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Live from the Maasdam - March 28th Southern Caribbean

kazu

By kazu,
in Holland America Line

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BeagleOne

BeagleOne

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I saw you sail away this afternoon, including the zoom-in on your group! Looking forward to reading about your trip.

 

I'm thinking of booking a cruise on the Maasdam for January but am concerned about some of the negative reports I've been reading. Hoping that you can report a lot of positive things about that beautiful petite ship and her crew.

 

Bon voyage!

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erewhon Holiday Sharing Rare

erewhon

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Great picture. I watched you all sail away live. Could someone ID Jacqui.I think she's in the pink jacket.

 

I believe that Jacqui is wearing a pink top, right arm waving, holding the Canadian flag with her left hand, on the balcony of cabin 026.

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sapper1

sapper1

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I believe that Jacqui is wearing a pink top, right arm waving, holding the Canadian flag with her left hand, on the balcony of cabin 026.

 

The lady in the pink shirt on the balcony to the left is Jacqui. She is by the Canadian flag.

 

 

Jacqui---it was great fun watching you sail. DH even came home from work early to watch. He didn't say that was why he was early but since he is never home at that time I knew.

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mamaofami

mamaofami

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I believe that Jacqui is wearing a pink top, right arm waving, holding the Canadian flag with her left hand, on the balcony of cabin 026.

 

The lady in the pink shirt on the balcony to the left is Jacqui. She is by the Canadian flag.

 

 

Thank you both for identifying Jacqui.That's a nice CC group they have there.

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POA1 "Live from...." Rare

POA1

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I sure hope that's what it is. Have there been any reports about the internet quality on the Maasdam recently?

 

Roy

 

People were posting from the Maasdam last month. Hopefully she's just having too much fun.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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The lady in the pink shirt on the balcony to the left is Jacqui. She is by the Canadian flag.

 

 

Jacqui---it was great fun watching you sail. DH even came home from work early to watch. He didn't say that was why he was early but since he is never home at that time I knew.

 

 

OMG - our group was truly honoured if he came home early to watch.:D

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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thank you everyone for all the wonderful good wishes.

 

I had a report ready to go, but the internet hasn't liked me. It has been sporadic to say the least.

 

They have the new wifi system which is supposed to be faster, but when I went because I could not get connected I was told it was down and would be for at least a day. OMG I thought we were in the Caribbean. I had better wifi reception on the Prinsendam when we crossed the Atlantic.

 

Right now, we are in St. Thomas and I am taking advantage of wifi here to try to bring things up to date - or at least to begin my report.

 

Bear with me and she will be coming :D

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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I should have perchance called this the cruise of hiccups. Don't misunderstand. Hiccups don't ruin a cruise but it is starting to look like there will be few hiccups for a few days. Hiccups can all be fixed - like smoothing out a bump, it just takes a bit of time.

 

March 28th - we all head off to board the Maasdam. No email from HAL so we all decided to head there for 11:30ish and get on in time to have the Mariner's lunch.

 

Our first warning should have been when we handed our luggage to the stevedores (sp?) and they said that our bags would probably be in our rooms starting at 2:30 pm.

 

As we entered the terminal we were handed a note that due to the NORO that was on board recently, the ship was having some additional deep cleaning and boarding would commence around 1:30 pm. So, for those wondering as I was on the thread I had started about deep cleaning after NORO is resolved - the answer is YES and the boarding is delayed. HAL had bottles of water and granola bars to keep people happy.

 

For those wondering, HAL's advisory also stated that if anyone wanted to cancel their cruise due to fears of the past NORO or because they were ill, the entire cruise would be refunded. So, no one need fear to be honest and all monies are reimbursed. (I remember the same notice when the Prinsendam had NORO as well).

 

Since we are 4* mariners, we and gigianne boarded around 1:00 pm. It was announced that the rooms wouldn't be ready until later, however our rooms were ready within 10 minutes and we could get rid of our valuables and tote bags.

 

Surprisingly, the On Location announced the Mariner Luncheon and it was scheduled for a later time to accommodate the later boarding. Since we have only done this once, the four of us decided to head there. Mariner's lunch was quite good and everyone left satisfied and happy. On a side note, there was a wine steward there offering the wine packages to be ordered since we were all mariners. We took the listing to review and she came back to take everyone's orders except ours. Turns out there are going to be some hiccups on this cruise - none of them are deal breakers but we will report the hiccups we have encountered. This was one of them.

 

In between gigianne had been exploring the ship and commented on the wonderful cleanliness onboard. Our bags arrived before the slated time and we tore to get stuff put away before the lifeboat drill as we were preparing for the sail a way right after and had company coming.

 

Life boat drill was around 15 minutes long as we waited for the traditional stragglers. Then we headed back to the balcony to get all the Canadian flags up. Gigianne was next door to us so the plan was to use both balconies and have lots of Canadian flags up. Sadly the wind was very troublesome and we learned something for the next time. So, just one flag ended up and sadly, our scissors were lost in the sea.

 

Joining us on deck were 2xayear, shrimpboat123, gigianne, Rotary, 0bnxshs & Missy's Mom and Missy's Mom's parents along with Skipper's Mom. We had fun waving and celebrating with some libations.

 

2xayear has a small surprise planned for the roll call. He created all these cool magnets which appear magically on people's doors every day. So, once the celebrations were done, I was off to deliver the meet and greet invites and the magnets for the cabins I was taking care of.

 

Gigianne's nametags which have long become infamous deserved a special magnet so he made a special one re-creating her name tag and a special one for shrimpboat123 (a shrimp boat). Not sure who else he did something special for (I didn't see any others when I was delivering the invites but I could have been blind or he might not have been finished) but it is truly a unique and wonderful idea and I thank him for doing this.

 

We are doing main dining with a table of 6 and gigianne is doing any time dining so we should be able to share the two experiences for those that are interested.

 

First dinner in the MDR is always interesting. Prime Rib is always a guarantee on night one and after hearing gigianne's report (they eat earlier than we do), I figured it was a safe bet. Their prime rib was good as well as was mine however shrimboat123's was not. Wondering if it depends upon how it is ordered? Mine was rare while his was more well done. When I asked him, it turned out the waiter never even asked him how he would like his beef! (hiccup?) Overall, the meal was good with a couple of other hiccups - my salad came with the dressing already dumped on it. Guess I have become spoiled by the EE, so I made a mental note to ask for the dressing on the side in the future. After dinner the three ladies ordered tea. One of the ladies asked for the tea chest which had limited offerings to say the least. Oh well, selections were made and the waiter came with the hot water, took the tea bags, put them in the cups and poured hot water over them. Yup, that's another hiccup. What happened to the tea pots???? When we asked they said that they were few and far between. huh?? The ladies made a pact that they would not have tea again unless they had a teapot. Problem solved.

 

We thought the service quite reasonable for a first night. We were out of the dining room in just over an hour and 1/2. A bit of a wander around the ship to see what has changed and what hadn't.

 

Some changes that we have noticed so far on the Maasdam - It appears that the rugs and the couch in the S cabins are new. It also appears that they closed in what we recall as being a desk area and put in more cupboards. There are certainly more than we need but I sort of miss that nice area where you could sit and look out the window and piddle on your ipad, make notes, or whatever. I suspect the chairs at the sea view pool are all new as are the chairs on our deck as they are all in pristeen shape.

 

We haven't found those beach towels that we have seen mentioned on the boards in our room. I asked gigianne and she hasn't seen them either so it appears the new towel system is not in place on the ship. Checking, towels are still supplied when you get off the ship.

 

Now as to the real towels in the bathroom, they are big, fluffy and white - not the dull, grey, thin towels that were previously reported - so that is a very nice improvement.

 

Maasdam has the new internet system and apparently it is supposed to be fast when it works. I tried signing on with my ipad and got nowhere. No one else could get it to work either and when we asked if this was the last night to get the 10% additional minutes we were told yes, so I went to the Internet cafe to sign on.. Guess what? another hiccup - no extra internet minutes. ughh. The on location the next day said the offer was extended and when the internet manager was asked, she said no, it was not offered the first day. huhh? Since internet has not been available, it doesn't make much difference so I am hoping my day 2 I can get this posted. Looks like if this continues, I won't need those extra 10% of minutes anyways.

 

OK, despite what the port guide says on the back, the Pinnacle Grill really is $29. For pricing they are showing the PG at $25 (the old price) but is really $29. Just a little hiccup, right?

 

Now, we have to remember that the first day or two of cruising is hectic for the staff with code orange and I very much suspect that the CDC inspection did not help on our embarkation day - but those are initial hiccups that we know we can cure.

 

Embarkation with our wine was quite easy as we just went over to the side, they jotted down the wines we were bringing, put stickers on two bottles and we paid our $36 corkage fee. Pretty smooth - the only 'hiccup' we would report is that some people were not asked to go over. They were just bringing the allowed amount on, but everyone in our line had to go over while that line apparently did not have to (or were missed). Perplexing but all was good.

 

 

 

 

 

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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Those that cruise with me know I am a glass 1/2 full type person, but this hiccup was a biggie stuff. When we arrived in our cabin, our confirmations of gifts, orders, etc. slowly dribbled in. This was understandable with the delays and CDC inspection so I wasn't concerned. By 6 pm all our confirmations were in our room except for the meet and greet confirmation. A little nervous, I went to inquire. They said they would check into it. By dinner time, I still had nothing and went back to the concierge (the meet and greet was scheduled for the next day).

 

of course, I had my confirmation in my emails, but as a planner (and those that have cruised with me know I dot my i's and cross my t's) - so nothing worse than not having the final confirmation.

 

Fortunately, by 10 pm that night it had arrived in my room and my worries could cease and I could sleep soundly.

 

Ok, now on to the good stuff :D

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