By
Elizabeth Robinson |
Holland America Line will offer new EXC In-Depth Voyages onboard the 1,258-passenger Maasdam between September 2018 and May 2019.
EXC In-Depth Voyages expand on Holland America’s Explorations Central (EXC) programming by allowing guests to create their cruise experience by choosing both their onboard and onshore activities. Guests can choose from a variety of themed activities when picking onshore and onboard enrichment activities, including photography, science and nature, arts and culture, food and wine, history, and active exploration.
The new EXC In-Depth Voyages will range from 12 to 34 days and will be supported by world-renowned experts and local scholars. Maasdam will carry Zodiac inflatable boats for tours.
Onboard Maasdam, evening entertainment will reflect the local culture, while America’s Test Kitchen will be replaced with local chefs, locally sourced ingredients and local traditions.
Shoreside activities focus on experiences like photography, guided walking tours through Komodo National Park, touring the Nukubalavu Village, seeing the Fijian kava welcoming ceremony, and visiting famous ruins in Thailand.
“We created EXC In-Depth Voyages to further enhance our guest’s immersion experience in a more personalised way in the exotic destinations featured on this series of specially designed itineraries,” said Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line. “The addition of Zodiac tours will allow guests to be modern-day explorers, and Maasdam will visit many ports that we have never been to or haven’t visited in years; EXC In-Depth Voyages are truly unique.”
Maasdam will visit 154 ports in 36 countries on 12 individual cruises, giving guests the opportunity to explore locales such as Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, Java, the Maldives, the Marquesas and Nuku Hiva.
The first EXC In-Depth Voyage departs from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 10 September 2018, and sets sail for Papeete, Tahiti, through the Panama Canal. Maasdam will then spend October and part of November exploring the South Pacific before heading to New Zealand.
In December, Maasdam will sail along the southern coast of Australia. One highlight will be a 16-day cruise departing 21 December 2018. The ship will spend January cruising the northwest coast of Australia up to Singapore. Following a 20-day Southeast Asia itinerary in February 2019, the ship explores the Spice Islands and ports along the north eastern coast of Australia, then sails back to the South Pacific. The final EXC In-Depth cruise is a 24-day Polynesian Crossing ending at San Francisco, California on 7 May.
The itineraries can be combined to form longer voyages extending up to a 239-day cruise covering destinations in French Polynesia, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.