Western Caribbean Cruise

Maasdam Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 0
Helpful Votes: 18

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Maasdam

10 Night Western Caribbean Christmas (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 17, 2010

Ship: Maasdam

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 13 years ago

Review summary

Overall we enjoyed the cruise. We have sailed this cruise line before and were a little disappointed with the service by comparison to the last cruise. We enjoyed many of the stops including the Mayan ruins, the Rhino excursion in Costa Maya, the cave tubing in Belize, the horseback riding in Santo Tomas Guatamala and the snorkeling in Roatan. I might not recommend booking an excursion in every port as we were very exhausted. One thing we had looked forward to was the last stop, a private island, Half Moon Cay. If you book this cruise and are really counting on that as the highlight keep in mind that depending on weather you may have to pass it, as we did. The surf was way too high and the wind was too dangerous and the ship has to anchor offshore and tender into the island. We heard from other frequent cruisers that this can be more common. For the most part the excursions and stops met our expectations. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of organized kids programs. This cruise was booked over Christmas and there were around 150 kids, many of them teenagers, including ours. The set up on board was not really conducive to that many teens. The food was good in the buffets with a lot to choose from. We did also try to the Pinnacle Grill restaurant and although the food was excellent we didn't find the service there to be as good as what we experienced in the regular dining room. Also, we needed to wait to make a reservation in the restaurant for Christmas Eve after we started the cruise. We also found the passengers to be bit older and the evenings were a bit dull for us.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
For the most part the food was great, and there were lots of options. The dining room had a lot of great choices each night. Although we signed up for open dining in the dining room, which is something new, we still arranged once we boarded to have a set reservation time and a set table with the same servers. I would recommend that route.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
They needed more for the young adults and children considering this was a Christmas cruise and many families were aboard.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5
There were not enough activities that interested the teens and preteens.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Our dining room server was excellent. The pool service was a bit lacking and we didn't have people come around to over beverage service or clean up in the lounges very often.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
They had decorated for Christmas and it was really pretty and festive.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5
This was our favorite stop. Mahogany Bay dock was recently redone and the shopping was beautiful and very clean. We went snorkeling on an excursion and got to feed white faced monkeys at the resort before we left. The reef snorkeling was great. The shipwreck that was advertised with the snorkeling was not great and we were able to return to the reef again.
Don't Miss: Snorkeling the Roatan Reef

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

3 out of 5
The cave tubing was a blast. Be sure to put on bug spray, we hiked through the jungle first and were eaten. Other than that Belize was a pretty impoverished spot without any real beaches.

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5
We ended up traveling by bus for 3 hours each way to see Chichen Itza which was fascinating. I might not recommend this and think we should have stayed closer and seen more in Cozumel. Also the day we were there we had a very rough ferry ride to the main land and a few people got sea sick.

Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala

3 out of 5
We went horseback riding and to a resort. It was ok, but not someplace I think I would visit again.

Pros: Several of the excursions were a lot of fun.

Cons: Service was not as good as past cruises.

Recommends Maasdam? Yes!

Was this review helpful? 18

1 Comment

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.