2015 Nov. 8-15 Western Caribbean Cruise on the Eurodam: Key West; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; HMC

When we "temporarily" moved to South Florida (as my husband likes to put it), I figured this might be a good time to try and get some good deals on last minute cruises.  Don't know how good of a deal we really ended up getting, but I managed to keep from accepting the up sell offer to a suite.  I had already upgraded us for $100@ to a balcony from the $499 OV room I had originally booked.  The first up sell offer arrived about 3 weeks before our trip and was $499 for a signature suite and $699 for a Neptune suite.  About a week later I got another up sell offer for the same super high price.  When we finally got our Verandah guarantee room assignment, I noticed we were in a less desirable room near the front of the ship with metal half walls on the veranda and no tub.  I called and requested a different room.
About 4 days before our cruise, we got an email with a new cabin number---mid ship, tub, and with a super deep veranda with Plexiglas walls and even 2 lounge chairs on the deck as well as the 2 other chairs, ottoman, and little side table.   About a day or 2 before the cruise, I called again because I noticed a couple suites opened up and I wanted to see if I could get an up sell for really cheap, like we did a couple years ago.  This time they quoted me $250 for a signature suite and $350 for the Neptune.  I was tempted, but also curious about the VA room we were reassigned.   Apparently there are 4 of these rooms---1 on either side of the lifeboats, so they're a little deeper then the boats are wide (about 14').  I read a lot of mixed reviews about those rooms.  Some people liked the extra space, others didn't because most of the veranda wasn't covered and, therefore, didn't have privacy.   I wonder if that's how we ended up with it.   I don't know for sure, just that there were no veranda rooms showing available for the last week or so before the cruise.
I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.  We were on the sunrise side of the ship most of the time, so only got to watch sunset from our veranda 2 nights.  But I did spend a lot of time out there enjoying just gazing at the water.

This was my 2nd time on a Western Caribbean cruise.  Our ports were Key West, Grand Cayman, Jamaica (Falmouth), and HAL's private island in the Bahamas---Half Moon Cay.  

 2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

2015-11-9 Key West:

2015-11-10 Sea Day

2015-11-11 Grand Cayman:

2015-11-12 Falmouth, Jamaica:

2015-11-13 another sea day:

2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

2015-11-15 disembarkation day:

This was my 16th cruise.  Considering how my 1st one was, being evacuated back to Ft. Lauderdale with my Dad, I'm happy to say they've all been great since then.  

2015-11-15 debarkation day:

 This morning we did self debarkation and were literally off the ship and out of customs in less then 20 minutes!  We've never made it anywhere near that quickly before!   It was another great vacation---minus the jelly fish sting!  So what does it look like a week later?  Still itches, but getting better.

All in all, it was a pretty great cruise.  Could have done without the jellyfish sting, but other than that, all went pretty well.  

2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

After not being able to tender into the beach last time we were at Half Moon Cay and ending up with another day at sea, I was anxious to see if we would get to the beach this time.  We did and we (at least I) had a great time!

 The surf was down and the water was clear.

2015-11-13 another sea day:

Just hanging around the ship.  We did go to the Future Cruise desk and signed up for another cruise to get the reduced deposit and OBC.

 grand stairway in the atrium

2015-11-12 Falmouth, Jamaica:

I really wasn't looking forward to this port.  Didn't figure we'd be able to snorkel, so I figured we'd hang out at the Margaritaville pool there.  But when we saw it from the ship, it looked so small.  We're thinking this was the pool there.

So we decided to see if we could get a last minute excursion.  This was a relativly new cruise port and it was nice and clean. 

2015-11-11 Grand Cayman:

 Wed. was Grand Cayman day!  Every since I went here with the kids for a land based trip back in 2001, I've been anxious to go back.  The snorkeling was great and I knew there was a great place to snorkel right by where the ships tender into.  I finally got back to Grand Cayman last Dec. on our girls' cruise, but we were unable to tender into Georgetown due to rough seas, so our plans for snorkeling there were foiled.  But not today!  It was a great day!!!
Walking from the tender dock to Paradise cafe (Marine Park).

 Our ship was the one you can barely see the nose of behind the one on the left.

2015-11-10 Sea Day

  Tuesday was a sea day.   Plenty of time to get out and explore the ship a bit.
The cabanas on Lido next to the family pool.

 At 11am we went to the CruiseCritic Meet and Greet.  If I remember correctly, about 45 people said they were coming.  In the end, about 25 came.  Still a nice turn out and the ship provided a nice spread of cookies and pastries as well as coffees and teas.  This was one of the few times we made it up to the Crow's nest this cruise!  On the Maasdam, we were up there almost every night.

2015-11-9 Key West:

When I sailed away from Key West on the cruise with my daughter,sister, and sister in law last Dec., I saw what looked like a promising snorkel beach within walking distance from the port, so I decided that's where we should go this time when Ken and I were in Key West.The Eurodam was even docked closer to the beach then when I was on the other cruise.  This time we docked in the Naval base instead of the downtown dock.  There were free shuttles running people to town since no walking around in the base was permitted.  The shuttle left us off just outside the gates to the base and we walked about 15-20 minutes (rather slowly since I was taking pictures) to the beach at Ft. Zachary Park.

 Ken always leaving me in his dust.

2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

It was an easy embarkation day for us!  Since we were living in S. Florida at the time, about a mile from our daughter, she picked us up and dropped us off at the port and that was it----no flights to worry about or accommodations the night before or transportation!  It was great!!!!  About 2 hours after we left our apartment in Coral Springs we were on the ship!

We ended up in one of the 4 cabins that have a super deep balcony---ours was 4054.  I'd read a lot of bad reviews about them (being in the sun and people above you could see you, but I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.

 from the door to the veranda.

2015 (April 17- May 1) Southern Caribbean Cruise: St. Thomas; St. Barths; St. Lucia; Barbados; Grenada; Bonaire; and Curacoa

 We enjoyed our 2014 Maasdam cruise so much, that when  we received an email with an OBC offer if we booked a future cruise --- we checked the Maasdam itineraries and decided to go back to the Southern Caribbean in 2015---but for 14 nights this time (our longest cruise yet) and with some new (to us) ports of call (Grenada,Bonaire, and Curacao).  We booked a Spa Oceanview since we like being higher on the ship and it was almost affordable.  A couple months after booking our 2015 cruise, they offered a free Beverage Package and a cheaper fare for new bookings.  Since it was well before final payment, I called and got the reduced fare and the Beverage package, but had to give up our "welcome back OBC" which was only $50@.  After that, we waited about 7 months for the cruise to finally get here.  I was surprised the rates never lowered again.  Since we're not big drinkers, I didn't figure we'd get much use out of the Beverage package and would have given it up for a lower fare.  No further reduction came, but it turned out really nice having the Beverage Package.  On board they were charging $44.99/person/day for the package which included up to 15 drinks a day as long as they were under $7@ ---per person!   We did end up using the drink package a lot---a couple beers a day, bottled water, soda, hot chocolate... .

2015 April--The Maasdam (suite A 182) and around the ship:

 

2015-4-20   St. Thomas---8am-6pm:

 

2015-4-21  St. Barths (8-3)  Shell Beach:

 

2015-4-22  St. Lucia---8am-3pm: Pigeon Island

 

2015-4-23  Barbados (8-5): Folkestone

 

2015-4-24  Grenada (8-5): Aquarium beach 

 

2015-4-26   Bonaire (8-5): Eden Beach (Spice Island)

 

2015-4-27  Curacao (8-6) Blue Bay

 

  
We were suppose to have a stop at Half Moon Cay, but the surf was too rough, so we ended up having another sea day.  Although I was disappointed, I was really happy with the way the rest of the cruise went and the beautiful weather we had at all the other ports.  Can't wait until we board another ship for ports unknown!

2015-4-27  Curacao (8-6) Blue Bay

Another new island for us.  I was surprised how modern both Bonaire and Curacao are.  I imagine Aruba would be, too.  They're known as the Netherland's ABC islands.  Definitely see a land trip out to this area in our future. 

 I really had a hard time figuring out where we should go in my research ahead of time---not that it really mattered since we didn't do what I planned at the last 2 islands.  I had read the best snorkeling was quite a distance away so I reserved us a car.  Once we got there, Ken decided he didn't want to drive---especially since it was a holiday there (the King's birthday).  So we walked to the tourist booth and were told Blue Bay is where we wanted to go.   I knew this is where the ship's Beach Express Excursion was going, but didn't have much luck convincing the taxi drivers we should go to Porto Marie or Pirate Bay or Porto Lagun (which was where I wanted us to drive to).  So for $50rt for the 2 of us, we went to Blue Bay.
There were signs saying $8/person entrance, but noone was there collecting money, so we took our stuff to a tree and left it there.  We don't rent chairs because we're usually not out of the water very long.   The cruise ship customers had not arrived yet.

2015-4-26   Bonaire (8-5): Eden Beach (Spice Resort) 

This was our first time to Bonaire and I was probably looking forward to here the most because of it's reputation for diving.  We don't dive, but that usually means snorkeling is very good, too.  We weren't disappointed.

 I had read that the whole island was a Marine Park and that we could walk to nearby hotels where there was good snorkeling.  Again the tourist advisers told us we would be better off going elsewhere.  So we ended up taking a taxi to Spice Resort/Eden Beach.  At least it was only about $5/person@ way.  It's where a lot of the cruise people go since there are lots of chairs and a bar, but the water looked promising.

 There was a rocky ledge by the shoreline, but we used the ladder on the dock for easy entrance and exit.  They even had boats running from here to Klein Island (where snorkeling was suppose to be really good) for $15rt.  I tried to persuade Ken we should go there, but he was content to stay here and even said maybe we'll do a land vacation here sometime.  I hope that happens!

 Looking one way from the dock.

 Looking the other way. 

 Lots and lots of parrotfish

 another kind of eel.

 I was really excited to see Lionfish.  I know they are invasive and will be killed by divers, but I was hoping to see one.

 a large scorpion fish not hiding very well.

 some sort of sea centipede

 the water was so crystal clear!

 an anemone, I presume

 The dark blue is where the bottom dropped off abruptly---not too far from shore.  That was rather spooky.

 another type of grouper

 beginnings of an artificial reef?

 yep, another scrawled filefish

 tons of schooling fish!

 a pelican wondering what we're doing in his territory.

 divers heading into the deep

 this is a restaurant near where we took the above pictures with the many schools of fish and the 2 divers.

 Heading back towards Eden Beach.

large  French Angelfish

 bone fish, I presume?

 Only place we saw Sea Cucumbers.

 The Lionfish still there.

 Harlequin shrimp

 Soldier fish

 under the dock at Eden Beach

 Spotted Drum under the dock.

 large Cowfish under the dock.

 Another new fish to me. 

 This was about the time my camera battery gave out.  I guess I didn't have it fully charged.  Too bad---saw some more really neat stuff by a couple other docks further along the coast and some great coral beds in deeper water.  Definately a great place for snorkelers to go!  This was where we actually spent about 6 hours in the water.

2015-4-24  Grenada (8-5): Aquarium beach 

  Another new port for us.  Again I had researched places to go and saw there was an Underwater Sculpture Park.  But when we got to the port, we were told by the Tourist advisers that it was too far away. 

 So we took their suggestion as to where we should go and ended up at Aquarium Restaurant beach.

The waves were coming in pretty hard and we were doubting our snorkeling would be any good.  But with our fins and experience, we gave it a try.

The waves were really churning up the sand and visibility wasn't too good until we got about this far out.

Then we got to the good stuff.  Like this guy who I saw for the first time in St. Barth's

 There are lots of schools of Blue Tangs throughout the Caribbean

 Here was another large wrasse and lots of fan coral

 a pair of large butterflyfish

 Seemed the farther down the coast we went the better the snorkeling got.  We started by the tall rock near the right of the page.

 Even saw some Flamingo Dancer snails

 and yellow head wrasse

 The coral was healthy and varied.

 more kinds of coral

 even soft coral

 lots of schools of fish like these Jacks.

 Nice beach quite a ways down, too.  I think this is the beach I had thought we were going to, but the taxi driver said it was a much longer walk then to go to the beach by the Aquarium Restaurant.

After about 3 hours of snorkeling we went back to Aquarium.

 We could even see our ship from there.

 The Aquarium Restaurant has quite a view!

 We even decided to try the local brew---which was quite good.

 Then came the walk up the hill to where the taxi driver parked. 

Some views from the taxi on our way back to the ship.

 beautiful little town.

 historic old tunnel

 All too soon we were saying "Good Bye" to Grenada, the Spice Island.