you did share it. We are the same 14 days minimum. But, we will do the same thing and turn this into a 13 or 14 day getaway before and after (have to leave early anyways in case of storms :eek:).

 

It is a very nice itinerary. Will be my first time on the Maasdam & I am betting we will love it. (I'm not too worried about dh's approval, as you can tell) :) Thanks again:):)

 

 

I hope you book it, Kazu. I'd enjoy the chance to meet you. :)

 

 

 

 

This would be a great cruise to get a CC group together for! A favorite ship' date=' great itinerary, and 10 days is perfect. We have always found April to be the best month to sail the Caribbean. We'd be up for it, I know.[/quote']

 

 

Now there's a fun idea.

You volunteering? :D

 

That is not something I'd be interested in taking the lead for.

But if someone else wished to.......