Month: October 2024

You can’t make this stuff up

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A second post from Boston and as Paul Harvey used to say, “now for the rest of the story”.

Boston is the first US port on this itinerary thus the US CBP (Customs and Border Protection) has to make sure all is in good order and we are all good folk. Debarkation was carefully planned. All passengers leaving the ship were assigned colour coded times to visit CBP and then to disembark the ship for their onward travels. The proceedings were to begin around 9:00 AM and culminate around 11:45 when the few of us remaining with the ship would go through what is referred to as an “InTransit” process.

Now there is a person on the ship who is responsible for assuring that there is no-one but crew members left on board. Until that moment no passengers may begin the boarding process. As each person is processed off the ship they are tagged electronically until the count reaches the magic ZERO, when finally, boarding may begin, starting with the “InTransit” passengers, Us.

Remember all the clever organization by time and colour code? Perfect, until CBP doesn’t start processing until two hours later than scheduled. That’s when panic mode hits. Panic among passengers who are now not going to get to their flights on time. panic among crew trying to make new order out of a broken schedule and, I’m sure, confusion among future passengers arriving at the cruise terminal which undoubtedly is filling to overflowing with folk who cannot yet board the ship.

For us, knowing that our 11:45 schedule was impossible, decided to go to the buffet to grab a bite to eat before our time in line for CBP processing. Ahh, but it was not to be. We had just filled our plates and were about to be seated to eat when we were arrested (sort of) by a crew member sent to locate us and escort us to our CBP screening. From his demeanour it seemed that the future of the Emerald Princess was to be determined by how quickly we got to our CBP screening. When we arrived on the deck where CBP was working there was clearly a long line of passengers exiting with luggage. Not “InTransit” passengers. What a relief. We were not the sole determinant of the disembarkation.

Gail played her “I’m diabetic, I have to eat or I’ll fall down and it will be your fault” card. It always works. we were allowed to grab a sandwich. When we returned to get in line we discovered there was no urgency as there were a dozen more “InTransit” passengers sitting calmly with a Princess crew member monitoring the situation. Finally, an hour after we were escorted from what would have been lunch, we were taken as a group to our CBP interview. A very pleasant chap asked his questions, took your photo and checked our passports.

Next, the lot of us checked out of the CBP area, then checked out of the ship (although we never really left the deck), waited until some chap saw the magic ZERO then we checked back on board. We did return to the buffet where we had left our plates during our abduction. They remained where we had placed them. The staff would not, however, let us reuse them. Rather we were to take new plates.

Now there ought to be some sort of prize for any reader who actually followed what they just read. There isn’t. Just marvel that this isn’t the first time we have had such an experience.

Henry Rollins

A great way to learn about your country is to leave it.

Boston Turnaround

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No, you haven’t missed a post. Sydney, Halifax, St John to Boston and barely a leaf changed colour. Those who came specifically to find fall colours must be terribly disappointed. One can’t rush mother nature. Having visited most places in the region on previous trips we have not repeated tours.

Our stop in St John should have been good for tours of the bay since a low tide coincided with our arrival and we remained long enough to see a full change. Even at our berth in St John the ship must have risen at least 20 feet over the tide cycle.

This morning Boston is bleak. Fog shrouds the city such that only the profiles of tall buildings defines the horizon. The rain is falling sometimes harder than others. In the open areas staff are busy mopping up rain water or pushing it toward drains.

We will need to visit US Immigration at some point today but on the basis of announcements we have heard the process is running about two hours behind schedule. Meanwhile room stewards on five decks are busy recycling cabins to receive passengers boarding. Until every arriving passenger and crew has been processed through US officials no-one will be boarding. Turnaround days are always interesting.

I will post a few more photos and hope to share some colour change with you on the return trip.

Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

There’s a part of me that thinks perhaps we go on existing in a place even after we’ve left it.

Charlottetown PEI

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We had another pleasant day for our stop in Charlottetown. Unfortunately, we passed under the Confederation Bridge at night so we couldn’t see it. We did take a short walk along the port area. A vendor was giving away oyster samples and he had plenty of willing samplers. Lobster was available at several restaurants near the port.

There was a large market on the pier and they were doing a brisk business with passengers from the four ships in port. The Zuiderdam and the Emerald shared the dock while two smaller ships tendered. All four ships left the port shortly after 4:30. A couple of the ship’s tours ran a bit late so we had passengers coming to the dining room at 5:00 directly from embarkation.

Over the past two days there has been comedy club running with several standup comics. As usual, some get better audience reaction than others. We saw a couple of them and got a few chuckles. One assistant cruise director probably got the biggest laugh by introducing one comedian as coming from misery rather than Missouri. One would think they’d check things like that but apparently not.

We had an interesting experience visiting one of the many hot tubs. Sitting in the water chatting with another chap and the pump shut down. They are on timers so that was not unusual. The pump would not restart. That was unusual. Even more unusual was the water began to drain. We took that as in invitation to vacate, so we left, since the second tub at that location was covered with netting, the normal way of indicating a closure.

The dining room food on this cruise is stunningly mediocre. It is quite apparent that they are trying to reduce food waste with smaller portions and discouraging over ordering. There are now at least five extra cost food services including a steak house, Italian restaurant, pub style eatery, sea food speciality and bar-b-que specialty. Never-the-less we don’t have to prepare it nor do the clean up. One of the best aspects of the food and beverage services is the number and variety of people we meet. We are also at the point in the cruise where we are beginning to meet the same people for a second or third time simply because we have similar eating schedules. The passenger list is dominated by Americans with Canadians a distant second. We come across Brits, Australians and New Zealanders quite frequently.

Next stop will be Sydney, Nova Scotia.

J.A. Redmerski, The Edge of Never

I wonder if the ocean smells different on the other side of the world.”

Saguenay stop and beyond

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We departed Quebec City on the evening of September 28 and arrived at the port of Saguenay, which is actually the town of La Baie, early the following morning. The ship’s arrival was greeted by a group of singers and dancers performing on the pier. Two smaller cruise ships were anchored in the harbour and their tenders were shuttling passengers to the pier at which our ship was berthed.

The morning began with cool temperatures but by mid morning the sun had warmed things up to a very comfortable level. The walkway along the harbour was busy with locals and cruise ship visitors who were not on tour busses. A helicopter was flying passengers on 12 or 17 minute tours for those willing to spend $120 or $170 per person. We were not among them. Gail’s position is that the only way she would be in a helicopter is if it was a CARE flight and she was anesthetized.

After increasing our step count walking beside the beach we spent much of the day wandering the ship a d finding new people with whom to talk. Meeting new people is one of our favourite things to do on board. The many lounges and dining rooms offer multiple opportunities to socialize and it is rare to find anyone unwilling to chat. Of course, the fact that every venue has a wine and cocktail menu helps the process.

The ship began sailing south down the Saguenay Fjiord at about 4 PM. As we sat in the dining room for our evening meal we had a sea level view of the western bank of the seaway. There is no beach strip as the mountains plunge directly into the water. Shortly after the sunset the ship turned eastward into the St Lawrence River and slowly, as there is a speed limit to protect whales, made our way toward Prince Edward Island.

By the morning of September 30 we were located In the Gulf of the St Lawrence and Anticosti Island traveling eastward at less than 10 knots (18 kph or 11 mph). We expect to arrive at Charlottetown, PEI early Tuesday morning. We will spend the time on board meeting new friends, drinking good wine, eating delicious food. listening to a variety of musicians and ocassionally venturing to the dance floor.

The music on board has been provided by a couple of solo musicians and four groups. The largest is a an eight piece show band that plays for the stage shows and guest singers. Another five piece group called Gravity is referred to as the “party band” whose main claim to fame is “LOUD”. They are a good group with a decent repertoire but stay pretty much in the pop and rock genres. There are two duos playing alternately in different venues. La Boheme is a string duo sometimes supported by a recorded backing track. Their repertoire is extensive covering pop classics to such things as “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla and classical works for strings. They often use unique arrangements of well known melodies. Los Brilliantes is the second duo which we have not seen too much of yet.

The first stage show of the cruise was rather different from the traditional Las Vegas style. It was a performance of a Steven Shwartz show “Magic to do” crafted for performance on the cruise ship stage. It was a success judging by the attendance and comments shared after the show. This link may provide additional information about the show. I know we enjoyed the performance.

Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battutah

Traveling leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.