Good Morning from the Maasdam

We are on way to HMC, the ship is older but very elegant, all staff on board are super friendly. We saw Shy the first day at lunch on the Lido Deck. He is certainly not shy and already knows our names. We are settling in, embarcaton was very easy. Have not completely explored the ship but it seems to be in very good shape. I will try to check on later in the week, if anyone has any questions will try to answer. Service in the dining room was a little slow the first night but improved 100% last night. Looking forward to a great day at HMC, although they have shortened the time there and I heard they have shortened times at other ports but do not know this for sure.

Thanks for reporting in. Glad you're well underway and things seem to be going well. HMC is a marvelous place, so I'm sure you'll have a great day there.

Hi Jane!

Hope you have a GREAT cruise!

If you get a chance, please tell Shy that Pat says "HI!" He is SO sweet!

THANKS again for checking in! Have a WONDERFUL vacation!

Pat

glad you are enjoying the Maasdam. We enjoyed her this summer on our 35 day voyage. Please tell Shy that Judy and Maxine send a big hello. We had him as our server and really enjoyed him.

Have a great time! I'll look forward to your posts.

Jane, glad you are having a great time. Maasdam really is a great ship, I love all the detailing of the woods espcieally in the show room.

 

Glad you met Shy, You are right he is definitely NOT Shy:D

 

Be sure to say " Hi" from Tom and Lisa.

 

Thanks so much for reporting, hope you have a wonderful week.

Thanks for checking in, and for the offer to answer questions.

So, I'll take you up on it!

If you get a chance please look up Musa---he was on the other Lido side on my cruise and greeted my every single day. Sometimes many times in a day!

Also, Rolando is a cook in the Lido. He had the biggest smile and warm welcome every single time I passed.

Please give them both a great big "hello" from me.

And, svp, who is playing in the Piano Bar these days? Any good?

Continue having a great cruise on a great ship.

Please say hello to Shy from Barbara and Obrien from the Rotterdam to Boston cruise. (For some reason, perhaps from my CC name, Shy thought my first name was Obrien and he called me that throughout the cruise.)

Looking forward to a great day at HMC, although they have shortened the time there and I heard they have shortened times at other ports but do not know this for sure.

Wonder if the ship blew a bearing again? That happened twice this summer (they said once, but it was twice and on the same shaft) and we had to shorten and/or miss port calls.

 

I doubt anybody onboard would remember me, but I did a b2b the last week of June and the first week of July, NE/C, and kept a running thread going, "Live from the Maasdam," which members of the crew seemed to like. It was half factual, half comedic, with a real review at the end when I had time to sit back and think. Luckman remembered me from a previous cruise; "the writer," as he called me.

TomC, I was thinking the exact same thing about the shortened port visits. We like the Maasdam very much in spite of its periodic problems. We preceeded you by a couple of weeks, being on the relocation cruise from Norfolk to Montreal in May. We did get to experience the inside waterfall (our floor, but not our cabin). Fortunately it was a cold water pipe that burst putting out the back bank of elevators for about a day. But fortunately we did not have any bearing problems since that had been happening on an almost too frequent basis.

 

Only other variance was beyond their control. We had to delay leaving Quebec (no problem) because rains had raised the St. Lawrence, so we had to wait until a lower tidal time so that we could fit under the bridge. That was a cool sight about midnight and with lots of people up on that very top deck.

 

TomC, my spouse does not read things on CC, but I got her hooked on reading yours and then later the messages from Ruth. Thanks for your wonderful contributions. Randy

Good morning all! I will relay all messages! Ruth, not sure about the piano bar, will find out. We had an absolutely gorgeous day at HMC, this is the third private island we've been to and without a doubt the nicest! We were late in leaving last night (about an hour or a little more) as a tender right below our cabin was giving them problems. They could not get it back up where it should be. I also heard through the grapevine that there were some engine problems but an not sure what kind. I do remember the problems from last year. I did talk to someone yesterday who had just retired from a shipyard in Norfolk and he said the Maasdam was coming in shortly for it's drydock and they were going to be doing some engine work. Again, not sure about all this. The more we are on the ship the more I like it. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. To be a smaller ship the movement is minimal and more of a slow roll, that is very nice when you are in bed, like being rocked to sleep, although we have had near perfect weather, hope it continues.

RuthC,

Hi, I just got off the Maasdam on Saturday and can answer your questions. Randall Powell is in the Piano Bar, and he is pretty good and a lot of fun. Some nights after closing the Piano Bar, he would go along with everyone up to the Crow's Nest. He is from Texas and has a lot of great stories. He also did a Name that Tune every night, as opposed to only one.

 

I know Rolando, too, from my other cruises on the Maasdam, but only saw him a few days last week. Dont know if he was reassigned, but I only saw him a few times.

Thank you for your posts from the Maasdam, as i will be boarding on the 16. Is the Lido self serve now? And do you know the distance if you walk around the LowerProm deck, as we just recieved our cabin number. Thanks so much. Sassy/Debbie

Thank you for the info on what's going on in "my" Piano Bar. (Hey, the ship may be sail's, but that bar is mine! :D ). What time did Randall close it up? I remember when that bar was open 'til 2:00; then it started to close at 1:00. Last cruise it shut down at midnight. Bummer.

Rolando was so nice to me. I had a special request for every morning, and he not only had it ready when I got there, frequently he saw me at the beginning of the line and brought it down! His greeting made it worth getting up. :)

Could you tell me if they serve hot wings on lido deck?

 

Thanx in advance

Jane.....We are looking forward to your posts this week. We'll be getting on the ship as you are getting off. Thanks for taking the time to report to us!

Hi everyone, we are still having beautiful weather and are entering St. Thomas.

 

The Lido deck is partly self service, desserts, salads, the entrees they serve you, it's very effecient and nice. I have not seen any hot wings there.

 

4 times around the promanade deck is a mile.

 

Miss Ruth! Friends have said the piano bar is great, so we will try to stay up tonight to check it out! I have seen Muso and given him your regards, will check for Renaldo.

 

I have given Shy everyone's regards, sorry for misspellings, but the minutes fly when your paying dearly for it! We have had beautiful weather and we are really enjoying the ship. We received a letter last night stating they have had some bathroom problems, we also have a little mini-flood in our bathroom when hubby takes a shower but it soon goes away!

 

Hope I answered all questions. Will check in tomorrow. To everyone waiting to sail the Maasdam I'm sure you will not be disapointed, it's a great ship.

Each day you enjoy your trip, the closer we get to ours! I'll be thinking of you shopping for the "bling" today.

Miss Ruth! I have seen Muso and given him your regards, will check for Renaldo.

Thank you for that. One quick correction: it's "Rolando" who's the Lido cook. He had a small serving of applesauce ready for me every morning; I needed it to take a pill.

Thanks for the info from the ship and please keep it coming. My husband and I are on the next sailing on the 16th and could not be more excited.

Hi BooBoo29,

 

We have a Roll Call going for next week. ... Welcome along....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=230695

Is this the same sweetie who took care of you each morning?

Hope this photo comes through-I've never done this before.

rocks

Just checking to see if photo can be seen....

OOOHHH it didn't get in the right place!

SOO small...Guess I don't know the trick!

rocks

Jane,

 

I hope you are continuing to have a great cruise. Thanks for taking time to post here. In your first post you mentioned you had heard that your time in ports would be shortened. Did this happen? If so, any idea why? I'm on the 26 November Southern Caribbean sailing. I'm so looking forward to this cruise. I hope you continue to have great weather and wonderful experiences on your cruise!

 

Jennifer

Hi from chilly NYC

 

If anybody could let us know what the weather has been like on the islands. Thanks