MS Maasdam - sea day and a few pictures.

Statue in Neptune Suite

Today the ship is sailing partly empty because most guests left the ship yesterday.  About half have stayed on and are either disembarking in Boston or will be sailing with us for another week or two.  The next official cruise sailing will be from Boston when we get a more or less full compliment of guests.

Apart from working on my blog, I still accompany Paul around the Maasdam as and when he does his 'tour de ship' - if he remembers to pop in and collect me!  Below are some photographs to give you more of an idea of ship life.

Bearing in mind that the Maasdam is partly full, Paul had the opportunity to show me the largest guest cabin on the ship, called the Pinnacle Suite (penthouse), which was having some maintenance work done on the balcony.  Wow!  It is quite luxurious.  It has a bedroom with a king-size bed, whirlpool bath, shower, living room, dining room, dressing room, private verandah, pantry, a sofa bed for 2 people neatly folded and tucked away in what looks like a cupboard; mini-bar, fridge, guest toilet and floor-to-ceiling windows.

One of the Neptune Suites (next step down from the Pinnacle Suite) was open for maintenance so Paul allowed me to have a quick look inside too.  It had 2 lower beds which convert into a king-size bed, whirlpool bath and shower, large sitting area, dressing room, private verandah, a sofa bed for 2 people, a mini-bar, fridge and floor-to-ceiling windows.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Forward mooring deck

A wooden railing is getting sanded down and re-varnished here in the anchor
room.  Oftentimes areas on board end up being used as a workshop  - to spare
guests from noise and paint smells.

Ropes and mooring winch maintenance.

Paul inspecting the anchor chain links.  They look newly painted.

 Aft mooring deck

Cold storage room (brrrrrr!)

Outside the laundry rooms

These loads are going to get processed in the
laundry room

Upholsterer's workshop

 Out and about the Maasdam

Welding being done in one of the 'below decks' main corridors.

Paul took this photograph so that I didn't get my eyeballs singed!

At the moment here's a big hole in the marshalling area floor.  Stuff
has to go up and down into the hold as and when it is needed.

It's a heckuva long way down to the bottom/engine room/bowels of the ship.

Pinnacle Suite

In the cupboard behind the chairs there is a small double bed folded up and
stored.

Cupboards and dressing room

Pantry

Neptune Suite

 

Anchored, Bar Harbour, Maine Excursion: Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park by Sea

Another day closer to home and the final day of this cruise run.

It was a beautiful day when the Maasdam lowered her anchors. For me it was another session to see officials from the Department of Immigration before I could leave the ship. As I was on a tour, and also Shore Excursions had asked me to help them with stickering, I made sure I was waiting early in the casino for the immigration process, sitting first in line in the queue, about an hour early than expected immigration officials' arrival. Although the doors to the Neptune Lounge were closed, some guests didn't want to listen to other guests about the fact that they had to sit and wait for immigration officials, saying that they had tours and had to go to the Neptune Lounge. Well, so did we! Crew duly sent them back out again to wait. Unfortunately a group of guests, who had been told to go back outside and wait, go it into their heads to stand right out side the doors thus queue-jumping ahead of fellow guests who they could see were waiting. Also they wouldn't listen to the fact that they were in the wrong line – they had to go to USA Nationals line. But because there was no notice on the door to that effect – they thought people were taking the piss. But in actual fact it had been announced time and time again which queue to line up in. I kept quiet – I was close to loosing my sense of humour altogether. As the group had queue-jumped and they weren't listening to what anyone was saying, I picked up my rucksack and went to the front of the group of guests, and stood between them at the door. One chap yelled at me and said 'hey, get back'! I looked him squarely in the face and said that in actual fact I and others had been sitting at the front of the queue on chairs since 7am. He looked at me and said 'whatever' but nothing more. The group still didn't take the hint and move to the back of the queue.

Eventually the immigration officials arrived and I got through the process without any further ado. Shore Ex was very busy with the tours stickering when I arrived so I ended up helping usher guests to the waiting tender platform on deck 3. An elderly couple in my tour group were slow – the chap had mobility problems – so they were allowed to proceed to the tender platform ahead of the rest of the tour group. Just as well because he took ages to get down the steps into the tender. The tour group themselves ended up going on the next tender and so by the time the couple I accompanied had slowly walked up the pier from their tender, the next tender had arrived. The ship's staff were absolutely fantastic with helping the gentleman; from getting him down onto the tender to helping him off the tender and onto the pier and up the ramp to a balcony and waiting area. We had actually gone on a catamaran-type boat which had been commissioned by the ship to help with the tender process. The ride to the pier was fast and quite exhilarating.

We were on a big boat for the historic lighthouse tour and I stayed with the couple as we made our way down to the boat in case they needed help. I chose to sit outside as the boat made its way out of the harbour and along the coastline and between islands. Unfortunately after an hour of sitting outside I was absolutely freezing cold so went inside and purchased a cup of hot chocolate to help my hands and innards defrost. After having defrosted I remained inside the boat but left the warmth of the cabin now and then to take photographs. The boat ride was very interesting and, apart from seeing Acadia National Park and lighthouses from the sea, we also saw seals and a variety of birdlife. A whale was even spotted but it dived too quickly for most people to see it.

Our captain got the boat safely back to the pier and the majority of guests headed into town whereas I decided to go back to the ship. Paul and I met up for lunch after which I had a short nap before heading downstairs to help the Shore Ex ladies with collating the next excursions brochure. In the end I got cracking on with stapling the collated brochures and everything was finished within just over an hour. Before leaving I said my goodbyes to the Shore Ex ladies – they were a really nice pair to work with.

Time for me to start packing for home!

You can see my photographs on facebook via this link: Excursion: Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park by Sea

Final leg of our journey to Boston!

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Brrrr, it’s chilly today and a bit overcast.  I didn’t have a tour to go on but instead of sleeping in late, Ana (from the shops) and I agreed to meet up at breakfast time.  Much to our surprise and dismay, crew drills interrupted us.  And they were earlier than usual, for what reason we were unsure – and so was Paul when I asked him later on.  Ana sat at the table desperately trying to eat some breakfast before heading off, and frantically filling a flask with tea or coffee, as well as packing some breakfast to take to her husband.  Poor girl…

In between trying to put my previous blogs onto blogspot I took a walk down on the pier and had a wander around the cruise terminal shops and craft market.  Whilst in the market hall I spied a maple products stall with tiny bottles of maple wine.  My brain got whirring …. “I don’t want to open the bottle of maple wine – it needs to be packed in with the luggage.  However I would still like a bit of sweet wine over the next 3 evenings before we head back to the Netherlands so I’ll get 2 miniature bottles of maple wine".  So after thinking things through, I went into ‘purchase mode’.  Apart from the 2 miniature bottles of wine I didn’t get anything else – I promise!

Time to get ready for dinner.  Tomorrow is another day.

Sydney, Nova Scotia to Halifax, Nova Scotia

PHOTOGRAPHS