This cruise took us on a 1600 nautical mile journey from
Boston to Montreal via Prince Edward Island and the St Lawrence Seaway. We flew
into Boston on Friday, as is our usual practice of arriving for a cruise the
day before departure. This was our first cruise on Holland America. The ship
was the Maasdam, a smaller class ship for about 1200 passengers and 570 crew members.
Why a smaller ship smaller? -- To fit under bridges.
We left Boston on Saturday afternoon. It was a tight fit for the ship getting out of the
berth between two other cruise ships and a container ship on the other side of
the channel. It took two tugs to help!
The next morning we arrived at Bar Harbor, Maine.
Took the tenders to port.
We spent most of the morning walking around the very lovely little seaport town and,
We spent most of the morning walking around the very lovely little seaport town and,
then took Oli’s Trolley for a tour of Acadia National Park.
Back on the ship by 4 pm, we went to Happy Hour and
Trivia at the Crow’s Next on the 12th level. Getting back on the ship in time for Trivia seems to be a Cruise routine for us! We serendipitous met
the people who would be on our Trivia team for the week, Jerome and Ann and
Brian and Adele. After that, we were at Happy Hour and Trivia every day of the
cruise at 4 pm with our new trivia friends. We’d also go to Trivia at 7 pm
before dinner every evening. After Happy Hour sometimes our 7 pm game was not so good, however, we still did win two bottles of Champagne and 6 games of Trivia on this cruise!
Good thing the elevator mats had the day of the week
on them or else we would have never kept track of the days. Monday we were in
Halifax. Nice place! Again, we walked
all over town.
To the public garden. Very pretty place! Halifax was the first place we saw McDonald's and Subway with Lobster roll! Wish we had that in ATL! We did try a Lobster Roll in Quebec, awesome!!!
Yes, that is a model of the Titanic in the pond. Survivors came here.
To the Citadel.
There were some replica WWI trenches. They actually had soldiers showing what the gas mask etc. would look like at that time. Very interesting!
The next day we were supposed to dock in Sydney but Gale Force winds kept the ship from safely docking. It became a sea day. Along with our regular Trivia we went on a Scavenger Hunt with our trivia team. We won, but couldn’t find the elusive coin on the 14th deck in the gale force winds.
The next day was a sea day, which took us into the
St Lawrence Seaway. Soooo for the first time ever we decided to get room service! It was so prompt, we couldn't believe it! Very unlike us to do this!! We had fun. Oh and the robes are furnished by HA!!
After our sea day we were in Quebec City. Great place! Our favorite on this trip. Again, we walked around town in the upper and lower parts of the Old Quarter. Such a beautiful city! So quaint and historic and European feel to it, just lovely! We actually got into the city at the right time 7:30 am so no one was there to interfere with our pictures. It was crowded later!
Saw the changing of the guard at the Citadel, so, we timed that right! Interesting! They do this May thru October. Quite an ordeal, with the goat and marching band. It takes about an hour for the changing.
and the Cathedral Notre Dame de Quebec,
and the underground and street performers by the Chateau Frontanac. Street performers were very good! This is their life we think! Very entertaining!
Departing Quebec we saw why we had a smaller ship, as we went under the bridge with only 2 meter clearance.
After disembarking the next morning in Montreal, we took a cab tour of the city on our way to the airport. Since we have never been to Montreal and we had very limited time, this was our best option. We saw enough of Montreal and it was very nice. Quebec we liked better! However, we did notice more smokers in Quebec than anywhere!!
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