Live from the Maasdam - May 1 – 16, 2015 The Atlantic Coast

Hi Everyone! My DM (Dear Mother) and I are off on another adventure, up the east coast of North America. It’s a 15 day cruise with 11 ports. After the cruise, we’ll spend a couple of days in Montreal and then an additional few days in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. This trip will strike three places off of DM’s bucket list! Here’s the cruise itinerary:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/images/itineraryMaps/detail/N5N15S.jpg?windowUrl=http%3A//www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action%3FwebItineraryIdForAudit%3DN5N15S%26fromSearchVacation%3Dtrue%26destList%3DN%26dateCode%3D5_2015%26flexibleMonths%3Dfalse%26noOfFlexibleMonths%3D1%26portCode%3D%26shipCodeSearch%3D%26voyageCode%3DM526

(Of course, now that I'm home and working in a different browser, the image won't come through. :o Sorry, you'll have to click on the link.)

The bucket list places are Charleston, Magdalen Islands (Iles de la Madeleine) and the Eastern Townships. As we toodle along on this adventure, I’ll post a bit about our experiences to stay in touch with family and friends. If you’d like to ask any questions, go ahead and I’ll do my best to answer them or find the answers for you. For those of you who are following along but are not Cruise Critic members, you will not be able to post any questions or make any comments until you become a member. You’ll have to save your comments until we get home and chat in person. Or you could join Cruise Critic (it's free) and get to know a whole other world!

On Thursday, we will fly to Fort Lauderdale, and we set sail on Friday, May 1st. We have booked a “wave” from PTZ so you can watch us sail off on our adventure at approximately 6:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm MDT) by watching at http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com. We were originally supposed to leave at 4 pm but the ship requires a deep clean before we embark, delaying our departure. Hopefully, at least, one of us will be there waving as we have booked early fixed dining so it’s possible that one, or both, of us could be at dinner when sailaway actually occurs. Other people from the CC Roll Call may join us at the wave as well. We, or I, will be wearing a bright pink shirt so you can find us. I will try to post any updates here on this thread. Who knows, we may be able to leave earlier than anticipated. Take care, my friends, and thanks for joining us vicariously!

What an adventure that is ahead of you!

Bon Voyage to you and your Mom.

Enjoy this fabulous cruise!

Denise :)

Wishing you and your mother a wonderful cruise.

Looks like an awesome cruise. Bon Voyage!

Fantastic - will be looking forward to following your trip, particularly hearing about the menus, state of the ship, shows etc if you will be including in your Life from thread...

We will be on the following sailing and looking forward to seeing the Maasdam..

Have a great cruise!!!

:):):)

Looking forward to your review.

Had to cancel our cruise this year to Alaska, so now are considering the 15 day one out of Seattle next year on the Maasdam. If we book the cruise, it will be our first time on HAL although we have cruised about 12 times before on other lines.

Thank you too for your help earlier in the month with my questions. Greatly appreciated.

I did a similar itinerary a couple of years ago and had a great time, though it was COLD once we got into Canada.

Fair winds and following seas.

Happy sailing to you and Mum, Clipper! Thrilled to be following along on your journey. Will be looking for you both at sailaway. Welcome to the east coast. Kick some butt in "Name that Tune" so that our tradition lives on;)!

Looking forward to your "Live" review.

We have also done a similar itinerary and loved it.

Thanks for doing this live review...enjoy! Hoping Hal will do the same itinerary next year...but not sure as the Maasdam is going to Alaska? We are waiting for itineraries to come out...

Think we met last year on the Westerdam repo! Hope you and your Mom have a wonderful cruise...Charleston is wonderful:)

Alberta Quilter, there are over 100 of us signed up on the Maasdam 50 day cruise roll call for Oct 30 sailing. Last year we heard many reports of plumbing stateroom issues on the same cruise in 2014. I am sure all of us would be grateful to hear any updated information you report on this. Thank you for doing the live cruise blog. Relax, enjoy, have fun! --Charles

Bon Voyage! I'll be watching sail-away; assuming you are not at dinner, where should we look for you? Will you be on a balcony or on deck?

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

I'm happy to see you are doing a live from thread. I've enjoyed your threads in the past and the fact that you actually come back to it every day. Thx so much and have a great time. I hope your delay isn't too long today.

Thanks for inviting us along on your trip, Clipper! DH & I are booked on the Maasdam for Alaska next year (again), so any information you can give us about the ship, particularly any "secrets", will be much appreciated. It's been quite a while since we've sailed on her so I know things will be different.

Bon voyage!

Edi

We've been on the Maasdam twice and loved it. In fact, we've been on more HAL ships than any other. Wish they docked in Miami instead of Pt Everglades....it's such a l o n g drive to Ft Lauderdale. (LOL!) :D:D

Waiting to hear about your cruise.

hi, AQ,, im looking forward, also to your reports,, I'll be on the Maasdam in Montreal on the 16th, so take care of her---:)---joanie

Bon Voyage! I'll be watching sail-away; assuming you are not at dinner, where should we look for you? Will you be on a balcony or on deck?

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

We will be on Deck 12, midship, in front of the magrodome - wearing bright pink shirts.

In Toronto now, just waiting to board the flight to FLL. Funny thing, we may another couple, who will be on the cruise, in the wheelchair lineup in TO. They also flew in on the same flight as us.

Looking forward to your review. Hope you have a great cruise!!

I will miss your sailaway as I will be on a train with no internet. i will be checking in from time to time. Have a wonderful cruise.

Roy

Thanks for doing this live review...enjoy! Hoping Hal will do the same itinerary next year...but not sure as the Maasdam is going to Alaska? We are waiting for itineraries to come out...

 

Think we met last year on the Westerdam repo! Hope you and your Mom have a wonderful cruise...Charleston is wonderful:)

YES, Maasdam will be doing the 14 day roundtrip out of Seattle to Alaska in 2016. Here's the link to the itinerary (I did a search using Alaska, June 2016, cruise only, etc.)

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?webItineraryIdForAudit=A6L14S&fromSearchVacation=true&destList=cruises,A&dateCode=6_2016&flexibleMonths=false&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&voyageCode=M656

Thank you Alberta Quilter for doing our live review. The weather down here is gorgeous today. Will see you on the 12 deck for our camera debut!!

Just a few more hours.

Alma

Hi Alberta Q. Its Pat here (from last May's 14 day to Alaska on the Amsterdam). Will be following your posts and will tune in for your wave. We are still dreaming of Alaska and will probably do the Maasdam next June.

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!

Pat/Jim

It's beautiful in FLL today! Perfect weather right now but I suspect it will get too warm for me later. I'm already seeing the effects of the humidity here. My skin is moistening up and my hair is getting frizzier with every passing minute! We've checked out of the hotel and are sitting outside, in the shade. Quite enjoyable!

Hope the special cleaning crew gets all the germs off the ship.

Wishing you a great cruise.

Bon Voyage!!