Just off Maasdam - REVIEW

[VABeach]

Just got home from Maasdam and had a great time!! Thank you so much for all of the helpful information and tips. It made my first cruise with HAL very enjoyable and I am already planning to take this cruise again next year for the holidays. :)

 

Here's my little review if it will help anyone else planning to go.

 

Norfolk - They have made great improvements since I sailed out of there two years ago. Things were very smooth and it was no trouble at all.

 

Ship - She was very beautiful and elegant. Decorations were very understated and calming. I enjoyed every part of the ship.

 

Food - The food was great. I enjoyed every meal. We had breakfast in bed (room service) six days. It was great if you put the little card out the night before. If you called for it that day, it was a bit of a wait; almost two hours one time.

 

Service - Everyone was friendly and service was good. No one seemed "excited" about being on the ship, but they were all friendly. None of our particular staff seemed to go out of their way to say anything more than hello, but the job was always done.

 

Entertainment - Didn't go to any of the shows.

 

Ports of Call - Had a really great time at each island.

 

- Half Moon Cay was clean and nice. We snorkled with the Stingrays. It was really awsome!

 

- St. Thomas was nice. We went snorkling over some coral and fed some really beautiful fish. The water and coral was very beautiful in St. Thomas and I can't wait to go back there again next year.

- Antigua was not very touristy yet. I had mixed feelings about it. As soon as we got off the ship, someone was trying to sell us pot. We got a cab ride to a very quiet beach and it was beautiful. There were only about ten other people on the beach and the water was very nice. On our ride back to the ship, our cab driver offered to take us on a "tour" of the island. We accepted. It was a nice drive, but the price changed dramatically from what he originally told us. We also ate at a resturant where we could smell raw sewage in the streets. The resturant also did not have their electricity "working" that day... Over all, it was nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back.

 

- St. Maarten was awsome. Everything was very clean. The shopping was very nice. I did most all of my shopping in St. Maarten. We also did the Beginner SCUBA dive which was awsome. They gave us a certificate for our dive and told us that it would count as one of our open water dives that we need to do to get certified. It was fun. The water was really cloudy that day for some reason, but it was a great experiance. We are already looking into getting certified for our next trip down.

 

- San Juan was a very short day. We took the Bacardi tour. They gave us lots of rum. I think they wanted to get you feeling good before you got to their gift ship, if you know what I mean...

 

The trip back home was just as everyone had warned - bumpy!! The soda cards came in handy for buying ginger ale on the last day. ;)

 

That's about all I can think of now. If anyone has any questions, I'd be very happy to answer them.

 

I also met Shy in the Lido and told him he was very famous on CC. He said to tell everyoine hello. :)

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review, Jenny. I enjoyed reading it.

 

Happy you liked Maasdam so much. She has long been one of my favorites and we have cruised her many times.

 

Welcome Back.......Enjoy planning your next cruise. That is the best cure for 'post-cruise blues'. :)

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Lovely review. So glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

When we did the Bacardi Run tour on San Juan a couple of years ago we were disappointed in it. Got one small mixed rum drink. Didn't really get to see the factory working.

[VABeach]

The distillery was OK. I wouldn't necesarily recomend it because you didn't get much out of it other than a little movie and a gift shop. My friend wanted to see it because he used to be a brew master and was hoping to see a little more.

 

I love HAL and can't wait to sail her again!

[rebeljohn]

VA Beach......Glad you enjoyed the cruise. We sailed her a few weeks ago, and also experienced some choppy seas on the way back.