August 18th We left our Hotel at 10:45 and we were at the ship by 11:00. Our taxi driver stopped only once - to pay the toll at the tunnel. The rest of the time he just pushed through yellow lights. There was hardly anyone at the pier when we got here. After we turned in our luggage we were given the usual sheet of paper with the 7 questions concerning the gastro virus. We filled them out and after that there was the picture taking before we went upstairs to check in. That only took a couple of minutes for the girl to run our passports through the machine and take our pictures. Then we went to the waiting room. There the chairs were placed in 2 columns of 2 chairs and 3 chairs in a row. The place could only sit about 100 people. There were still lots of seats left. A few people were standing by the door to wait to go through security and then get on the ship. There really wasn’t any need for anyone to stand as there were still empty seats when they called for the S suite passengers at 11:30. We dropped off our carry-ons in the Neptune Lounge and began our usual walk around the ship to see if anything had changed - nothing very new since we were on the ship in Feb/Mar. One of the things we did notice in the Lido for the first day lunch - no Caesar salad - there was a spinach salad and a mixed green salad with several other pasta salads. The dressing are now in plastic bottles - easy to pour. No liquors with the ice creams. At 12 we went back down to the Neptune Lounge and were told by Claire that our suite was ready. So off we went to put away our things from our carry-ons. This is where HAL is not great - we arrived at the ship at 11 and our cabin steward had to go and hunt our luggage - we finally got it at 3:50 and were only able to get 2 suitcases unpacked before we went to lifeboat drill. People who arrived at 2:30 - 3 had their luggage within a few minutes. Had a wonderful Salmon dinner - one thing we did notice was that the Caesar salad was not on the “starter” section of the menu - just listed as available daily at the bottom of the menu. We have had this suite before but 2 new things since we were last here - all new verandah furniture - I love it. And another very nice addition to our suite - in the dressing room on the vanity is a container with cotton balls and q-tips. We did stop by the sail-away party to meet with an old friend - Jazzy Jeff - whom we met previously on the Oosterdam and Westerdam. He is now the Maasdam’s DJ.
Great to hear you are happily aboard KK!!!
Great about the new deck furniture for your suites. I have been appalled at the condition of their outdoor furniture on some of our suites previously.....
Calm seas and sunny skies!
Just some general observations: The ship is loaded with children. There are quite a few large family groups on board as well as some kind of a travel group. Some of the families have 26 members and many of them pre-booked the Pinnacle for a couple of nights making it hard to get reservations. There are over 180 children on board and I have to tell you, some of them are pretty wild - running all over the ship. Some of them are in suites as well. There are 2 noisy ones next door to us. Last evening their play consisted of jumping off the sofa bed for the better part of an hour. The boutiques have been changed around. The original one that was right in front of the atrium that used to sell alcohol and snacks and personal items has been moved to the smaller boutique that had the $10 stuff. Now this shop is where all the men and women perfumes and etc are located and is called “Signature Beauty“. The $10 items have been moved to the boutique next to jewelry. The tread mills in the gym have unlimited time on them. The first morning when DH got there, all the machines were already in use and only a couple opened up in the 1 hour and 15 minutes that he was there. So far I have not seen on the first couple of daily programs a mention of the day’s dress code in the dining room. This was the first lifeboat drill that we have been to in awhile when everyone in our area was actually quiet during the talk.
August 19th - Bar Harbor
After a leisurely breakfast in the Pinnacle, we went back to our cabin and changed to go ashore. We had a beautiful, sunny day. It started out chilly because of a stiff wind. But by the time we returned to the ship around 1:30, the wind had died down and the air temperature was delightful - in the 70’s. We have been here before so decided to just walk around town. After an hour of peeking into various shops we stopped at Testa’s for a cocktail. Then we walked around the outside rim of the Bar Harbor Inn for awhile. Now we were feeling a little hungry so we stopped there and had a small bit to eat. DH had the New England Clam Chowder for $7 and I had the Lobster Bisque for $8 - yummy!!! Now we knew that we were going to be hungry by the time we got back to the ship so we went to the Lobster Claw and ordered take -out --- Hey - we are in Maine so you can guess what we decided to take back to the ship -- Lobster Rolls! We each ordered a “Natural” lobster Roll - just fresh lobster meat on a roll. The cost was $14.95 plus tax which came to $16 per lobster roll. Now I must worn you --
they are small compared to the ones we had a few years ago in Kennebunkport but they were really great!
When we returned to the ship, everyone had received a notice about the experiencing intermittent malfunction of the toilet system -- tooooo many children on board and tooooo much foreign waste being put into the toilets. From 3 - 3:30 PM today we had a sail-away party by the Lido Pool where they served crab cakes - not the ones from the Pinnacle. They were great and we had music by the HAL Cats who played a lot of theme show music and songs like the Shuffle which we enjoyed. As we strolled through the Lido in the afternoon after lunch was over, we noticed that the liquors were out. We also noticed that the Lido was putting white brocade table cloths on the tables in preparation of an informal night in the Lido on a formal night for the ship. We noticed very few tuxedos for the first seating dinners and there were several men not even wearing jackets in the dining room. During dinner we had the Champagne Strings playing.
I have never seen this offered as a “starter” before: Brioche with scallops and bay shrimp - I ordered this and it was very good. For an entrée DH ordered Sauteed Petrale Sole which is very similar to Dover Sole - a white, tender fish - excellent. We were informed that the flaming desserts will no longer be made in the dining room. They are done in the kitchen and can be done on a larger scale there. When DH got his crepes, the ice cream came in a crisp patty shell so that it didn’t melt into the sauce. At 8 PM, the first dining passengers had their Champagne Toast. We saw only a few under-dressed people attend in our area. Only drinks available were champagne, red wine, ice water, coke and only a few white wines were passed out. The waiters stood at the door and as you entered you selected a drink and went to whatever area you wanted to sit in. The captain mentioned that tomorrow we will not be allowed to tie off until 8:01 AM but we will be hovering right at the pier until that time. We also have to make certain that we leave before 5 PM. This is because of some conflict with the longshoremen and getting paid if they work any longer than those hours -- boy that is some union they have!! As we sit there hovering until 8:01, we can listen to the bagpipes and drink hot chocolate out on the open decks. At the end of the Champagne Toast, instead of breaking open a real bottle of champagne, a big fake bottle was “popped” open and sprayed confetti in the air onto the stage. There wasn’t a production show tonight - Garin Boder who does music and magic. We didn’t stay for the show. Tonight the clocks go forward one hour.
Sounds like the weather is good and that you are enjoying the Maasdam. One can hope that the kids depart in Montreal and you get less "jumpy" next door neighbors!!
Sounds like a good cruise in spite of the kids! The menu items you mentioned, both on and off ship, are making my mouth water! Can't wait till the next installment!
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Live from the Maasdam - Aug 18th - 25th
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Live from the Maasdam - Aug 18th - 25th
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