WESTERDAM IN SAN DIEGO & MAASDAM

[frankc98376]

Reportedly HAL is negotiating to get a PVSA waiver due to Canada port closures. Will be interesting.- could use San Diego, LA, SFO, or any west coast port.

[CRUZBUDS]

RCCL and Celebrity have canceled their Alaska cruises prior to July 1st - Celebrity is going to Bermuda instead of Canada on their Canada/New England cruises.  Sounds like they gave up trying to get and exemption from the PSVA.  Stay tuned!  

[Brentwood Bay]

We finally disembarked from the Maasdam on Friday.  Our last port was Rarotonga where we spent a lovely day.  then we were denied entry except for folks who had flights directly out of there.  We did not stop in French Polynesia as they denied entry too.  We missed all our other ports after Hilo and then Honolulu denied entry.  Honolulu did let us refuel and reprovision. So on to San Diego who finally let us off.  We love San Diego and they were very kind to us all.  Customs literally took two seconds!  Fastest entry we have had to the USA!!  Direct flights to Vancouver.  The fifth flight we had to book!  We are so glad to become safely and now have to quarantine ourselves for 14 days.  No going anywhere.

Thanks to San Diego for letting us in finally.  We were a healthy ship with nobody sick onboard.  HAL did a great job of sanitizing everything etc.  They were great at giving information although if it had come a bit quicker we might not have had to book all those flights!  They booked buses to take us all directly to the airport within stops along the way! We are supposed to get a credit for the last part of the cruise and some future cruise credits so how they make it through all this. The Captain was on his final cruise before retirement and had his wife with him for a nice S Pacific cruise!

Now to get the Zaandam home with all those sick and dead people on board.  what a horrific thing to happen.  Hope the Eclipse makes it too.

Thank you again San Diego - we will come back but not for now!

[canadianbear]

10 minutes ago, Brentwood Bay said:

We finally disembarked from the Maasdam on Friday.  Our last port was Rarotonga where we spent a lovely day.  then we were denied entry except for folks who had flights directly out of there.  We did not stop in French Polynesia as they denied entry too.  We missed all our other ports after Hilo and then Honolulu denied entry.  Honolulu did let us refuel and reprovision. So on to San Diego who finally let us off.  We love San Diego and they were very kind to us all.  Customs literally took two seconds!  Fastest entry we have had to the USA!!  Direct flights to Vancouver.  The fifth flight we had to book!  We are so glad to become safely and now have to quarantine ourselves for 14 days.  No going anywhere.

Thanks to San Diego for letting us in finally.  We were a healthy ship with nobody sick onboard.  HAL did a great job of sanitizing everything etc.  They were great at giving information although if it had come a bit quicker we might not have had to book all those flights!  They booked buses to take us all directly to the airport within stops along the way! We are supposed to get a credit for the last part of the cruise and some future cruise credits so how they make it through all this. The Captain was on his final cruise before retirement and had his wife with him for a nice S Pacific cruise!

Now to get the Zaandam home with all those sick and dead people on board.  what a horrific thing to happen.  Hope the Eclipse makes it too.

Thank you again San Diego - we will come back but not for now!

Thanks for the update!  Welcome home.  That cruise is one on my bucket list-but not what you went through.  Glad customs was a breeze.  San Diego is one of our favourite places too-so easy to get to from Vancouver for us. 
 

Enjoy being home and be safe.  

[St Pete Cruiser]

11 minutes ago, Brentwood Bay said:

We finally disembarked from the Maasdam on Friday.  Our last port was Rarotonga where we spent a lovely day.  then we were denied entry except for folks who had flights directly out of there.  We did not stop in French Polynesia as they denied entry too.  We missed all our other ports after Hilo and then Honolulu denied entry.  Honolulu did let us refuel and reprovision. So on to San Diego who finally let us off.  We love San Diego and they were very kind to us all.  Customs literally took two seconds!  Fastest entry we have had to the USA!!  Direct flights to Vancouver.  The fifth flight we had to book!  We are so glad to become safely and now have to quarantine ourselves for 14 days.  No going anywhere.

Thanks to San Diego for letting us in finally.  We were a healthy ship with nobody sick onboard.  HAL did a great job of sanitizing everything etc.  They were great at giving information although if it had come a bit quicker we might not have had to book all those flights!  They booked buses to take us all directly to the airport within stops along the way! We are supposed to get a credit for the last part of the cruise and some future cruise credits so how they make it through all this. The Captain was on his final cruise before retirement and had his wife with him for a nice S Pacific cruise!

Now to get the Zaandam home with all those sick and dead people on board.  what a horrific thing to happen.  Hope the Eclipse makes it too.

Thank you again San Diego - we will come back but not for now!

Thank you for sharing this.  I'm glad Maasdam is back and that other than missing all those ports, your cruise was healthy and otherwise good.  Yes, Prayers for Zaandam as well as Rotterdam to return as quickly as possible.

[SilvertoGold]

Brentwood Bay

 

Excellent post: thanks so much.  Good to hear how well the ship took care of everyone.

 

Was that Captain Van Maurik?  Along with Captain Mercer on the WC, what a way head off for retirement!

[erewhon]

7 hours ago, Brentwood Bay said:

We finally disembarked from the Maasdam on Friday.  Our last port was Rarotonga where we spent a lovely day.  then we were denied entry except for folks who had flights directly out of there.  We did not stop in French Polynesia as they denied entry too.  We missed all our other ports after Hilo and then Honolulu denied entry.  Honolulu did let us refuel and reprovision. So on to San Diego who finally let us off.  We love San Diego and they were very kind to us all.  Customs literally took two seconds!  Fastest entry we have had to the USA!!  Direct flights to Vancouver.  The fifth flight we had to book!  We are so glad to become safely and now have to quarantine ourselves for 14 days.  No going anywhere.

Thanks to San Diego for letting us in finally.  We were a healthy ship with nobody sick onboard.  HAL did a great job of sanitizing everything etc.  They were great at giving information although if it had come a bit quicker we might not have had to book all those flights!  They booked buses to take us all directly to the airport within stops along the way! We are supposed to get a credit for the last part of the cruise and some future cruise credits so how they make it through all this. The Captain was on his final cruise before retirement and had his wife with him for a nice S Pacific cruise!

Now to get the Zaandam home with all those sick and dead people on board.  what a horrific thing to happen.  Hope the Eclipse makes it too.

Thank you again San Diego - we will come back but not for now!

 

Thank you for your update, good to know that Maasdam passengers were permitted to disembark.

We enjoyed 2 weeks on the Maasdam January/February,  so are pleased to read your update. 

Was Captain PJ still on board?

[DAllenTCY]

I'm very proud of the Port of San Diego, CBP, ILWU (porters), and our shoreside employees.

 

Just for the record, when the Disney Wonder disembarked on March 20th.....1,328 guests were transferred by motor coach to the San Diego International Airport.....in 3 1/2 hours.

 

 

David

Edited March 30, 2020 by DAllenTCY

[ckaweigh]

On 3/27/2020 at 12:36 PM, VacationCharlene said:

Really great to hear that people are able to finally get off the ships.  I really hope everyone appreciates, now and in the future, how COOPERATIVE and HOSPITABLE San Diego has been.  So many places turned ships away.  Remember to bring your business back to San Diego and the fine people of this City once things go back to normal.  We who live here have "welcomed" people onto our military bases, while quarantined as well, and port during a very contagious time.  All other ports have turned people away.  As a native San Diegian this is important to me that people realize this.  Safe travels everyone and hope to be on a cruise sailing soon!  We would of been visiting Hawaii today on the Hawaii/South Pacific cruise.

Oh you can bet I'll spread the word that San Diego was good to Maasdam.  Just got home yesterday after disembarking Maasdam Friday the 27th.  San Diego was wonderful to us.  Unlike Hawaii, which gave the ship the runaround. First said we could disembark Hilo, then Honolulu, then greeted us there with police cars lined up on dock like we were a ship of lepers and refused to even let us transit to the airport.  Would like to emphasize that Maasdam was a healthy ship, no coronavirus. I will be as energetic in my praise of San Diego as I will be in my criticism of Hawaii, which can disappear into the ocean as far as I'm concerned.

 

[DAllenTCY]

As for the Maasdam arrival.....on Friday.... 515 ship to airport transfers by motor coach. 

 

Saturday 214 were scheduled; however, with many flights cancelled on Friday we eventually moved 252 from pier to airport.

 

Taxis and Uber/Lift vehicles are limited due the virus.

 

David

 

[Sharon in AZ]

9 hours ago, Brentwood Bay said:

We finally disembarked from the Maasdam on Friday.  Our last port was Rarotonga where we spent a lovely day.  then we were denied entry except for folks who had flights directly out of there.  We did not stop in French Polynesia as they denied entry too.  We missed all our other ports after Hilo and then Honolulu denied entry.  Honolulu did let us refuel and reprovision. So on to San Diego who finally let us off.  We love San Diego and they were very kind to us all.  Customs literally took two seconds!  Fastest entry we have had to the USA!!  Direct flights to Vancouver.  The fifth flight we had to book!  We are so glad to become safely and now have to quarantine ourselves for 14 days.  No going anywhere.

Thanks to San Diego for letting us in finally.  We were a healthy ship with nobody sick onboard.  HAL did a great job of sanitizing everything etc.  They were great at giving information although if it had come a bit quicker we might not have had to book all those flights!  They booked buses to take us all directly to the airport within stops along the way! We are supposed to get a credit for the last part of the cruise and some future cruise credits so how they make it through all this. The Captain was on his final cruise before retirement and had his wife with him for a nice S Pacific cruise!

Now to get the Zaandam home with all those sick and dead people on board.  what a horrific thing to happen.  Hope the Eclipse makes it too.

Thank you again San Diego - we will come back but not for now!

So nice to hear you arrived in San Diego and then to your home.  San Diego is a wonderful city, lived there in the 70's, and the port is easy for us to get to from Tucson.  Nice to hear they supported the passengers.

[Vict0riann]

We love San Diego, too.  Nice not to have a change of times from BC, and a lovely city to explore before a cruise, or, for us, on a land trip.  

[Hlitner]

Since this topic also mentioned the Westerdam, she is currently making 11.5 knots on her way to Puerto Vallarta, where she should arrive in the morning.  We assume she will stay at that port for some time, possibly until she starts her Alaskan cruise season....assuming there is an Alaskan season.

 

Hank