Just back from the Maasdam 3/10 sailing

[speedbump1999]

I was wondering about car rentals on Antigua. We are currently booked with Lawrence but was wondering since there are 6 of us if it would be more cost efficient to rent a van and do the national park ourselves...

[Sweetdreams]

Alex Drew,

Thanks for addressing my questions-all the info one can obtain ahead of time is helpful. It sounds like you really enjoyed your cruise. Ours is going to S. Carribean so our ports of call differ. Was the weather superb? I'm still unsure of how soon we should arrive at the terminal. We're driving from PA to Norfolk & staying at Radisson & don't have to check out until 2PM. I read threads on other boards about Maasdam returning to Norfolk 4-6 hrs. late which caused boarding problems. I'm inclined to be one of the "early boarders" (a little OCD about getting unpacked ASAP & starting the fun). Guess I'm just very anxious to get the sails underway!

[alex_drew]

Sweetdreams,

 

We could see the Maasdam already docked from our window at 7:15 am when we peeked out. We were on the 11th floor of the Radisson. I'm like you, I don't feel like I'm "on vacation" until I'm unpacked, so I like to board as early as possible. If the ship had been delayed, I'm sure the front desk would have known because they send the shuttle over to pick up returning passengers, and then you could just stay in your room until 2 pm. As I said earlier, we took the shuttle at 11:40 and were checked in and on the Lido deck by 12:15 but the rooms weren't ready until about 1 pm. There was absolutely no line when we checked in. Fastest check-in I've ever experienced.

 

The weather was great except for St. Thomas where it was overcast and/or drizzling (sp?) all day. We went to Paradise Point and St. Peter's Great House and couldn't see anything because of the fog up there. Still, it was warm, so I'm not complaining.

 

Colleen,

 

We didn't rent a car so I have no idea, but maybe dbullsfin can answer your question, as he posted earlier that he rented a car and drove around Antigua.

[dbullsfn]

Colleen:

 

We rented a car on Antiqua. You drive on the left side of the road but the wheel is on the right side. About 2 blocks up from the ship there was a little shopping area with a Dollar rent a car sign outside. We went in and the store owner called the Dollar guy to get us a car. It was $50 for 24 hours and 10 insurance. Pretty good gas mileage too. I drove all around the island in about 4 hours. Watch out for goats running down the street. Any other questions just ask. The problem with rental cars on Antigua is that they are all located on the other end of the island. There really is nothing near the boat. I will say this, friends of ours took a taxi to Nelson's dockyard. It cost them $25 each way. There is not much else on Antigua except St. Johns (which doesnt have much) and Nelson's dockyard. The only thing else are the beaches.

[caribbean girl]

We also 'just' returned from our cruise on the Maasdam on 10 March and had a great time, save for the couple of tough days at sea. Yes, the ship shows its age somewhat, but all is forgiven in light of the service and attention one receives on board. Yes, we loved the young man with the mints at the Rotterdam Dining room!! And the photography studio staff was wonderful. The best ship photos we have!! Anyone sailing soon, greet Braam and the rest of this group for Alcira from Pa. My name is so unusual, I know they will remember me.:)

[caribbean girl]

Additionally, we drove to Norfolk from Pa. to board the ship. We came straight from home and arrived in Norfolk at about 3PM, went straight to the pier, parked our car and boarded. We left port right on time. Check in and boarding was a breeze. I also was nervous, since I had read some stuff about the ship being late and the staff inefficient.:cool:

[alex_drew]

Caribbean girl,

 

I totally agree that I had the best photos ever taken by this staff. I don't know his name, maybe it is Braam, but he has blond hair, is short and muscular and he took pictures in front of a plain white background. I thought they were just going to be in black and white, but they were both in black and white and in color. They were absolutely fantastic. I liked both, but my husband liked the color better so we bought 3 of those (the photographer took 4 different poses). They were so good we couldn't just pick one... After that we didn't even bother with any more photos because there is no way they could have been better.

[rocks]

Hi!

THANKS to all for their info. about the ship, ports, ect! Will be getting on board 5/1. Can't wait!

Wondering what lounge you 'hung-out' in the most...any Bartenders/Bar Waiters/Waitresses that you remember? What about the Piano Bar? Good music there? Was there a band in the Crows Nest or DJ? Good dancing music there?

THANKS again for all the info. Makes me even more excited to go!

rocks

[dbullsfn]

Rocks, I can honestly say I closed down the Crows nest every night. The music is ok, but the people start thinning out after 12, except for Disco night. Then everyone is out late. Cesar is awesome in the crows nest, and Ronaldo is the best at the casino bar. Those were the two places I hung out at

[cheric]

We were in all the bars on a daily basis. I agree about Rinaldo in the Casino. He was great and remembered what we drank and our room number after the first night. Albert in the Ocean Bar is wonderful. We sat at the bar every night before dinner and DH had a martini. He thought Albert was the "Martini Master". JoAnne, the waitress in the Piano Bar was wonderful.

She called my husband "Sir Gary" all week and he really thought he was important! He ordered specialty coffee every night after dinner and she always came over with the can of whipped cream and filled it as full as she could. All the crew were wonderful. You will have a marvelous time. We came back on March 10th and we were right on time.

[Sweetdreams]

Alex Drew,

Thanks for continuing to field all our questions. One day of dreary weather is not too bad. I had been thinking to research some back-up plans for ports in case of weather that doesn't fair for a great beach day. Feel I'm set for what to do in good weather but I guess you already figured that I'm a planner. "Seeing the ship from the Radisson"...I'll have to plan to be awake at sunrise just to she if she's in port.

 

Appreciate the info on the Old San Juan tour. I had not thought about the fact that signage would be in Spanish (duh!). Read alot of commentary that the walking tour could be easily done "on your own" but my Spanish is limited so may take your suggestion.

[alex_drew]

Sweetdreams,

 

You are very welcome! I think we all enjoy being able to help out our fellow cruise critics and I, for one, have certainly gotten a ton of great info from these boards.

 

Just one note about San Juan signage, I didn't really look on this trip, so they may have changed and added english at some of the landmarks, but I didn't want to take that chance since I was so disappointed 5 years ago.

[Sweetdreams]

Alex Drew,

Tell us more about your ports of call if you will. Love hearing about others planned or unplanned excursions & what beaches they liked best. Also, am curious about tender service. Trying to figure out if we do an AM excursion (snorkeling, boating, etc.) if we will have time to tender back to ship to freshen up & maybe explore some more or go shopping. How was your dining experience & entertainment?

[alex_drew]

Sweetdreams,

 

We only tendered in Half Moon Cay. I have the ship's log that they give you at the end of the cruise with the actual times of arrival/departure, etc.

Thursday, March 10th - departed Norfolk at 4:50 pm

Friday, March 11 at sea

Saturday, March 12 - HMC - first tender ashore at 11:08 am

- departed HMC @ 5:30 pm

Sunday at sea

Monday, March 14 - 9:30 am docked at Havensight in St. Thomas

- departed at 5:54 pm

Tuesday, March 15 - 7:48 am docked at St. John's Antigua

- departed @ 6:30 pm

Wednesday, March 16 - 6:17 am docked at Philipsburg, St. Maarten

- departed at 6:06 pm

Thursday, March 17 - 6:45 am docked at San Juan, PR

- departed at 12:44 pm

Friday & Saturday at sea

Sunday, March 20th - 6:30 am (estimated dock time, but I do think that is when they docked because they called for Express Deparkation at around 7:15 am.)

 

Are you doing the same itinerary as this or the 11 day?

 

The food I ordered was excellent. I always found something that really appealed to me and often it was hard to make a choice (I know I could order more than one, but I really don't want to eat that much food...). My husband always orders the cold soups and I usually order the hot ones...both were delicious. I never tried the pasta, but my husband said it was delicious. The meat we ordered was always done as requested - I like medium rare and my husband likes medium, and they were always just as requested. We never ate dinner in the Lido, just breakfast and lunch and I always thought there was a good selection. We ate both breakfast and lunch in the main dining room a couple of times and that was always good, too. Now I'm hungry and want to be back on the ship.

 

The entertainment was OK. Some shows were very good and some just marginal. I must confess that I always get a kick out of the "passenger" talent shows on a cruise ship and this one was lip-synching to oldies tunes.

 

Movies are fairly recent, but all are out on DVD or tape, I'm sure. We went to see Sideways and Ray. Also showing was Finding Neverland, Ladder 49, National Treasure, Being Julia, Bridget Jones, After the Sunset and the Incredibles.

[mariner]

These opinions are nice. The one I really wanted to see was from frist-time cruiser Terri.

 

Any idea where she vanished to after peppering the board for weeks with questions, would love to read what she thought of Maasdam.

[dbullsfn]

i thought you would also want to hear from Kim mariner. She was asking about you on the cruise. Havent heard from her either

[alex_drew]

Yeah Dbullsfn, the only info we've had on Kim was from your posts. I know before she left she was worried about heights...and getting too close to the railing and getting sick. It sounded from your posts like she had no problems at all, but it would be nice to hear from her...

 

And Mariner, I never told you how much I enjoyed your post when you were onboard. I couldn't wait for the next installment...and was very sad (not as sad as you, I'm sure) when your voyage came to an end. A belated thanks...

[dbullsfn]

Oh she still had her problems witht he railings trust me :) I took her up on the sky deck up by the Radar and navigational tools and lets jsut say it was an experierence :) LOL

[mariner]

Kim! That's who I meant. Perhaps she stowed away for the next voyage.

 

dbulls, you are very bad. But it is a great place to take in the sights.

 

Thanks for your comments. I can assure you, I'd rather be posting from there than here. But the next cruise will come again soon.

[dbullsfn]

It was all in good fun Mariner. Kim was like a big sister to me on the cruise. I miss her alot. But she was gettign very sick toward the end of the cruise so thats what Im guessing happened. Unfortunately I have to wait another year before my next cruise because of work related timing

[alex_drew]

Dbullsfin,

 

Sick because of the rocky sea at the end of the cruise or something else? BTW, did she get sick before or after you took her up on the sky deck??? I actually did laugh out loud when I read that post. Poor Kim. Also, hmmm, you never mention her newly wed husband...did you ditch the poor guy?

[dbullsfn]

LOL. Les is awesome. We had several good drinking days by the pool. No Kim started getting sick bout Midway through the cruise. Fatigue i think was a big part of it. Les hung out with us in the crows nest like beginning on night 6 or 7. W went on sky deck i think the 3rd night

[Sweetdreams]

No, we have different ports of call on the 11 day S.Carribean.

We go to Half Moon, Dominica, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, San Juan.

Really enjoyed the review of your ports & activities. What excursions did you enjoy? How about the best beach?

[alex_drew]

Dbullsfn...just pulling your chain, as you know. Really glad you guys connected - I'm sure that Kim "knowing" someone helped her as a first-time/nervous cruiser. Sounds like you guys has a great time!

 

Sweetdreams, since you have mostly different ports, the only excursions that would be the same are the San Juan walking tour which I mentioned before, and in St. Thomas we did the tram to Paradise Point and St Peter's Great House which I'd always wanted to see. Unfortunately, it was rainy that day so the fog at higher elevations (Paradise Point and the Great House) made it impossible to enjoy the views. I had done Paradise Point before and on a sunny day it is an awesome view. Can't help with beach questions. Only went to the beach at Half Moon Cay. We intended to go to Orient Beach when we went to St. Maarten, but had just spent the day before on a boat in Antigua (Eli's Eco Tour) and just didn't want that much sun the day we were in St. Maarten so we just chilled... Hope you have a great trip!

[caribbean girl]

Yes, Alex Drew, Braam in the person you are describing: short, blond, etc. What a sweet and professional group of photographers!! Pehaps it is a good thing you only looked at some of the photos taken. We looked at all of them and ended up buying LOTS because they were excellent. Sorry you missed Orient Bay in St. Maarten!! We were there last year with our teen son and daughter and they will never forget it. As you know, it is a 'clothing optional' beach!!;)

 

Regarding the excursions, for people traveling soon, we sadly missed Half Moon Cay (paradise; enjoy every moment there) on this trip because of the weather. In St. Thomas, we took the Coral Bay excursion. You can feed the fish(they come right to you!!!), tour the Aquarium and snorkel at your leisure. There a very clean bathrooms and shops, plus bar service and food. In Dominica, we did the mountain bike excursion. It was AWESOME!! We swam in the Layou River and experienced the hot springs. The views here were amazing. Dominica's beaches have black sand. For us, it was meaningful to see the rain forest and skip the beach that day. In Barbados, we shared a taxi and spent the day at the Boat Yard. The taxi was not air conditioned and they pack them pretty full(van), so be ready for that. Didn't bother us: we go prepared for anything!! The beach was pretty, but more populated than others. It's a lot like popular beaches in the US, in that there is more to do, included in the $12 per person fee to use the beach. You get a beach chair and umbrella, as well as use of some beach equipment, plus some tokens (six, I think, which you can use for drinks. Unfortunately, you will have to make up the difference with cash,since the token don't amount to much) And there are restaurants and bars, stores, etc. The draw back here were lots of locals selling stuff, etc. I guess they need to make a living, too and considering how lovely the beach was, it was a small inconvenience. One thing about Barbados, watch the sun!! It is one of the southernmost ports you will visit and the sun is brutal!! Since the stop in Puerto Rico was only until 12 noon, we opted to walk thru San Juan on our own. What a pretty, clean, sophisticated city!! Makes me wonder why anyone would leave it. In St. Kitts we alson took it easy, though in retrospect, I wish we had gone to the beach. We were cooked by then, so we just walked thru town. We were there on a Sunday, so many places were closed. Enjoy every moment of your trip. Though there were some rough seas on our trip, I only remember the fun stuff!!:cool: