Day 01 - Mon 9/10/2018 Embarkation Day - Ft. Lauderdale

Before taking an UBER over to the ship, both of us got our hair cut at the barbershop and salon across the highway, The first UBER driver, once he arrived at our location, was unable to drive us into the port as he claimed he lost his wallet and had no ID. So we had to call for another UBER and our second driver had no issues. We were quickly whisked to the nearby port where we dropped off our roll on luggage and checked in. Check in was very efficient and because we are 4 Star Mariners, we were ushered upstairs to the 4-5 Star Mariner holding area, Up there we met 3 couples that we have sailed with before and it was like a reunion time. After waiting about 45 minutes, we boarded the Maasdam around 12:30pm.

Once on board, we dropped our things off in our stateroom and wandered the ship to see what changes had been made in the just completed dry dock. About all we could see was the addition of Zodiac boats to the bow of the ship and extensive carpet upgrades. There were no upgrades in our interior room 590. We ate a quick lunch in the LIDO and then just hung out around the ship, and then unpacked before participating in the mandatory passenger muster drill. Afterwards we watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest. We weren't hungry so we skipped dinner.

There was a 4 & 5 Star reception in the Crow's Nest and we visited with several couples we had cruised with before. It was good to reconnect. At 9:30pm, we attended a presentation on the new format of the cruise (no cast singers and dancers), and we liked what we heard. There will be a number of lectures and/or cultural events each day and a few traditional guest entertainers will perform. There are 6 themes for these cultural presentations:

1. History & Perspectives

2. Photography 

3. Food, Wine, & Spirits

4. Active Exploration

5. Science & Nature

6. Arts & Culture

After walking around the ship all day, I would say that the age demographic is much younger than what we've experienced on the Volendam on our Asia cruises.

And we're off to sail along the Cuban coast headed for Colombia. Stay tuned.