Live Post from the Maasdam July 4th week - Montreal to Boston

[dvdfreakmc]

Welcome to the next edition of “live” posts from the Maasdam starting today, July 4. I think these are going about a month long now between many hands that are writing you from the decks of the Maasdam. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and get to see some fireworks tonight.

We left Philadelphia bright and early on Wednesday morning on the Regional Amtrak from 30th Street Station at 5:52am. My big worry was getting our 4 bags along with Werin, the service dog down to the tracks without a redcap, since they don’t get going until 6am. Well I made multiple quick trips and we got on the train somehow. This early in the morning there weren’t many on the train headed to New York, until we got to Trenton, when the entire train filled up. Amtrak had provided a ticket for Werin, which was surprising for many whom wanted her seat. The Amtrak Regional seating was comfortable and gives a wider berth than typical airplane seating with longer legroom and wider seating.

Once arriving in New York, there were Red Caps galore whom assisted us with the transfer to the Adirondack going all the way to Montreal. The train ride, though longer than driving goes along the Hudson river for approx. ½ the ride, then eventually makes it to the shores of Lake Champlain where we enjoyed sailing boats and a bright sunny day. The border crossing is the only negative, as with a train full of 180 and only 4 border agents, the crossing took about 1 ½ hours. Uggh. We pulled into Montreal while the sun was still shining about 15 min. late at 7:45pm. With baggage assistance we made our way to the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth for the evening in a Junior Suite. The Queen Elizabeth is attached to the train station, just up some escalators and within the Underground shopping complex in Montreal.

The Junior Suite looked onto the city with two smaller room areas and 1 ½ bathrooms. This hotel of Yoko and John Lennon fame (celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1 week stay they had at the hotel), has smaller rooms throughout in an updated style with darker woods and cream and yellow furnishings. The junior suite had a queen size bed and bathroom, sliding doors dividing the living room area with a sofa bed, and 2nd television and ½ bath. We ordered room service and recouperated from the day after taking Werin for a long walk after a 12 hour day on the train.

The next morning, after having some poached eggs for breakfast downstairs, we grabbed some cash and a rental car to drive to Quebec City to fulfill a lifelong dream of staying at the Chateau Frontenac. The drive took about 3 hours on the TransCanada Hwy through farmland and rolling hills. The drive was worth the wait to see the downtown off in the distance with the castle-like Chateau heading the skyline. We pulled through the large archway to the front of the hotel, and went inside the classic lobby with painted ceilings and large dominant lighting. Werin met the dog in residence and we headed up to our room. It was worth the wait as we had a turret room that had views of both the river and the town, right above the archway entrance. A signature king bed and we had a rollaway for our 11 year old whom slept in the turret area. While it rained most of the day and the fog rolled in, we took in the hotel amenities including the indoor pool, and dinner at the beautiful and superb Le Champlain restaurant. Since it was a lifetime goal trip, we indulged in the tasting menu with wine pairings that gave us amazing food, which included sorbet with honey that was made by the bees on the rooftop hive. Wow. About 8 courses and 4 different wines to go with the key delivery. Cameron did really well and nearly lasted the whole time with a cheese pizza and vanilla ice cream. It was fabulous.

The Maasdam arrived on Friday morning, so we took a peek before our eventual boarding back in Montreal on Saturday. After taking a swim and getting more poached eggs (yum), we drove out to Montmercy Falls. With the rain that had been solid in the area, the falls were high and vigorous in their cascade off the cliff. They are higher than Niagara and quite spectacular. Next was a drive around Il d’Orleans, an island of berry farms and vacation cottages. The visitor center rented out a CD set that was a driving tour around the island. It normally takes about 2 ½ hours with stops, but we had to rush to meet up with our friends flying into Montreal, so we zipped around in just over an hour. The island is lush and with views of the St. Lawrence from the road about 90% of the time it was a delight.

After the drive back to Montreal, we caught up with our friends at the Marriott Le Chateau Champlain, which was built in 1967 during the building boom leading up to the EXPO in Montreal. Originally the Canadian Pacific hotel in the area and was designed by a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, the most striking feature is the archway windows in each room that provide an unusual and panoramic view of the city.

The rain has been virtually unending, yet for dinner we tried to walk to Nelson’s garden, which looked lovely, but by the time we got there we were soaked, and Werin looked completely worse for wear. With the rain they were having to move tables already seated, so it was going to be about 2 hours for a table. We decided to take a cab back to the hotel and have dinner there after drying out (whoops didn’t take umbrellas, thinking positive about the rain – wrong move).

Today, we are enjoying the views of Montreal this morning awaiting our arrival down to the dock to board.

[kakalina]

Thanks for your great report. I haven't been to that part of Canada and enjoyed your vivid descriptions. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[basiaZ03]

What a great story. Even though we have been to Montreal and Quebec City many times it is always nice to experience it from others peoples point of view.

[sail7seas]

Peter...... How WONDERFUL!! So happy you enjoyed your pre cruise visits to Montreal and Quebec. Isn't the Chateau Frontenac something 'fairytale' special!
Robert and I are sorry we missed you and your family by a mere two weeks as we would have enjoyed sailing with you again.

I hope you will satisfy my curiosity and tell us how Maasdam managed to conduct a barbeque on Lido Deck celebrating July 4th on Embarkation Day. I know that is their plan and am so excited for you they are going to do this, know this will take great effort to accomplish and am eager to hear about it.

Have a Great time on the beautiful Maasdam. We found her as special as ever and her crew/staff and officers their usual fabulous. Hope you do, too.

Bon Voyage!!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Peter I am looking forward to your reports :)

Bon Voyage!!!! I know you are looking forward to boarding the Maasdam tomorrow.

[scopewest]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Have a great time!

[sail7seas]

Peter I am looking forward to your reports :)

Bon Voyage!!!! I know you are looking forward to boarding the Maasdam tomorrow.


Actually, Lisa.

Lucky Peter and his family as they board Maasdam today in Montreal. Maasdam sails Saturday to Saturday, Boston to Montreal to Boston (until she leaves for Europe).

[CasaSmith]

Peter,

Which visitor center did you obtain the audio tour of the Isle of Orleans in Quebec? We are planning on renting a car to go to the Catherderal and around the Isle before we board the Eurodam in September.

Enjoy your trip and love your post. I agree with a previous poster it neat reading about the city for anothers observations.

Have fun.

[themerle]

Looking forward to the review! I hope to make this cruise soon!!!! Enjoy.

[mamaofami]

Peter, I loved reading your review so far. Interesting about the train ride up to Montreal. I never thought of doing that. We flew to Montreal, then took a commuter plane to Quebec and then reversed the whole thing coming back. It was a land vacation.

We too stayed at the Frontenac. What a fabulous place that is. We also went to the falls and I didn't realize it was larger than Niagra. Thanks for that info. As far as Nelson's Garden, really sorry you missed that. We loved it. Can't wait to read the rest of your cruise news. I hope the weather clears up for you. Have fun.

[dvdfreakmc]

July 4-6th, 2009

We’ll where I left off, you would have thought getting to the ship would have been easy, but I have a knack for the spectacular and strange, so of course, this has an adventure. Our group of 7 got up and made our way for breakfast at the Marriott Chateau Champlain, and while on the way there I remembered seeing a Tim Horton’s at the train station less than a block away. Well that would have been a much better idea for breakfast, as the restaurant was completely swamped and there was a line out the door. We waited for a while for them to get a table together. Once seated, we saw our server whom was obviously haggard and pushed us towards the “you want the buffet right” pathway. However, we are us, and we are more interested in the menu. After about 5 attempts to get us to take the buffet, he finally brought menus. I’m not really cheap, so that is not the issue on the buffett, but there are usually very interesting items on the menu for breakfast, or just a bite that I need, rather than an unlimited eating of eggs and sausage. I do better with some limits at least. This really didn’t work for our server though, as he brought up several times how much easier it would be for him to have us take the buffet and charge the extra. Sorry we weren’t buying.
After packing up, I grabbed our rental car and drove the Johnson’s to the pier. However traffic was getting crazy and I couldn’t figure out what was going on, until I remembered that it was the Jazz festival weekend, and I saw roads around our hotel starting to be closed off. After about a 45 min. traffic snafu due to the closed roads, and begging a police officer to let me through to pick up my family, I got back to the hotel. The plan was to take the family down to the pier, then return the rental car downtown and tack a cab back. That was a superb plan, until all the roads to downtown and the rental office were blocked off, with just a few hours to get everything done before the ship sailed. I circled around a few times downtown, and tried calling the rental office. Finally getting the main office, they said to just drop off anywhere, so I thought the safest place would be the airport, since they would have the taxis to get back to the ship. Luckily I had GPS with me that got me out of the Montreal Jazz Festival traffic and to the airport then head back to the ship. The Maasdam never looked so wonderful as when I arrived about 3pm to finally board after several hours of driving around Montreal in maddening traffic. So I am sorry to say that I missed the apparently lovely July 4th celebrations on the Lido, but did some of the decorations, which were numerous and a great effort. Maasdam immediately felt like home after seeing Susan and Cameron wave me on from the suite.
Having not stayed in a Deluxe Verandah Suite before, we are honored and thrilled to have that opportunity on this trip. The extra space is superb, especially since there is enough room for Werin’s grass on our balcony, so we don’t need to walk down at all hours of the night to “get the business done”. After unpacking and having the Johnson’s up to get acclimated to our suite environment we went for our American Express dinner at the Pinnacle Grill.
We were one of 6 or so groups at the Pinnacle at 6:30pm, which Laverne arranged for us from the Neptune Lounge. The children were all superb and on their best behavior for the other guests. I was so proud of them as they did a great job making sure that others could enjoy as well, without having to listen to their antics. Yeah! As my parents did, I am a firm believer that children need to be exposed to the fine food and atmosphere, but need to be taught how to act appropriately in these situations. Hopefully we lived up to that this night, but we certainly did our best.
After putting the kids to sleep we decided to scope out the regular haunts. We went to my favorite the “Piano Bar” first and I was excited to sing along and sing the night away, like we had done last year with Steve. However, the entertainer in this year’s piano bar, was not, well let me put is as “not exceptional” so we lasted only a few minutes before heading up to the Crow’s Nest where we walked in on the Red Bull drinkmaster competition which I became a guest judge for (Takes Yum, Yum Man to a new level). We didn’t close down the Crow’s Nest but lasted until about 11:30 before going to the casino and spending some more money towards the cause.
In the morning we grabbed items for the room from the Neptune Lounge (I love the Neptune Lounge!!!!!!!) and sat on the balcony. After a walk on the top deck taking in Quebec City in the early morning, we made our way onshore to walk through the fort and along the edge of the Citadel. It turned into a bright sunny day after clouds, which we took in at the Lido pool in the afternoon after walking ourselves around the city. Now in our second night, we went to our early dinner seating and met our dining staff for the first time and enjoyed watching the St. Lawrence banks. In fact, after leaving Quebec City, we had spectacular views of Montmercy Falls and Il d’Orlean which we had just toured a few days before.
From our balcony, the evening mist and fog was sublime as we worked our way down the St. Lawrence. I had my Iphone with me and put on a haunting celtic melody to go with our watching the waves and shoreline. It had a very “Alaska” type feel with the green set off by the wisps of cloud and small portions of the sun breaking through. Gorgeous.
The evening meant losing some more money in the casino and then going to the Crow’s Nest for Karaoke which was a ball. Tried a few different drinks today, stepping away from my regular Grey Goose Martini, but everything else is either two fruity or not enough. I have slipped into Lemoncello shots, but hopefully will be back to GG Martinis soon.
Now fully away from Quebec City, we are into our “Sea Day” and that meant a stone massage in the morning along with our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at 10am. It was a blast with about 20 attendees where I had some nominal prizes for longest relationship, longest number of cruise days, shortest distance to get to Montreal, etc. (you get the idea). Also virtually everyone brought a secret santa gift from their home area which we had fun swapping around. The M&G ended in a Cabin Crawl which took us to a quad, a verandah and deluxe verandah cabin. We had about 12-14 stick around for the cabin crawl which was great fun ending in a glass of bubbly in our cabin – Yeah!
Lots more to do today, like the wine tasting and we will see what the next few days bring . . .

[dvdfreakmc]

Peter,

Which visitor center did you obtain the audio tour of the Isle of Orleans in Quebec? We are planning on renting a car to go to the Catherderal and around the Isle before we board the Eurodam in September.

Enjoy your trip and love your post. I agree with a previous poster it neat reading about the city for anothers observations.

Have fun.

Right after crossing the bridge onto the island at the top of the hill is the information center with the rentals. You will love it. The scenery and little stores are GREAT!

[dvdfreakmc]

Peter...... How WONDERFUL!! So happy you enjoyed your pre cruise visits to Montreal and Quebec. Isn't the Chateau Frontenac something 'fairytale' special!
Robert and I are sorry we missed you and your family by a mere two weeks as we would have enjoyed sailing with you again.

I hope you will satisfy my curiosity and tell us how Maasdam managed to conduct a barbeque on Lido Deck celebrating July 4th on Embarkation Day. I know that is their plan and am so excited for you they are going to do this, know this will take great effort to accomplish and am eager to hear about it.

Have a Great time on the beautiful Maasdam. We found her as special as ever and her crew/staff and officers their usual fabulous. Hope you do, too.

Bon Voyage!!



Thanks so much. I feel terrible now as I missed at trying to get everyone to the ship and the horrible traffic situation in Montreal. By the time I got the ship I had pretty much missed lunch, so I grabbed snacks from the Neptune. I did see the decorations and they were superb with lots of obvious extra effort. What I fear however is that many whom come don't realize the extra time and planning that goes into these events and think they have them every week. Sorry I missed and can't give a report.

[CasaSmith]

Peter, thank you for the information on the audio tour. Continue with your reports, it is so nice and I can not wait for my cruise in September on the Eurodam from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks again,

[aliaschief]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Sounds like the Maasdam continues to excel as did our repositioning cruise in May. Your reports are great reads and helps ease the wait until we board the Maasdam for 13 more glorious days in October.

Great stuff. Keep them coming.

[sail7seas]

Please...... NO Apologies. You went through such stress just trying to handle the rental car and get your family to the ship. I can't imagine how nerve wracking your Saturday morning was.

BUT you are now safely and happily aboard the wonderful Maasdam with your lovely family.
Happy to hear you had such a nice dinner in Pinnacle. We think Maasdam's to be excellent and had about four or five delightful dinners there in June.

ENJOY!

[taxmantoo]

Peter, thank you for the information on the audio tour. Continue with your reports, it is so nice and I can not wait for my cruise in September on the Eurodam from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks again,

Here is a link to Ile d'Orleans information, including the audioguide.

http://www.iledorleans.com/eng/tourisme-ile-dorleans.asp

http://www.iledorleans.com/eng/nouvelles/audiogudie.asp

Anyone spending time in Quebec City should try to visit the island. It is a very short drive from downtown.

[Copper10-8]

Thanks for taking the time to pick up the 'ongoing thread' from Maasdam! Looking forward to going the other way!

Our bus was also stuck for a while in downtown Montreal on Saturday (we did the Montreal City Tour and Airport transfer after disembarking Maasdam). Besides the Jazz Festival that you mentioned, they also had a (separate) parade going on which pretty much messed up downtown traffic big time.

Enjoy your cruise! Hope you get to meet Ingo, the celler master; a very funny guy!

[Bramcruiser]

Oh Peter I so understand your Saturday in Montreal. We got off the ship early in the morning and headed to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel early in the morning so had no problem there.

But after a business contact and his wife picked us up for a personal tour of "their Montreal" we ran into the same problems of closed streets. It seems besides the Jazz Festival there were two Caribbean Festivals going on - two competing organizers who couldn't get along and thus held separate festivals at the same time (at least from what I read in the Montreal newspapers). It took us a few hours just to jut around downtown and head to the old town to park and find a place for lunch. I think all our nerves were frayed. So if the locals were just as harried over the experience then I appreciate any out-of-towner who managed to survive it all. Montreal traffic at its best is a problem but Saturday was a mess.

Good luck on the rest of your journey. I pray that the weather improves for you in the Maritimes. They're having one of the wettest and coolest summers in decades apparently.

David

[mamaofami]

I was in Montreal during the jazz festival and can only imagine how stressed you were with all that traffic. Glad you made it to the ship on time.

[themerle]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful cruise with all of us! Your review is so detailed...I'm truly enjoying the read and looking forward to the remaining posts.

[dvdfreakmc]

How did we get so lucky? A bright sunny day in PEI for a trip out to the Lucy Montgomery homstead and Anne park. Next on to the beach to check out the red soil and cliffs.

Note to those coming next. National car rental is no longer in Founders Hall but now about 7 minutes away at the airport

[CasaSmith]

Lisa and Louis,

Thank you for the post on the audio tour of the Isle. The website is great. So much information. Does anyone know how long we should devout to the island?

Thanks,

[dvdfreakmc]

Just getting ready for dinner after a long sunny and golden day in Cape Breton (Sydney, NS). I have a few minutes to get you up to speed on our last two days on the beautiful (though aging) Maasdam. I say aging as while the ship is beautiful, I personally think that a change of theme and some coloring updates would be great. I did notice that the walls surrounding the Lido pool used to have the shimmering effect on them last year, but the drydock had this painted over to just have a dark blue, which has improved the look, since the other effect was quite faded last year. I like the soft goods put into the spa cabins on the Veendam, which I think would suit the Maasdam really well. I don't really like the other cabins in their new redo, so it is a tossup for me on what would look better in our suite, the existing color or the new black, red and gold redo.

Yesterday was our day in PEI and while there were spits of rain in the early morning, by the time we got our rental car and driving out to Cavendish, the weather was a bright sun against green fields and rolling hills. It took just under an hour to get out to the Green Gables National Historic Site. After the 7 min. video we walked through the house and barn and then added a walk through the "Haunted Wood" which we had missed last year. It was dark and full of ferns and wildlife. The kids enjoyed the mystery of the walk over to the homestead, which had great placards to describe the different sections of Lucy Maude Montgomery's books and how it related to the forest and fields we were seeing. The fields had blooms of wildflowers and long stalks of grass flowing through the fields like waves, but green and gold instead of blue.

We walked back about spending about 2 1/2 hours at the Anne site, then drove over to Cavendish Beach to walk on the dunes and red rocks. The kids enjoyed watching the waves come crashing in against the rusty cliffsides (even getting a little wet with a wave surprise). Werin was in her glory in the sea air, sniffing other dogs, and walking along in the sun.

We drove back to town and had enough time for a drive through lunch at A&W (We got all sizes of burger - Pappa, Momma, Teen and Chubby Chicken - Yeah) and a stop at Sobey's for Cameron's Rice Milk before heading back to the ship, and returning the rental car to National. We had a new Ford Flex, which is a mix between a station wagon and an SUV, and was PERFECT for our day.

After dinner, we headed up to the Crow's Nest with Werin while the kids went to Club Hal. This was after stopping in at the Pre/Post dinner drinks and social with officers. They all loved Werin and it was good to see some familar officers from our multiple HAL cruises. Werin went with Susan and I, since on HAL we are not allowed to leave her in the cabin by herself, and Club HAL had some children with allergies, so the service dog wasn't allowed. However, she is always ready to have other say hi and hear how she is doing.

After bombing at the disco trivia quiz, we stayed for line dancing. I am back to GG martini's after trying new Red Bull drinks, some new Champagne mixes and others. "There's no place like home" when it comes to drinks, but I wanted to try some other things before coming back.

I've got to run to dinner, but will try to pop back in tonight or tomorrow morning to tell you about our clear and sun-filled priveate tour with Tartan Tours to Cape Breton Highlands National Park - GREAT!

[dvdfreakmc]

Uggh, just did a large two day post and lost in as I put in enter. Sorry all, I have to get to Bar Harbour, and will try to catch you up tonight or tomorrow.

[aliaschief]

Can feel your frustration in loosing a lengthy thread right at the end.:mad: We have all enjoyed your reviews and appreciate all the time and thought that have gone into them.

[RuthC]

Uggh, just did a large two day post and lost in as I put in enter.
Don't ya just hate it when that happens! Especially at on-board rates. :mad:

Let me give you a suggestion that I use every time I post:
Before I hit "submit", I hit "Ctrl + a", then "Ctrl + c". The first command highlights the entire text; the second command copies it. Then, if it's lost in cyberspace, it's easily recreated.
That little trick has come in handy many times.

[Copper10-8]

I do the same thing Ruth just explained. It has saved me numerous times; Learned the hard way!

Nice to hear you had better weather than some of us encountered the week prior! Have a safe trip home

[sail7seas]

Oh Peter..... I feel your pain and have lost some very long posts and it HURTS!

I have gotten into the habit of doing similar to Ruth and John now and I hit 'edit' then 'copy'. At least I have a copy to try to post but must admit I don't do it every time and invariably the few times I forget is when I need it.

So sad for you that your cruise is over tomorrow. You'll find disembarkation in Boston to be easy. We were off in 'a jif' and found our luggage quickly.

If you are up early, you should get a view of the Tall Ships that are in Boston harbor for the weekend. It's a mini Tall Ships Parade that came to town yesterday and there are some really beautiful ships open for viewing.

Happy you seem to have had a wonderful time on the wonderful Maasdam.

TomC boards tomorrow and when he leaves, the ship heads to Europe. When she returns, DH, I and our friends board for another fast seven days aboard. CAN'T WAIT!!! :)

Travel home safely.

[sail7seas]

Don't ya just hate it when that happens! Especially at on-board rates. :mad:

Let me give you a suggestion that I use every time I post:
Before I hit "submit", I hit "Ctrl + a", then "Ctrl + c". The first command highlights the entire text; the second command copies it. Then, if it's lost in cyberspace, it's easily recreated.
That little trick has come in handy many times.



Ruth........

To recreate, do you hit 'edit' and 'paste'? Or is there another code?

Thanks.

[RuthC]

Ruth........

To recreate, do you hit 'edit' and 'paste'? Or is there another code?

Thanks.


"Ctrl + v" is the command for "paste".
When used with "Ctrl" these are the equivalents"
A = all
C = copy
V = paste (It isn't "P" because that's the equivalent of "Print".)

[sail7seas]

Thanks. That is what I will use.

Since I posted the question, I tested with ctrl + a; ctrl + c and then Edit and paste and it worked but your way is better and what I shall use. :)

[RuthC]

Sometimes the keyboard method is faster than the mouse method.
Glad I could help.

[dvdfreakmc]

Well so much for the "live" part as we just got off, but here goes for the rest of the week. Thanks for the tips on saving. The first few times I wrote in Word and then transferred over, but after the my disaster of the last post I do have to say I somewhat gave up. LOL.

SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA
We have enjoyed eating in the room in the morning, as this tends to be our habit. Have been "power ordering" Egg white omelette with Brie cheese along with turkey sausage YUM. Then down to the Neptune to say Good morning to Lavern and grab a coffee and some salmon. MMMM.
This was another bright and early day and I'm not sure the Johnson's are appreciating all my early mornings planned for them. But the only way to get to the Acadia National Park is a 2 hour drive or so through the interior of the island to the Northwest coast through fishing villages and the like to finally get to the park. We had arranged a private van tour with Diane at Tartan Tours prior to leaving on the cruise. We were out first thing at 8am to meet Frank our driver and the van. There were 7 of us, plus Werin and we were on our way heading out of Sydney to the wild beyond. While the goal was a tour of Acadia National Park and the Cabot trail, the right there was terrific in its own right. The kids were great and patient, pretending we were on a road trip, even though it was just one day. Once getting to Cape Breton, the drive was worth the view.

If any of you have seen BMW or Mercedes commercials that have the car speeding along the ocean on a mountain road - it is 90% sure you have seen Acadia National Park. According to Frank, many of the car companies have filmed here, and the views, vistas, green of the mountain against the dark blue of the sea are tremendous. We didn't have time to go all around the trail and park, but drove north as far as we could before heading back for lunch at a great little seaside restaurant, Wabo's Pizza. We were looking for a place with some kid's food along with seafood for us and Wabo's was the place. We ate on the deck and boardwalk in Cheticamp to bright sun and jellyfish to watch in the fishing harbor. Frank then took us to Flora's to satisfy my wife's passion for crafts and Flora was there sewing away on craft creations. The ice cream was good as well and yummy after a long drive.

We made it back to Sydney by 4pm to get on board after a quick view of the craft store.

HALIFAX
The days are flying by now, and we had another 8am start to go to the Westin right across from the pier to pick up our minivan to head out to Peggy's cove before the buses. We made it out on the scenic route and the beautiful thing about being on your own, is we spent two glorious hours climbing the granite and taking in multiple views of the ocean and land. The lighthouse at Peggy's Cove was just getting scaffolding at the base, so I imagine the return trip of the Maasdam this week will see the lighthouse under all the bars, having a repaint.

Cameron wanted to stop at the Swissair Flight 111 memorial just down the road, which was a very well done memorial looking out towards the crash site in the sea.

Cameron was itching for a Webkinz, so we looked up Chapters bookstore on our Iphone and grabbed to our hearts content, then to downtown to take in Fairview cemetery (One of the titantic gravesites) then the Maritime Museum downtown. All this and returning the car made us nearly run back to the ship in time to leave before the horn blew.

BAR HARBOR
Having done the "Best of Both Worlds Tour" last year, we signed up for a new offering this time with the Carriage Ride and Cadillac Mountain. Our tour wasn't until 1:30pm which provided lots of pool time in the morning along with Thermal Suite action. The thermal suite this time was dramatically reduced when we purchased the 1st day at $150 per couple for the week. If I remember last year it was nearly $250 per couple for the week. We enjoy going to the Thermal Suite each evening while Cameron is at Club HAL from 7-9pm. We met lots of interesting people in the Thermal Suite - many of whom asked about Werin.

Once getting the tender after the rush in the morning, we went to a couple shops then boarded the bus downtown. Roberta was our guide, a bombastic local whom was great fun. We drove just past Jordan's Pond to the stables and took a carriage ride around the Trails. The feat of engineering in the trails was amazing to view. Plus it was another perfect day of sunny 70+ degree weather where listening to the horse bells trotting through the canopy of open trees and brooks was brilliant. This is a new tour and I fully recommend it for everyone, including those that are seasoned at the Bar Harbor port. The obligatory drive to the top of the mountain followed with a 20 min. stop. We arrived back about 4:40pm (after departing time) and were quickly sent to the last tender waiting for us.

We are heading off and around in Boston after seeing the Tall Ships this morning, so I will give some other reflections maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Here are a couple for now:

- Master Chefs dinner - I don't really enjoy it, but a vast improvement is that the cost cutting seems to have taken away the hats you had to wear. None were passed out which suited me just fine. The kids LOVED the Master Chef dinner which is obviously the target market. Strange though that many of the children and their families don't eat in the main dining room due to the length of time to get through dinner and all those pesky "manners" you have to follow (LOL) - our children's training classes prior to the cruise seem to have paid off and they did great until they ran off to Club HAL.

- Neptune Lounge - Lavern is tremendous and all those little treats will take a lot of working off over the coming weeks. Lavern arranged our in-suite cruise critic party, a b-day party for Lauren travelling with us and finding us a dog dish that we forgot to pack - She was AMAZING!

-Took one night to smoke cigars by the Sea View pool (I had told the kids that pool was adults only, but they challenged me when they couldn't find a sign - when did that happen?)

- Several officers, including Captain said that Maasdam will get the following upgrades - Mix, Showroom at Sea, and the direct access lower promenade cabins. Apparently the spa cabins are in flux due to the movement of the bridge wings and insurance issues so wait and see, and the retreat will not be coming as of now.

More to come, but we are heading off to see Boston. Thanks for all the encouragement on the missed post. I have a tremendous appreciation for the live posts you all do, not only fitting them in, but getting them done through that awful internet service.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your report and as much live as you were able to do. Those ship internets can really be terrible at times.

[RuthC]

and the retreat will not be coming as of now.
Much as I've enjoyed everything you've written (and I have enjoyed it all greatly), I like this statement the most! :D

[brucory]

Thank you for sharing your trip and experience aboard the Maasdam.

You managed to fit so much in and it sounds like you made the most of your family vacation.

Interesting about the spa cabins and the insurance issues...

Again, thanks for the updates!!!

:D:D:D

[dvdfreakmc]

Additional thoughts on HAL and our cruise

- There were many first time HAL cruisers and the group was quite a bit younger than any other cruise we had been on. Several had been on carnival, NCL among others and all stated that Maasdam looked fabulous and had Bern kept up really well. They also stated they liked the mix of activities and the more resort style rather than party boat. There were also many multigenerational families on board. I was thinking this would make a great campaign for HAL. Celebrate together as a family in a family reunion style. While it seems to happen organically it could be an interesting theme for advertising

- we did our first ever cabin crawl and it was so much fun.

-

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Peter, enjoy your evening in Boston and have a safe trip back to PA. Glad you enjoyed your week on the Maasdam :)

[sail7seas]

Peter......

Thanks for a wonderful thread. I loved reliving our Maasdam cruises along with you.

So happy we provided you (and Maasdam) a gloriously beautiful day in Boston.

Travel home safely.

[mamaofami]

Peter, so glad you had a great cruise. And now I'm going to try Ruth's method of cutting and pasting.

[mamaofami]

Happy to say it works. Thanks, Ruth.:D

[dvdfreakmc]

BOSTON: Departure June 11, 2009
We awoke to breakfast coming in for one last Brie Cheese filled egg white omelette and salmon. I took a gander down to the Neptune to say goodbye to Lavern and saw Captain Andre and said goodbye as well to him.

The Johnson's headed up to our room and we planned our day in Boston somewhat until it was time to take off at 9:30am. There was a line to go through customs, but all we very well, as our dog food kibble to get Werin home got through (it doesn't always make it, which means a frantic stop at the pet food store) and we grabbed a cab to head over to the Embassy Suites by the airport as our home base. I had looked for hotels in town, but all were about 2x as much as the Embassy Suites which I used points for.

The cab took us by some of the Sail Boston ships on the way to the hotel, and once we got there we were prepared to store our luggage and head back out, but they allowed us to check in early and enjoy breakfast if we wanted at the hotel. So we dropped off our stuff upstairs and then made our way across the park across the street (which the kids loved), watched part of a high school league baseball game, and then took the T-blue line two stops to the Aquarium/Quincy market stop. We popped up and found our way to Quincy Market for lunch. Another glorious 75+ day which was clear and bright with everyone walking around like a carnival. We went to Ned Devine's Tavern (one of the Johnson's favorite movies) for lunch and they were great with Werin, bringing her a big bowl of water right away. Lunch was superb with lobster rolls and chowder. The harbor was calling so we walked along, saw some tall ships as well as virtually everyone that had a yacht to a tub was out in the water. It was fantastic. By this time our post-cruise motion sickness had kicked into high gear so we headed back to the Embassy Suites for evening drinks and dinner with the kids, before heading to bed and watching "I love you, Man" on the TV Fun.

The Embassy Suites staff were superb with the manager coming over several times during our stay to ensure that all was well. The breakfast was full and enormous, almost making us think we were back on the LIDO (but they had trays so we knew we weren't - LOL). We had a settled morning before heading off to South Street station where Al, the most friendly Amtrak Rep Cap you will ever meet, took us to the Acela Train for seating and help with luggage while we compared cruise notes on his upcoming cruise.

The Acela was full, but such a relaxing way to travel back without security, undressing to get through, and waiting for baggage. The new leather seats are fab, and the trip only took about 5 hours in total. Plugs for the laptop all the way allowed me to start "From Earth to the Moon" on my DVD player.

We were finally home after driving from 30th street station to a clean house, and kitty's meowing up a storm and happy to see all of us back.

[aliaschief]

Thanks again for all the effort. Your review just makes us more antsy on reboarding the Maasdam and cruising from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale in October. Great writing style and we could feel your excitement.

[dvdfreakmc]

We did have a great cruise, mostly due to seeing friends onboard such as staff we knew, as well as having friends travel with us, but I didn't really state what I didn't enjoy, which since this is Cruise "Critic" would be appropriate.

1) Showroom. I didn't attend any ship sponsored show. I walked in a couple of times and none were to my taste. However, I feel that the movement to the Showroom at Sea concept will greatly enhance the show experience.

2) The children's menu doesn't have any vegatables on it. Big problem! In today's environment, even McDonalds has healthy options for kids. I know some of you don't want children on cruises anyway, so this one is not a big deal to you, but this was a big missing component!!! We special ordered peas and corn for the table each night to make up for it.

3) Our friends had a quad outside cabin and the shower didn't work. They quickly reported it and it took entirely two long and multiple visits to get it worked out. The whole episode until it was working again was 3 days. Of course, they came up to our room or used the spa showers due to their thermal suite pass, but it was not acceptable to have to wait that long.

4) My son enjoys Club HAL in the evening, but it was awkward that he couldn't take his service dog, necessary for his disability. HAL does a great job with disabilities, but they let us know that they don't follow the ADA to the letter, as that law is not applicable. Last year it was no problem, but this year it was. HAL's policy is not to allow service animals in the room by themselves, so we took the dog with us most nights.

5) The last morning we had a parade of individuals coming through our room well before our time to leave the ship. While I understand it is a tight turnaround, having workers swabbing our balcony while we are trying to get ready was a bit much.

While we had a great time, thought it would be only fair to show some of the things that we didn't really "get into" on this trip.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write some of your cruise.

That is too long to wait for a shower to be fixed.

[LVSue]

Peter, that was a fabulous review! I enjoyed every minute of it and felt as if I were seeing it. And I'm so glad you left your criticisms till the end. That was a great way of doing it.

Others, often when I have a long post to write, I do it in WP with lots of saves, and then use the copy/paste method to paste it into a CC reply box.

[dvdfreakmc]

Enjoy your cruise! Hope you get to meet Ingo, the celler master; a very funny guy!

John, you are so correct. Ingo was superb and fun all week. Especially all his stories are he was showing us how to smoke cigars on the back deck

[Rabbitlady]

I concur that the shows were not that great...............

RL

[Rhea58]

Glad to hear you had such full fun-packed time.
And thanks for the details on the ports as I have been
looking into this itinerary.

[MISSYLOU]

Great post. Thank you for your review.