Day 05 - An Unplanned Sea Day

 

When a ship cruises in Autumn, maintenance personnel often take the time to fix up pools on the Lido Deck, as no one wants to swim in cold water.  I have several pictures of workers sprucing up the pool, so that it could be used on the ship's next cruise - to Bermuda.

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Today, we awoke around 10:30 am - a little too late to get breakfast at the buffet.  It was foggy outside, and it was just as well that we were at sea.  Not much to see with a pea soup fog.  

Supposedly, we will be making port in Halifax tomorrow.  But we have doubts about that, given how the captain phrased things.  We already skipped the first two ports we were supposed to visit, and it is possible that will skip Halifax due to the many power outages across Nova Scotia. By the time dinner time came around, we were told that part of our Peggy's Cove excursion would be cancelled (a visit to the Titanic grave sites), and that we’d be getting into Halifax an hour early. 

After dinner, it was off to see a comedian in the ship’s theater.  I was less than impressed, as I fell asleep during the performance. Fortunately, (as requested), we found a towel animal on the bed waiting for us.  RQS loved it!

Day 04 - An Unplanned Port

 

This was a day where we reached a port (Cornerbrook, Newfoundland) that met two requirements: First, it was a foreign port, which allowed the ship the luxury of scheduling extra sea days without worrying whether a return to the United States would violate the American Passenger Vessel Services Act, and allow the passengers to stretch their land legs for a change.

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We awoke around 9:00 am (8:00 an EDT) and slowly got moving to breakfast.  RQS went off to exercise, while I went to the cabin to relax. Even though we were not likely to need the ArriveCan app, we were glad to NOT have deleted it.  We could need to show the receipt we received it we encountered a troublesome customs agent when landing at a Canadian port. Before RQS went off to exercise, we had checked with the shore excursions desk, but they had no information available about the port.  (Too bad that I forgot about the whatsinport.com website, as it could lead me to information on what to do at this post.)

 

When the ship was finally docked and cleared to disgorge passengers, we decided to go out and try to contact people in the world outside the ship.  RQS was able to reach her friend who checked in on her cats.  I, on the other hand, checked in on my email - not much was going on at home.  Later in the day, it was off to another specialty dinner at Ocean Blu, NCL's seafood restaurant.  Again, the atmosphere was great, as was the food. We finished our dinner in time to see NCL’s production of Footloose.  (It’s not a show I’d pay to see on Broadway.  But then, I’m not a fan of musicals, nor am I a fan of the story.)  At least, the production was good, and RQS enjoyed the play.   .

Day 03 - Another planned Sea Day

 

Today, we found out about the ship's observation deck. It is a much nicer and quieter place to hang out than the library.  Only one problem - it gets crowded quickly, and it's often hard to find two seats together where a couple could chill and read their books while sipping a cup of coffee.

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RQS got up early to see a photography presentation, while it took me a while to get moving. Eventually, I ended up eating a leisurely breakfast, then headed down to the observation deck, forgetting about the photography presentation. I ended up getting to the photo area late, and decided to skip the rest of the presentation because I was 30 minutes late. So, I went back to room and started to read.

Later on, RQS and I went to Cagney’s (NCL's specialty onboard steakhouse) for a prime rib dinner. Sue was impressed by the restaurant. Unfortunately, our meal was slightly marred by an incident with my key card. First, the wine steward forgot to return my card after ordering a bottle of wine. Then, our departure from the restaurant was delayed while my card was processed for storing the wine and then for charging the meal. After dinner, if was off to the theater, where we saw a Taiwanese magician perform.

When we got back to our room, the captain made an announcement: We were no longer going to port in Charlottetown, PEI, as Hurricane Ian made it impossible to visit this port. Instead, we’d be visiting a port in Newfoundland, Corner Brook. This would my first time this far North on the Eastern side of Canada, and I was looking forward to the experience. Our only lingering questions were: Will other Canadian ports scheduled for our cruise have been affected by the hurricane? And, will other ports be substituted if these ports are unavailable? If so, which ports?

Day 02 - A planned Sea Day

 

This was the first of two consecutive sea days. When we got on the ship, we expected to follow Hurricane Ian on its way up the coast. Little did I know how this hurricane would affect this cruise at this time.

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After waking up, we had a hearty breakfast. From there, we explored the ship a little and went back to the library to read. On the way back from the library, we both needed to check on things at the internet cafe. Given how minor cell phone configuration issues can run up big bucks on marine phone charges, I needed to make sure my phone was set up properly. (I knew to keep Airplane Mode on for the trip. Yet, I was getting some Facebook notifications. So I turned off all Wi-Fi, which caused me problems using the NCL app.) The fellow at the internet cafe said my phone was set up correctly, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he was right. RQS's problem was simpler - she forgot to tip her Uber driver, and she needed to know how to tune her Wi-Fi on to give him his tip, then to turn it off afterwards. This was a simpler task to take care of.

After lunch, RQS and I were tired and needed to nap, We ended up going to an earlier dinner than planned, but missed the entertainment venues we wanted - a Beatles “tribute” band and a singer of Elton John songs. After a few minutes watching a couple of lounge singers do their thing in the atrium near “the Local”, we went back to the room and put the lights out for the evening.

Day 01 - Starting off on our cruise

 

Early this morning, RQS and I “rushed” to get showered and dressed. Sadly, this was not a cruise that I planned to take in Marian mode. But, for RQS's first cruise, I wanted to make it as pleasurable for her as possible.

Before calling an Uber, we decided to walk over to a local Wendy's and grab a breakfast sandwich. This was a big mistake. Wendy's does not do breakfast well, and we were disappointed with the quality of service, the quality of the "food" and the variety in their breakfast menu. (We should have known better when Wendy's does French Fries for breakfast, instead of doing a Hash Brown offering on their grill.) So we walked over to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee, then called an Uber.

The Uber arrived shortly after 11 and took us to the pier via the back roads. He didn't want to go into Manhattan via the Midtown Tunnel while the UN was in session, so he chose to go via the 59th street bridge and zig-zagged his way to the pier. When we arrived at the pier, the place was mobbed. There was a line stretching from pier 88 to pier 90 with people waiting to check in to our cruise. We were glad we got there early, as we were onboard by 1:30 pm because the on-boarding process went smoother than expected..

By the time night fell, we were exhausted and got to sleep early.

By the time you see this.... (a short post)

 

By the time you see this post, I'll have returned from my cruise.  I'm looking forward to getting on the ship and spending a week and a half with RQS away from our troubles.

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It's been a while since I've cruised with anyone, and the last cruise was a disaster.  My former cruise partner (FCP) and I had a blow out, and we never were able to patch things up.  (There is more to the story - regular readers will know what I'm talking about.)  Although FCP said that we could have recovered our friendship if the problem was just our cruise kerfuffle, I doubt that.  The troubles we experienced at the end of our cruise made it clear that I no longer wanted to ever cruise with her again.

So, it's with a little bit of worry that I go on this cruise with RQS.  Will 10 days together strengthen or weaken what we have together?  Who knows?  But she is much more level-headed as a lover and friend than FCP was as a friend.  I'm grateful that I'm with someone who has no drama in her life....

Taking a Covid test that I might need to retake.

 

As I've mentioned, I am taking a cruise in the next few days.  I had to reschedule a Covid test, as I got bad information from my cruise line, forcing me to take the PCR test one day later than planned.  However, the person at the test site said that I might not receive the results of the test until the time I'm supposed to embark on my cruise!  So I had to hunt around for a place that would do a rapid antigen test and was lucky to find one near me.

This is a minor annoyance which would have been unnecessary had we taken the next cruise with this itinerary.  Canada will no longer require vaccinated people to take Covid tests before entering their country, nor will anyone need to use the ArriveCan app before getting on a cruise. What I have to do for this cruise will not be needed anymore.  But before then, I am stuck running all over the place just before going on my cruise.  (Thankfully, I have RQS on my side - she's like having an extra right hand.)

So, I have a busy day planned for tomorrow.  First, I'll be dropping some books off at the library.  Then, I'll be driving to Yonkers to take my supervised rapid antigen test. And after picking up some cash from the ATM, I'll be off to RQS's house to stay the night before trekking to the cruise terminal.  Hopefully, I'll get there in time for a late dinner, but who knows?