Second Cruise - Day 8: Back in New York.

 

Day 8: Back in New York.

Our ship reached New York Harbor early, and appeared to be hanging out until it could be escorted to the pier.  As I expected, the ship was cleared to sail into port around 3 am, and we missed the sight of seeing the Statue of Liberty being lit up at night.  Unfortunately, RQS was disappointed by this, as we woke up at 4 am for a bio break and noticed we were about to dock.

We packed our bags, and then made it to the buffet.  It was hard to believe that it was the first week of November, and the weather forecast was for NYC to be in the mid 70’s.  So, eating at the buffet was pleasant, as we were able to score an outdoor table without problems.  When our color was called, we disembarked and entered the terminal.  Both of us had a hard time finding our luggage, but I was very fortunate that I had attached a Tile tag to help me find my luggage.  One click, and I was able to find the bag without problems.  RQS had a harder time, as she had no tag and had to ask for help. Once we got our bags, it was off to the customs area.  Unlike past trips, they now use bio recognition to identify us, and all we had to do was look into a video screen for us to be okayed to leave the terminal.

Exiting the terminal, we crossed the street and encountered a limo driver.  He was willing to take us to RQS’s place for a price ⅓ of what he’d charge on a weekday.  He was making no money, and wanted to make a few dollars before going home, and we benefited from his misfortune.  RQS made sure that this man got a generous tip when we arrived at her place.

Second Cruise - Day 7: Sea Day.

Day 7: Sea Day.

RQS and I awoke to bright sunshine, setting our clocks back an hour as we entered American waters. It feels strange, as we will be setting our clocks back again tonight due to the switch to Eastern Standard Time.  As a result, we ended up rising sooner than usual, and reached the buffet while breakfast was being served on both sides of the ship.

After breakfast, it was off to the onboard store to see what “junk” was included in their $10 sale.  (This is a good way to burn off any cruise credits one may have received for booking the cruise.) There wasn’t much of value here.  There was the usual t-shirts, the usual cheap costume jewelry, and other things that one could get for $5 on Amazon.

I’ve sailed on at least 4 NCL ships so far: the Gem, the Joy, the Escape and the Breakaway.  The Gem is a mid size ship for this fleet, and the ship I have cruised on most.  It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles found on the larger ships, but it has an intimate feel that is lacking on the larger ships.  The Escape and the Joy are among the larger ships in NCL’s fleet, Breakaway plus ships.  The Joy has all the bells and whistles one could want, including an on board go-cart ride and a pair of multi-story water slides.  Its size is impressive, and I am amazed at how many people the ship can handle on a single cruise. Last is the NCL Breakaway itself.  It is smaller than the Joy, but is still a large ship.  Although it doesn’t have the go-carts, it has almost all of the bells and whistles of the Joy, while retaining a semblance to NCL’s past ships.

When I last sailed on the Gen in December, the photography store was still selling some small cameras in addition to the usual collection of on-ship photographs taken by the ship’s photographers.  On the Breakaway and Joy, one could find a few SD memory cards, but no cameras.  People now use their cell phones to capture images, and no longer buy small, special purpose cameras when cell phones can easily perform the same function.  The newer ships are geared to sell more profitable products such as jewelry, high end watches and both duty free liquor and cigarettes.  Even then, I found it impossible to buy a liter of amaretto, and had to settle for the last bottle of Grand Marnier.

Each iteration of ship classes has their pluses and minuses.  I am a fan of NCL’s “Jewel” class of ships.  Others are fans of the Breakaway and Breakaway Plus classes of ships.  However, NCL has decided to go with a smaller, more intimate ship with their Prima class.  This is not a ship I plan to take any time soon, as cruises on newer ships tend to be more expensive than those on older ships.  Yet, if I see a great bargain, I’ll take a cruise on the Prima and see if the criticisms of Vloggers I watch are true.  Until then, I’ll keep my mind open about this ship.

Second Cruise - Day 6: Halifax, NS.

 

 

Day 6: Halifax, NS.

This is our last port day, and we awakened around 10 am local time.  Although my watch is set to “Greenwich Village Mean Time” (my way of saying Eastern Time), my cell phone reads Atlantic Savings Time.  When we cross back into American waters tomorrow, we will be back in Eastern Daylight time, and then when we get home, we will set our clocks back another hour for “Standard” time.  This setting of the clocks is a big pain in the ass.

RQS and I had no plans for the day, save to get off the ship and explore the Pier 21 Museum.  (Pier 21 is Canada’s answer to America’s Ellis Island, and Canada dealt with many of the same immigration issues as we did South of the border.)  So we got dressed, had “breakfast”, and off the ship by 12:30 pm.  This gave us the time to make the museum by 1:00 pm and participate in a guided tour.

After the museum, we decided to walk the shore front and get our walking in.  After we got to a group of kiosks selling food, we decided to have some ice cream before turning back to the ship.  But first, it was a chance to see a ship under restoration and to see some kids playing on a sculpture meant to look like a ocean wave.

Once on the ship, we had a late lunch, then rested before dinner.  Sadly, our choice of dinner venue was a mistake.  On NCL’s larger ships, there are 3 main complementary dining rooms. And we chose the one we in which we last had a pleasant meal.  Not only did we get ignored after ordering our iced teas, but we had to speak with another person on the staff to get our iced teas.  And then, we had to ask for spoons to stir sugar in our teas - something that was a running joke between us on our last cruise.  Fortunately, the rest of the meal went OK, as our server was supervised by his next in command.

Second Cruise - Day 5: Saint John, NB.

 

Day 5: Saint John, NB.

RQS and I didn’t have any plans for the day, as there is not that much to see in this city.  The Reversing Falls may be nice to visit, but they are not worth the time and effort spent to get there. The excursion to see the Bay of Fundy tidal area is not worth the price.  So what is there to do in this city?  That was the question we asked before doing anything today.

When we finally got moving, we decided to have a late breakfast and then go out for a walk.  Our decision was to head towards the Reversing Falls, but we changed our mind when we found that we’d have to walk another 1.5 miles from where we were after a mile of walking.  So we headed back to ship, with a detour to a local coffee shop and the candy store next door to it.

On our way back to the ship, we found where the St. John Police Museum is (we missed it on our last visit), but decided not to visit because we wanted to return to the ship a little bit early. (Hopefully, we’ll make the time to go there on our next visit to this city.)  It was nice to be able to get back onboard the ship without waiting for a ride on a tender boat.  And, it was even nicer to get comfortable and rest before our 3rd visit to a specialty restaurant on this trip.

Second Cruise - Day 4: Bar Harbor, ME.

 

 

Day 4: Bar Harbor, ME.

We didn’t have to get up early today, so we didn’t.  Yet, we were up by 8:00 am, and were having breakfast by 9:30 am.  This made it possible for us to get off the ship by 10:30 am, and start walking around Bar Harbor. Unlike tendering at Newport, the cruise line hired a charter boat to ferry passengers from the ship to the pier and back.  That gave us at least 4 boats in tender service to move people, and it didn’t take long to get to shore.

This was RQS’s first time in the area in years, and she was happy to follow my lead in walking around town.  Once on shore, we took some pictures of the harbor, then went to a local book store to spend some money.  Next, it was a search for two stores, one of which always has wallets on sale - where we both replaced our wallets for new ones.  The other store was where I bought (as Marian) a scarf which I have yet to wear - it was packaged as a knot, and looks better as a knot than it does as a scarf.  (Sooner or later, I will untangle the knot and wear the scarf.  Until then, I like how the scarf was packaged for transit, and will keep it that way.)

After walking through town we looked for a place to eat.  Most of the good joints were closed for the season, and we made the mistake of going into a joint where we should have ordered burgers and beers, not chowder and tacos.  That was a waste of money and time.  But, when most of the good joints are closed, one takes what she can get.

Then, it was back to the ship, to prepare for our next day’s journeys.

Second Cruise - Day 3: Portland, ME.

 

 

Day 3: Portland, ME.

After a good sleep, we awoke and took our time getting ready for the day.  Unlike Newport, where the ship arrived in port at 6:00 am, our Portland arrival was scheduled for 11:00 am.  This gave us a reasonable time to explore the port.  Better yet, this was not a tender port.  We could walk off the ship, and go directly to the shops or restaurants we wanted to go to without delay.

Once done with a quick but hearty breakfast, it was off the ship and on to a narrow gauge train ride.  The Maine Narrow Gauge tourist railroad didn’t go far, but it had some scenic views of Casco Bay.  While on the train, we met up with a couple we dined with on the ship last night, as well as meeting a young woman and her dog. (She was not on our ship.  Instead, she was a tourist from Florida who was working remotely.) It’s too bad that a bridge has been out of commission for years, as it would have been nice if the train ride could have crossed the water and continued its path on the mainland.

Next, it was off to find a place where we could have a good lobster roll.  RQS and I didn’t want to go back to last month’s restaurant, as we were very unhappy with the food served there.  This time, we found a little place on a pier that both serves food and delivers seafood to other operations,  This place, Luke’s is a gem that has been family operated for 3 generations, and well worth going to when in the Portland area.  I noted to RQS that I suffered a little sticker shock when looking at the price of lobster rolls.  The lobsters from the Cousins Maine Lobster truck come from the same region, taste just as good, and are several dollars cheaper.  Although neither of us had any complaints about the restaurant, we realized how lucky we are to have a good food truck visit our area from time to time.

Now that were done with the restaurant, it was time to go back to the ship and rest for a while before going to the specialty restaurant on the ship.  We had booked dinner at the on ship steakhouse when we embarked on this cruise.  And we looked forward to having this meal from the time this cruise was booked.

As expected, dinner at the steakhouse was very good.  We ordered differently than we normally would, and we were impressed with the lamb chops and filet mignon.  NCL’s specialty restaurants never cease to impress me with their quality and service.  Too bad that we can’t eat this well on a regular basis.  But then, RQS and I would be sharing our own unique zip code….

Second Cruise - Day 2: Newport, RI.

 

 

Day 2: Newport, RI.

I found it hard to believe that I awoke at 6 am, and didn’t fall back to sleep.  The motion sensor nightlight worked like a charm, and RQS was glad that I brought it along for the trip.  After showering and dressing, we had a quick breakfast and got on the tender boat to Newport.

It seemed to take forever to get to Newport, as there were more people trying to get to Newport than the tenders could deliver to the landing in a rapid manner. Once there, we decided not to go to the Breakers.  Instead, we decided to walk around town and go into a chocolate shop.  Yum!  Both of us picked up some stuff to spike our blood sugar levels later on.

Once we returned to the ship, we rested before dinner.  Tonight, it was the main dining room, where we were seated with other people.  It would have been nice to be able to chat with the older couple who were sitting next to us.  Unfortunately, the band playing in the background was too loud to shout over, and we had to make do with understanding snippets of chat around the table.

When dinner was done, we relaxed a little, and then went to a show in the main theater.  It was an NCL production of modern ballroom dancing that could be best described as random modern tunes organized for dancing without a meaningless plot from a Hollywood musical or Broadway play.  Would I have paid to see this performance?  No!  Although the performers did a great job, it is not the type of performance I’d gravitate to.  At least, RQS enjoyed this show more than she did watching Flashdance on our prior cruise.