The Happy Wanderer (reprise)

[Cuttle]

Thanks RuthC for your reports from the Maasdam. Sounds like it was a great cruise. Thanks also to O'Briendan for the nice photos. They really helped me visualize some of the places you visited. Sorry you had the problem of a break- in on your return but you give some great advice to everyone going on a trip.

 

Thanks again both of you and anyone else I might have missed, who added to the thread.

[Peggy Sue]

Thank you .. I've enjoyed following this thread and all the adventures over the past few weeks. Wonderful to have multiple people posting .. so much information to share. Glad you all had a great cruise .. I'm sure you're all dreaming about your next cruise adventure .. and I'll be here happy to read all about it!

 

ObrienDan .. thank you for posting the wonderful pictures .. it was great to see the ports with you all! So sorry to hear about your home break-in. Glad to hear that your home is OK .. You shared some very valuable advise. We always believe it's never going to happen to us .. but it certainly can, and does. Hope you're able to get the black out of your white carpet.

 

Welcome home everyone!

 

Peggy Sue

[sable1]

Greetings all,

Arrived home safe and sound at 03:00 a.m. Sunday. What a long travel day which is why I like to sail from S.F. if possible. Unfortunately, not possible this time.

We had a good time. I was very disappointed in HAL's constant bombardment through under-the-door flyers, p.a. announcements 3 times a day and daily program listings of ways to separate us from our money in the shops, bars, spa, auction, casino & etc. John called it a floating Mall.

My other complaint is that the Port lecturer has not infomed about the ports. She just read from a sheet of paper she had copied from the internet. Had no idea that there were going to be shuttles in some ports. They want to sell the tours and independent travellers have to fend for themselves most of the time. Also, the staff at the Front Desk had no clue about anything that we asked regarding arrival times in port and other things.

Enjoyed the entertainment and lecturers. The lectures are shown on the cabin TV if you have trouble staying awake after lunch like me.

 

Our room steward was very good. Had the same ones as Ruth. After the first day of requesting extra chocolates on my pillow, got 8 each night!

Our dining room steward was very professional and never batted an eye when I almost always ordered 2 desserts, one for dinner and one for the next morning's breakfast. Yummy.

The food was good and plentiful. Ate the first night in Pinnacle Grill so I could have the chocolate volcano cake. I could become an addict if that was available daily.

If anyone enjoys Blueberry pancakes, waffles or French Toast, here's what I did. Go to the Ice Cream bar in the afternoon when they have the blueberry topping and whipped cream. Put them in a soup cup and take to the cabin for breakfast the next morning. If I wanted a waffle I just took the toppings to the dining room, if I wanted French Toast it was available in the Lido buffet and DR. Boy was that a treat.

The cookies were delicious, especially the macadamia nut and peanut butter.

Someone mentioned not wanting too many fance dishes. John ordered the Chicken and Dumplings and meat loaf which he really enjoyed ,as did our table mates.

Enjoyed our CC meetings, everyone was so nice and it was great to finally put a face to the names. Thanks for the candy bars.

Enjoyed the ports, but it rained in Oslo. Luckily we had spent a few days there several years ago. We did walk to the palace and came back drenched.

Our most memorable port was St. Anthony, NF, because of a memorable experience. Marilyn and Al and John and I were talking to the port agent on the tender about the possibility of renting a car to go to L'Anse aux Meadows. He said that sometimes if you mention to the locals you need a ride, they will take you there. We continued talking and he said we could use his car. Use, not rent. I thought he was kidding , but when we docked he said he just had to take some things out of the car and we could be on our way. Can you believe it? No restrictions on time. So we had a nice drive through beautiful countryside to the site and Norstead and when we arrived back at the dock about 4 hours later, we filled the gas tank and he was there. The ship's tour was $92 p.p. The next day we were in Cornerbrook where he lives and I saw him in the Lido and thanked him profusely and even gave him a big hug. What a nice man. At sailaway I waved to him and he said if we ever return, he will be there. So that's why I will always remember St. Anthony.

The other highlight was the first passage through Prins Christian Sound. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the colors on the ice burgs was so interesting.

The second passage was in the morning and it was overcast and we didn't see as many iceburgs.

Dan, sorry to hear about your travails. I haven't had a chance to view the cd yet, but I'm looking forward to it. How thoughtful of you. Thanks.

Well, if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to try to answer. Especially Esther.

Happy cruising,

Joanne, the chocoholic

[longtimecruiser]

Ruth,

This picture is nice but the one in the Viking horn is the REAL you, no question about that!!!!!!!!.....lol Adele

[kryos]

Roomate pulled one last stunt the final morning (surprise! surprise!) She had to get up at 6:30, and so did I. So I set my alarm for 6:00 (and had gotten to bed at 12:30:eek: ). I figured I'd be out of the bathroom by the time she needed to get in. (I'm so considerate.) As usual, she got up when my alarm went off and dashed like a bat out of Hades. So I got to sleep a bit more.

Her alarm went off after she left the cabin. Since it was packed I couldn't turn it off; I had to listen to it until the battery ran down.

What was her problem? Did she just not like you for some wierd reason, or was she just a miserable human being? I don't know, but I would think that if I was gonna spend 35 days in a small inside cabin with a perfect stranger, I'd want to establish a warm relationship from day one ... if for no other reason than to make my cruise a better and more comfortable experience.

 

I'd love to talk with you in person or via email about this. I'm supposed to be doing guaranteed share on my upcoming Hawaii/South Pacific cruise and now I'm starting to have serious doubts. See, I'm not as nice and tolerant a person as you are, Ruth ... and I have visions of being escorted off the ship somewhere in Hawaii in handcuffs because I tossed some miserable roomie overboard. :(

 

If you are willing to talk, email me at kry.os@verizon.net. I'll be happy to call you or give you my phone number so you can call me. I'd really appreciate it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Copper10-8]

We appreciated the words of encouragement concerning the burglary of our home while we were on the Maasdam. We returned home late Saturday night to quite a mess. However, we were quite lucky. The thieves took 2 TV’s and DVD players, a gold watch, and a charm bracelet, but ignored more valuable items such as two computer systems, one with a very portable and expensive LCD monitor. Also they ignored a collection of Hummel figurines and did not find the silver that was hidden in a shopping bag wrapped in towels in a closet.

 

The detective stated that these type of thieves are after only those items that they can turn into a quick profit. The thieves also were kind enough not to vandalize the house. There very carefully removed the power plugs and cables from the electronics when they could have ripped them from the wall. From one aspect of this event, we found that the cure was almost as bad as the disease. The investigating detectives made very liberal use of very powdery charcoal to try to obtain fingerprints. This is very hard to clean up and has left several black stains on the white rug in the family room. We had just had the rugs cleaned in July!

 

There are good lessons for all of us who travel in this event. First, improve your security perhaps with and alarm system. Let your neighbors know that you will be away. Store especially valuable items in a secure place. Also, compile a list of valuables with the serial numbers if applicable. This will help the police recover items and also be useful with insurance claims. In this digital age, it is an easy task to photograph and put on a CD pictures and descriptions of valuable items. I’m in the process of doing this now (closing the barn door after a few of the horses have left!).

 

Very sorry to hear you were the victims of a residential burglary! You leave some very good preventive sugestions! Most burglars, once they're inside your reidence, will go for items they can quickly grab and later pawn i.e. expensive electronics (smaller flat screen/plasma TV's are now popular), jewelry, coin collections, digital cameras, any firearms, etc. Some go for Identity theft items such as credit cards, personal check books, etc. Some heavenly ransack a residence once inside leaving a giant mess. Writing down your serial numbers (or if they don't have one, engraving your drivers license number) and taking a picture will defenitely increase the chances of later recovery. Don't know how big your community is but if it has any pawn shops, it doesn't hurt to take a look there for your stolen items.

 

Alarm systems (or even, if you don't have one, alarm company signs in your front yard) are a good thing as are "beware of dog" signs on your rear gate(s). Do let your neighbors (if you know them) know that you're leaving, get electronic timers that allow some lights to come on and off and leave one of your vehicles in your driveway. Stop your mail and/or newspaper of have someone you trust, pick them up on a daily basis if possible. Some Police Departments do neighborhood patrol requests if you let them know you're leaving for extended times. Joining a neighborhood watch program (or if you don't have one, starting one) is excellent. Burglars will park their cars (that don't belong) in your neighborhood. PD's get losts of calls of cars that don't "belong" on a regular basis.

 

Burglars usually are in and out of jail and thus have their prints on file in the state system. Hopefully, the officers were able to get some decent lifts for comparisson. Crooks are not smart (with exceptions) but the smarter ones will wear gloves and/or take socks and put them on their hands. Black print and/or magnetic powder is messy and does leave stains. You can file a claim with your City Clerk's office (take pictures) and, again, depending on the size of your community, they will usually reimburse you for the cleanup. I sincerly hope that you will get a call in the future telling you that the crooks that did this are in custody and/or that some/all of your property has been recovered.

 

Take care and be safe! (Glad you had a great cruise on the Maasdam)

[LizB1]

Arrived home on Saturday around noon and was sorry we didn't get a chance to say good-bye to Ruth who did a great job of posting on our cruise.

 

As far as we are concerned the best part of this 35-day cruise was sailing from/to Boston and the ports we visited.

 

We were very fortunate to have SHY as our waiter in the dining room. He and his assistant, Yanuar, were both excellent. By the way, SHY asked me to say "hi" to all his CC friends!! We also had an excellent cabin steward who many times had to work around my schedule as I was quite sick from Bergen on with the upper respiratory infection that many folks had. Fortunately I don't believe many of the CC group caught this bug.

 

We found the food in the dining room to be okay but nothing special. They had changed the "always available" selections on the bottom of the menu from chicken, steak or salmon to just two salmon dishes. I think there must have been a fire sale on salmon in the Northwest!! We did eat in the Pinnacle Grill twice and thought the food was very good, service just okay and the Volcano cake excellent. We were turned off one evening when we saw them ironing a table cloth on a table right near us while we were still eating...would you find this in a high class restaurant...I don't think so!

 

DH went to most of the shows and thought that most were mediocre except for the Maasdam cast and the Three Tenors who were very good.

 

A few thoughts about the dress code. We observed that the folks on the first segment honored the dress code much more than many who embarked in Rotterdam. As Ruth said in one of her posts it sure looked like some people never changed their clothes from morning till bedtime. Finally after receiving complaints from passengers the ship's Daily Program had in writing a few things that were not acceptable to wear in the evening and this helped some.

 

All in all as I mentioned in a previous post this did not live up to our expectations of a long HAL 35-day cruise such as we have done many times in the past. We couldn't help but compare this cruise with many and particularly the one we did two years ago on the Rotterdam which was very similar. We felt there have been many more small cutbacks in the past few years and particularly hated the Mariner's Party in the morning on a long cruise. We were invited to the first one and not the second segment...same with tiles, we received two tiles the first segment and none the second.

 

We both feel that the "not so elegant" Maasdam could use a complete overhaul and not the SOE improvements. She is a good basic "S" Class ship but with many problems. Yes, we were lucky to make all the ports ...not because of good Capt. Henk Draper but because of the mostly calm seas. We only averaged around 16 knots the whole cruise and when the ship tried to go over 20 knots we lost power. Unfortunately we had a very loud banging noise in our cabin as soon as the seas got over 7'. The CO and HM were called to the cabin next to ours with this complaint, and the CO then checked the banging from our cabin. He then decided it was a metal plate in the wall between the two cabins which could only be fixed in dry dock! Our cabin steward also mentioned that our AC was dripping a brown liquid onto the bureau and felt there should be a new filter. These are just a few things besides the engine problems.

 

All in all we have decided we will never do another long HAL cruise that is broken down into segments. We also feel that HAL is going the way of Princess (not Carnival) and is getting to be just another mass market cruise line. Sorry to say this after my 1,000+ days of cruising with the Line as it is a big disappointment that things are changing and not for the better. These remarks are, of course, are just our opinions for what they're worth.

 

Last but not least we so enjoyed meeting our CC friends and am pleased everyone is home safe and sound. Again, Ruth did a great job of getting us all together...thanks, Ruth.

[tomc]

I've come to know RuthC, fairly well I guess for someone who has sailed with her once, met her twice otherwise and chats via e-mail often. Having established that, let me say this: The Viking hat picture is her. Best photo I've ever seen.

[obriendan]

Copper 10-8,

 

Thanks for all the good advice.

[RuthC]

Thanks for the compliments, Liz et al. I appreciate the pat on the back (it itches, too. wanna scratch?)

Hope you're feeling better.

Rita, I don't want to scare you about a guaranteed share; I had two lovely roomies out of three. It has not put me off doing a share again, either.

I'll e-mail you in a day or three and we can compare notes on what to expect/do. I believe for this particular roomie it would have been the same result for anyone bunking with her.

I should have heard her that first day when she made reference that we were to be roomies for 35 days, or until one of us couldn't stand the other and moved out. I suspect it was her plan to make things so difficult for me that I would ask to be moved---making me pay the single supplement, and giving her the cabin solo at the double rate. She wouldn't be the first person to try that stunt; she won't be the last. It is a small minority, though.

Did I post that she took the TV listings for herself that first day? :confused: Did I post that she couldn't figure out how to turn the TV on? :confused:

And that I didn't tell her? :D Hee-hee-hee.

(hey, I can do passive-aggressive, too.)

[RuthC]

I've come to know RuthC, fairly well I guess for someone who has sailed with her once, met her twice otherwise and chats via e-mail often. Having established that, let me say this: The Viking hat picture is her. Best photo I've ever seen.

Another voice in the choir that it's the real me. :rolleyes:

Oh, you must mean 'cause I'm always smiling. Right? ;)

[tomc]

It's that "devil may care, launch the longboats" attitude in your eyes.

[esther e]

Hi!

I noticed very little was said about the tours in Ireland. Any details? Your postings were all great and we can't wait to do the trip! I've pretty much put in the back of my head all the tours we want to do and anything you can help us with would be apprecaited. Anybody do Amsterdam on your own? And in Reykjavic, can you hail cabs easily from the pier or from town when you get off the shuttle?

 

Sorry to be so full of questions.

Esther

[Copper10-8]

Copper 10-8,

 

Thanks for all the good advice.

 

You're welcome! Good luck!

[RuthC]

sorry. duplicate post. :o

[RuthC]

Hi!

I noticed very little was said about the tours in Ireland. Any details? Sorry to be so full of questions.

Esther

I did the Blarney Castle Tour in Cobh two years ago; after a valiant effort I gave up the ghost and climbed back down. I still liked the tour, though. Even enjoyed the shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mills right there (I hate shopping); it's the best one of their shops that I've seen (IMHO). This year I took the tour out to the farm. It was a nice ride through very pretty countryside. The tea and scones were delicious; watching them milk the cows was, how shall I say?, interesting.

Last year I did the Dublin city tour that has a stop to see the Book of Kells. A nice city tour.

This year was the city tour in the Duck. Mostly it was different sites, and the water part is quite interesting.

Both tours can leave you downtown right near where the shuttle (the only free shuttle, btw) stops.

In Reyjkavik there will be cabs right at the pier. I don't remember seeing any where the shuttle lets you off, but there's a busy street right around the corner. Should be easy to get one there.

Please don't be sorry to ask questions. That's what this board is all about; if we didn't want to answer we wouldn't post.

[kryos]

I should have heard her that first day when she made reference that we were to be roomies for 35 days, or until one of us couldn't stand the other and moved out. I suspect it was her plan to make things so difficult for me that I would ask to be moved---making me pay the single supplement, and giving her the cabin solo at the double rate. She wouldn't be the first person to try that stunt; she won't be the last. It is a small minority, though.

Boy, that's a rotten stunt to even think of pulling. If someone really wants the cabin solo, then they should reserve a solo cabin and eat the cost. But to force someone else to do it by making them miserable ... that really sucks. And, what happens if there are no cabins for the roommate to move into? Did she ever think that the sailing could be at 100% capacity?

 

You mentioned a "letter of recommendation." How does that work? You have to evaluate roomies? What happens if a "roomie" gets a bad evaluation? Just curious since I know nothing about this.

 

I appreciate your reassurance on this point. At this stage of the game I probably can't even get out of the guaranteed share if I wanted to because I think the cruise I'm on is now fully booked.

 

Again, I'm really sorry you had to go through this, Ruth. You're too nice a person to have to deal with that crap. Maybe in some future year we can figure out a sailing we both like and request to be roomies. Except for a bit of snoring, you can rest assured ... you won't have any of those problems from me. I'd be "dammed" tickled to be your roommate. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[esther e]

Ruth

Somehow my post to you didn't go through. Let me try again. Thanks so much for the information. I was kinda thinking of road bowling and bread baking in Ireland, but not sure. And I'm glad to hear we can hire a cab in Iceland.

 

Your roommate sounds like a drip! I've never met you, but believe me you are a nice lady for posting and letting us travel with you. Curses on roomie!!!!

 

Esther

[RuthC]

You mentioned a "letter of recommendation." How does that work? You have to evaluate roomies? What happens if a "roomie" gets a bad evaluation? Just curious since I know nothing about this.

That was said tongue-in-cheek, Rita. There is no such thing.

But now that I think about it....:D

[Aussie Gal]

Liz,

 

I am sorry to hear that you weren't well for most of the second part of the cruise. Peter got over his cough etc. the minute he got out of the airconditioning and into lovely fresh Switzerland air! I am glad you are safely home now and feeling better.

Joanne,

 

I agree with you regarding the Port Lecturer, she was just plain hopeless and we said so on our assessment sheet. We used to watch her on the TV in our cabin and she stuttered and stumbled over everything and you could tell she hadn't read up on any of the ports. If I were HAL, I would have employed someone who knew both their geography and history a little better than the one on the Maasdam. I agree with you that the trip through Prince Christian Sound was magical. I know we were so lucky with the weather on that day.

 

Ruth,

 

It was great meeting you and thanks once again for organizing our get together. The cruise to us seems such a long time away now. I still have to organize my photos and get them printed out. I am sure they will help relive the cruise. We are now looking forward to January and seeing Antarctica as well as South America.

 

Jennie

[RuthC]

Jennie, if you have half as good a time in South America/Antarctica as I did then you will have the best trip of your life---by a long shot!

Just remember, if you thought the weather on this trip was cold---:eek:

It was delightful meeting you and Peter. Even though we went very different ways while aboard it was always a pleasure to run into you and compare notes. So glad you enjoyed the rest of your vacation and returned home safely.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi, Ruth! So glad you got home safe and sound. That was one long way around, wasn't it? What a good sport you were with that roommate of yours!!! You're a better person than I am ... that's for sure!

 

Love the pictures of you enjoying yourself! Welcome home Ruth. "Talk" to you soon:)

[kryos]

That was said tongue-in-cheek, Rita. There is no such thing.

But now that I think about it....:D

Oh, okay. Sometimes I'm dense. :)

 

I heard, though, that if a roomie ever has to "move out" and get a single cabin (and pay additional) because of an impossible roommate, that impossible roommate will no longer be eligible for the guaranteed share program. I know I read that on this board somewhere in the past.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[ahoymatey3]

RuthC - Thanks for the running commentary. I just spent a pleasurable 1.5 hours reading all 15 pages.

 

I'm thinking of doing this cruise on thr 7/01/06 sailing. Its a bit pricey right now at $277/day for an inside guarantee (single supp included).

 

You're braver than I doing a share.

[kryos]

You're braver than I doing a share.

Ruth has my admiration on this score too. I was gonna share on my Hawaii cruise this coming January, but "punked out" after reading about her experiences with a difficult roommate. I guess I'm just too set in my ways. I think any sort of roommate would get on my nerves after about three days. No sense spending so much for this "dream cruise" and then have it wrecked by doing a share. Thankfully, my TA was able to get me a decent single supplement on an inside cabin, so I opted for that.

 

Ruth is my hero, though ... and I'd share with her anyday. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita