El Cheapo Cruises Thread

[Kaylacool]

Another Holland America deal for under $100 a day inside

 

 

SAVE ON SUNSHINE

20-Day Pacific Islands Adventure

SHIP MAASDAM

 

FROMAU$1,914PER PERSON

INSIDE

Fares shown are in AU$. View Pricing terms

DEPARTS

Sydney, Australia
Dec 3, 2019

ARRIVES

Sydney, Australia
Dec 23, 2019

MORE DATES & FARES- 20-DAY PACIFIC ISLANDS ADVENTURE

[MicCanberra]

2 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

They were in Auckland today

 

It is a lovely ship to cruise on. The rooms are larger than Princess and the capacity is around 1200 pax.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Kaylacool said:

Another Holland America deal for under $100 a day inside

 

 

SAVE ON SUNSHINE

20-Day Pacific Islands Adventure

SHIP MAASDAM

 

FROMAU$1,914PER PERSON

INSIDE

Fares shown are in AU$. View Pricing terms

DEPARTS

Sydney, Australia
Dec 3, 2019

ARRIVES

Sydney, Australia
Dec 23, 2019

MORE DATES & FARES- 20-DAY PACIFIC ISLANDS ADVENTURE

I was tempted but am on two other cruises instead.

[Aus Traveller]

I would be tempted, but these HAL cruises both overlap cruises we have already booked.

[GUT2407]

44 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Brother and SIL are doing it.

Probably a good reason for me not to then.

[MicCanberra]

6 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Probably a good reason for me not to then.

Possibly, although I am sure you would still have a good time.

[GUT2407]

For anyone wondering you won’t meet two nicer people than Mics Bro and SiL

[willsaway]

The ports and itinerary intrigued us, so we did a quick read of Maasdam reviews.  Never cruised with HAL, only Rci/Celebrity so very interested to hear any comments about this ship from those of you who are obviously familiar with her? Cheers.

[The_Big_M]

Nov/early Dec always a quiet time for filling ships up.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

8 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

Nov/early Dec always a quiet time for filling ships up.

Best time of the year for bargains. 
A retirees dream time , 😀

[Tara Jane]

We were on Maasdam last December on an Auckland to Sydney cruise.  Ship only had 800 passengers of a capacity approx 1200 so no queues for anything.

Food was good. 

Entertainment very light on.  Night entertainment often was educational speaker or movie.

Worst cabin weve ever had in 25 plus cruises.

We were a group with 4 cabins all inside guarantee.  The other 3 cabins were excellent size ours was a super micro we had to push the bed to be able to get in and out of the room. Supposed to be large room we all booked same catagory and paid same price booking together same agent  

I went down to ask if we could be moved seeing the ship had so many empty cabins but they wanted $2000 pp so we just put up with it.  We rarely spend time in the cabin which is why we take insides.

I wouldn't jump at another HAL cruise unless it was a ridiculously good price.

Our favorite is celebrity though we are not particularly loyal to any line.

[By The Bay]

Here is some interesting pricing. I know which one I would pick.😉

Indian Ocean & South Africa

 Monday 20th January 2020

Departing Adelaide  

 55 Nights

 Sun Princess

 Up To $100 Onboard Credit*

Twin From $11,151 pp

or

Indian Ocean & South Africa

 Friday 24th January 2020

Departing Fremantle  

 46 Nights

 Sun Princess

 Up To $100 Onboard Credit*

Twin From $30,186 pp 😲

[Aus Traveller]

21 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Here is some interesting pricing. I know which one I would pick.😉

Indian Ocean & South Africa

 Monday 20th January 2020

Departing Adelaide  

 55 Nights

 Sun Princess

 Up To $100 Onboard Credit*

Twin From $11,151 pp

or

Indian Ocean & South Africa

 Friday 24th January 2020

Departing Fremantle  

 46 Nights

 Sun Princess

 Up To $100 Onboard Credit*

Twin From $30,186 pp 😲

They are probably different categories.

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, Tara Jane said:

We were on Maasdam last December on an Auckland to Sydney cruise.  Ship only had 800 passengers of a capacity approx 1200 so no queues for anything.

Food was good. 

Entertainment very light on.  Night entertainment often was educational speaker or movie.

Worst cabin weve ever had in 25 plus cruises.

We were a group with 4 cabins all inside guarantee.  The other 3 cabins were excellent size ours was a super micro we had to push the bed to be able to get in and out of the room. Supposed to be large room we all booked same catagory and paid same price booking together same agent  

I went down to ask if we could be moved seeing the ship had so many empty cabins but they wanted $2000 pp so we just put up with it.  We rarely spend time in the cabin which is why we take insides.

I wouldn't jump at another HAL cruise unless it was a ridiculously good price.

Our favorite is celebrity though we are not particularly loyal to any line.

You should have gone much higher, seeing you were in a group of 4 cabins all inside guarantee same price and the other three were an excellent size.  I have never heard of such a small cabin, having to push a bed to be able to get in and out of a room.  No wonder you said it was the worst cabin ever in 25 plus cruises.  There must have been other cabins available with only 800 passengers.  

I'm attracted to Maasdam's itineraries, pity they weren't more customer focussed!  

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

[Tara Jane]

Yes I should have but we had a recent family death and I just wasnt in the mood to fight.  I was just glad the others all had good cabins as I was the organizer of the trip and would have felt bad if they had a cabin like us.

[Tara Jane]

[SinbadThePorter]

38 minutes ago, Tara Jane said:

Yes I should have but we had a recent family death and I just wasnt in the mood to fight.  I was just glad the others all had good cabins as I was the organizer of the trip and would have felt bad if they had a cabin like us.

 

Love to know what cabin number that was. Especially if it's duplicated on Aria.

[Tara Jane]

IQ 108 large interior stateroom

I should have added in my comments that we chose this cruise due to the itinerary.  We have travelled NZ extensively both cruise and road travel.  This itinerary went into quite a few smaller ports that the big ships cant get into.  We missed Kaikoura due to weather and the captain decided not to take us far in to Milford sound.  We were travelling with a RCI ship which went fully in and spent quite some time so felt quite cheated.

Weather was not an issue that day.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Tara Jane

[lyndarra]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

You should have gone much higher, seeing you were in a group of 4 cabins all inside guarantee same price and the other three were an excellent size.  I have never heard of such a small cabin, having to push a bed to be able to get in and out of a room.  No wonder you said it was the worst cabin ever in 25 plus cruises.  There must have been other cabins available with only 800 passengers.  

I'm attracted to Maasdam's itineraries, pity they weren't more customer focussed!  

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

I'll find out in February Auk/Syd. HAL is my second favourite after Celebrity.

[SinbadThePorter]

Celebrity Solstice from Sydney

 

to Cairns return, 12 nights, 15th October 2019, $1249pp Inside

to Auckland no return, 12 nights, 20th November 2019, $1226pp Inside

to Port Vila return, 9 nights, 14th December 2019, $998pp Inside

 

As the weather hots up, so do the bargains.

[lyndarra]

$2999 including return flights

Fly to New York for 3 night hotel stay

12 night MSC Meraviglia cruise NY>Philipsburg>Fort de France>Saint George>Willemstad>Oranjestad>Ocean Cay>Miami

Ocean View upgrade $419

This one is tempting for 19 Oct 2020.

 

 

 

[lyndarra]

3 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

$2999 including return flights

Fly to New York for 3 night hotel stay

12 night MSC Meraviglia cruise NY>Philipsburg>Fort de France>Saint George>Willemstad>Oranjestad>Ocean Cay>Miami

Ocean View upgrade $419

This one is tempting for 19 Oct 2020.

 

 

 

Forgot to mention. Includes grats and price is Oz $s

[valantine80]

Presumably gratuities are not included in these HAL deals?

[lyndarra]

3 minutes ago, valantine80 said:

Presumably gratuities are not included in these HAL deals?

Correct, unless offered as a perk by HAL or TA.

[cinogirl]

4 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Forgot to mention. Includes grats and price is Oz $s

Hi Lyndarra, great deal!  But I can only find that price (on the 1st Cruise site I looked at) without grats.  ("Gratuities, Transfers and visa's (unless stated) are not included.").