Day 09 - Boston, MA

 

Boston. Today, we'd meet RQS's friend and go to see "Old Ironsides".

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We’re supposed to see one of RQS's friends, and I don’t know what to expect from this friend. RQS mentioned things about this friend that might bother me in other circumstances. Luckily, we would have a short time with her, and have the rest of the day for ourselves.

Around 9:15, we met up with her friend and toured “Old Ironsides” in a drizzling rain. We found a subtle way to get her friend to drive us back to our ship before taking a nap. Shortly after reaching our room, we had a knock on the door - my laundry had arrived. $15 for a full bag wasn’t bad ($29 with a 50% discount for my Gold Latitudes level.) But I’d never pay $5.00 to get a T-shirt laundered on board, so I was simply being careful to combine discounts where possible. RQS and I are now seriously talking about where to cruise next. However, we both realize that her cats will be a complication for us when we decide to cruise again.

Day 08 - Portland, ME

 

One of these days, I'll get the chance to take this tourist train. Like most of these trains, the ride is overpriced. But the money goes for a good purpose - to keep the history of passenger railroading alive.

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Neither of us wanted to get up early enough for the "sit down" breakfast. We ended up heading to the buffet for another large breakfast. (We’ll both need to diet after this trip!) While at breakfast, I decided to send a bag to the ship’s laundry, as I didn’t want to wash both a load of whites and a load of colors when I returned home. After breakfast, we ordered some photos of the two of us, and returned to the cabin to wait until we reached Portland. While in the cabin, I stuffed a bit of dirty laundry into the paper bag and asked the room steward to take care of it.

When we reached Portland, we did the compulsory meeting with US Immigration Service before leaving the ship to explore the shore front. We walked along the main drag and found a tolerable place to have some clam chowder. (We should have skipped the nachos we ordered with the chowder bowls.) Then, we walked back to the ship to rest.

After our nap, it was off to the Hibachi Specialty restaurant on the ship. This was a mistake, as we've had better Hibachi on land. If we had thought about things, we would have visited this place one night later, as both of us were too full from lunch to enjoy this meal properly. 

Day 07 - St. John, NB

 

St. John, NB. This is a port that I'd skip for St. Johns, NL. There are only two things worth seeing when in St. John, and one of them will almost always be unavailable to cruise ship passengers - a visit to a park on the Bay of Fundy, where one can walk on the ocean floor at low tide.

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Both of us found it hard to get moving when we woke up. But we were able to make it to one of the main dining rooms in time for breakfast, and sat with a couple from England. (This was RQS's first experience sharing a table with other cruiser for a meal.) We had a nice chat with this couple, and wouldn’t mind dining with them again.

After breakfast, it was out and about in St. John. Since I visited the place before, I knew that this wasn’t a place for shore excursions. Instead, we walked to a coffee shop for some free Wi-Fi, then to an empty shopping mall to see if we could find an electronic gizmo we could use to transfer photos from her camera to her Chromebook. Once we were done with the mall, we wnt across the street to the local farmer’s market. There was not really much to see here, so Sue and I went back to the ship to rest before having dinner at the ship’s French restaurant.

Given NCL's penchant for nickel-diming, we were surprised to find that the specialty restaurant staff did us a solid by not charging us for an extra appetizer. Once done with dinner, we went to get our pictures taken, and then back to our cabin to end the day.

Day 06 - Halifax, At Last!

 

To me, the only Canadian port on the Atlantic (for most cruises) that I think is a must visit is Halifax. Not only is it a reasonably sized city, but it is close to Peggy's Cove - site of one of the most photographed light houses in North America.

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Halifax, at last! Finally, a port that I expected to be a highlight of our trip. The ship took its leisurely time getting into port, and we docked at the expected time. After a while, both of us got moving, getting showered, dressed, fed, and ready for the bus to Peggy's Cove.

Today would be the day that RQS would finally get to take some picturesque photos, as Peggy’s Cove is the one place worth using up the remaining charge in the camera.. As for me, I’d be happy to get a couple of good photos on my cell phone, as I’ve gotten good shots in Peggy’s Cove on my prior visits. (And I did get those good shots.) It was hard to get RQS to stop taking photos long enough to get to even more picturesque locations, but it was worth the effort. She loved the place, and wished that our tour could have spent more time in town.

Next, we were off to the cemetery where over 100 victims of the Titanic disaster were buried. It was a fittingly somber end to a nice shore excursion on a day that started out gloomy. Why do I say fitting? We found out that the survivors of the Titanic were taken to New York where their survival could be "celebrated". But the dead were taken to Halifax, where the work of the registrar of deaths could take place unimpeded by the press.

After dinner, we went to see a Beatles tribute band on the ship’s main stage. Although they were decent performers, they left me wanting something better. I'll always wish I could have been in Vegas when Cheap Trick performed the whole of the Sgt. Pepper album, followed by the Abbey Road side 2 medley to close out their show. For a fleeting moment, Cheap Trick became a better group than the Beatles, as the "Fab Four" never intended to ever have these songs performed in concert.

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?