Dave’s Live from Maasdam 14-day Southern Caribbean, March 13-27, 2015

[RetiredMustang]

Thursday, March 26, at sea (Cont.)

 

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the ship and lounging on the balcony. And packing. We went one last time to happy hour and said goodbye to the bar staff and our fellow imbibing cruisers, and then went into dinner at the MDR.

 

The dinner tonight was the Master Chef’s International Dinner. If there was a presentation and/or farewell song, we escaped before it happened.

 

Here is the menu (you could choose each course from whatever section you wanted):

 

 

North and South America

 

Appetizer and Soup

- Latin-American-Style Gravlax – Salmon cured with pisco sour, kosher salt, cilantro and crushed peppercorns served with a mellow jalapeno-honey mustard dressing

- Guiso – A traditional Argentinian soup with pieces of tender beef, sweet potato, carrot, onion, potato, squash, and tomato

 

Entrees

- Bourbon Glazed Beef with Grilled Portobella Mushrooms – Grilled to perfection and presented on a bed of cheddar cheese grits and sautéed greens

- Poblano Stuffed “Pechugo de Pollo” – Golden baked chicken breast with roasted, mild-spicy pepper and melting Queso Blanco, accompanied with braised tomato-cilantro rice, roasted carrots and roasted cumin-buttered corn kernels

 

Dessert: The “Big Apple” Cheesecake – New York-style cheesecake served with warm cinnamon-apple compote

 

 

Europe and Africa

 

Appetizer and Soup

- Mediterranean Mezze Plate – Creamy hummus, marinated olives, smoky-flavored baba ghanoush, rice-stuffed grape leaves and olive oil-marinated feta cheese

- Scandinavian-Style Seafood and Potato Chowder – Silky, smooth, thick soup heightened with fresh dill and flavored with Aquavit liquor

 

Entrees

- Lebanese Lamb Shank – Served over flageolets braised in a tomato-lamb just, serve with basil-minted couscous and roasted carrots

- Asparagus and Fontina Cheese Risotto with Sauteed Cod – Accented with diced tomato and sail oil. Available as a vegetarian option on quest.

 

Dessert: Mohr in Hemd – A warm, light chocolate nut sponge, coated with cognac-laced chocolate sauce and topped with a generous cloud of whipped cream

 

 

Asia and Australia

 

Appetizer and Soup

- Vietnamese Spring Roll with Chicken – Tender grilled chicken rolled together with romaine lettuce, rice noodles, basil, cilantro and toasted peanuts, served with Nuroc cham dipping sauce

- Shiitake Salad with Sesame-Ginger Vinaigrette – A combination of crisp, colorful vegetables and grilled shiitake mushrooms tossed with a flavorful sesame-ginger vinaigrette

 

Entrees

- Wattleseed Roasted Duck with Apricots – Served over smoked back bacon and potato galette, sautéed spinach with macadamia nuts, and complemented with a tamarind glaze

- Tofu and Vegetable Korma – A blend of cauliflower, green beans, tofu, potatoes, green peas and carrots, finished with a lively flavor of ginger and cilantro and accompanied with freshly baked whole-wheat paratha bread

 

Dessert: Kiwi and Passion Fruit Pavlova – Crisp meringue shell filled with vanilla whipped cream, topped with sliced kiwi and drizzled with passion fruit sauce

 

 

Chef Rudi’s Tour Around the World

 

Appetizer and Soup

- Brie in Crispy Phyllo with Apple-Cranberry Chutney – Warm, creamy Brie topped with chutney of tart apple, sweet-dried cranberries and toasted almonds, wrapped in crispy phyllo dough

- Chilled Pumpkin Soup – Creamy and flavorful with hints of cinnamon, ginger and Vermont maple

 

Entrees

- Sauteed Shrimp Provencal – Scented with Mediterranean herbs, garlic and tomato concasse, served with florets of crisp, tender broccoli

- Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Escarole – Small pasta shells baked with Italian-style herbed sausage, fresh oregano, tender ribbons of escarole, white wine, diced Roma tomatoes and lemon cream, finished with Pecorino Romano

 

Dessert: Baked Alaska – An ice cream glacier under a blanket of meringue, with a warm brandy Bing cherry sauce

 

 

I started with the Guiso soup, which was very good. DW dotes on the baked Brie, and enjoyed it very much. We both had the Bourbon Glazed Beef with Grilled Portobella Mushrooms, which was excellent (except for the kale - some farmer must have unloaded a whole field full on HAL before this cruise). For dessert, DW had the New York cheesecake, while I went with the chocolate - the Mohr in Hemd, which was very nutty in addition to being chocolaty. Different, interesting and delicious.

 

More later,

Dave

Edited March 26, 2015 by RetiredMustang

[cruz chic]

Thx for the update. I'm sorry this is coming to an ene.

[jaspersmycat]

Thanks Dave for taking us along on another cruise. Have a safe trip home.

[erewhon]

OK, I finally have as good an answer as I think I am going to get: yes. Several members of the crew over the past several days have said that Maasdam was indeed staying in the HAL fleet, and was relocating next year to the South Pacific.

 

I took the opportunity while going through the line for the Mariner medallion ceremony this morning to ask Captain Jutten both questions. He confirmed yes to both. I did not have time to ask for any further details, as there was a long line, but all in all, I think we all can look forward to Maasdam down south in late 2016.

 

 

Dave

 

I appreciate you taking time to enquire about Maasdam coming "down under", as I have noticed that she is booked in some of our ports. Thank you for the confirmation.

 

We will be watching for the itineraries to be published,..... hopefully we will get to cruise on her:)

[slabeaume]

Sounds like a wonderful cruise. Thanks for all the info, recommendations, and pictures. Can't wait 'til the 17th when we get to take that same cruise---minus the missed port of Halfmoon Cay!

[RetiredMustang]

I am glad to see they haven't done away with the group "Amber and the Hal-cats". Did you have an opportunity to hear them?

 

We did not specifically go anywhere to listed to the music, but were in places at times and were able to hear the HAL Cats, the Neptunes, Adagio, and Junior on the steelpans. All the musicians were pretty good, but (except for Adagio), loud enough for us to move a bit further away.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, March 27, Ft. Lauderdale

 

We arrived at pier 26 in Ft. Lauderdale a bit early, I think. We had requested and received expedited departure, and were in line on deck 5 about 7:10. About 7:25, we heard the announcement that "So-and-so from Cabin xxx please contact the front office immediately."

 

But, whoever it was cleared their bill soon enough, and we headed ashore ... to discover that only one agent for U.S. Customs and Immigration had reported yet. OK, a few extra minutes delay. We dragged our bags to the garage, loaded the car, and went down to the exit ... where we watched the first attendant stroll across the street to a booth, stow her purse and turn on the computer, etc. OK, another few minutes delay.

 

But, we were out by 8:05 and on our way. We picked up the Florida Turnpike and, while the traffic was heavy, it was not as crazy as we have seen before on a weekday morning after 8. After about 20 miles, it cleared out a bit, and we had a relatively easy trip to Ft. Pierce to jump over to I-95. A typical drive up I-95, with several stops, brought us to Savannah, GA by 4 p.m., where we are spending the night before finishing the drive to northern Virginia tomorrow.

 

With that, I will close out this blog, pending any of your additional questions.

 

I do have one for you, though -- what did you think of the way I did the photos, with the small attached thumbnails and links to higher-resolution ones? RuthC commented once that she liked that format, but I know she disables photos anyway and only opens those which might interest her. I found the process just a bit more involved than just embedding the photos as I have done in the past few blogs, but would appreciate any feedback, pro or con.

 

Thanks and see your around the boards,

Dave

Edited March 27, 2015 by RetiredMustang

[ZSandy25]

Thanks, Linda,

 

We have been on HMC for more than a dozen times over the years, since visiting in early 1998, about a month after it opened. It is always nice to go there for a bit of paradise, but we have been shut out twice now. Oh well, we are booked on an Oosterdam b2b next year and will have two opportunities then.

 

Dave

 

We are booked next year B2B on Oosterdam, Feb. 8 sailing. Would that be your cruise. If so it will be a pleasure to meet you and your wife. I always follow your adventures.

[cruz chic]

Thx Dave. Really enjoyed your blog. Whatever way works for you to attach pictures etc. works great for me. I love when posters do a live from and actually come back to it every day instead on catching up ten days at once. I lose interest fast at that point. It's a lot of work to do a live from and I really appreciate it. Welcome home (almost).

[RetiredMustang]

We are booked next year B2B on Oosterdam, Feb. 8 sailing. Would that be your cruise. If so it will be a pleasure to meet you and your wife. I always follow your adventures.

 

As I mentioned, we are on a B2B on Oosterdam as well, but will overlap with your cruise. We start ours Friday, Jan. 29, but we will be on board with you for the 11-day leg Feb. 8-19. Looking forward to meeting you!

 

Dave

Edited March 27, 2015 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Thx Dave. Really enjoyed your blog. Whatever way works for you to attach pictures etc. works great for me. I love when posters do a live from and actually come back to it every day instead on catching up ten days at once. I lose interest fast at that point. It's a lot of work to do a live from and I really appreciate it. Welcome home (almost).

 

Thanks for the feedback. I see from your sig that you sail Monday on a last-minute Noordam cruise. Enjoy!

 

Dave

[cruz chic]

Thanks for the feedback. I see from your sig that you sail Monday on a last-minute Noordam cruise. Enjoy!

 

Dave

 

Thank you.

[slabeaume]

I only opened the photos you had in the main part of your message and saved them to a folder so I can study up for our cruise. I, too, like the daily blog. I do that quite often when I'm traveling with free internet---so I appreciate the time you've taken with it. My cruise blogs have to wait until I get home.

[Mtn2Sea]

Friday, March 27, Ft. Lauderdale

I do have one for you, though -- what did you think of the way I did the photos, with the small attached thumbnails and links to higher-resolution ones? RuthC commented once that she liked that format, but I know she disables photos anyway and only opens those which might interest her. I found the process just a bit more involved than just embedding the photos as I have done in the past few blogs, but would appreciate any feedback, pro or con.

 

Thanks and see your around the boards,

Dave

 

I was going to ask you about how you did your photos differently this time, but I was waiting until you got back to some "real" internet. I'm also interested in knowing how readers liked the way you used photo links/thumbnails. Did you find it easier this way or about the same. Also, I noticed some links went to Photobucket and some to CC photos, which I've never used. Between the two links, I liked the way the CC photos came in better. Is it easier to upload photos to CC and do they have any restrictions? BTW, did you know that, if you look at your review with Tapatalk, the photo links automatically bring up the photos, so they appear in your post just like your earlier reviews?

 

I really enjoyed your review - another excellent job!

[RuthC]

I've been reading---and enjoying---your report from the first post. Happy that you had a good time, with at least decent weather, and relaxing times on the balcony.

I liked reading the menu for every night, but have to say that most nights I was not thrilled by the offerings. I would have been selecting from the "always available" more often than in the past. Very disappointed in how HAL's food offerings are going.

 

I did click on many of the pictures, and liked the choice of links and thumbnails. I did use both depending on the topic.

But whatever is easier for you is fine! You do us all a favor by posting a "live from ...", and including pictures. I appreciate the efforts, and will happily take what you choose to give.

 

Welcome (almost) home.

[boards]

We did not specifically go anywhere to listed to the music, but were in places at times and were able to hear the HAL Cats, the Neptunes, Adagio, and Junior on the steelpans. All the musicians were pretty good, but (except for Adagio), loud enough for us to move a bit further away.

 

Dave

 

Thank you your response and the review. I have followed it and have enjoyed it. We have been on that same cruise itinerary on the Maasdam a year ago. I agree with Ruth C, the menu seemed to leave a lot to be desired. We will the pleasure of being on the same cruise with her on the Zuiderman in Oct. Hope someday to have pleasure of doing the same with you. Thank you.

[RetiredMustang]

All,

 

We've made it home safely. Thanks for traveling with us, and for all your inputs.

 

 

To get to more inside/techie/boring for anyone else stuff -- For Mtn2Sea (Robert), re:

 

I was going to ask you about how you did your photos differently this time, but I was waiting until you got back to some "real" internet. I'm also interested in knowing how readers liked the way you used photo links/thumbnails. Did you find it easier this way or about the same. Also, I noticed some links went to Photobucket and some to CC photos, which I've never used. Between the two links, I liked the way the CC photos came in better. Is it easier to upload photos to CC and do they have any restrictions? BTW, did you know that, if you look at your review with Tapatalk, the photo links automatically bring up the photos, so they appear in your post just like your earlier reviews?

 

I really enjoyed your review - another excellent job!

 

Short answer -- it was more involved to do the links and thumbnails, and based on the experience and all the inputs, including yours about Tapatalk, I probably will revert to embedding the photos directly into the posts. I might link to such things as the On Locations and Explorer port pages.

 

Long answer: What I did was to take the photos, crop and (high-res) size them as usual, and them upload them to a service, either the CC photo gallery or photobucket. Then, I copied the direct links to the larger photos, and included the links in the text of my posts. When I was ready to upload to the thread, I copied and pasted the text into the text box, and then I hit the "Manage Attachments" tab below the text box section. That allowed me to select the photos from my desktop and upload them as attachments to the post (no need to re-size, the CC tool makes them into thumbnails automatically).

 

For the CC photo gallery, that's what I used initially when I started adding photos to my blogs. But, it had a size limit of 250KB at the time, so I went with photobucket for larger-size photo embeds. I had issues with photobucket one cruise and reverted to CC photo gallery with the smaller maximum size files. After a few days, I noticed that the CC photo gallery increased its max size file to 2.5 MB (coincidence?), which allows for a nice size photo -- it still limits to 1000 pixels either direction, but that makes for a useful and readable photo of the On Location, for example.

 

But, there are only a few categories to post to on CC -- a few ship line photos plus one for "other lines", port of call photos, fabulous foods, and maybe a few others I don't use.

 

I also noticed that, when linked, the photos on CC were much better than links to photobucket files. But, I am not all that great with technical sites, and when I try to load to the port of call section, it runs me through several steps, and when I try to upload the next photo, it defaults to Carnival Cruise Line ship photo section. Loading to the HAL ship photo section is much smoother. Perhaps at one time, I toggled or did something that streamlined that section, but haven't figured out how to do that for the port of call photos section, and didn't want to try while at sea and burning minutes.

 

Bottom line: at ship internet speeds, it slowed me down a bunch to load port call photos to CC, which is why I went mostly with photobucket for those.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

....

I liked reading the menu for every night, but have to say that most nights I was not thrilled by the offerings. I would have been selecting from the "always available" more often than in the past. Very disappointed in how HAL's food offerings are going. ...

 

Welcome (almost) home.

 

Ruth,

 

Thanks for the feedback on my blog, but I clipped out your comment about food in particular. It seemed to me too that the choices were not all that appealing some nights. More frustrating were the occasional nights when we had to choose among three great starters or mains. I've mentioned something along these lines before but we wanted to "bank" one and come back to it another night. You know, "Hey, DR steward, instead of today's offerings, can I have the pork shanks from Tuesday?"

 

And, seriously, I don't know if you've ever had the chocolate seduction (and sorry, I was scraping the bottom of the plate before I thought to take a picture), but I think you would really like it. It is one of the best chocolate desserts I've had on HAL.

 

Dave

[Mtn2Sea]

Glad you made it home safe and sound! Thanks for your response on how you did your photos. Hopefully, by your next cruise, HAL will have unlimited internet plans on all ships. Doing my last review using the Zuiderdam's set internet plan was so much better than the traditional minute plan. I was never stressed (i.e., hoping everything was working properly) while patiently waiting for photos to upload.

[RuthC]

And, seriously, I don't know if you've ever had the chocolate seduction (and sorry, I was scraping the bottom of the plate before I thought to take a picture), but I think you would really like it. It is one of the best chocolate desserts I've had on HAL.

I'm sailing soon, and will be sure to look for it on the menu. Thanks for the tip.

 

The best ever was the first time I had the chocolate pursel; absolutely BEST dessert I have ever had in my entire life. :D

I have always loved the flourless chocolate cake, too.

When offered, the lemon desserts are out of this world, and frequently are superior to the other chocolate desserts offered.

[trident one]

Thank you so much for a great review.

 

Brought back great memories of the islands we visited on our very first cruise.

 

I was so very sorry to see that there was no escargot on the starter menu. I am really hoping that some of the main entrees will be on the Veendam in July, as they sounded quite intriguing and can only wish for escargot at least once in two weeks.

[slabeaume]

Decided to check out some of the links to your other live blogs since we've done some of the same cruises. Some of your links are mixed up, but I still found them. It was fun seeing what you did at the ports that was different from what we did. We gear our trips mainly around snorkeling, so only seemed to have Buck island in common. I liked the way you put the links to your blogs in your signature so much that I went and did that for my blogs, too.

Glad you made it back home safe and sound.

[TeamPez]

Thank you so much for a great review.

 

Brought back great memories of the islands we visited on our very first cruise.

 

I was so very sorry to see that there was no escargot on the starter menu. I am really hoping that some of the main entrees will be on the Veendam in July, as they sounded quite intriguing and can only wish for escargot at least once in two weeks.

 

I saw escargot once (I think it was with caviar) during the farewell dinner.

 

Thanks for the great live review, Dave. My wife and I enjoyed the dinner menus and can't wait for our cruise on Monday.

[RetiredMustang]

...

 

I was so very sorry to see that there was no escargot on the starter menu. I am really hoping that some of the main entrees will be on the Veendam in July, as they sounded quite intriguing and can only wish for escargot at least once in two weeks.

 

I saw escargot once (I think it was with caviar) during the farewell dinner.

 

... .

 

Yes, there were escargot as a starter on the farewell dinner menu (from post #191):

 

"Starters * Soups * Salads

- Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail – American cocktail sauce

- Duck Pate, Caviar and Smoked Salmon – celery apple salad, classic condiments

- Escargot Bourguignon – herb garlic butter, Burgundy wine, French bread

..."

 

 

I remember being on a cruise once with a tablemate who ordered seconds ... and thirds ... of the escargot. He obviously had a thing about them, and we waited (mostly) patiently while he had them. So, if you really like them, you can, like with other dishes on HAL such as the lobster tails, order more than one serving.

 

Dave

[trident one]

Yes, there were escargot as a starter on the farewell dinner menu (from post #191):

 

"Starters * Soups * Salads

- Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail – American cocktail sauce

- Duck Pate, Caviar and Smoked Salmon – celery apple salad, classic condiments

- Escargot Bourguignon – herb garlic butter, Burgundy wine, French bread

..."

 

 

I remember being on a cruise once with a tablemate who ordered seconds ... and thirds ... of the escargot. He obviously had a thing about them, and we waited (mostly) patiently while he had them. So, if you really like them, you can, like with other dishes on HAL such as the lobster tails, order more than one serving.

 

Dave

 

Sorry Dave, somehow I missed them in your 191 post. As I always say, " just because I wear glasses, doesn't mean I can see."

 

I would never make tablemates wait while I ordered seconds on an individual basis, how rude. I do a double order of escargot and a salad and inform the waiter that will be my entire meal for the evening.

 

I really do enjoy escargot and they are rarely on a restaurant menu in my area. Hopefully, because this is a two week cruise for us but, also being sold as

individual one week sailings, there will be two farewell dinners with them on the menu.