"LIVE" From The Maasdam (by tomc)

[lakeboji]

:eek: Some Harvard MBA just figured out that they could paint the hull in port and not lose a week's revenue if they just turned the ship upside down during a port stop. They are still working on an incentive to get everyone to take a shore excursion. :D:D:D:D

[Himself]

TOM:

 

May the second half of you voyage be delightful.

[aliaschief]

Tom, As usal thanks for taking all of us on your cruise. Great writing, humor and good to know stuff......Thanks;)

[bob brown]

tomc--is there scenery to see as you cruise the St Lawrence? Or is it just a sea day with on board activities?

The river narrows considerably from Quebec City on to Montreal. One reason that you don't see the mega-ships on that segment. You are close enough to both shorelines to see little villages, nice waterfront cabins and homes, et.

There used to be a couple that owned a waterfront home that rigged a powerful loudspeaker to 'entertain' cruise ship passengers with rousing music as they passed by. It was around an hour or two after departing Quebec City on the south shore. They may still be doing it.

The entrance to Montreal is very interesting to watch. The navigation takes considerable skill.

This is one cruise where it is nice to have a good set of binoculars.

[Himself]

Tom:

Over the last week over 3000 people have looked at this posts. While under 80 have made comments many many more are reading it and enjoying it. Keep up the good work.

[helenb]

I'm reading! We're on this cruise (14 days roundtrip out of Boston) leaving next week, so I'm soaking up the details!

[Debbie&Chaz]

Tom:

Over the last week over 3000 people have looked at this posts. While under 80 have made comments many many more are reading it and enjoying it. Keep up the good work.

 

As one of the 3000, I just want to add my thanks. Tom - your "live from" threads are always entertaining.

[tomc]

Went out for a ride and some ice cream with my Quebecois brother this morning, then came back for lunch in the Lido. Supper tonight is that Master Chef's thing, which I've seen too often (twice) and will head to the Lido.

 

I'll let you know if the music man is still playing the national anthems and raising the flag tonight. We are leaving early (3pm, I think) due to the tides. Time, tide and the Quebec Bridge wait for no one.

 

Tea and nap time.

[Two@Sea]

Ice cream before lunch... ya gotta love vacation! :D

[retiredkid]

Ice cream before lunch... ya gotta love vacation! :D

 

sounds like heaven to me:D goodonya, tomc :)

[tomc]

Alone and lonely

I've got my single-share cabin all to myself next week, so sez my cabin steward. I can deal with that.

 

Close call

We're in the St. L. and, while the river is wide, the channel is narrow. There was a freighter which inched by us (well, ok, not quite that close) and then a small cruise boat, cruise ship, whatever. "Vacancies," from somewhere in Quebec. Probably somewhere fairly near the water.

 

Chef's Master Dinner

Went to it twice in the past. Once too often. Dined in the Lido this time.

 

Everything Must Go!

I don't see any of those "end of cruise" sales this week. Normally, all the stuff they didn't sell on previous cruises elsewhere is marked down to only 3x shoreside price equivalent.

 

Everybody Must Go!

'cept for me, of course. ha ha

[hulamoon]

Just logged on the CC and was beginning to think I should rent a movie for Friday evening, then I found your thread tomc.

 

I am enjoying your adventure very much.

 

Good to hear you won't have to share a cabin with a smelly axe murdered.

[Himself]

Tom:

I hope you had a good nights sleep.

[sevenseasnomad]

Am enjoying this so much, Tom, as we are going on this same trip (14-day) next July. Thanks for all the tips. Just said to DH that you're outlining things that could happen to us (missed ports, early departure etc.) so we're better prepared. Thanks a bunch for taking time to post.

[tomc]

Overheard on the back deck from Southerners.

"It's cold out there. This is Montreal, honey; it's not Florida." I thought it was a bit cool, but that's about it.

 

She wants to be felt up?

A lady at my table started to wave her hands at her upper feminine parts as she looked at me, then went for her throat. I dropped everything and dove over to do a Heimlich, but she coughed it out before I got there. Later, as I reflected on the moment, I thought, "That's not where you do the Heimlich [see, "Upper Feminine Parts," above], so does she want to pass away happy?"

 

I almost had to do this with a friend some months ago after the people around him said, "Oh, he'll be ok." This time, the others weren't saying that, but none of the tablemates knew how to do the H maneuver.

 

Survey form prize.

None. No more backpacks, umbrellas or other things you really hadn't planned on packing.

 

"Mr. and Mrs. Jones, cabin 414, please come to the Front Office.."

No such announcements this trip. You know:

9:30 "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, cabin 414, please come to the Front Office. Mr. and Mrs. Jones."

9:35 "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, cabin 414, please call the Front Office, dial 9-0."

9:40 "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, if it's not too much of a problem, do you think you might be able to move your butts down to the Front Office before we move them for you?"

9:45 "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, get your @ down here."

9:50 "We are sorry for the confusion and loud noises near cabin 414. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have finally come to the Front Office for what will be their final voyage on any ship of the Holland America Line or, for that matter, of our parent company, Carnival Cruise Lines."

[Himself]

Did that really happen or are you pulling our leg once more?

[RuthC]

Did that really happen or are you pulling our leg once more?

Now, what do you think? ;)

[bob brown]

 

I'll let you know if the music man is still playing the national anthems and raising the flag tonight. We are leaving early (3pm, I think) due to the tides. Time, tide and the Quebec Bridge wait for no one.

 

Tea and nap time.

So????

Were you serenaded?:)

[tomc]

It happened; it did not happen.

"Mr and Mrs Jones" did not happen. The lady who almost got the Heimlich from me did happen. The guy with a better audio system than your average teen did play the anthems and the captain gave him several salutes in return. He, the music man, is about four hours (and change) south of Quebec.

 

Proposed restaurants.

The "Cameltoe," or "Canaletto," or whatever it is, apparently is quite popular and tends to be fully booked each night. That's the Italian place where the waiters (really) wear striped t-shirts like the canal boat guys in Venice.

 

The new German restaurant will be named the "Uber Alice."

 

The Irish want theirs, the "Polka Mahone" (ask any Irish friend about this one).

 

The Polish is the "Pierogie Palace & Gulumpki Grill."

 

The Canadian is "The Not American, Eh?"

 

You're safe, whoever you are.

During our lifeboat drill, leaving Boston, we all gathered nakedly of lifejackets, and the crew never checked us off by name. I thought they'd take attendance, but that wasn't on the menu this time.

[retiring soon]

Hi!

I'm enjoying reading your thread & do have a question please.

We're doing a road trip & were in Charlottetown yesterday. Their

Guardian newspaper mentioned that 3 levels of government came

out to mark the 100th arrival of the Maasdam there. Was this on your cruise & if so were you aware of it?

Thanks.

~Jo~ :)

[sail7seas]

Here is a link to story that appeared in the PEI newspaper.

 

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=344636&sc=98

 

Great photo of Captain Draper with view of Charlottetown through the bridge windows.

 

 

[holacanada]

Welcome in Quebec city tomc !

 

If you have time, don't hesitate to take a look at our beautiful city.

Glad for you having some sunny weather here. Your report is funny and it help me to read/write more in english.

Hope to have much time to see the beautiful Masdam in port sunday.

 

Holacanada from Quebec city will be boarding Niew Amsterdam in 89 days, 4 hours, 7 minutes and 11 seconds

[tomc]

Holacanada --I did have time; my family lives in St-Jean Chrysostome and we ran around here and there, down to Charny, etc.

 

Gerri, Gerri, where are you?

I remember always seeing the Gerri-Ann buses at the Montreal dock. Today there were none, but a large number of others. Anyone know what happened?

 

How DARE you??

We had this p-eye-ssy lady in the Lido when a crew member came around to check out those of us who were in transit and did not need to show up for muster drill. I think that was explained: someone would sweep the ship to make sure only the in-transit people were hanging out.

 

WELL, how DARE you, she practically sputtered in her indignity. I have this letter from GOD or someone telling me I don't have to go and now YOU are asking ME to show my room key with its passage dates. WELL! sputter, scowl, hiss.

 

The crew member said to me, "You are a witness in case she tries anything." I made a gesture indicating we could throw her overboard.

 

One less boat for AML's excursion line

The AML excursion boat which crossed our bow as we left Montreal came a litttttle bit too close. Which the captain emphasized by leaning on the ship's whistle a few times. I think that was the nautical equivalent of shouting obscenities and giving a finger or two.

 

Short people and children first.

The courtesy of the sea has given way to equality. Whether the newly-equal want that in case of an emergency remains to be seen. But the new rules during an emergency are: Short people in front, tall people in back. All us shorties who got laughed at in school will be waving good-bye to the tall gals on the basketball team as the boats pull away.

 

And that's the news from mid-channel on the St. L. River.

[RuthC]

You've had a couple of honorable mentions on RHV so far, as well as an e-mail read in full.

Watch what you say to Sue!

[babyher]

Holacanada --I did have time; my family lives in St-Jean Chrysostome and we ran around here and there, down to Charny, etc.

 

Gerri, Gerri, where are you?

I remember always seeing the Gerri-Ann buses at the Montreal dock. Today there were none, but a large number of others. Anyone know what happened?

 

How DARE you??

We had this p-eye-ssy lady in the Lido when a crew member came around to check out those of us who were in transit and did not need to show up for muster drill. I think that was explained: someone would sweep the ship to make sure only the in-transit people were hanging out.

 

WELL, how DARE you, she practically sputtered in her indignity. I have this letter from GOD or someone telling me I don't have to go and now YOU are asking ME to show my room key with its passage dates. WELL! sputter, scowl, hiss.

 

The crew member said to me, "You are a witness in case she tries anything." I made a gesture indicating we could throw her overboard.

 

One less boat for AML's excursion line

The AML excursion boat which crossed our bow as we left Montreal came a litttttle bit too close. Which the captain emphasized by leaning on the ship's whistle a few times. I think that was the nautical equivalent of shouting obscenities and giving a finger or two.

 

Short people and children first.

The courtesy of the sea has given way to equality. Whether the newly-equal want that in case of an emergency remains to be seen. But the new rules during an emergency are: Short people in front, tall people in back. All us shorties who got laughed at in school will be waving good-bye to the tall gals on the basketball team as the boats pull away.

 

And that's the news from mid-channel on the St. L. River.

 

 

 

*LOL* see all those years of having to sit "Indian style " on the floor in the group class picture have paid off...You get off the ship first :)

 

Thank you so much for taking us along on your trip....Enjoying it very much.