Saguenay stop and beyond

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.