2007-04-17
Cruise Review #2
Day 2
We would be spending day 2 and 3 at sea on our way to sant marten, so I'll lump them together.
The Maasdam is smaller than the Zuiderdam, and I like it. Hard to get lost, everything a short walk away, but it does move a fair bit from side to side. This being said, you're on a cruise, people! It takes place on a boat/ship! It never fails to surprise me that people think they are at a land based resort and wonder why things are moving around.
I thought that there was a �stretch and relax� class being held at 830am in the gym so I headed up, only to find out that it was actually an abs class. I have very few ab muscles, but those I do have were certainly hurting the next day. This inconsistency with the daily program would continue throughout the cruise, especially with the information between the program and the inserts.
I forgot to pack an alarm clock for the room, and so my cell phone alarm came in handy. Don't forget!
We asked our room steward for a box of Kleenex by the bed and not to tuck in the end of my bed, both of which were done later that day and kept being done. Our room guy was awesome!
I ended up in the crow's nest during trivia and the cruise staff who was running it was just awful. He didn't know how to pronounce a lot of the items and was clueless to things like the gender of Goldia Meir. Obviously you don't need to be able to win trivia to run it, but it would help if you at least had some background. Plus, he had a whole list of questions to choose from, so why wouldn't he choose questions where at least he had some idea what was going on. The people just sitting casually around me were commenting as well.
The kitchen tour was about 10 minutes long, starting from the Pinacle. They gave us a handy sheet to follow along. Afterwards we were dropped at the Wyang theatre for a culinary demo but I didn't stay.
The cruisecritic gathering was great fun and gave me someone to say hi to throughout my travels on the ship. Several people left because of the smokers in the crow's nest, so keep in mind that this is one of the areas of the ship where smoking is allowed.
I went to the lido for lunch and used my cocktail card and had the delightful experience of the bartenders asking if I was old enough to drink. I thought this was hilarious, seeing as in Canada the drinking age is 19 and I haven't been carded in a good 5 years. This stopped after a few days when the staff got to know me.
Canadians : I'm with rogers and had pretty consistent cell coverage throughout the cruise but my mom who is with bell had absolutely nothing until we were docked at the pier in Ft. Lauderdale. Not sure about the roaming charges, but it might be something to keep in mind. Depending on which literature you believe, calls from your stateroom are either $7USD/min or $16USD/min.
We went up to use the internet and discovered that my mom didn't know her email password. If you use outlook and/or your password is pre-programmed into your computer, don't forget, you'll need it to log in to your email on the ship. Also, if your email provider requires cookies to be enabled to access the account, this isn�t possible on the ship (apparently) so it might be worth setting up a web-based account for your cruise. You can get a cruisEmail account but it's about $4 and then there is a charge for every message you send.
The show �Gold� was entertaining. Singing, dancing, free champage ahead of time (you needed it for the singing)at the captain's welcome toast. Seriously large amounts of free champagne. We watched a table of 4 go through at least 2 bottles. If you expect broadway, go to newyork. I would compare the show to the quality of a production staged by an arts-focused highschool.
Day 3
We set out the room service breakfast card the night before to arrive between 8 and 830. They arrived at 740, claiming that because of the number of orders required them to do so. This would be the start of the room service problems. Wrong orders, wrong timing, inclusion of items specified by the orderer as �things I am allergic to� etc. etc. Although I will say that they were quick about coming to get the trays when we called and they did get better after we spoke to the manager.
830 was actually the stretch class, which I needed desperately at that point.
I went to the taboo gathering at 9am but I was the only one who showed up so I left, disappointed.
Because of the problems with room service and some other (in my mind, minor) issues, my mom met with Carla the guest services manager today to discuss her concerns. These were addressed in the following days by various departments to our satisfaction.
The lido lunch featured an Indian foods buffet which would re-appear every few days.
Our dinner servers were once again fantastic. They had lemon for my mom�s water waiting when we arrived and brought her after dessert tea without being asked.
Day 3 also saw the beginning of my quest to figure out how the knobs in the shower worked. I finally recruited the room steward to help me figure it out. The knob on the left controls the volume of water, how much comes out. The knob on the right controls the temperature but not really in any logical way so just turn it until the water is how you want it. I could never get the bath or sink water really cold, at its coldest it was sort of the cold side of tepid. If I wanted really cold water for a sunburn-washcloth I would soak it in the melted ice cubes in the ice bucket. Your steward will fill your ice bucket (or should) every day, so don�t wonder where your ice is :)
moi at 2:26 p.m.
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