Maasdam trip report NE/Canada June 2015

I like to do reviews, but I don't like to type a lot, so this will be more pics than words!

Just a little background. Myself (Bree, 36) and DH (Anthony, 47) cruise about 2 times a year. I like beaches. Anthony likes cooler weather and history stuff. So, therefore, he picks one trip per year and I pick one! So, this New England/Canada cruise was his pick of the year... and he picked great! I loved it! I could easily repeat this trip!

We flew to Boston on June 5th and stayed at the Chandler Inn. It is an easy walk from the inn to the Public Gardens and Boston Commons. We really liked this place. We spent the day at both places, the weather was great and we loved Boston!

The Chandler Inn

Around Boston

Great start.

Can't wait for more.

I like to do reviews, but I don't like to type a lot, so this will be more pics than words!

 

Just a little background. Myself (Bree, 36) and DH (Anthony, 47) cruise about 2 times a year. I like beaches. Anthony likes cooler weather and history stuff. So, therefore, he picks one trip per year and I pick one! So, this New England/Canada cruise was his pick of the year... and he picked great! I loved it! I could easily repeat this trip!

 

We flew to Boston on June 5th and stayed at the Chandler Inn. It is an easy walk from the inn to the Public Gardens and Boston Commons. We really liked this place. We spent the day at both places, the weather was great and we loved Boston!

Hi, Gertiesmom! Given that we stayed at the same hotel and sailed on the same ship, how is it that we never saw each other? I'm eager to see more of your beautiful photos. And if you wouldn't mind, I may do my own more word-oriented review, too. ;) Cheers!

Your Inn sounds enchanting. Can't wait to hear more :)

So, after we had dinner at the Trophy Room, I had an email from HAL with a booking confirmation. I was confused, because I hadn't booked another cruise that day. So, I called. We had been upgraded from a lanai cabin to a vista suite! At first, I was like "wait, let me check the location"... I pulled up the deck plans was happy with the location! YAHOO!!!

So, we slept in and had brunch the next morning and got a taxi to the cruise port at about 11:30am. Check in was a breeze, other than having to get new luggage tags due to the upgrade, but still, very easy checkin. We were onboard before noon. We explored the ship and found our cabin.

Cruise port:

Around the ship:

Vista Suite, cabin 140:

Sail away:

and the obligatory sunset pic:

First port, Bar Harbor

We decided to purchase our excursions through HAL because we got a discount when we booked the cruise... normally we only do this is sketchy ports, but we were too lazy to find our own stuff. So, in Bar Harbor we booked the excursion called "A walk in the park" at Acadia National Park. It wasn't a strenuous hike, but it got hot after we got there and we wanted to stop and take lots of pictures while our group just kept walking past all the pretty stuff! Anyway, Acadia National Park is beautiful and I would go back in a heartbeat!

Downtown Bar Harbor:

And because men never really grow up, the only picture my DH took the entire day:

Hi, Gertiesmom! Given that we stayed at the same hotel and sailed on the same ship, how is it that we never saw each other? I'm eager to see more of your beautiful photos. And if you wouldn't mind, I may do my own more word-oriented review, too. ;) Cheers!

I don't know how we never met! You can absolutely do a review too! The more the merrier!

First Formal Night:

I forced my DH to get a tux... he wasn't pleased, but once he got all dressed up, he was happy! The only day he has ever worn a tux was our wedding day 9 years ago!

This was the only night we went to a show. It was a great show, but we were too tired later on in the cruise to stay awake for the shows. I did spend a little time in the casino, and throughout the cruise won enough money to pay our onboard bill and pay for the hotel in Montreal! I hit a couple big wins on some penny machines (the gold bar one and the 3 machines next to each other on the most forward end of the casino). All 3 are ones that people walk right past. On one I won over $300 in one spin, another $200 on one spin, and another $250 on the other machine. Then, on the last night, I won another $100 on the gold bar machine. Just a hint for any slot players out there!

Just a side note about photos taken on the ship. We always take photos and hope one or two come out good. On the first formal night, they convinced us to try out the "Black Label" private photo thingy. We did, and it was a nice experience. They asked us to come back the next day to see our photos. When we went back the next day, we expected the photos to be expensive. In fact, we even said to each other that if there were a GREAT photo, we would get one, even i it was $100 since he never wears a tux. Well, we about fell out of our chairs when she said they were $175 for one 8x10 photo. Then she told us we could get all the photos on a DVD for a mere $595. I actually giggled, as yes, we have the money to spend, but were they worth $600? Oh, heck, no!

Needless to say, she acted irritated when I laughed at the price and we said no. The rest of the week, the photo personnel were not very pleasant to us!

To be continued tomorrow evening... still need to work out tonight!

Enjoying your report and photos! Just started packing...we board her in Montreal on Saturday!

Halifax

We have spent a couple days in Halifax before and have been all over, so we just went to the harborwalk and walked around. We were pretty sore from all the walking we had been doing the couple previous days.

And of course, Anthony's favorite, poutine. To be exact, poutine with bacon. And I have to admit, it was freaking awesome!

Sydney

In Sydney, we just decided to take it easy and walk around. We found a cute little craft fair at a church and then walked around the downtown area. Its not a big area, but very cute and likable.

Comic book store:

Book store:

Curiosity shop:

More Sydney:

Cute (and very good) restaurant we ate lunch at:

Random stuff around Sydney:

Pinnacle Grill on the Maasdam:

Worlds smallest glass of wine... which was fine because it was awful. I mean, I am sure someone out there likes it, and it was recommended, but it was just horrible. Tasted like some sort of cough syrup and, according to the sommelier, a "very strong wine with a high alcohol content"!

to be continued tomorrow evening!

Thanks, really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for sharing

Enjoying your review, thanks for sharing your photos.

Love the "Thunder Hole" photo. :D Made my day, chuckling to myself even now.

We're doing the repo cruise in October from Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale, so many of your stops are relevant to us. We too have a Lanai cabin booked, for the first time to try it out. Your photography is artful, what camera/software do you use?

Hope you found the Maasie in good shape. Looking forward to the rest of your photo review. :)

Hi there gertiesmom,

I see you live in Prairie Village. We live in Brookside area in KCMO. We will be doing a similar cruise on the Veendam on Sept. 12, Quebec to Boston. I'll be interested to read what you say about Quebec and Montreal as we will spend 4 nights in Montreal and 2 in Quebec pre cruise.

Thans for the great report we are doing this cruise in july as there anyway you can down load the daily papers I would love to see them before we go. I am looking forward in the rest of your report and pictures