Best cruise ever! Maasdam, Canada/New England, 8/22/15, Montreal to Boston

This is a long review, including a lot about our stay in Montreal and each of the port stops on this fabulous itinerary. I started to include in this review many of the pictures I took, but there were so many that I had trouble choosing which to include, and I didn't want to chop up the review into numerous sections. So, I decided to post them in my online album, arrange them there in the order of this review and provide a link for anyone who wants to see them. I selected just a few to include here.

Link to the full album.

We were scheduled to fly an American Airlines redeye from San Francisco to Montreal, changing planes in Chicago with only an hour to spare. We had planned the flight so as to have almost a full extra day to spend in Montreal that we wouldn't have had if we had flown a non-stop from the west coast. About two weeks before the cruise, we started to worry about whether our flight would arrive late in Chicago, causing us to sprint to catch the connecting flight. The more we thought about it, the more we were sure we'd made a mistake. So we telephoned our hotel and were able to add a third night to our booking, then we booked a nonstop flight on Air Canada that left in the morning rather than at midnight. We had to eat the cost of the redeye flight, but it was worth every penny, and we learned a valuable lesson.

Our Air Canada flight was great. We chose an aisle and a window seat in the Preferred Seats section, and no one sat between us. Yes! We arrived in Montreal around 8:00 p.m. and decided to take the 747 Airporter Bus into Montreal. We met the most wonderful local woman who was headed where we were. She showed us how to purchase tickets and then hailed a cab for us at our stop. We found throughout our three-day stay in Montreal that the locals are very willing to assist tourists. I would not suggest using the 747 Airporter Bus if you aren't up to dragging your luggage onto the bus and then throwing it onto and pulling it off of the storage "shelves" on the bus.

Our hotel was the Nelligan, in the Old Port area. We had stayed there after cruise last September. Last year our room was in the back of the hotel in the newest section, very chic, with a glassed-in shower, but this time our room was in the oldest part of the hotel and close to an elevator, so it was a little noisy. The Nelligan is a wonderful boutique hotel in a great location on Rue St. Paul W., one block from the Place d'Armes and the Notre Dame Basilica.

It was about 9:00 p.m. by the time we arrived at the hotel but only 6:00 at home, and we were hungry. We decided to grab a burger at a place where we had lunch last year, the 3 Braseurs. If we had known there were so many great places much closer to the Nelligan, we wouldn't have walked so far.

This cruise we were traveling with friends we met though the CruiseCritic roll call thread for our Eurodam cruise last September. They had arrived earlier in the day on Wednesday and had located a nice restaurant near the hotel for breakfast. We joined them Thursday morning at around 9:00 at a little café called Tutti Frutti, which is one block east of the Notre Dame Cathedral and on the same side of the street. It was so good that we had breakfast there all three days. It has a huge breakfast menu and delicious food.

Mont Royal was on our schedule for the first day, so we headed to the Place d'Armes Metro station near the café and took the Metro (orange line) to the Mont Royal Station, where we caught the #11 bus that took us nearly to the top of Mont Royal. We walked to the Chalet and took pictures of the City.

We walked around a bit up there, bought ice cream (boy, it's hot in Montreal in August), and then retraced our route back to the Place d'Armes Metro stop. On our way back to the hotel, we did a self-guided tour of the Basilica Notre Dame. It is so beautiful inside, and at night the outside lighting is lovely. In fact, at night the outsides of buildings all over the Old Port area are lit.

We had missed lunch, so back at the Nelligan we ate burgers and fries in the bar area of their Versus Restaurant. Montrealers must love their fries, because we had fries with everything -- huge piles of fries, excellent fries.

Afterwards we headed down to Promenade du Vieux Port, the little greenway that runs along the water. That Thursday night so many people were out walking. My husband commented more than once that he hadn't seen so many women wearing dresses in years. We walked along the pier beside the Pavilion Jacques Cartier where they have live music, watched the little tour boats loading passengers, then crossed the street and walked up to Place Jacques Cartier, where throngs of people walked about.

We turned left to walk on the crowded Rue St. Paul E., the cobblestone area of that street, which contains many restaurants with outdoor seating and interesting boutiques. The street is closed to motor vehicles at night. Our friends had found a cute little restaurant right next door to the Nelligan called Mechant Boeuf. The food was very good, and there is a DJ in the front part of the restaurant. I should have taken a picture of my husband's dinner -- a whole chicken, roasted on a beer can, standing straight up on his plate.

Friday morning we again had breakfast at Tutti Frutti. In addition to good food, the service at this place is very friendly. We walked down to Rue de la Commune to the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History and caught a bus Downtown (Bus #168). We had all been curious about the Montreal Underground, so we located an entrance to it somewhere near Rue McGill and spent a few minutes browsing the small three-story underground area. We walked along Rue McGill up to McGill University and went through the main gate for a quick view of the campus. We had lunch across the street from the university at a little sandwich place.

We walked along Rue Sherbrooke. The McCord Museum has set up an "Urban Forest," with picnic benches and red and blue plastic trees, in the street next to its building. It's a place for Montrealers and tourists to stop and rest or eat lunch. There is interesting street art all over the downtown area. We walked several blocks and then returned to our bus stop near Dorchester Square. Dorchester Square is close to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and right across the street from the beautiful Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde.

That Friday night we walked along Rue De La Commune by the Port, and after looking at several restaurants, we chose a little bistro called Al Pizzetta, where we all had steaks and fries. We called it an early night and headed back to the Nelligan to re-pack.

Saturday morning we returned to Tutti Frutti once again. Our friends left for the ship a little earlier than we did. We had seen workers setting up for a recreation of Montreal's 18th century outdoor markets that was to be held on Saturday and Sunday around the Former Montreal Customs House that is just down the street from the Nelligan. We went down and walked around for a while and saw numerous booths, musicians and soldiers, all dressed in period costumes.

And now, the cruise:

From the moment we entered the Montreal Port terminal until disembarkation in Boston, everything was as close to perfect as we could have imagined. It exceeded our expectations, and we fell in love with the lovely little Maasdam.

We took a cab from the hotel around 11:30, waited only a few minutes before proceeding into the main check-in area, and then only a short time in line before we were at the counter receiving our key cards and boarding the ship.

Our stateroom, Vista Suite 220, the last cabin on the port side on Deck 9, was ready, so we entered and took some photos before bringing our carry-on luggage into the cabin. It was about the same size as those we had had on the Eurodam and Westerdam, although those cabins were completely aft. There is plenty of storage in this cabin. The balcony is larger than the balconies in nearby cabins because it wraps around to the aft slightly. We had two loungers, a chair and a small table out there. The balcony is partially uncovered, and people standing on the aft Lido deck could see down to the uncovered area, so be aware of that. We never heard any noise from the Lido Deck above us. We loved the cabin and the location and would definitely book the same cabin again.

We ate a nice lunch at the Lido, walked around the ship for a bit and then went back to the cabin to unpack and get ready for muster drill. After muster drill, we headed up to the Lido Deck for sail away and the Sail away Barbeque. We really enjoy these, so we decided to fill up there in lieu of our first night's dinner in the main dining room.

Last view of Monteal from our balcony:

We happened to walk through the Casino after it opened the first night, and we were shocked that there was no smell of smoke. Could it be? Could HAL finally have done away with smoking in the Casino? We learned later that the first two nights were non-smoking nights. We took advantage of the Casino for the first time, played the slot machines and even won. Of course, we didn't know what we were winning, because we used our key cards while we played and "credits" meant nothing to us. The last day of the cruise we received a letter in our stateroom advising us to come back to the Casino to get our casino credits. We laughed, thinking it was a dollar or two, and ignored it. At 10:00 p.m. (we were already in bed), we got a call from the Casino cashier reminding us to come pick up our winnings, which amounted to over $60. We seriously considered staying in bed. Nah!

We went to the first Production show called "Heat," and I was impressed. This crew was polished, the sets were well done and the costumes were beautiful. Very well done. This was the only entertainment we saw, because after running around every day on excursions, then dining late, it was time for bed. We need to work on this.

In Quebec City on Sunday we ate our first breakfast in the Lido, met our friends and headed off the ship. We hadn't planned an excursion here but had considered going to Montmorency Falls. As we exited the terminal we saw a cab driver, Nick, and asked him to take us to see the falls. Nick drove us there and also made a stop at Manoir Montmorency, which was the summer residence of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and father of Queen Victoria. Nick had another story about him. He claimed the Duke of Kent had been banished to Quebec City to get him away from a woman, but once in Quebec City, he found another. We liked Nick's story. Before taking us back to the ship, Nick drove us around Quebec City.

Once back on the ship, we had a quick bite at the Dive In. They were serving poutine, Maasdam style (with melted cheese instead of cheese curds). We had to sample it.

After lunch we headed off the ship again to do a short "cruise" across the St. Lawrence on the ferry to the town of Levis so we could take some pictures of Quebec City. Unfortunately, the area around the Levis terminal was under construction, so instead of taking pictures, we went to a nearby shop for coffees and headed back to Quebec City on the next ferry. Our friends went back to the ship, but my husband and I took the Funicular up to the Hotel Frontenac. We walked along the Terrace Dufferin in front of the hotel for awhile, then returned to Lower Town on the Funicular and went back to the ship.

We have not been fans of eating in ships' main dining rooms because they are usually so big, and we prefer to eat by ourselves or with people we know. On NCL we usually eat in their smaller alternative restaurants and dine whenever we're hungry. On our Eurodam and Westerdam cruises we ate in the Lido, Tamarind or Canaletto and never saw the inside of the main dining rooms. Our friends, however, like HAL's main dining rooms, so we took appropriate clothing, including a jacket and tie for hubby, long skirt and tops for me for Gala Nights, and decided to try it out. What a surprise! We liked it a lot. Service was really good. We found the menu choices good and the food excellent. Holland America really knows how to prepare desserts! The first Gala Night dinner was surf and turf. The steak was absolutely terrific, so tender and perfectly cooked, but the lobster was a little tough. For one night's meal I chose salmon but neglected to look at what vegetables were being served with it and found a mound of plain white rice and steamed spinach on my plate. From then on, I carefully perused the menu! My bad. The menu for the "Evening with the Culinary Council" was not appealing to any of us, and before we had even been seated, our server mentioned that there was broiled chicken and steak on the always available menu. It made us wonder whether he had received some negative comments from the early diners.

On Monday, our one Sea Day, we were super lazy, eating breakfast in our cabin (another wonderful benefit of cruising with HAL). We took pictures around the ship, spent lots of time on our balcony reading and browsing the Web on our cell phones. We ate lunch in the Lido and had an excellent chai latte at the Explorations Café later. This was our first formal night. The dining room was so beautiful, with white covers on all the chairs. We had a window seat on the right side of the dining room (Table 22). My husband and I sat with our backs to the door every night, so I wasn't paying attention to how people were dressed. Our friend said it looked like one gentleman not in a jacket was sent away. We didn't see any men in the dining room without a jacket and tie on. I couldn't tell whether any of the men around us were wearing tuxes because as they walked by our table, I could only see their backs. I never thought to get up and walk around.

In Charlottetown we again ate in our cabin, met our friends and headed off the ship. We had rented a car from Budget. Budget doesn't come to the port to pick you up, so we took a cab to their office. In a very few minutes we were on our way, headed northeast. We had read about the Greenwich section of the PEI National Park that has a boardwalk through marshes and out to the beach, but the trail we took had no marshes or boardwalk on it, and after about twenty minutes, we decided to return to the car and try to find the "Singing Sands" beach at Basin Head Provincial Park on the eastern side of the Island. The sand supposedly squeaks when you walk on it, but with the waves crashing on the beach, we couldn't hear any squeaking. It's sure pretty though.

We drove north to the East Point Lighthouse at the very northeastern tip of the Island. There is a small café inside the lighthouse, so we had lunch there. We then headed back to Charlottetown and took a cab back to the ship. PEI baked potatoes were being served by the Dive In, and I can never pass up a good baked potato. We had dinner in the MDR.

In Sydney we ate breakfast in our cabin. We met our friends early and headed off the ship to pick up our rental car. In Sydney the folks from Budget do come right onto the pier to pick you up and take you to their office. Then we drove to the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, a recreation of a 1700s French fortress. The fortress was demolished in the 1760s. Reconstruction began in the 1960s, rebuilding one quarter of the original town and fortress. We timed our cruise this year so that we could see the Fortress with all its costumed characters. We had gone on our other cruises much later in the season, but after the Peak Season at the Fortress is over, the costumed characters were no longer there. We parked in a lot by the Visitor Center and were driven by bus to the Fortress a short distance away. At the main gate, we were met by a French "guard" who demanded to know why we were there. Everywhere we went we were able to talk to the folks in costume, who always stayed in character. The place is amazing. We saw solders demonstrate how they loaded and shot their muskets and canons. Fife and drum players marched through the streets. We had lunch at the Hotel de la Marine, where costumed servers and chefs make and serve authentic lower-class French meals like pea soup, meat pie and fish of the day made from recipes over two hundred and fifty years old.

We considered driving to see the oldest lighthouse in Canada, which can be seen from the Fortress, but my husband and friends were concerned about getting back to Sydney, so we had to skip that for this cruise. We returned the car to the Budget office in town and were driven back to the Port area. We took pictures of the ship and the big fiddle.

Halifax day started with breakfast in the cabin, and then we left the ship to board a bus for the ship's 7-1/2 hour excursion to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg, a UNESCO world heritage site. It was a good day to be on an excursion, because the Maasdam was the last ship to arrive in port, and she was docked at a working dock far away from the Terminal. Buses were hired to take people from and to the main terminal, as no one was allowed to walk in the area. Our tour guide was excellent -- a former history professor at Dalhousie University, who was very informative and entertaining. We stopped for a short time in Mahone Bay, and then headed to Lunenburg. The plan was to disembark the bus at the top of town and walk down to the main part of town while hearing about Lunenburg's architectural history. However, just as we left the bus, it started to rain, so we drove into the main part of town instead. The rain soon stopped, and we got to see some really interesting old buildings, including the second oldest church in Canada, which was rebuilt with help from the World Monuments Fund after a devastating fire. Most of the buildings in town are painted in very bright colors, and there is an active port area.

We ate lunch at the Grand Banker Bar & Grill, looking out over the old port. I had a wonderful lobster roll overflowing with lobster, along with a sweet potato fries. We had time to walk around the area near the Lunenburg port before we boarded the bus. We arrived back at the ship a little late, and she pulled out almost immediately.

After dinner that night we filled out Customs forms and went to the Front Desk to sign up for the Boston Tour and Airport Transfer excursion. We had planned to have the Rowe's Wharf water taxi take us to Rowe's Wharf near the Acquarium, where we planned to store our luggage and walk around Boston for a few hours. By this time in the cruise, however, "easier" became the plan for Boston.

Bar Harbor morning brought the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol folks out to the ship, about 25 minutes late. We were told what time to line up for the inspection, and at that time, we headed to the Explorations Café, only to find out that we should have started down about 30 minutes earlier. It seemed like the line snaked through the entire Deck 8. Everyone was in good spirits, though, and soon the line started moving. We simply handed the CBI man our passport, he looked at our pictures and welcomed us back to the United States. We then headed to the Showroom to get tender tickets for our Historic Lighthouses and Acadia National Park by Sea ship's excursion. Once we reached port, the catamaran we were cruising on was right there. Soon we were cruising along Mt. Desert Island and through the numerous small islands around it. It was amazing to see the boat navigate through hundreds of buoys for lobster traps. The seas were like glass, and the day was bright and hot. My husband and I stayed outside the boat on the entire trip, taking hundreds of photos. I highly recommend this excursion. Aside from the beauty of the cruise, the narration was great.

Back on land, our friends returned to the ship, while we had lunch at a café across the street from the port followed by a short walk around town. We returned to the ship for our afternoon nap, shower and packing before dinner.

Heading back to the beautiful Maasdam:

This was our last night aboard, and dress in the MDR was cruise casual. While waiting to go into the dining room, I heard the only rude comment about clothing, when a woman waiting across from us spied someone and said loudly to her companion that it was amazing what passed for cruise casual these days. I'm hoping it wasn't me she was talking about. :o

On our last morning, in Boston, we once again ate in our cabin and left the ship to meet the Boston Tour with Airport Transfer. We were surprised to find that we weren't on the list for the tour, even though we had been given the correct color luggage tags and time for the tour. It didn't matter, because the tour director took our key cards and charged us for it right there. The tour was enjoyable and informative. We got to the airport with about four hours to kill. Our flight to San Francisco was uneventful but long. For comfort's sake, we had purchased the middle seat so that my tall husband and I could spread out. Thank you, jetBlue.

As I mentioned at the start, this cruise exceeded our expectations, by a mile. Our last two cruises had been on the Eurodam and Westerdam, and we were ready to return to NCL for a cruise on one of their newer, big ships. Well, that's out the window! We came home and booked the same itinerary for next year on the Veendam, starting in Montreal.

Random thoughts about the Maasdam and this cruise:

We fell in love with this precious little ship. We had expected the ship to look older, but it is very modern, fresh and bright, elegant yet fun. We loved the designs and colors of the furniture and carpets in all the public areas, the bright lime green flower pots on the Lido and pool area tables really pop. There were flags from Canada, the U.S., the Province of Quebec, and more, hanging by the Lido pool, and items representative of cruising in Canada and New England were in the Lido and by the pool. Very cool.

The Maasdam's layout is similar to what you see on larger ships, but just smaller and easier to navigate (except for Deck 7 aft, which we finally figured out).

This was the perfect itinerary for us. We wanted to begin in Montreal and return to all the ports that were on this itinerary. Bar Harbor was a new port for us, and we loved it. It's a beautiful little town that we're looking forward to seeing again next year.

We were invited to the Welcome Reception that was held between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on the day we boarded, but we didn't go. The Mariner's Luncheon was held on the sea day between Quebec City and Charlottetown, at 1:00 p.m., but we were probably at the Dive In at that time. Some of you will recall the woman who wore sandals to the Luncheon and was criticized by a tablemate. Well, the wording "no shorts, tank tops or sandals please" is still on the invitation.

When we cruise, we spend a lot of time on our balcony just watching the world go by. We did not participate in any onboard activities, never saw a cooking demonstration nor attended a movie. We didn't visit any bars or participate in trivia. We didn't swim, but we did enjoy sitting by the pool. There were several very well-behaved children on this cruise, and they were delightful to watch in the Lido pool.

Our cabin stewards seemed to clean our cabin before our door was closed and were so friendly. All the crew, no matter where we saw them, always smiled and asked how we were doing. The women at the front desk were very helpful and always very courteous.

The Dive In, yes! It is one of my favorite spots on a HAL ship and a great dining option. The hamburgers are outrageous! Until this cruise we hadn't realized that other things, like the poutine and PEI baked potatoes and nachos are, also served there.

Lido Choices were excellent, and we loved the all-day ice cream and cookie station, which we used late every afternoon to hold us until late dining. The woman serving ice cream was so sweet. We were surprised that the Lido never seemed crowded, unlike so many other ships we've been on.

Teas! Yes, the good teas are back on the Maasdam! We didn't have to use the teabags we brought from home. Whatever teas HAL had stocked up on in the past were just horrid.

We loved the $49 unlimited laundry, and we'll bring fewer clothes on our next cruise and take advantage of this again.

The Internet plans are affordable. I'm sure we left some of our minutes on the ship, and we really tried to use all of them.

Full Room Service breakfasts are so nice to wake up to. You have to be in a full suite on NCL to enjoy breakfasts like these unless you pay extra for it. We loved them.

There was less smoking on the Maasdam than we have ever experienced on a cruise ship. It was quite remarkable. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was this particular group of passengers, who knows. We so appreciated the no-smoking nights in the casino. On the last night, when we went down to get our winnings, the casino smelled like casinos usually do. Other than that, we smelled smoke only one time, on the large balcony at the aft of Deck 9.

And, finally, when we return to HAL next August, we'll be 2-Star Mariners. Yes, we got our pins. Now, what do we do with them? ;)

Sounds like a great cruise - Looking at it for next year. Thanks for posting.

Great review.

We have taken Canada/NE cruises, b-to-b, year after year and always love it. IMO, it is one of HAL's best short cruises.

So happy you enjoyed it.

Thanks for all the time and work to share such a wonderful review with us.

Delighted to read your great review, thanks!

We will boarding the Maasdam 36 days from now, to go from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale (13 nights). So looking forward to it, and your review just adds to the anticipation :)

Thank you for your review. Looking forward to our time on the Maasdam.

Thank you for taking the time to write your wonderful review.

Loved all the details.

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

Did you get a Poutine in Quebec?

It was lovely to read such a nice review. I enjoyed reading it.

Thank you for your interesting review and for sharing your photos.....so pleasing to see on board photos of Maasdam, which we will sail on, while she is "down under" next year.

Enjoying reading your review. We cruise HAL, enjoy it a lot, including the MDR food and service, plus breakfast in the cabin. Even so, we elected to cruise on Cunard, Queen Mary 2, later this month on our first cruise on the east coast from New York (Brooklynn) to Quebec City and back. We considered going out of Boston, may still do some day. But American Airlines no longer has a non stop flight from San Francisco. Flying is such a tiring (we are seniors, have been traveling a long time, can remember when it was much more fun) these days, we try to only do non stops if we can. So elected Cunard instead of HAL.

Reading your review... gets me excited about up coming trip... thanks for sharing.

Thank you for posting your wonderful review.

Glad you had a good cruise.

Thank you for an outstanding review. We will be sailing on the MS Maasdam next month from Montreal to Port Everglades.

Your review definitely got us pumped up and looking forward to our next Dam cruise.

What a great review! So thorough and enjoyable to read!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us.

Delighted you enjoyed your cruise :)

Glad you had such a remarkable cruise. :) We're joining "aliaschief" and "islandblue" on the 17 October cruise and are quite confident we'll also have a great time. Thanks for your considerable effort reviewing your cruise. :cool:

Thanks everyone for such nice comments. For those going on Maasdam soon, I'm sure you will love her as much as we did. She's a little beauty.

Did you get a Poutine in Quebec?

Enjoying reading your review. We cruise HAL, enjoy it a lot, including the MDR food and service, plus breakfast in the cabin. Even so, we elected to cruise on Cunard, Queen Mary 2, later this month on our first cruise on the east coast from New York (Brooklynn) to Quebec City and back. We considered going out of Boston, may still do some day. But American Airlines no longer has a non stop flight from San Francisco. Flying is such a tiring (we are seniors, have been traveling a long time, can remember when it was much more fun) these days, we try to only do non stops if we can. So elected Cunard instead of HAL.

 

Reading your review... gets me excited about up coming trip... thanks for sharing.

Thanks for an excellent review. It's so good to read something so positive.:)

No cheese curds or gravy?

Thanks for the great photos and write-up! We haven't been on the Maasdam in a few years, but just returned from the Voyage of the Vikings on the Veendam and are pleased to share our photos from that with you on our smugmug site too...and you will see the resemblance of your cabin to ours.

We've been to all the places, except Montreal, on extended RV trips, so it was nice to see them from a cruiser's point of view.

We were in Bar Harbor on Aug. 28 with the Maasdam, but I don't think that was on "your trip"...I have photos if it was. That was our last day before Boston.

Again...lovely photos to see...and great info on where to stay in Montreal...and eat!

No cheese curds or gravy?

Thanks for the great photos and write-up! We haven't been on the Maasdam in a few years, but just returned from the Voyage of the Vikings on the Veendam and are pleased to share our photos from that with you on our smugmug site too...and you will see the resemblance of your cabin to ours.

 

 

We've been to all the places, except Montreal, on extended RV trips, so it was nice to see them from a cruiser's point of view.

 

We were in Bar Harbor on Aug. 28 with the Maasdam, but I don't think that was on "your trip"...I have photos if it was. That was our last day before Boston.

 

Again...lovely photos to see...and great info on where to stay in Montreal...and eat!

So good isn't it!

Thanks for your review. Love the Maasdam and this itinerary!!

Thanks for the great photos and write-up! We haven't been on the Maasdam in a few years, but just returned from the Voyage of the Vikings on the Veendam and are pleased to share our photos from that with you on our smugmug site too...and you will see the resemblance of your cabin to ours.

 

 

We've been to all the places, except Montreal, on extended RV trips, so it was nice to see them from a cruiser's point of view.

 

We were in Bar Harbor on Aug. 28 with the Maasdam, but I don't think that was on "your trip"...I have photos if it was. That was our last day before Boston.

 

Again...lovely photos to see...and great info on where to stay in Montreal...and eat!

BTW, we were also in Halifax with you on Friday. I sat on our balcony and watched the Veendam slowly pass us on our way to Bar Harbor.