Montreal & Québec, Canada.

Luggage traffic jam below the decks.

Yesterday in Montreal it was a turn-around port day for the Maasdam.  So it was a busy day for staff having to see to disembarking guests, new guests coming on board, and the usual stocking up of provisions and getting the ship ready for the next cruise which is down to Boston, being a 7 day cruise.  

Guests' luggage being dealt with - below decks.

The Maasdam is back in Québec City again after sailing up to Montreal and back again.  

Montreal

Ongoing ship maintenance

Today I made arrangements to meet up with a friend.  I had met Stacy last year when she had taken a group of guests on a walking tour, and I had gone with the group.  We have remained in touch ever since so it was nice to meet up again under informal circumstances.  With Paul's permission Stacy came on board the ship for lunch and I took her around the ship afterwards, giving her a chance to have a look around and get a feel of what it could be like to be a passenger.  I also took her into some areas that passengers don't get to see - the laundry department, tailor's shop and more.  It was nice to have a catch up session and see her again.  Unfortunately I don't particularly like goodbyes but with about 10 minutes to go before the 'all aboard' time - well in this case 'all guests depart' time, we went down to the pier where we parted company.  I know that the Maasdam won't be back in Québec City next year but hope I will bump into Stacy at some stage whether it be in Québec or somewhere else.  Keeping in touch with friends, though, is important too!

The Maasdam's route to Charlottetown.

The Maasdam is now on her way to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Paul will have to be up late to let the pilot off the ship.  Tomorrow will be a cruising day - along the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  I would like to say 'scenic cruising' but if fog sets in - it won't!  At least guests can put their feet up and relax for the day, making most of what the ship has to offer in the way of entertainment, food, spa, gym, etc.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Montreal

View of Montreal from the Maasdam's on board camera

The joys of loading up guests' luggage - Montreal

 

Québec City - views from the Maasdam

It is a heck of a long way down!

Work must go on - no time for bungy jumping from cherry picker 😩

Montreal, Canada. Turn-around day

It was lovely and sunny when we docked in Montreal.  Rain was expected but never materialised.  I can’t believe when we were here 2 weeks ago it was very chilly – and today it was lovely and warm.

Staff, as usual, was hectically busy preparing cabins as each guest left.  They are often under a lot of pressure to get things done ‘just right’ and on time. 

As usual, I didn’t really want to get off the ship to wander around Montreal on my own so I spent much of the day trying to figure things out with my blog on BlogSpot and improving its layout and look.  Mmmmm…..  Unfortunately the site uses HTML encoding so I cannot get things to work the way I want it to, such as picture placements, margins and its final published look.  It all goes awry which is quite infuriating for me – not being a computer geek.  I also started putting on some of my blogs that go back to when Paul and I joined the Maasdam in Peru at the start of his new contract.  I’ve been doing my blogs on facebook and will keep doing so for the time being, and run it in parallel with BlogSpot for the time being.  Hopefully I will catch up almost 3 months’ worth of blogs on BlogSpot.  Unfortunately I’ve got quite a few photographs so instead of loading them onto BlogSpot I’ve put a link to my photographs that are already on facebook.  Hopefully I will figure how putting pictures on BlogSpot works – currently those I have put on look a bit ‘all over the show’.  L

 A bit later on Paul had a little bit of time to spare so we went to the cruise terminal to get free Wi-Fi and to try to download any programme updates on our Ipads.  The terminal has been newly built but is not complete so it was a bit of an empty shell inside and building works still going on outside.  Whilst waiting for the updates to take place we noticed that there was a film crew.  We wondered if it was the opening ceremony for the unfinished terminal!

Some bright spark managed to throw up 😖 in the lido swimming pool soon after we left Montreal, spoiling the swim for fellow guests.   The guests have been left high and dry; possibly not very happy either.  The pool will be out of action until it can be emptied and sanitised, likely the day after tomorrow.  Guests can use the aft outside pool if they wish – bearing in mind it may be a bit on the chilly side.

On reading the above paragraph after I typed it Paul commented drily, but with a twinkle in his eye, that “staff have been wondering what the guest had eaten - the water now looks like bullion with tiny meatballs!”  Eish!!!!!  😳

My black sense of humour has really got the better of me over the last few days, possibly much to Paul’s dismay and that of the staff.  For example, yesterday (late evening) I went to get my hair trimmed at the on-board salon.  I saw some of the spa therapists sitting on the floor sorting out lotions, potions and various body scrubs and salt crystals, many of the containers having their lids off.  I leaned over one of the girls and said to her in a loud stage whisper that she needs to be careful not to sniff the scrubs or salts – people may think the girls are snorting wacky baccy.  In another crazy moment this afternoon I saw a hairdresser handing out small plastic bags with spa vouchers in them.  I went over to her, when there was no guest around, and said ‘aaahhhh, handing out the vomit bags eh?’!!!  😉 Needless to say she paused to digest what she had just heard and her face was a picture when the penny dropped.  Yep, she said, they might very well need them later when we start sailing!  It’s good to laugh but I must also rein in my tongue in case I offend anyone.  I can assure you that, although I may be a bit wacky, I’m not on any wacky baccy!  (I’ve just looked up its definition on urbandictionary.com and it says:  “wacky baccy  An informal name for the godsent cannabis. Also Wacky. From Latin "Waccius Baccius" meaning 'to get high and chill, man'.”  Methinks that just about sums it up nicely!)

Nite nite.

Route to our next destination:  Quebec City

PICTURES

Cruise terminal is partly completed

Montreal, Canada. Turn-around day.

Paul was up early 😫 when the ship docked and I was up not long after so that I could say ‘goodbye’ to Judy and Fred before they left the ship.  Fortunately Paul had finished work on the bridge so he was able to join us for breakfast.  As usual, I hate goodbyes but that is the way life is sometimes.  Keeping in touch with friends is important, no matter how far away they may be.  I know that I will see people again at some point in time.

The rest of the day was a quite one for me.  Although it was the ship’s turn-around day I decided not to take a wander around Montreal so spent a bit of time sorting out photographs.  A bit later on Paul and I got off the ship and went into the terminal to make use of the free Wi-Fi.  Our mobile phones and tablets needed software updates and fortunately the Wi-Fi signal was excellent so downloads went very fast.  I tried to update maps on my phone but made a bit of a mess of it.  I ended up deleted them off the phone and will upload them again another time.

Departure was uneventful, but for one family – not so.  They got left behind.  Dad dropped his family off at the terminal and went to drop off the rented vehicle at the car hire place.  His wife and children checked in and boarded the ship.  Time went on and unfortunately dad didn’t come back…  Closer to departure time his wife and children got off the ship to wait for him in the terminal.  In the end the ship couldn’t wait and had to leave without them.  Dad was last seen on the other side of the road and railway line, unable to cross on foot.  As and when he gets to the terminal he and his family will have to make their own way to Quebec City and meet the ship there tomorrow.

Our route: heading towards Quebec City