Category: Cruising

Saguenay again

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It is a cold, rainy day in La Baie today but we are back on Eastern Time. This is the final port before Quebec City and the start of our return home. I had expected to see more colour after 16 days but not much has changed. Here are a few photos for comparison.

This will probably be the final post of this trip. We expect to be home by Friday and back to a regular routine again by Monday. Thanks to all who followed along and to those who contributed comments. We have often told fellow travellers that we were members of the SKI club, meaning Spending Kids Inheritance.Yesterday we found people who were members of the KING club, meaning Kids Inheritance Nearly Gone.

Mark Twain

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.

Charlottetown cancelled – that makes two sea days

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The itinerary says that we are in Charlottetown today but the weather said no. It was a rough ride from Sydney into the Northumberland Strait. Gail is not pleased with me because I slept like a kitten full of cream while she, apparently, felt every wave and heard every groan the ship made. About an hour before we were scheduled to make port our Captain announced in his Ital-english that we would not be making our call to Charlottetown. For the first 4 hours we made a staggering 4 to 5 knots in the general direction of the Confederation Bridge and just after noon we turned and started for the eastern end of the island, the plan being to sail into the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. I guess the Captain was unwilling to try to stuff our 195 foot high ship under the 200 foot high bridge during a gale. We were within 30 km (20 mi) of the Confederation Bridge before we reversed course. With a little luck, the storm will head east as we sail west and we will be able to make our call up the Saguenay Fjiord. This did, however, make a great day for people watching.

Passengers are as worthy of watching as are crew. I’m guessing the average age of passengers on this ship is in the 60 region. It is rare to see anyone not carrying or using a hand held electronic device, mostly smart phones with tablets in second place. Lap top computers are not as visible today as in days past. Today’s ships offer such good connectivity that internet services are ubiquitous. I find it amusing to walk through lounge areas of the ship watching people with their heads down, focused on smart phones. Many of these same people might very well be critical of kids over using smart phones, however, to be fair, many passengers are reading books on their devices rather than scanning social media or playing games, although that is also quite common. Books in print are still common and there is a library on board. It’s my guess that the library is in demand more for its daily distribution of crossword and sudoku puzzles than for books.

Gail and I and a few passengers regularly spend part of our mornings high up on deck 18 in a large glass lounge at the aft of the ship. They call it Skywalkers lounge and except for a late night DJ there is rarely any event scheduled for this venue. Today it became many passengers favourite place to hang out with books, computers, tablets, smartphones, card games, knitting and other pastimes.

I suppose shipboard activity preferences have changed much more quickly over time than has ship design. The theatre seems to be the area remaining most consistent. Singers or guest musicians, magicians, and Vegas style shows seem to remain popular. Other than that, the entertainment hub is focused on the Piazza, the central architectural feature of the ship. Princess has been trying to make a large lounge, Club Fusion, into a comedy club, with some success. A midships lounge, Explorers Lounge, is now game show and trivia central and it gets good attendance. Some passengers are quite serious about their trivia while others Arrive just in time to hear the answers. Most of the games are designed to embarrass someone. The Wheelhouse lounge is the only place with a wooden dance floor that is actually used, occasionally, for dancing. The only other location regularly featuring danceable music is the ceramic floor of the Piazza. Surprisingly, we did have a good dance set in Club Fusion last evening and it was well attended.

By the end of day tomorrow we will have completed two consecutive sea days with fingers crossed for a final port before our Quebec City arrival.

Jane Wilson- Howarth

A traveller with an open mind grows richer with each journey, with each encounter, with each conversation.

From Saint John NB

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After Boston we heard complaints about the boarding but no actual facts about the reason for the delays. The occasional rumour pops up about possible Coast Guard involvement or an unknown person on board. The truth will remain forever a mystery.

The overnight voyage to Portland ME was uneventful. We awoke to a bright sunny day. Quite a contrast to the rainy day in Boston. There was still very little colour change visible from the port. There was nothing of interest near the port so we remained on board. Later we made our regular trip to the hot tub then later to the dance floor. Princess has been trying to create a comedy club in the aft most lounge. Last night’s comedian was one of the better performers. He got a lot of laughs pursuing two themes; “happy wife, happy life” and “if mama’s not happy, no-one’s happy”.

Overnight we chased our partner Enchanted Princess up the coast to Saint John, NB. Canada Border Services took our paper declarations, performed 15 random inspections and that was that. The weather cooperated for most of the day. Rain began about 3:30 and our departure will be between 6:00 and 7:00 PM so some tours will have a wet ending.

During our walk along the waterfront we encountered the typical port shops but with a twist. The stores were constructed from shipping containers. The village consisted of about 25 shops including a performance stage with a live performance. The shops ranged from food services to souvenirs. Some travellers could even try Beaver Tails.

David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

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.

Bill Bryson

I love the feeling of being anonymous in a city I’ve never been before.