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

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

 

 I had heard there would be a Beverage card waiting for us in our room when we boarded, but all we found was this card stating the rules and wanting us to sign that we got the card.  After calling the main office, we found out that starting with this cruise, the beverage card was also our room card.

The Maasdam:

Our cabin was 065.  At first I was worried about the location---very last room at the back of the ship on the 10th floor with a bar and smoking area next to our room and it was also below part of the Lido deck, so I anticipated lots of chairs being moved around overhead, but it really wasn't bad.  We heard chairs being moved around for 5 or 10 minutes in the morning.  We also liked that we were right by the elevator and stairs and only one floor down from the Lido Restaurant.  We also liked being so close to the Seaview pool.  It was called a verandah suite, but was pretty much like the VD verandah we had on the Eurodam (although our actual verandah on the Maasdam verandah suite was smaller then the verandah on the VD verandah on the Eurodam).  At least we didn't have the verandahs on the Maasdam that opened up onto a shared deck.  I didn't even know they had such a configuration when I made our reservations.  The room was small but adequate.  We liked the coffee table -sturdy and easy to adjust.  The couch was a good size.  Our queen bed was comfy.  We had heard complaints that some people on board had low water pressure, but our water pressure was great.  Our room attendant was very efficient, even left us fruit and towel animals every day.

 The lounger couldn't be straightened because it was up against the verandah wall.  There was also a small round table.

2014-April 20-Easter Sunday-sea day:

 After 6 port days in a row, I don't mind the sea day.  Thought we'd sleep in, but were still up and off to breakfast by 9am.  They had colored hard boiled eggs out, as well as lots of foil wrapped chocolate eggs.  That's about all we saw of Easter.  They did offer sunrise service and 2 other masses, but we didn't make it to any of them.  

 We did take the cribbage board to the Explorer's Lounge and played a few games.  Then I went to another culinary exhibition.  This time the culinary gal and her boss were hilarious.  They kept making mistakes and had a ball working together.  I hated to have to leave, but we had a 1pm Mariners' lunch to go to.  Here we're being toasted by our cruise director.

 Lunch was very good.

 After lunch, I went to the Showroom at Sea to listen to the Legend of Ernest Hemmingway as recounted by cruise Director Rick.  It was very interesting.  

 Then I spent some time in the pool--- I think Ken loves sea days so he can sit in the room and watch TV.  About 6 we headed to formal dinner.  This was the only dinner we had with a really weird couple.  But there was another couple that was interesting, so dinner visiting was enjoyable---as was my dinner: lobster tails (which I gave to Ken since I'm allegic to shell fish), fillet mignon, pear soup, mixed fruit, and rhubarb crisp.  From there we hustled over to another movie, "Phillameda" which was about a woman who had a baby in a convent in Ireland 50 years ago and wanted to find him.  Another good movie.  Followed by the Showroom at Sea show "Encore" featuring their tenor and soprano accompanied by the Maasdam Orchestra---not the best show, but better then most we've seen on other ships.  Only 1 day left!

2014-April 13, Sunday---another sea day:

  Today was the t-shirt sale on the Lido deck.  I saw one there I liked last cruise (for St. Lucia), but I thought I might find one I liked better on the island, so I didn't buy it.  Big mistake---none I liked on the island and they only had the t-shirts during the Lido deck sale.  Today I got the 3 for $20, but they didn't have a great selection.  I guess with it being near the end of the Caribbean cruising season, they were running low.  From there, we headed to another culinary class---this one for black bean soup, rum cake and shrimp/mango relish.

Then we caught the end of the digital class on photo editing.  I've taken the class before, but hardly ever use it since my editing program of choice is Photoshop.  But the Windows program certainly is easy and adequate for simple editing.
Early afternoon we were off to the Crows nest for trivia again---and another mango smoothie.

2014-4-12  Sea Day:

 We had breakfast every day in the Lido restaurant.  It was never crowded and we never had to wait long for our selection.  Most mornings I had cream of wheat.  Later in the cruise someone mentioned the sticky buns and that was added to my breakfast.  Lunch was usually in Lido, too.  

 The first 3 days we were served, then code orange was dismissed and we helped ourselves.  A couple cruises before ours there was an outbreak of Norovirus on the Maasdam.  Fortunately it was gone by the time we got on.

  We made a point of going to many of Elon's concerts.  He was spectacular on the Steel Drums!

 The ship was rocking pretty good today so the pool was closed.

 One of the things we really enjoy on HAL ships are the cooking shows.  This one was with Chef Rajan and host Stefaney as they featured Jerk Chicken with Mango Chutney.  Really, Chef Rajan was there!

 We also went to a couple of the team trivia events hosted by the cruise director Rick in the Crow's Nest.  Met some interesting people there, too.  And I found out they make a mighty tasty mango smoothie!  I like that they give you peanuts here, too.

We chose Anytime dining which worked out really well.  Our usual routine was to watch sunset (from our lanai the first 6 nights), 

then head to dinner where we were usually sat with really interesting couples (only 1 really strange couple)
An example of the menus in the dining room-

Ken almost always ordered off the everyday menu : french onion soup, caesar salad, chicken breast and a dessert.   I liked being able to try a lot of different things.  Tonight I had the grilled mahi mahi with mango chutney, rice and beans, plus a warm curry pumpkin soup.  Dessert was coconut rum cake.  It was excellent!

The Showtime presentation tonight was Bob Mackie's Broadway featuring his fancy gowns and such. 

After the show, we headed back to our room and were greeted by---

This is starting out to be a great cruise!

2014-4-11  Embarkation day:

 Our daughter dropped us off at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale about noon.  Check in went fairly quickly.  Then we waited for our number to be called and were able to go straight to our room.  We didn't leave port until about 5pm---which we celebrated with some Moscoto our daughter gave us to bring onboard.  Nice that HAL allows you to bring 2 bottles of wine on board per cabin.

Even got a sail-away wave from people in a nearby building.

See ya in 10 days Fort Lauderdale!

 Up on the Lido deck, they were set up for a Caribbean Festival---live music and snacks.

Ice sculpture

 Decor by the dessert table

More decor.

 Our Pinnacle dinner happened to be assigned for that night, which was fine with us, so we started off dining in style.

 Dinner was excellent: caesar salad, fillet mignon, mashed potatoes---

 and 3 flavors of creme brulee.  That was the first of many great desserts we had on board.  In the past, we found cruise desserts to be sub par, but they were actually quite good on the Maasdam.

 After dinner, we made it to the Showroom at Sea for the welcome aboard show.

 Back at our room, our first towel animal welcomed us.