Maasdam review 3/23-4/6

[Huskerchick]

What a fantastic cruise! I can see why some of you are so fond of this ship. She is in great shape and the officers and crew couldn't have been nicer.

 

It was a pretty port intensive itinerary which is one of the reasons we booked it. That and the fact that some friends of ours from Maine were guest chefs on the ship.

 

HMC was our first stop and the Niew Amsterdam was in port with us that day. We rented the Pink Cabana so we had a place to relax and escape the sun if we wanted and I love the floaty mats that they provide :) The BBQ was good as usual and even with two ships in there was never a wait.

 

After a sea day our next port was St Thomas. We went to Glady's for lunch, did a little shopping and then took a cab up to Udder Delight for milkshakes. We were a little late coming in to port as we had a medical emergency the day before and needed to make a stop in Turks and Caicos so the person could be flown back to Miami.

 

Our next port was St Barts and it was stunningly beautiful. It was a bit hazy the day we were there and the captain explained that it was due to a sand storm in the Sahara that had gotten caught up in the upper atmosphere. We had lunch at Eden Rock and while it was expensive it was worth every penny. We then bought a few bottles of vanilla rum and then headed back to the ship.

 

Martinique was our next port and I hate to admit but I didn't bother to get off the ship. I spent a lazy day at the pool just relaxing.

 

Barbados was next and we did the zip line excursion. What a thrill ride that was. We even had a 75 year old lady join us and she loved it. You go girl :)

 

Our next port was Grenada and we did the lazy river tubing excursion. That was great fun and it really gave you a good view of the island. It's very green and lush and smells heavenly from all the spices found on the island.

 

We then had a much needed sea day which gave us a chance to relax before we hit the ABC islands. We did Bonaire first and since it was a Sunday nothing was open so for $10pp we went to Plaza Resort where we snorkeled right off the beach. Curacao was our next port and since we didn't have that far to sail to get there we actually spent the night and then the whole next day. It was very pretty to sail in at night and see all the lights. Aruba was our last port and we spent it at Eagle Beach. It was starting to get busy as spring break was starting the next day for the island kids.

 

The food on the ship was fantastic. We did dinner one night in the PG and did the Le Cirque dinner as well. Both were quite tasty and well worth the surcharge.

 

We had so many Mariners on board that they had to do two lunches. One had seating at 11am and the next group went at 1pm.

 

The only thing missing is we didn't receive our tiles?!! I remember reading something about that here on CC.

 

We had suite 020 and its proximity to the Neptune was great! Loved just opening my door to wonder over for my morning coffee. LOL!

 

To those still reading sorry this is so long.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[aliaschief]

Nice to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for sharing.

[fatcat04]

 

We had suite 020 and its proximity to the Neptune was great! Loved just opening my door to wonder over for my morning coffee. LOL!

 

That was our suite last June. It is a fantastic location, so convenient to everything, especially the Neptune.

 

Glad you enjoyed the Maasdam.. she is superb. :)

[PathfinderEss]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Thank you for taking the time to post a review of yoiur cruise on the Maasdam. Glad you had a great cruise.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[cruiseapril]

Great review.

 

Wish that more ships stayed over in Curacao. What did you do there?

[kazu]

Thanks so much for your review:) I'm glad to hear we left her in good shape for you;) Seriously, delighted to hear the same impressions that we had. We were very impressed with our cruise and the balcony on the suites is pretty impressive too;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

We were also in Bonaire on a Sunday -- the cruise that ended on March 2 -- before yours. And there were a few shops and some restaurants open. Also the vendors were open right across from the ship.

We also did the same thing -- arrived in Curacao late at night -- about 10:30 PM. Mostly crew members got off that late.

We got our tiles at the end of the Mariner's brunch -- the waiters passed them out to everyone.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

Pleased that you had a great cruise.

[jimmy2x]

I was interested to note that you docked in Curacao the night before actually scheduled and am wondering if this is a new trend (saving fuel?). When we were aboard Noordam in February, we did the same thing docking in Dominica the night before. Frankly, I'd rather have been at sea til morning.

[vivavegas]

Welcome to CC! Great review, so glad you enjoyed your cruise!:)

[luv2travel06]

I was interested to note that you docked in Curacao the night before actually scheduled and am wondering if this is a new trend (saving fuel?). When we were aboard Noordam in February, we did the same thing docking in Dominica the night before. Frankly, I'd rather have been at sea til morning.

The itinerary sounds great!!! When we did the ABC islands on the Zuiderdam, we did them in alphabetical order and docked at each one during the day, arriving at Aruba mid-day.

 

I so much enjoy watching the ship come into port during the daylight, I would have been disappointed to arrive after dark. Once or twice a ship has sailed into port early and I missed the arrival, but otherwise, I have only once decided not to get out of bed in time to be on deck to watch the ship come into port.

 

It would seem like taking the islands in order geographically would save fuel if the ship spends less time sailing between islands.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, glad you had a nice cruise. We have yet to sail on the Maasdam but I am sure we will some day!

[DFD1]

I agree. That's a nice itinerary on a splendid ship. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for checking in