Live from the Maasdam - Nov 7 to 21, 2008 - Southern Caribbean

[GmaPajama]

Well, almost live - it's just a matter of hours. Thought I'd get my pre-cruise report posted while we have a less expensive access to the internet.

 

Flight - American Airlines, ORD to FLL - This is usually the only dreaded part of the trip for us. However, we used FF Miles to upgrade to first class and I have to admit I could get used to traveling like that. Definitely civilized - especially the separate, and swift, TSA line. Being served a nice meal (and warm cookies) isn't too shabby either. I don't think I could bring myself to pay cash for first class - but we do use miles every chance we get. Interesting medical event on the plane - though no one who didn't actually SEE it is going to believe me. An announcement was made asking if there was a doctor onboard. Not long after, a large man wearing a stethescope went into the bathroom. He was in there for quite a long while and came out with one of those "for Dummies" books in his hand. He went into and out of the bathroom 5 or 6 more times, still carrying that book. At one point a flight attendant handed him an ice pack. When we landed, there was an ambulance at our gate and paramedics waiting in the gangway. If it weren't so scary thinking about someone's health being at risk - this would have been hysterical. We've no idea what it was all about, but we had to wonder if someone wasn't trying to doctor himself? I promise I didn't make this up - it can just be a very strange world out there.

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel, Hilton's Grande Hotel and Yacht Club - All I can say is wow, we'll definitely be back. Beautiful rooms overlooking the Ft. Lauderdale Marina and the gorgeous yachts we'd never see up close anywhere else. We arrived around 5:30, put our feet up for a bit and went downstairs for a light dinner. The bed looks ever so inviting, and though it's only 8:30 Chicago time as I write this, I'm about to call it a night. Travel days are so hard. My next installment will be from the lovely MS Maasdam - live and in person!

[kyriecat]

Another Maasdam thread - FANTASTIC! I'm going to be on Maasdam in a few months and love to hear the experiences of anyone going before me. Thanks! Hope you have a great cruise and look forward to hearing about it.

[PrincessYoga]

Thank you for posting your Live thread. I will be following along.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for checking in.

 

Will be following your "Live" report.

[our turn]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Donna, I am so looking forward to your LIVE reports from the Maasdam :) Glad to hear you had a somewhat entertaining flight to FLL :D

Bon Voyage!!!

[sail7seas]

Donna........ Is that hotel the former Marriott across the bridge from Hyatt Pier 66?

 

Happy you are safely (and happily) in FLL and off to the beautiful Maasdam.

 

Enjoy.

 

[haligonian37]

Thanks for checking in and doing this "Live from" thread Donna, I can't wait to read more. I hope you and Jon have a wonderful 14 days on the Maasdam!

[fuzzywuzzy]

Looking forward to your "live" posts from the lovely Maasdam. We are booked to sail on her this Jan. 9th. Sounds like you had a nice hotel booked for your pre-cruise night. We are booked at the Airport Sheraton. We have never stayed here (booked online). Does anyone know anything about this hotel? Hopefully it is easy to get to the cruiseport from this location.

[Toad]

We will be waiting with baited breath! We have been thinking of you and your fellow CC'ers on this cruise all day! Bon Voyage!

[GmaPajama]

Friday, November 7 - First things first here. For RuthC: In the Piano Bar, we have Allan playing from 4:30 till 6:30, then Sing Along with Steve from 9:00 till close. I know that’s always the first thing you’re interested in, and I forgot you last time. :o)

 

Embarkation was easier than ever. We left our hotel at 11:00 and were on the ship by 11:20. It’s been a while since we were on this class of ship, and are ever so glad to be back. There’s just something about these smaller ones that make us feel so very much at home. We wandered around to get the feel of “what is where”, and of course I can’t get left from right or up from down straight. It takes me at least a week to get anywhere without a map. Jon, on the other hand, gets it right away and finds me more than a little amusing. Our luggage arrived at 2:00, which must be a record.

 

We met the people who will be pampering us for the next two weeks. Our cabin stewards, Yusef and Danang - our dining room stewards, Bayu and Dede - our concierge, Diana - and those two entertaining guys mixing drinks in the Ocean Bar, Jonathon and Jason. We knew Jonathon from a previous cruise and were thrilled to see him again. He’s one of those people who really makes an impression. We have early upper dinner, at a table for two. We’ve always requested a large table before because we enjoy getting to know tablemates - but opted for something more private this time. It was really nice being just the two of us, on our own schedule for delivery of the various courses, and I expect we’ll do that on another cruise. The meal was wonderful, of course. Following that was the Suite cocktail party, which we attended only briefly. We did meet Captain Henk Draper, who can roll his rrrrr’s with the best of them. About 8:00 we headed up to the Ocean Bar to meet Cruisin’Lady Joyce and her DH John. Nice, nice people - we look forward to getting to know them better at the Meet & Greet Saturday morning. I’ve included a pic here for Toad - who is dying to hear all about it. :o) Till tomorrow then ..... from somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, as far from the hurricane as is possible.

 

[GmaPajama]

Yes, sail - our hotel was the old Marriott. Very nice, indeed!

 

Here we are at this morning's Meet & Greet.

SO much fun getting to know each other!

[sail7seas]

What Fun!!!

 

Jonathon is in Ocean Bar........Diana in Neptune. Can I bother you to ask if they will still be aboard for our December 5 cruise? We've known each for years and many, many cruises. Diana has been our concierge at least 4 or 5 cruises. :)

 

Everything sounds great aboard.

 

Did you have any itinerary alteration to accomodate the hurricane? I assume since you haven't said differently, the seas are fine.

 

Continue to enjoy and thank you ever so much for sharing your cruise with us. It's very generous of you and fun for us.

[CruisinNana]

Thanks for the live report. Makes me feel as if I am sailing.....almost!

I hope the rest of your trip continues as successfully as it began.

I'm looking forward to seeing your continuing reports.....

[Bobed1927]

Fuzzywuzzy---We have stayed at the Airport Sheraton a couple of times. It's comfortable but nothing special. Our main complaint about it is the coffee shop/restaurant. It's very small and I think that it closes about 8PM. We fly in from the West Coast and it's closed by the time we arrive and there's no place nearby to eat. Breakfast in the morning is so-so. They have a buffet which is meager, and the standard breakfast menu items. Too bad that there's nothing nearby. It's been a year since we stayed there. Priceline put us there again in December and I've got my fingers crossed that it's improved but we're going to pack sandwiches just in case.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Donna, what a great CC Meet and Greet Picture :)

I see you smiling face in the middle ;)

 

Thanks again for posting!

[marle7]

Good to know the hotel is nice! We'll be staying there overnight in three weeks.

 

Looking forward to following along here!

[Toad]

Friday, November 7 - First things first here. For RuthC: In the Piano Bar, we have Allan playing from 4:30 till 6:30, then Sing Along with Steve from 9:00 till close. I know that’s always the first thing you’re interested in, and I forgot you last time. :o)

 

Embarkation was easier than ever. We left our hotel at 11:00 and were on the ship by 11:20. It’s been a while since we were on this class of ship, and are ever so glad to be back. There’s just something about these smaller ones that make us feel so very much at home. We wandered around to get the feel of “what is where”, and of course I can’t get left from right or up from down straight. It takes me at least a week to get anywhere without a map. Jon, on the other hand, gets it right away and finds me more than a little amusing. Our luggage arrived at 2:00, which must be a record.

 

We met the people who will be pampering us for the next two weeks. Our cabin stewards, Yusef and Danang - our dining room stewards, Bayu and Dede - our concierge, Diana - and those two entertaining guys mixing drinks in the Ocean Bar, Jonathon and Jason. We knew Jonathon from a previous cruise and were thrilled to see him again. He’s one of those people who really makes an impression. We have early upper dinner, at a table for two. We’ve always requested a large table before because we enjoy getting to know tablemates - but opted for something more private this time. It was really nice being just the two of us, on our own schedule for delivery of the various courses, and I expect we’ll do that on another cruise. The meal was wonderful, of course. Following that was the Suite cocktail party, which we attended only briefly. We did meet Captain Henk Draper, who can roll his rrrrr’s with the best of them. About 8:00 we headed up to the Ocean Bar to meet Cruisin’Lady Joyce and her DH John. Nice, nice people - we look forward to getting to know them better at the Meet & Greet Saturday morning. I’ve included a pic here for Toad - who is dying to hear all about it. :o) Till tomorrow then ..... from somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, as far from the hurricane as is possible.

 

 

 

Toad is ever so greatful! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Thanks so much for staying in touch! First thing at night, I log on and look for your post. Thanks! Elizabeth (Toad)

[RuthC]

Friday, November 7 - First things first here. For RuthC: In the Piano Bar, we have Allan playing from 4:30 till 6:30, then Sing Along with Steve from 9:00 till close. I know that’s always the first thing you’re interested in, and I forgot you last time. :o)

Wow! First up in the batting order. I'm honored.

Thank you for thinking of me, and for the information about the Piano Bar. Yes, you're right. I do like to keep track of such things. :D

 

Hope you have a great time and come back with lots of tales to tell.

That's above and beyond the tales you tell posting! ;)

[nkosi278]

Keep these good reports coming - we're as excited as ever - roll on Nov 21

Alastair and Helga

[hammybee]

Hello Donna,

 

You picked a most excellent time to leave town. It's cold. It's wet and it's slushing, here.

 

I love, love, love the intinerary on your cruise.

[camrosegirl]

Hi Donna,

 

Love the picture--glad your group grew!! While I am a bit sad not to be sailing with you, I just got in the door from my week on the Oosterdam--fantastic!! The CC group was small, but fun--I did find the front of the ship to do the wave this time!!! Marcella, the Hotel Manager, put on quite the spread for our little CC gathering. What a gem she is!!

 

Am looking foreward to your postings. What a wonderful itinerary!!

 

Sherlyn

[GmaPajama]

Saturday, November 8, 2008

 

I posted the pic from our Meet & Greet along with my Friday thoughts. It takes a day between writing about what we’ve done and getting it posted - but I wanted that pic up right away. We’re such a delightful looking group of people! Our gathering area was roped off in the Crow’s Nest and we were served Coffee and Cookies, as requested. No ship’s officers managed to join us, but we knew in advance they could only come if there was no pressing business demanding their attention. If it was business that kept them away, I’m glad they had their priorities straight!

 

I didn’t sleep well Friday night, but it was my own fault. I thought by cruise number six I would surely have my sea legs - so left my magic patch in it’s box. About 3am I knew that had been a mistake, but it took till about 5am for it to take effect. By then I was ready to watch for the sunrise. I’ll include a photo of it at the end of today’s posting. I do love my ocean sunrises! It’s been a little rocky - effects of the hurricane we’re told, though our Captain says he is keeping us a minimum of 300 miles away from it. The Noordam left Ft. Lauderdale about the same time we did and we’ve been shadowing each other ever since. Guess we’re both avoiding the same hurricane.

 

All this business about left and right, up and down, forward and aft, pitch and yaw. It’s just too much for me. Our cabin is a balcony, about midship on the port side, and I want to get a book from the library, which is portside aft. So I check my map four (yes, four) times and determine that I need to step outside the cabin door, turn left till I reach an elevator, and then go down 2 floors. I did this exactly as planned - and ended up getting off the elevator at the Ocean Bar, which is at the complete opposite end of the ship. It was hours before I realized I should have turned RIGHT out of the cabin because I was stepping into an inside corridor and not onto an outside walkway. Argh! I don’t think Jon is going to let me out of the cabin alone again.

 

Dinner tonight was formal. The older we get, the longer it takes us to get into our duds, but it’s so worthwhile. We have a Pinnacle dinner coming from Amex Plat, but saved that for Sunday’s Smart Casual night. We like being in the dining room with everyone all dressed up. Tuxes were not as plentiful as we’ve seen before. I’d guess about 10 to 15% is all. The rest of the gentlemen were in suits or sports jackets with ties. The ladies all looked very nice, in everything from formal gowns to the prettiest of street dresses. We didn’t see anyone in the dining room dressed inappropriately.

 

So far, the weather has been cool and cloudy - because of the hurricane. We’re hoping for some sunshine soon. Sunday is another sea day, after which we have a long string of days in ports. We don’t normally book a lot of tours, but have not been this far south before so did line up a few things in order to see some of the places that are new to us. I’ll tell you about them as they occur.

 

Sail - Diana says she is scheduled to move to the front office after this cruise, but she’s holding out hope she can re-negotiate. She says her birthday is on December 9th and she really wants to celebrate that by working in the Neptune Lounge. I mentioned that you’ll be with her then and she said she would find you even if she can’t be your concierge.

[GmaPajama]

Here's the sunrise I promised you. Isn't it just gorgeous!

 

[sail7seas]

Oh my........ What a Photo!! Beautiful.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Have fun!