Photo review Maasdam 7-n Canada/New England cruise June 27 2015

OK so I have already seen two other reviews of this cruise on the boards… But I’d like to give my take on it and provide some good photos, like my last year review of our Med cruise, so please bear with me :-) I’ll review the cruise/ship first and shortly summarize our pre- and post-cruise travel. Then I will review the ports and chronicle the cruise day-by-day with photos in subsequent posts.

Cruise/ship review

Embarkation & disembarkation

Very smooth. We got to the terminal in Montreal at about 12.20, we checked in and boarded in like 15-20 minutes. The cabin was ready. For the first time we made it to the Mariner’s embarkation lunch, which was a nice start to the cruise.

We chose late independent disembarkation but carried our own bags, which was very easy and quick, especially since we had gone through immigration already in Bar Harbor the day before. We only had to hand in our customs declarations when walking through the terminal.

Ship condition

The ship is generally in good condition. There were some details that needed attention and could easily have been fixed but it didn’t impact us, for instance loose screws everywhere (in door locks, hinges, thresholds), broken tiles on the walls around the Lido pool etc. Most areas had dated decor, such as the Atrium and the Crow’s Nest, but some areas were updated such as Mix bar. I prefer the decor of the Signature class.

Some areas onboard that we liked (compared to the Vista & Signature class ships): Rotterdam MDR was very nice with lots of large windows and less of a cavernous feeling, the Atrium seemed larger and was also a more active space, Explorations Café was very big and separate but I actually prefer when it’s combined with the Crow’s Nest, Pinnacle Grill was much brighter and more modern, and finally very nice outdoor areas - a wide and uncluttered Promenade deck but too many solid steel railings so no views when sitting in deck chairs, practical with outside stairs from the promenade and up to the Lido and nice with forward decks without glass shields (such as on top of the Crow’s Nest) for views and photos. We also liked having a laundry room.

Some areas onboard that we didn’t like so much: the Showroom is small and has bad viewing angles from the balcony, and it’s a bit strange with the Casino, Mix bar, Piano bar and the shopping arcade tight next to each other on deck 8, as they disturb each other.

Small ship experience

We didn’t feel there were any particular advantages to a smaller ship other than perhaps less walking onboard. We felt that services also were scaled down and the ship was as roomy or crowded as the larger Vista & Signature class; for instance there was a long wait for tenders and the Lido was so small so we still had to wait in lines for food. One side of the Lido would close each night for ”staff dinner”. My partner was actually disappointed and now says he prefers larger ships, I didn’t mind, I though it was OK. We did however feel a lot more ship movement, which wasn’t a problem, but it makes me fearful of the South America/Antarctica itinerary we’re interested in.

Cabin

We had an ocean view cabin EE418 aft on deck 6. We loved that the cabin was wider than regular OVs, it helped a lot with more space in front of the wardrobes. The cabin felt updated and the bathroom had nicer decor than those on the Vista & Signature class. It was great to be so close to an exit to the promenade deck and also outside stairs up to the Lido, however we had to draw the curtains at night because you can see in through the windows if the cabin has the lights on. There was no cooler/fridge but that was OK since our attendants handled the ice service perfectly.

Before the cruise I asked on CC about noise and vibration in these aft cabins, and it was correct that there was only vibrations while docking because of the thrusters. There was no noise from the promenade deck or the dining room, however the white space on the starboard side of the cabin (which I thought was a corridor) turned out to be an AC-unit machine room which unfortunately made some noise into the cabin, however we learned to ignore the "white noise".

Dining

Generally good, but Nieuw Amsterdam last summer was better. Rotterdam MDR quite good, we always got a table for two without long waits between 6-8 PM. Dive In burgers very good. Lido breakfast great. Never had time for lunch on board, except on embarkation day in MDR. Lido dinner not so good, because one side would close up for staff dinner and a big gripe for me - there was no lemonade or fruit punch, only ice tea and water.

Entertainment & activities

We’re not so fond of the production shows and we skipped several of them, but the show ”Classique” was sort of fun actually. Patrick McMahon was a very special Australian singer… The comedian Jim McCue was OK. We saw a movie one night in the Wajang theatre, which worked well for movies. Didn’t have much time for activities, but attended a presentation about the Halifax citadel with staff from there and another about the Halifax explosion, but the last one was done by the cruise director.

Staff

Very good as usual on HAL. We had great cabin attendants, Joni & Muhammed. Ane Jan Smit was the captain. Jude Day was the cruise director. Francois Birarda was the hotel director.

Itinerary/ports

Great itinerary. The cruise is very port intensive with only one sea day, not much time to experience the ship. The ports were great, we like Québec and Charlottetown/PEI the best. Port times were a bit short, it was difficult to choose which activities we would have time to do. More on the ports in subsequent posts.

Pre- and post-cruise

I’ll shortly summarize our pre- and post-travels, that technically were not part of the cruise.

We took the non-stop SAS flight from Copenhagen to Newark on June 19. We stayed three nights in NYC at the Hilton Times Square and toured that great city. On June 22 we took the Amtrak Adirondack train to Montréal. We stayed in Montréal for three nights, which I will describe below in my first port post. On June 25 we rented a car and drove to Ottawa, where we stayed for two nights at the Fairmont Château Laurier. On June 27 we drove back to Montréal, returned the rental and boarded the ship.

When disembarking, we stayed in Boston for three nights, which I will also describe later. On July 7 we took the Amtrak Acela train back to NYC and then a late night flight back home.

/Henrik

Great start.

Looking forward to the rest.

Very well written report. Looking forward to the next chapters

Thanks for the thoughtful start to your review. We are on Maasdam in Oct. of this year. Looking forward to more. :)

You were so lucky to see Patrick McMahon. Isn't he fantastic!

We arrived the evening before on Amtrak's Adirondack train, which was punctual. The train ride was very nice and scenic with views of the Hudson river and the Adirondack mountains. It was a very long ride and the last part through Québec was slow and got tiresome.

We were staying at the Sofitel Golden Mile for three nights. A very nice hotel, but perhaps a bit far from the Old town. It was quite close to the main shopping drag att Rue Ste-Catherine:

We started our touring by walking in Downtown to Square Dorchester. The Sun Life building was for a long time the largest building in the British empire:

There's an interesting church by the square, called Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, which is actually a scale copy of St Peter's in Rome:

We continued the day by taking the Métro (subway) to Vieux-ville (Old town). First we walked by Hôtel de Ville (City hall):

Across the street is the Château Ramezay. We didn't visit the museum, but it was a nice building and had a small lovely garden:

Nearby is the Marché Bonsecours. I was a bit disappointed that it was no market but instead housed clothing shops etc:

We walked along Rue St-Paul. It's a nice neighborhood but in perhaps not as good condition as I had hoped. Later in the cruise we found Québec (city) to be much more beautiful than Vieux-ville in Montréal. Rue St-Paul:

However Basilique Notre-Dame in Montréal is a very impressive church:

Love your pictures - especially the architecture.

Love your pictures - especially the architecture.

Thank you all so far. Incidentally, I'm actually an architect myself :cool:

Today we took the Métro to the Olympic Park area. We skipped the leaning tower of the stadium, because we were thinking of going to the viewpoint in Parc Mont-Royal in the evening instead. Our destination was instead the Biodôme:

The Biodôme is a sort of habitat museum and zoo, with different climate areas, I like those kinds of places. We saw turtles, sloths, parrots, penguins, otters, raccoons and even lynx:

We got a combo ticket with the Botanical gardens. All the roses were in full bloom in the gardens, I also liked the Japenese and Chinese gardens:

You are also an awesome photographer!

Today was also St-Jean-Baptiste day (Catholic Midsummer) and Fête National (National Holiday) of Québec. We did stop by the festival area at Place des Arts during the afternoon, but it wasn't all that interesting. There were no fireworks either, apparently Québec (city) has them. There was a parade, but it didn't fit our schedule. However we could see lots of manifestations of Québec pride :)

In the evening we took the Métro to Le Plateau neighborhood, which is supposedly a typical mixed area in the city. We enjoyed a walk there and ate a tasty dinner consisting of very local snacks; Montréal smoked ham sandwich, pickles/cole slaw and poutine (fries with custard and cheese curds):

After dinner we took a bus from Le Plateau up in to Parc Mont-Royal and walked to the view point Belvédère Kondiaronk. The park was actually designed by Olmsted, who also did Central park in NYC. The view to the east over downtown was great:

Our hotel was actually nearby the view point, just straight down the hill. However it got dark and there are no street lights at all in the park, and the way down consisted of trails and lots of stairs among dense foliage. Luckily my partner always carries a small flashlight, and there were also lots of people on the view point, and going up and down the mountain using their cell phones as flash lights. It looked kind of funny when you could see a trail of lighted cell phones moving through the forest. It was a bit exhilarating but we felt safe moving with people.

So as I mentioned earlier, we got a rental car and drove to and spent two nights in Ottawa. It's not part of the cruise itinerary so I won't post pictures etc, but it was very nice and I can recommend visiting Ottawa and seeing the national sights.

We returned to Montréal and boarded quickly without problems, got our cabin and got to try the Mariner's embarkation lunch in the MDR for the first time.

Here are some pictures from my ship tour on embarkation day. First our oceanview cabin EE418 on deck 6 Lower promenade:

View aft from our window:

The aft promenade deck just outside our cabin/window:

Rotterdam MDR (Main dining room):

Explorations Café (& library):

Some more photos from the ship. The Seaview pool:

The Lido restaurant:

The Lido pool:

Mix bar and the shopping arcade in the background:

The Atrium:

The Showroom:

Henrik, thank you very much for sharing your trip with us. Your photos are remarkable and make me feel like I'm sharing your trip with you.

We started sail away about 6.30 PM, not 4 PM as in the schedule, to adapt to the tides so we could sail under the Jacques-Cartier bridge.

There were lots of interesting things to look at in the harbor, from the ship's upper decks. This is Habitat'67, a housing experiment from the 1967 world exhibition:

This is the Biosphère, the former US pavilion, from the 1967 world exhibition:

There was some sort of party/festival going on, on the Jacques-Cartier pier:

We had dinner on the Lido terrace, because we wanted to see as much as possible of the St Lawrence river scenery:

We also had a spectacular sunset over the river:

We started sail away about 6.30 PM, not 4 PM as in the schedule, to adapt to the tides so we could sail under the Jacques-Cartier bridge.

 

There were lots of interesting things to look at in the harbor, from the ship's upper decks. This is Habitat'67, a housing experiment from the 1967 world exhibition:

 

On my first cruise out of Montreal, we were docked at a commercial port (not the cruise ship terminal) across from Habitat '67. It was so interesting. Since then, we have done the cruise to end up in Montreal and sunrise through Habitat '67 is one of the most awesome sights I can experience on a ship. I always get up and out early to make sure I get to see that view.

Thank you for reviewing your Maasdam cruise, and sharing your superb photos.

Very well done.

Keith

Thanks for posting your review.

Looking forward to reading more and seeing more wonderful pictures.

Great review and pictures. Thank you for sharing.

On my first cruise out of Montreal, we were docked at a commercial port (not the cruise ship terminal) across from Habitat '67. It was so interesting. Since then, we have done the cruise to end up in Montreal and sunrise through Habitat '67 is one of the most awesome sights I can experience on a ship. I always get up and out early to make sure I get to see that view.

That sounds amazing. I had to do a Google-picture-search about it :)

Thank you all for your comments so far.

So today we got to Québec, which turned out to be our favorite port (almost a tie with PEI). I'll have to do several posts to include all the photos I want to show... The weather was forecasted to be bad with heavy rain, but luckily it was only an overcast sky and the raining started to pour only at 3 PM, just when we had returned to the terminal.

The view of the Old town from the ship/port is great:

Got at nice view of our ship exterior as well:

Our agenda was to get quickly up to the Citadel for the changing of the guards at 10 AM. However I had to take some photos when we walked through the Lower town (Ville-basse), because it would be more crowded later and since rain might come anytime. It's a very pretty town. The buildings look very French but colonial at the same time.

Place Royale, in Lower town:

We took the funicular up to the Upper town (Ville-haute) and walk up to the Citadel from the Dufferin terrace. I thought the entrance was near the terrace, but we had to follow the star-shaped moat forever to get to the main entrance, and missed the start of the ceremony. However the changing of the guards took about 30min and we only missed like 5min.

The ceremony is made more interesting because the regiment has a mascot goat, with gold-painted horns, called "Battiste". This is currently Battiste #11 (he always gets the same name). The goat was a gift from the Queen in the 1950's.

The citadel is an active military installation that houses the 22nd French-Canadian regiment. You can only visit on a guided tour. The tours started directly after the ceremony. There are excellent views of the river and the town from the citadel.

After the tour of the citadel, we joined a free tour of the Governor Generals residence. The Governor has two residences, one here and the primary one is Rideau Hall in Ottawa (of course). The Governor is the Queen's representative in Canada. The tour was very interesting, even though most of the tour is in a building from the 1980's. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside.

It took a couple of hours to tour the citadel. Afterwards we walked by the Québec Parliament, which is just outside the city gates, on our way back into the Upper town.

After the Citadel and the Parliament, we continued into the Upper town.

We peeked into the Château Frontenac. Right next to the hotel, is a nice square called Place d'Armes:

Hôtel de Ville (City hall) seemed all decked out and prepared for Canada day:

The Notre-Dame cathedral is very nice, although the one in Montréal is a bit more unique:

We walked down the stairs of Rue du Petit Champlain back to the Lower town:

I couldn't resist this funny artwork, on the back corner of the Musée de la Civilisation, on our way back to the terminal: