HAL / St. Croix ?

[sail7seas]

I see some cruise lines are again sailing to St. Croix after not sailing there for several years.

I haven't seen any HAL ships going there........ are there any I've missed?

Thanks.

[Cruisin'Lady]

We're on the Maasdam in December and go to Frederiksted (St. Croix), USVI, during our cruise.

[esther e]

October 2010, the Maasdam is scheduled to stop there, also. We're going to book this cruise.:)

[sail7seas]

Thanks. We've stopped there several times and had a good time but the ships stopped going.


:o Ooops..... When you both mentioned your Maasdam cruises were stopping in St. Croix, I took out the brochure to re-check our itinerary and sure enough, our Maasdam April cruise is going there. That's what happens when truly we book the ship, not the itinerary....... :o didn't even know where the ship was going other than Caribbean. I was surprised to see Guadaloupe back on the itinerary. Another port HAL had dropped.

Thanks .... and sorry.

[Akheila]

We actually stopped in St. Croix ...on the Maasdam when we sailed her in January. It was the most welcoming port we stopped at during our 14 days. Great fanfare to greet us, and it was actually Obama's day. We had another port change on that sailing because of the violence in Guadeloupe...we stopped in antigua...if memory serves....and we weren't pleased...mind you everything was closed as it was a Sunday. But there was a violent issue at that port also.

[Cruisin'Lady]

We had stopped in Guadeloupe with the Maasdam back in Nov. 08 and I was not impressed. It was a Sunday so everything was closed...but we walk about 1/2 mile from the port and it was horrible conditions...not feeling very safe we turned and went back to the ship. Spent a nice afternoon by the lido pool.:D

[sail7seas]

Same on our December Maasdam cruise. Guadaloupe was cancelled and Antigua was substituted...... and so much was closed because it was a Sunday. Guadaloupe is back on the itinerary along with St. Croix. Both had been avoided because of safety issues so one has to think (hope) crime has been addressed in these locations and they are safer. HAL wouldn't be returning, I wouldn't think, if changes had not been made to assure our safety. Common sense will rule, of course.

[airlink diva]

I'm sailing on the Maasdam in December 2010. St. Croix is one of the stops on my cruise. Since this is a new port for me, I'm excited to visit.
I sailed on the Maasdam last year and Guadeloupe was one of our stops. I did a tour with a private guide and it end up being one of the best tours that I ever went on in all of my sailing. I put blame on HAL for not providing good shore tours in this port. It took me awhile,but I came across vendors with some great options. There were some that offered tours to me if I could get a few others to join me. If I could do this on my own, why not HAL? I never felt unsafe at all. But HAL need to also work with the tourist board to offer English pamplets, working atm and posted tour taxi rates in the port area.
It was wonderful port that while I'm glad that HAL return to it's sailings, they need to ensure that guest have options.
If you want to check out my pictures from Guadeloupe, head over to ports of call, click Caribbean then other islands. You will find my pictures.