Maasdam Repositioning Cruise 8 May Review

[Colakid]

Greetings Chulat: DW and I were also on the ship with Aliaschief and want to say we also enjoyed your hospitality and your warm welcome given to us by your community. Just walking down the street we were stopped many times by locals who struggled to say hello in English even though I speak some french and say welcome to their city and area. Thank you for the warm feeling and maybe one day we may return. We took the helicopter ride above your city and thought that was really cool. Colakid.

[aliaschief]

Bruce, You tired me out reading your review. Thanks for all your news. Great rundown on everything you did. You certainly did lots of touring. My mother & I enjoyed being a bit more laid back and did most things on our own. We enjoyed not having to rush off the ship at any certain time. We had both been throughout the Eastern Provinces numerous times throughout the years as I was born in New Brunswick and we vacationed in the east. It was enjoyable to see the ports and a dear friend toured us around Halifax & Peggy's Cove. I don't feel like I gained any extra weight but I think if I had lunched & dined with you continuously that I would have a few extra grams. It was my first HAL cruise (#16 cruise) and I would certainly not hesitate to cruise again with them. Put down for a future cruise credit so will decide later where & when. Loved the fresh flowers throughout the ship and the freshly squeezed orange juice every morning. Best Lido breakfast of any ship yet, well organized and good food. Met lots of friends and am having trouble adapting to home life again. 'til next time, Smooth Sailing! Judi[/quote

 

.....and another satisfied customer. Great meeting you Judi

 

Bruce & Sue

[geshaw30]

Well done Bruce & Sue-

 

Glad you were able to partake in the Black Pearl's fares. As recommended I knew they wouldn't let you nice folks down. I hope the "people of my youth" treated you well. The area surrounding Narragansett Bay was not a bad place to grow up huh? Now you know why Houston grinds on me so.

 

Give us a hollar when you get some free time......we'll compare our east & west coast voyages.

[DFD1]

OUTSTANDING REVIEW! One of the best I've read. Thanks so much.

[dvdfreakmc]

Thanks so much for this great review. With only about a month before we are on the elegant Maasdam again, it was great to hear your stories. Since I am arranging our M&G, I'll take some tips from your successful one. Hmm - gifts and cabin crawl? What made it so great. Let me know some insider tips so I can have ours be a success. While we will have 15-20 coming (much smaller) I want to ensure that everyone has a superb time!

[aliaschief]

Thanks so much for this great review. With only about a month before we are on the elegant Maasdam again, it was great to hear your stories. Since I am arranging our M&G, I'll take some tips from your successful one. Hmm - gifts and cabin crawl? What made it so great. Let me know some insider tips so I can have ours be a success. While we will have 15-20 coming (much smaller) I want to ensure that everyone has a superb time!

 

Some tips..hmmm... The Cola Kid and Polar Bear Mom from Ontario started this Roll Call. What amazed us, the most, was they had not even attended a Roll Call in their past cruising history. It sure didn't hurt that they have a Arts and Craft business as a sideline. Polar Bear made special name tags for all. In the shape of a Hal ship. They are mementos to keep. They also had unique little gifts for various achievements. Farthest from home, most cruises, oldest, baldest, and even a bottle of champagne for the person who made the 1,000 post on our Roll Call. Don't have artistic talent? Sometimes a small gift from each RC couple/single with a price cap works. On the Noordam people brought a small gift that reflected on the area they lived.

 

Cabin Crawl was held after and we had some volunteers who agreed to show their cabins. This gave all several ideas of the different cabins available and helped some in future cruise plans. It also raised some eyebrows when other pax and crew saw 50 of us trudging down a hallway and entering a room!:eek:

 

You need a promoter who will keep the Roll Call going on a daily basis. If the RC is not active it can just lay over and die quickly. We had some CC members who made daily contributions for planning purposes. Back in October this Roll Call was pretty dead. It was amazing that we ended up with over 13,000 hits and over a 1,000 post.

 

Roll Call don't usually work on their own. It takes some hard work and a lot of time for those who start one and keep with it. Fortunately, for us the Cola Kid and Polar Bear Mom where the right couple for the job.

[aliaschief]

Chulat aka Shawn (Harbor Master}

 

Thanks for the kudos but the accolades all point to your wonderful community and Bienvenue for the MS Maasdam. I should also point that the welcome by Gaspe was also a momentous occasion. However, you could really feel the added excitement from Sept Iles being we were the first cruise ship in history to visit your beautiful city and area.

 

Some of the American ports visited could take some lessons from your enthusiastic and warm welcome. They should never forget or get complacent on how much a cruise ship visit stimulates their respective communites and local economy.

 

Merci,

 

Bruce & Sue

[aliaschief]

Although this is in French, it does have some wonderful pictures of our reception in Sept-Iles. About 2 minutes into the film clip you can see Sue and Bruce getting ready to board the train - Sue say's hi to the camera.

http://tva.canoe.ca/stations/cfer/nouvelle/20090519.html#122146

[sail7seas]

Some of the American ports visited could take some lessons from your enthusiastic and warm welcome. They should never forget or get complacent on how much a cruise ship visit stimulates their respective communites and local economy.

 

Merci,

 

Bruce & Sue

 

 

That could be spoken to Bar Harbor. We've gotten the sense that cruisers are not welcome by many. Sure, they like the revenue but I think they'd rather we just mailed it in and didn't bother to visit.

 

Of course, that is not true of all but some seem very tired of cruisers and cruise ships despite the huge funds they generate.

[sail7seas]

Thanks so much for this great review. With only about a month before we are on the elegant Maasdam again, it was great to hear your stories. Since I am arranging our M&G, I'll take some tips from your successful one. Hmm - gifts and cabin crawl? What made it so great. Let me know some insider tips so I can have ours be a success. While we will have 15-20 coming (much smaller) I want to ensure that everyone has a superb time!

 

 

Peter.... So sorry we miss you by mere week on Maasdam. We are sailing our usual b-to-b and would have so enjoyed seeing you and your lovely family again.

 

Have a great cruise!

[May4]

Your review was so much fun to read. This cruise will always be one of my favorites, and you gave me a chance to relive it.

 

I have thawed out completely from the brisk (cold) air. We Floridians returned to the sticky summer routine.

 

About that quick course correction on the way to Montreal, I thank my lucky stars we were sailing with Captain Draper. Well done, Captain!

[RuthC]

I would like to have read your review. Alas, I can't. Next time please use a larger font.

[aliaschief]

I would like to have read your review. Alas, I can't. Next time please use a larger font.

 

Sorry Ruth.. We were trying to get a lot of writing into three to four threads. If you can share an E-mail we would be happy to send it to you in a larger font.

 

Sail did you see the video footage albeit in French on your beloved Maasdam?

[sail7seas]

Sail did you see the video footage albeit in French on your beloved Maasdam?

 

Yes.... I absolutely watched the video and thought Maasdam looks so pretty in the harbor. Seems a very warm welcome was extended to everyone. Must have been wonderful fun!

Thanks for the link. :)

[dvdfreakmc]

Peter.... So sorry we miss you by mere week on Maasdam. We are sailing our usual b-to-b and would have so enjoyed seeing you and your lovely family again.

 

 

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Same to you! We owe you a round of drinks which I guess we will catch up with the next time we are in Boston. I'm sure you will have a fab time. We'll look for your review.

[dvdfreakmc]

Alias. Thanks for the great tips. Those are superb and several will make their way into our M&G. Awesome

[RuthC]

We were trying to get a lot of writing into three to four threads.

:confused: That doesn't make any sense.

All I'm suggesting is that if you ever post a review again, please use a larger font so that it can be read without squinting. It's the same amount of writing no matter what size font you use.

[aliaschief]

:confused: That doesn't make any sense.

All I'm suggesting is that if you ever post a review again, please use a larger font so that it can be read without squinting. It's the same amount of writing no matter what size font you use.

 

Noted: It won't happen again. It was insensitive to not consider others needs of a larger fonts. We are still in the process of finding out what really can be done on this site.

[CruiseBumm]

Grat review. I miss the Massdam, she sure was a beautiful lady. BY the way did you ever get to the piano bar, I rember it being a lot of fun.

Glad you had a good criudse sounds like all the ports were a blast.

[RuthC]

It was insensitive to not consider others needs of a larger fonts.

Thanks. Standard size will do---just as you're using in the rest of your posts. The CC default size is fine. It's using the extremely small ones that's difficult to read.

[aliaschief]

Your review was so much fun to read. This cruise will always be one of my favorites, and you gave me a chance to relive it.

 

I have thawed out completely from the brisk (cold) air. We Floridians returned to the sticky summer routine.

 

About that quick course correction on the way to Montreal, I thank my lucky stars we were sailing with Captain Draper. Well done, Captain!

 

 

Thanks

 

So glad we got to sail with you two. Hopefully, will get to do it again.

[sail7seas]

Grat review. I miss the Massdam, she sure was a beautiful lady. BY the way did you ever get to the piano bar, I rember it being a lot of fun.

Glad you had a good criudse sounds like all the ports were a blast.

 

Whaddaymean WAS a beautiful lady. :confused:

 

She very much still IS a beautiful lady. :D

[Bramcruiser]

Great balanced review. Looking forward to the shorter 7 day Boston-Montreal cruise later in June myself and loved the reports on some of the excursions that I had booked. It'll be hard to wait out the remaining weeks until I go.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

David

[aliaschief]

Great balanced review. Looking forward to the shorter 7 day Boston-Montreal cruise later in June myself and loved the reports on some of the excursions that I had booked. It'll be hard to wait out the remaining weeks until I go.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

David

 

We know the feeling of having to wait but it is definitely worth it. Enjoy your cruise and thank's.

[CruiseBumm]

Whaddaymean WAS a beautiful lady. :confused:

 

She very much still IS a beautiful lady. :D

 

I stand shamefully corrected :eek: