42 Day Atlantic Adventure MS Maasdam review

[albingirl]

I've not done this before, though we have been on our fair share of cruises, so please bear with me.

We booked this cruise back in March, so we were eligible for the Signature Beverage Package, and for us, it was a good deal. We were also able to take advantage of a discount for tours, so we booked most of them back in March.

We love Holland American tours, especially when we haven't been to certain places before, so we booked them. I know some of you will say you can do the same tour for a lot less, but we weren't interested in that. We prefer to go with the ship.

Ok, enough of that.

Embarkation was of standard nature. We waited a bit and got on the ship. We were so excited, since we've never been to these ports before. Nor had we taken such a long cruise. We generally tested out our tolerance for long cruises with a 21 day to the Southern Carib last winter and felt we were going to be able to handle this one. And handle it we did!!

We can get some things out of the way early. Staff was beyond wonderful, for the most part, the food in the main dining room was great, too. We had plenty of lobster tails and escargot and Alaskan king crab legs to suit us so we never had the need to eat in the Pinnacle but once. Canaletto once. We were very happy with the professional service.

Off we went to San Juan. We have been there several times, so generally we go into town and wander around. I like Isla Verde very much but we decided to stay in town. We vacation there regularly.

Our next port was in Philipsburg. By now, we had made the acquaintance of friends and we all decided to hit the beach in the town. We really had a lovely time of it and spent most the day relaxing on the beach. A bucket of beer didn't hurt! No shopping interest here. We've all been here before.

Now, all aboard was 4:30 and off we went to Europe.

A bit about the Signature Beverage card here. One bartender, in particular, was quick to tell us that he wasn't getting his usual tips when we used it. Well, I think that's between him and Holland America, and we were rather taken aback by his remarks. For the most part the bar staff were good natured about it. This was not a heavy drinking crowd. It was an older bunch and they were taking it easy. He didn't like how slow it was. Oh well.

 

Now we are 6 days at sea. It was fine. We had great fun with the Culinary Arts Center cooking shows hosted by Amanda. She was so great! She also hosted the Sip and Savor wine tastings with Miguel, and they worked so well together. Loved it.

We met new people, read a lot, and had a dandy time of it.

The ship lost power 5 days into it but it was a transformer problem and was rectified quickly. I met the Chief Engineer on board and he told me all about it. I tend to ask questions.:)

 

First port: St. Cruz, Tenerife. Such a beautiful place. We went on a tour of Mt. Teide and this is not for the faint of heart. I happen to be faint of heart with switchback roads through mountains! I lived to tell the tale that this was an amazing excursion with panoramic views. Such beauty! It's a Unesco World Heritage Site, and I can see why.

 

Next up: Las Palmas. Oh my, what a great place. We chose to visit the city and find the beach. There are miles of beaches with a boardwalk so we decided to visit a café on the beach and we stayed there for a long time. I can see going back some day. Lots of topless bathers here but I'm not one of them!

 

Next day, Arrecife. Really like a desert. We took the Island of Fire Mountains and Camel Ride tour. It's a really good tour. We went up into the mountain, and no there are no guard rails; you really must trust your driver! He was great and there were volcanic craters that were really far down. We also went to see how volcanic cinders just below the surface are hot enough to kindle fire and produce steam. Fascinating. We also had a wine tasting with this tour. And! A camel ride. Too funny really. The camel in back of us was flirting with my husband nuzzling his neck. We have a fine photo of the experience and it looks as though that is our Christmas card this year! It' silly.

 

Next up: Tangier. We took the Asilah: the Atlantic Pearl tour and it was very interesting. We went through the narrow street of the old town and the walled city. This was a cultural experience not to be missed, in my opinion. The women are fully covered head to toe, and are not as visible as the men. The mosaics on the walls are very beautiful and I liked the opportunity to observe the landscape on the bus ride. I also would like to add that the buses for every single tour were pretty new and very clean. The tour guides were all very good, as well.

 

The next day, we had an all day tour to Almeria, Granada, and it was another Unesco World Heritage site. Not to be missed. The gardens and Residence of Kings was breathtaking. I'm very interested in the history of the world, and our guide did not disappoint. It's quite ancient. We then had a really tasty Spanish buffet that was part of the tour. It also included flowing wine. We were happy with this tour.

 

Valencia was our next stop. We chose to try to find St. Mary's cathedral and take a self tour, with ear buds provided. The challis is here and the different stations were very beautiful. Afterwards, we roamed around and looked for wifi and found it at Paneria. Well done!

 

Next stop was Barcelona. Many of you have been there but we found our tour to La Sagrada Familia great. Many structures in Spain contain Gaudi' handiwork but this is, of course, the most magnificent. When will it be finished is anyone's guess but it is quite stunning. After our tour, we found ourselves wandering down La Rambla looking for paella. We found a great café, Colon, and had some and tapas and Spanish wine. Perfecto!!!

 

Palma De Mallorca was next. Of course we took a tour of the highlights. Went to a gothic style Castle, went to a cathedral and then, Almundaina Palace and then a pearl factory. Of course we bought pearls! Then, we visited a bullring.

Well, that looked just as you might think. Not everyone in Spain likes that sport, however, just as you know.

 

Next stop, Civitavecchia. We went inside the Vatican City and inside the Chapel, Museum, and the Sistene Chapel. Then we went inside St. Peter's. Beauty such as I've never seen before. We weren't rushed, didn't have to wait, and had a long viewing time. We had a great guide who told us that it was quiet now so the crowds weren't unbearable. I will add that the weather has been with us all the way on this trip. We're ranging 65 F and sunny.

Now, this is the only place where there are beggers and pickpockets. Beware.

Nothing happened to us, but it can if you're not aware.

 

Naples is the next stop. We went to lovely Capri. Outstanding tour! We took the ferry over and really toured the island. We had an amazing lunch, complete with pasta and several courses, and more flowing wine. We took the chairlift to the top and were treated to views unlike any other. I did get some shopping in for Christmas, as well. I'm not a big shopper, but they had some gifts that you can only get in Capri, so I went for it.

 

Sorrento is next. Oh, what a great city. We went to Pompeii and had a great tour guide again (Holland America has done an excellent job here) and we were both happy to learn as much as we could. Such an educational tour. By now, I'm feeling like I'm on a National Geographic tour. Back in Sorrento, more shopping again. I finally purchased a fine Italian handbag that was my goal... we then had pizza before we boarded the ship. Yum.

 

Messina was next. We chose to take the Footsteps of the Godfather tour and it did not disappoint. Another mountainous tour but with great beauty. We got some amazing photos here.

 

Ok, now we went to Palermo the next day. This was not a city that I was enchanted with. It was a bit dusty, shall we say. Our tour was to the seaside town of Cefalu and this was the only tour that I wouldn't recommend. Long drive for a very little tour.

 

Next day we went to Cagliari. We loved it here! Sardinia is one of our favorites. We took the Old Town tour and saw some great architecture inside the medevial city. We found a great trattoria afterwards, and had a traditional Italian lunch, complete with piles of mussels and the best lasagna I've ever had. Such fun!

 

Next day, off to Cartagena for a really fun tour. We did the highlights on foot. Walked to the Concepcion Castle and along the sea wall to the Town Hall Square and the main square. By coincidence that day, they had a medevial festival going on, and we were there! It happens once a year for 3 days and it's an eye opener! They had a parade, which was highly unusual and great fun. Lots of street food and vendors selling everything under the sun. After we were done with that, we found a little restaurant and had more paella. Can't get enough of that.

 

Gibraltar. We really just walked around the city and did a whole lot of nothing here. I know people love to go to the top and view the apes and the view, but I felt lazy. Coming down with a bad cold right here. It's going around the ship. It happens.

 

Cadiz the next day. Cold is in full force for me so my husband went off on his tour. The tour went to Jerez de la Frontera and he loved the sherry wine tasting, as well as the city. I was very sorry to miss this but it couldn't be helped.

 

Casablanca was next. We went for the highlights tour and it was a good overview. We went thru a souk, through the Hassan II Mosque, Royal Palace outside view, and then to a church (again) and then to a market for shopping.

No great shakes here, but I learned a lot. We then had sodas at a seaside hotel and it was very pretty. This port was a good cultural tour. Some don't like that sort of thing, but I do.

 

Next up: Ponta Delgada! So happy to have a tour here. Such a pretty island.

We went to the top of the great hill and visited a little village. Then we stood at the rim of volcanic craters, and oh, I don't know if I've ever seen any land so beautiful. The rolling farms with cows and green pastures were beautiful!!!

We had a terrific wine and cheese offering at the end of the tour and know that this is one of our favorites of all!

 

To finish off, the entertainment on board was great, the Captain's ball was wonderful (all the officers stayed and danced a long time), our cruise director, Mark was top shelf, and we just had the most marvelous time. It helped that we had a great verandah suite for the length of the cruise, too.

 

All is well on the beautiful Ms Maasdam.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks so much for your very indepth report. Sounds like you had a grand time on your cruise. Glad to hear the Maasdam is in great shape.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your interesting review.

 

Sounds a great cruise.

[KirkNC]

Glad to hear it as we will be on her in a couple months.

[aliaschief]

Very nicely done. Thank you for sharing your cruise experience.

[oofroggie]

Your review was of great interest to me as I will be doing this in Oct of 2015. Thank you

[pearliemae]

Great review, brought back a lot of memories. We did this cruise a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, so much that we are seriously considering doing it again next year. I especially enjoyed your mini reviews of the ports of call, right to the point. Thanks again!

[albingirl]

This must have been an insanely boring review. 6 people responded. Well, lesson learned. I've got another cruise booked but basically, nobody's interested.

[SilvertoGold]

Oh, I'm interested. I loved reading about the ports, most of which I've been to, so it is great to relive your adventures.

 

I would love to hear more about the going-ons on the ship: meals, entertainment, service, etc. That makes up a huge part of any cruise for me.

 

 

The boards can be quite slow this close to Christmas, which might explain the low turnout!

[albingirl]

Thank you. You are very sweet. I've been feeling rather unpopular. No big deal except the time to post. Thanks again.

[Mtn2Sea]

I also enjoyed your review. DW and I seriously considered this cruise, but opted for a 36 day cruise on the Ryndam because it had two stops in Egypt. It's great seeing what we missed.

[DeckLife]

Albingirl, don't be down about the low response count. Look how many people have seen your review!

I hope to take a trip like this someday. The port selection seems especially good, and I appreciate your taking the time to write. Please do it again for your next big cruise. (Say, if you throw in some negatives, that will create drama and more comments! Just kidding!)

[SilvertoGold]

Albingirl, Please do it again for your next big cruise. (Say, if you throw in some negatives, that will create drama and more comments! Just kidding!)

 

But you are right! That is exactly what will bring the drama and comments!

 

Personally I like Albingirl's review. Very informative!

[whogo]

Great review, thanks albingirl.

[albingirl]

But you are right! That is exactly what will bring the drama and comments!

 

Personally I like Albingirl's review. Very informative!

 

Well, thank you both for that! Instead of being the sunshine girl, I will certainly be far more trashy on the next review!;)

[Vict0riann]

I finally filled out my survey on the cruise, and figure we did about a third HAL shore excursions, a third private tours with others from the roll call, and a third, we just went ashore on our own. Last year we took a 21-day Med cruise (very last minute), and we just wandered off the ship on our own in 90% of the ports. I came home with a stress fracture in one leg. I blamed it on all the cobblestones and stone stairs, etc I decided we would take more tours this time, to try to do a little less walking, and I seem to be okay.

 

We also really like the HAL tours, except for the ones with full busses! They always provide really good guides, and the busses are comfortable. That said, our private tours arranged by others on the roll call were excellent, too, and much smaller. The tour to Marrakesh on the HAL shore excursion was amazing. There were two busses, with only 15/16 people in each bus, so we could sit anywhere, and move around. We had a very good guide, with an "assistant", a fabulous lunch, and we saw a lot. I highly recommend it for anyone going to Casablanca - if it ison the itinerary next year. A real bucket list item.

 

Another good shorex was the one to Barumini - except for us, the last on the bus, and we were unable to sit together, as it seemed a lot of couples had split up and took window seats on either side of the bus. That was really annoying, as it meant we were each in an aisle seat beside strangers - and I don't think we were very popular with the people we sat with. The woman I sat beside literally turned her back on me and swung around to block the window altogether. The first (gentleman?) I sat down beside told me he needed the whole bench as he had long legs. From then on we made a real effort to get on the bus in the middle of the crowd so we could at least sit together! Sorry, that was my rant! :D Over now.

[albingirl]

I finally filled out my survey on the cruise, and figure we did about a third HAL shore excursions, a third private tours with others from the roll call, and a third, we just went ashore on our own. Last year we took a 21-day Med cruise (very last minute), and we just wandered off the ship on our own in 90% of the ports. I came home with a stress fracture in one leg. I blamed it on all the cobblestones and stone stairs, etc I decided we would take more tours this time, to try to do a little less walking, and I seem to be okay.

 

We also really like the HAL tours, except for the ones with full busses! They always provide really good guides, and the busses are comfortable. That said, our private tours arranged by others on the roll call were excellent, too, and much smaller. The tour to Marrakesh on the HAL shore excursion was amazing. There were two busses, with only 15/16 people in each bus, so we could sit anywhere, and move around. We had a very good guide, with an "assistant", a fabulous lunch, and we saw a lot. I highly recommend it for anyone going to Casablanca - if it ison the itinerary next year. A real bucket list item.

 

Another good shorex was the one to Barumini - except for us, the last on the bus, and we were unable to sit together, as it seemed a lot of couples had split up and took window seats on either side of the bus. That was really annoying, as it meant we were each in an aisle seat beside strangers - and I don't think we were very popular with the people we sat with. The woman I sat beside literally turned her back on me and swung around to block the window altogether. The first (gentleman?) I sat down beside told me he needed the whole bench as he had long legs. From then on we made a real effort to get on the bus in the middle of the crowd so we could at least sit together! Sorry, that was my rant! :D Over now.

 

I agree with you; the buses were difficult at times. People got the jist of it quickly, and ran to the buses, and couples sat apart hoping to get 2 seats to themselves, especially if they were overweight. Not fair at all. On one bus, we had a man yelling for a rest stop one hour into it. It's not all pretty, that's for sure.

[NMLady]

This must have been an insanely boring review. 6 people responded. Well, lesson learned. I've got another cruise booked but basically, nobody's interested.

 

Surely, you're not serious! Not all of us who read reviews give comments. Also, I think six comments in two days during busy Christmas time is not bad. I think if you look at the number of views rather than the comments is a truer test of interest in a thread.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your review. I appreciated the succinct summaries of each port, and the breaks between paragraphs. You brought back good memories.

[albingirl]

Surely, you're not serious! Not all of us who read reviews give comments. Also, I think six comments in two days during busy Christmas time is not bad. I think if you look at the number of views rather than the comments is a truer test of interest in a thread.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your review. I appreciated the succinct summaries of each port, and the breaks between paragraphs. You brought back good memories.

 

Thank you for your kind remarks. Hoping you have a wonderful holiday season, as well.

[LandlockedColorado]

Thanks, Albingirl, for your post. I am what the people on CC call a lurker; I don't post very often, but I do read most of the threads and take notes on great nuggets of info; I took some notes on a couple of the ports you mentioned that we have not been to yet. So, don't go by the number of posts as an accurate indicator of interest.

 

And, please, do another review--I know I'll be reading it!! :)

 

LC

[TBcruisers]

Thanks so much for your interesting review. It's of special interest to me since we'll be sailing on the 2015 50-day Atlantic Adventurer, and I appreciate your insight re: the same ports on which we'll be calling.

 

Bob

[madera1]

Just finished reading your review. Looks like you had a fantastic trip and had no issues with the length of the trip. I enjoyed the description of the port highlights and after reading this think I would like this same itinerary. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience here on CC.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[whogo]

A bit about the Signature Beverage card here. One bartender, in particular, was quick to tell us that he wasn't getting his usual tips when we used it. Well, I think that's between him and Holland America, and we were rather taken aback by his remarks.

I would have avoided that bartender like the plague. Soliciting tips is a real turnoff.

[Folk Singer]

Your review was of great interest to me as I will be doing this in Oct of 2015. Thank you

 

 

Same here thanks so much.

[Folk Singer]

Great review, thanks albingirl.

 

 

Agree thank you so very much.