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| Mike and Carolyn aboard the Titanic |
Actually our home-away-from-home on the water was the Holland America Liner the ms Maasdam.
After seven days of big fun, followed by one day of
airline travel Hell, we’re back from our vacation: a cruise through New England,
the Maritime Provinces and the St. Lawrence
Seaway. Ports of call included Bar Harbor, Maine, Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Montreal.
Still trying to get used to terrain that doesn’t roll
and shift under our feet, we’re also trying to sort out the experiences, sights,
sounds and impressions we gained from our shipboard and excursion experience.
Here are a few.
- A cruise is the perfect way to unwind and withdraw from the stress of work-a-day or even day-to-day life. There are no chores to perform, no critical decisions to make and no real obligation to do anything besides gratify your immediate needs. In my thirty plus years with Carolyn, I’ve never seen her so relaxed and content. Which brings me to:
- Food. Creative, flavorful and abundant. Holy Gorgeioski is there a lot of it. I saw people with plates piled high from the mind-boggling buffet at the Lido restaurant who will probably move up two pant sizes upon their return home. If you’re predisposed to gluttony, this is Nirvana. We tried to control ourselves but still probably put on a pound or two. Back to the gym and a diet of cereal and celery for a while.
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| Pastry sculpture from the shipboard chefs. |
- The shore excursions were fun and interesting. From seeing humpback whales up close to a scenic bus tour of Prince Edward Island’s lighthouses, they made the “away” time from our stateroom fun and educational
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| Puffin on his way to an important engagement |
- We met a lot of great people from all over the planet; some were experienced “cruisers” and others, like us were experiencing life on the open water for the first time. Of course, there were also the boors, who rarely smiled, pushed their way to the front of the buffet line and verbally abused the hard-working service people who continued to smile and try to be helpful no matter what the ugly Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Germans or Japanese subjected them to. The lesson learned is that there are whiners, complainers and self-centered sociopaths no matter where you are. The trick is learning to ignore them and not allow them to spoil your fun.
We can’t say enough about the mostly Indonesian and
Filipino crew who made our time on the Maasdam unforgettable. They work
insanely long hours, for minimal pay and are highly attuned to anticipating your
needs. They smile constantly, remember your name despite the fact there are 1200
plus guests on the ship and never complain. Suli, who bussed tables and brought
refills of coffee, iced tea and water to our table had an infectious giggle that
seemed to reflect genuine joy. Asep and Frevian who spiffed up our stateroom
twice a day left us creative gifts such as the towel-art you see here:
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| The colorful towel peacock |
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| Sting-Ray ala towel |
Our
waiter in the Ocean Lounge (whose name, unfortunately escapes what’s left of my
mind) always had a smile, a laugh and shipboard news to share with us. The
lovely Filipino lady who made my morning white chocolate mocha started my brew
before I even got to the counter. It’s impossible to overstate how important
these people are to making your cruise a treasured memory. If you take a cruise,
be sure to thank them and tip a little extra beyond the obligatory service
charge that’s a part of your shipboard bill. They earn it and many of them are
sending money home to support family in their part of the world.
Finally, a word about the last day. Part of it is my own
fault for trying to save a buck on air travel. I booked a trip with too many
stops, too many possibilities for aggravation and too many tight connections.
Next time I’ll pay the extra bucks for a non-stop flight. We were tired, got
consistently wrong information from the airline personnel we encountered, had to
endure people carrying on loud conversations in French over the top of us and a
flood of airline announcements in a language we couldn’t comprehend. Too often
we found ourselves jogging through airport terminals. Plus, the airline lost our
suitcase. It’s expected back sometime in the next couple of days. Midway
through the ordeal, I feared that if one more airline clerk greeted Carolyn with
a sullen “Bonjour” they’d find themselves on the tiles with her forearm at their
throat. She was, as the Queen is known to say, “not amused.” It took fifteen
minutes of face licking from her faithful dogs and a good night’s sleep in her
own bed to return her to her old cheerful self.
