First have of collector cruise Caribbean/Montreal

[GRACECRUISE]

Our first part of the cruise is over. It was a wonderful 11 days in the Caribbean. Now we transition to Montreal for the next 15 days. We wanted to stay on to back to Boston but one of the Passenger Vessel acts got us since we do not hit a foreign port.

 

We are 3 to an inside cabin on the Maasdam. We have only sailed HAL and are close to 300 days each.We flew in the night before, stayed at Courtyard Plantation and caught the free shuttle at 10:00 on 4/16 to the ship. Since we were early to the terminal and it was a Monday there was not much traffic in port. We handed off our luggage and were led over to the crew entrance to have out until about 10:45 and then we were processed in. By 11:15 we were in our cabin.

 

The ship looks great. Our cabin has had been nice and cold, no A/C problems. We have also had no plumbing problems. Our cabin steward, San has been great. He brought us a fan, power strip, leaves me an extra big towel for my hair and makes sure we get ice every day at 4:30pm.

 

Laundry service has been great. We leave it ready to go when we leave for main seating dinner and it is back between noon and 3:00 the next day. We do get spoiled sending it out every day.

 

The food had been very good. They have had some different dishes on the menu. This was the first time we had crab cakes over jalapeno cheese grits in the main dining room. Being from TN, we love our grits. This was exceptional. I hope they offer it again over the next fifteen days. The menus have been diverse and have not been repeated. The service in the dining room has been very efficient. The first night was the longest getting everything in order. Our dining steward, Resy and assistant Gusti are great. Their section has been full just about every night but they keep things in order.

 

We ate last night at the Pinnacle Grill. The Bone in Rib eye was as good as ever. Service and food were exceptional.

 

The entertainment has been quite good. We are lucky enough to have Alberto the Tenor on the Maasdam again this cruise. The show ENCORE and Unforgettable were wonderful. We will get those again going to Montreal. The other production numbers were ok. We had a comedian, pianist, violinist and a few others.

 

Barry from Boston was at the piano bar and was really good. I normally do not do the piano bar. Now that it is out in the open, I stopped by. He gets off here in Ft Lauderdale and we will have a new one coming on. Hope he is as good.

 

The Captain had a Mariners Cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest for those with 200 days or more. There were no medals to hand out but they did go through the list and mention those with 350 days or more. There were only about 135 people there. There were a total of about 1000 mariners on board. They had 2 luncheons. We did not attend those.

 

Just through customs and the turnaround and heading back to ship that was painless. Statendam pulled in after us today and is parked at our nose. We watched her come in. Heading back on – Here we come Charleston.

[kazu]

Great review - thanks so much for sharing. Enjoy your time in Montreal until you get to board for your second 1/2 of your cruise:D

[sail7seas]

Thanks for posting. We left Maasdam the day you boarded and agree the ship looks great and they are doing a wonderful job.

 

We also had the Mariners Cocktail Party in Crows Nest and thought it great. What a good idea to do that for those with many Mariner days.

 

We think Captain Smit, Hotel Manager Douglas Hernandez and Chief Housekeeper Gilbert are doing a fabulous job.

 

Enjoy your cruise up the coast.

Sorry our weather has changed in Boston and is to be much cooler with chance of some showers over the weekend and early in the week. We've had amazing weather until now. Should be smooth seas though.

 

Hope you continue to enjoy your cruise. :)

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Gald to hear that you have had a wonderful 11 days on board.

 

Hope your next 15 days will be just as great.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review of your cruise. Sounds like every thing is going well. Have a wonderful second half.

[RMLincoln]

Bon Voyage for your continuation on Maasdam. We disembarked her today after 35 wonderful days on board:) We also had excellent service from Resy and Gusti but you will find changes for your next segment as Gusti will have his own station with an assistant.

 

I hope you have a fun piano bar too. We really enjoyed Barry from Boston who was the most engaging and entertaining piano man I've ever seen. He'll be back on Maasdam for the Voyage of the Vikings, boarding in June for 17 weeks.

 

Bon Voyage! It's Homedam for us! m--

[BarryFromBoston]

 

Barry from Boston was at the piano bar and was really good. I normally do not do the piano bar. Now that it is out in the open, I stopped by. He gets off here in Ft Lauderdale and we will have a new one coming on. Hope he is as good.

 

Thanks for your kind words! Currently aboard the Westerdam (lovin' it!)... will be back aboard the Veendam for the Boston/Canada cruises next year (beginning May 31st), and for the Voyage of the Vikings (a stand-out 5-week cruise). Cheers from Sitka, Alaska!

 

Barry