Btimmer's Almost Live Blog - Maasdam to Sri Lanka 2019

[DWAliaschief]

20 hours ago, Btimmer said:

It's a RavPower RP-WD03 with a self contained battery.  In summary one electronically connects the router to the Ship's WiFi, puts the router in Bridge mode,  and then connect your devices via WiFi to the router.  It's a bit more fiddly than that, and I could write up a detailed description on my blog if there is sufficient interest.

It would probably be better if you could send the details in an email to me rather than cluttering up this thread! 

Thanks - Susan 

aliaschief at aol dot com

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, ger_77 said:

A couple of cabin question for you - have the small televisions been replaced, or are they still the little computer-sized screens?   How well did the air conditioning work during your trip?  Would you suggest an extra (albeit) small fan?

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

We are in 728, an outside ocean view cabin and the TV is the small antique style computer monitor.  Our stateroom is perfectly cool and I've heard of no other complaints about a/c.  The shower is a high step in tub.  Size wise, we really like the room.

 

HTH,

 

Tim

[Btimmer]

30 minutes ago, DWAliaschief said:

It would probably be better if you could send the details in an email to me rather than cluttering up this thread! 

Thanks - Susan 

aliaschief at aol dot com

Will do. I'll do it on a future sea day.

[ger_77]

Thanks a bunch; we’re boarding next week and wondered what we can expect. 

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, ger_77 said:

Thanks a bunch; we’re boarding next week and wondered what we can expect. 

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

It's been rock solid smooth sailing thus far.  Hardly a ripple in the Lido pool!

[cat shepard]

If you would be willing to also send the instructions to me via email, I would be very grateful, too.

 

annge3 at gmail dot com

[Btimmer]

We did a Zodiac snorkeling trip yesterday at Utheemu and I heartily recommend it.

 

Captain Arno Jutten piloting our Zodiac.  He truly loves this part of his job and is very good at it.

 

At the Beach

 

Returning to the Maasdam.

[Btimmer]

Story time is back with Ashok Ferrey sharing 3 of his short stories about travel experiences.  About 30 people were in attendance!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures.

[ScottishMaid]

We loved story time in the Crow's Nest last fall on the Maasdam. For me the Maasdam had the perfect evening: early dinner, a short half hour talk at 7:15 pm by one of the speakers in the Wajang theater, including audience questions. Then the evening entertainment in the main lounge followed by a story from one of the speakers. As the speakers came from many parts of the world we heard amazing stories of their travels and could ask lots of questions. This close up access to the speakers really gave the feeling of being on a much smaller ship than the Maasdam. We also had the chance to talk with the people organizing EXC In Depth and they listened to our ideas. Can't wait for our next cruise Seattle to Tokyo this July.

[Btimmer]

As we're approaching the end of this segment, here are a few pictures from our mangrove tour today at Langawi, Malaysia.  It's 94° f here today.Mother & Baby Monkey at the Bay Cave

 

Our boat driver

 

Bats in the Bat Cave

 

Rock formation.  The white spots are saltwater spray.

 

 Sailing ship framed by the Maasdam's Bow lines

 

Crocodile Cave

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

[Floridiana]

What a  wonderful blog! Very well written and informative. I wonder whether the zodiac rides are included in the price or do you pay extra?

 

 

Edited February 13, 2019 by Floridiana

[Btimmer]

38 minutes ago, Floridiana said:

What a  wonderful blog! Very well written and informative. I wonder whether the zodiac rides are included in the price or do you pay extra?

 

 

Thank you for your kind words!

 

the Zodiacs are an extra cost shore excursion.  I did purchase ours during a HAL sale.

[Btimmer]

From the Guest Chef's dinner in the Pinnacle Grill tonight.  It was a Malaysian theme by Pearly Gee from Penang, Malaysia.Menu

 

Course #1 - spicy Pork & okra - Pretty Good

Course #2 - Essentially a liver pâté.  Not our favorite 

 

 

Course #3 - Fish & veggiesCourse #4 - Chicken Curry & Blue Rice

 

Course #5 - desert 

 

Angela & Pearly Gee

 

Wait Staff

[cat shepard]

Blue rice! Any clue what the flavoring was that caused that color? 

[Krazy Kruizers]

The Guest Chef's dinner looks delicious.

[Btimmer]

5 hours ago, cat shepard said:

Blue rice! Any clue what the flavoring was that caused that color? 

The Guest Chef's husband told us it was lotus flower petals.

[Btimmer]

We took a Holland America Tour today and visited the Presidential Palace, the twin towers, Independence Square, and Chinatown before return to the ship where a large Chinese Cruise Ship (Genting Dream) had joined us.  We celebrated Valentines Day in the Lido as our last dinner meal.

 

All of the details are in my blog.

 

Presidential Palace

 

Guard on horse

 

Standing Guard (in 94°f heat) 

 

Petralas Towers

 

Fountain Activity 

 

Incense at old Chinese temple 

 

We have company (Genting Dream - 3500 passenger capacity).

 

Lido Dinner.  The artichokes were fabulous.

 

We shared a chocolate heart on Valentines Day!

Edited February 14, 2019 by Btimmer

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures.

 

Love the looks of the chocolate heart.

[puppycanducruise]

Lovely chocolate heart.

Happy Valentine's Day.

[cruisemom42]

I don't know how I missed this earlier, but thank you for your blog. It's terrific, and I am more and more interested in the Maasdam "EXC in-depth" experiment as it sounds right up my alley.

 

Hoping the next batch of itineraries provides something other than Australia/NZ, Alaska and Asia itineraries. I would love to see this program on a cruise to Greenland and Iceland, for example....

Edited February 14, 2019 by cruisemom42

[Martezz]

Hi Tim, 

i enjoyed your reports, blog, and photos.  It sounds like you had another great exc voyage.  Looking forward to joining you in July!

[OlsSalt]

Great reports, btimmer. Glad to learn the lecturer quality and the passenger engagement remains high.  

Any word if both the captain and KK will still be on for next July 19 InDepth - SF to Japan? 

 

Looks like we both will be sharing our Gold Medallion moment on that cruise, unless you have even another HAL cruise tucked in somewhere in between. 

[NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope]

Enjoyed your blog very much. Thanks for vicariously taking me along.