We had originally booked a ten-day version of this itinerary (we being my dad, Sue & myself), but NCL changed the route to a one-way NYC to Quebec City instead of roundtrip from NYC, so we cancelled it. Fast forward two years, and we were finally going to Canada, although now it would be just me and my dad on a seven-day roundtrip out of Manhattan. This was my dad’s first sailing out of New York City, and my second.
Sunday, September 15th, 2019
I drove us from my house in Connecticut, which only took about 80 minutes, since we hit absolutely no traffic. Parking was a bit confusing. You had to pay at a guard shack ($40 per day), drive all the way to the end of the driveway and make a right at another guard shack, give the second guard the ticket from the first guard, and then park your car and get out so the dogs could inspect it. After inspection, you were free to select a parking space, although the elevator was a bit hard to locate, so we hedged our bet and parked in the middle on the roof of the terminal. We followed other people with luggage and ultimately found the elevator, which was behind where we parked for the canine inspection. We waited about five minutes for it to come, but when it arrived, it was the size of my living room, so everyone easily fit on the first trip. The elevator drops you in the terminal building, but you have to bring your luggage outside the building to have the porters bring it onboard. Then you can go through security and get in line. Check in lines were split into even and odd decks, with our deck being checked in all the way at the back of the terminal. We waited about twenty minutes in the priority check in line, but by the time we received our cards we were able to board immediately.
Once onboard, we grabbed lunch at Savor or Taste. To be honest, I have no idea which one I ate at, and that’s true of entire cruise. We basically just went to whichever had the shortest line, and they look exactly the same, so once you are in, you can’t tell the difference. After lunch we headed up to Spice H2O for a cocktail, and to kill some time until the room was ready. I liked the Spice H2O area a lot, but due to the cooler weather on this trip I didn’t take advantage of it very often. Around 1:30pm the rooms were ready, and we headed to ours, a minisuite on deck 11, 11200 specifically. It was very nice, with plenty of space for me and my dad to be out of each other’s way. We met our room steward, Dani, almost immediately, and told him our only request for the cruise was for him to put us on the earlier part of his daily routine, because we are up early and to bed early. Dani was never seen by us again, but did an excellent job honoring our request, so we were very happy with him. From there we did the muster drill, and then headed back to Spice H2O for sail away, which was the main reason my dad wanted to take a sailing out of New York City. He was born in Queens, but moved to Connecticut in his teens, and sailing past the Statue of Liberty was on his bucket list. We saw the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, and passed under the Verrazano Bridge. It was beautiful, and we had great weather for it! We had no dinner reservations for tonight, and we tried to go to the Manhattan Room, but it was booked solid, so we ended up at Savor or Taste. After dinner we decided to check out some of the lounge entertainment, including the Sweet Beat Band (meh), and Al Venditti (not bad, but my dad liked him more than I did). By then we were pretty exhausted, so we called it a night.
Monday, September 15th, 2019
One of the platinum perks is a complimentary behind the scenes ship tour, which neither of us had ever taken, and I had scheduled it for me & my dad at 9:45am. It lasted about two hours, and included the theater areas, the laundry facilities, and the kitchen areas. There was absolutely no sitting, just lots of standing and walking, so my dad made it through the first two sections but bailed before the kitchens. He was not the only one who did not make it. The tour itself was very interesting, and I was glad I took it. At noon we had the cruise critic meet & greet in the Brew House, which was probably the nicest of those events I have been to. Servers passed around hors d’oeurves, the bar was available for anyone who wanted cocktails, and the venue was packed with the very large group from cruise critic. After the meet & greet, I went to a Guy Harvey talk in the theater, which was done by Guy Harvey himself, and was extremely interesting. He was traveling with his daughter, wife and team, and his daughter and team members also did presentations throughout the cruise. For my part I found him to be a very engaging speaker, who was also very approachable to everyone interested in talking to him. It was a well-spent hour of my cruise. After the talk I tried to track my dad down (he had been going back to the room to read), but after circling the ship a couple of times, I gave up and just headed to Tobacco Road, since I knew he’d show up for his pre-dinner martini eventually. He did, of course, and then we had dinner at La Cucina, which was excellent. After dinner we stopped back at the room, where we discovered a package of shoe inserts had been left in our room. There was no note, so we called Dani, who said they were to be delivered to our room, but did not contain a note. My only guess is that it was sent by NCL for my dad due to his back acting up during the tour, but I was never able to find an actual answer to this riddle. After that, we hit Headliners for a bit to watch some standup comedy, and then headed back to Tobacco Road to check out Orly Penate, who I liked better than my dad did. Lounge entertainment was hit or miss for much of the cruise, unfortunately, and we didn’t find one we both agreed on until the last night. After Orly’s set, we went to bed. Portland tomorrow!
Tuesday, September 16th, 2019
Today we were scheduled to do the Portland Highlights & Lighthouses tour, which I booked for 10:30, but the tickets said to meet at 7:50am in the theater. Well, that’s a bit early, but okay. We grabbed a quick bite at O’Sheehan’s, and then headed to meet for our tour. Once everyone was there, we headed to shore to meet the buses (a ton of people were booked for this same tour). It’s a longish walk from the ship onto shore, but nothing crazy. Shorter than Harvest Caye by a lot, and shorter than Costa Maya by quite a bit too, if you want a frame of reference. The tour was nice, and brought us to the Portland Head Lighthouse, the most photographed lighthouse in the world. It’s quite lovely, and we spent a bit there, although since my dad had forgotten his jacket at my house, he headed back to the bus more quickly than I did. It was in the mid-50s, and my dad’s Florida blood was not handling it well. After the lighthouse visit, we toured through the rest of the city, which had apparently burned down at one time and had to be rebuilt. It’s a cute town, but since my dad was freezing, we just made a quick stop at the shopping kiosks on our way back to the ship. After lunch we played some tribond trivia, and we came in second place. We had dinner that night at Cagney’s, which was excellent, and after went to the stand-up comedy show in the theater, which was okay, but not great. Later we ended up at the Brew House with Al Venditti. After Al’s set, we headed to bed. Bar Harbor tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 17th, 2019
So today we were schedule for Bar Harbor & Cadillac Mountain, and had to meet at 7:40am, since we would be tendering into town. I didn’t fully read the excursion ticket, and assumed that we would be meeting in the theater again, because why would they change the meeting location day to day? After a quick breakfast at O’Sheehan’s we headed to the theater, and when we arrived discovered that we were actually supposed to be meeting in the Manhattan Room, on the complete opposite side of the ship. So we hiked to the Manhattan Room, and when they called our tour, they said they would be walking us all the way forward to pickup the tender. What the heck! I just came from all the way forward! Anyway, we boarded the tender, and headed in to Bar Harbor, which looked completely different than we remembered it being. My dad and I made frequent visits to Bar Harbor when I was growing up, and had even climbed Cadillac Mountain when I was a teenager, but in our 25-year absence, a lot of condos and timeshares had sprung up. We met our bus and began the drive to Acadia National Park, and then drove all the way to the peak of Cadillac Mountain, which is still just as beautiful a view as it was all those years ago. Although I will say, looking at the hike we did then, it would kill us now.
After the tour we walked around town, my dad bought himself a jacket, we had a locally made blueberry soda, and then stopped at Testa’s, which was the only original restaurant we could find on the strip. My dad had one of the famous lobster rolls, and I had chowda fries, which were Maine potatoes covered in clam chowder and bacon (delicious!). After our lunch we headed back to the ship, where we did some tribond trivia, but this time we won with a perfect score! From there we went to general knowledge trivia, and we won that too, with a score of only 13 out of 20. We even played some win, lose or draw, and I won prizes twice for my recognizable drawings. All told it was a good day for trivia & games! After our hot streak we grabbed dinner at Taste or Savor, and then went to the After Midnight show. After Midnight was a well-done show by excellent performers, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. The style of the show was 1920s Harlem Cotton Club, which is not music I particularly like, nor does my dad. We stayed for most of the show, but bailed about fifteen minutes before the end. There was no lounge entertainment that appealed to either of us, so we hit the casino for a bit and then headed back to the room.
Thursday, September 18th, 2019
Today we would be visiting St John, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. I had been there as a child, where my dad made me sit for an unholy length of time to watch the tide come in, and then go back out again. Thankfully, we would not be doing that this time around, although we would be visiting the Reversing Falls, where the rapidly changing tides cause the falls to change direction completely twice per day. I looked out the balcony when I woke up to check out the port area, and you could not see more than six inches in any direction. Thickest fog ever! Luckily it cleared by the time we left, because a tour in that pea soup would have been pointless. Our tour was done via trolley, with the guide dressed in historic period clothing. It was a nice tour, although the trolley was super loud going up hills, and you couldn’t really hear the guide over the revving of the engine.
We arrived at the reversing falls, and right after a took a quick video, I said “Hey dad, there is a bee next to your head” and he said “Bee-ware!” and then was immediately stung. Apparently, it did not appreciate his joke. Unfortunately, it swelled up immediately to a lump about the size of an acorn, and neither the tour guide nor the bus driver had any Benadryl, so as soon as we got back to the ship we headed to the medical center. The medical center was closed, but the sign indicated that we should call guest services if we had an urgent issue, and within 60 seconds the medical center had been opened for us. The nurse did his intake, and then the doctor determined that despite my father continuing to feel stinging pain, there was no stinger in the wound, so they gave him some pills and an ointment, and sent him on his way. It was certainly more excitement than I experienced on my last visit to St John! As for what stung him, we aren’t sure. It looked to me like a yellowjacket, but the lady who worked at the reversing falls said wasp, so who knows. What is for sure is that it wasn’t friendly.
Since we were back onboard, we decided to grab some lunch and then head to scattergories, which was a lot of fun. We came in second, and to be honest I question the validity of the score of the team who came in first, but whatever, it’s only bragging rights. Tribond trivia #3 followed, and while we did well, we did not win this time around. From there we decided to check out the mini golf course, and I can say, with no small amount of pride, that I am the reigning mini golf champion of Canada! I won six out of nine holes, and there was an entertaining kid on the ropes course above who did a little commentary (“Yellow ball, great shot! Blue ball, too bad…). It was pretty funny, especially since I was yellow. We had reservations to see The Knights at the Supper Club that evening. The Knights is basically a show dedicated to performers who have been knighted at some point, and it was great! Really entertaining, and really well done. The food was good also. We did go to Howl at the Moon right after, and while we were able to snag a couple of seats in the back corner, basically every row in front of us had pushed their chairs back slightly, making it virtually impossible to access the back rows. Once we squeezed in, getting out was near impossible, and bar service was nonexistent. We stayed for about an hour, but eventually decided to head somewhere else to be more comfortable, and ended up briefly at the Cellars, before heading to Tobacco Road for a nightcap. Halifax tomorrow!
Friday, September 20th, 2019
Our excursion wasn’t till early afternoon, so after breakfast at Taste or Savor we headed to the Atrium for morning trivia, followed by destination trivia. We did okay at both, but our winning streak was at an end. Sue had asked for a Nova Scotia shirt, since her family originates from there, so we decided to head out early and do a little shopping. There were a ton of kiosks in the cruise terminal building itself, but little on the street. We did stop at Garrison Brewery for a bit, and then had some authentic Canadian pizza (not terrible, but not really pizza either). By the time we got back to the terminal to meet for our tour, it was pretty close to the right time.
Our tour met across the street, and then followed with what I will affectionately call the “forced death march”. It seems that no one, myself included, caught the description of the lengthy walk required to get from the terminal to the tall ship we would be sailing on. The shore excursion description mentioned a leisurely 15-minute stroll, but this walk did not resemble that, and many people were unhappy about it. Anyway, we finally made it to the Tall Ship Silva, where we boarded a seemingly endless stream of people, considerably more than there were seats available. The ship is completed circled with bench seating, and a few chairs had been placed on deck, but they were notably short. No worries though, as the crew went below deck and brought up about 30 more chairs, so in the in the end, everyone had a spot to sit. If the weather had been cooler, this would have been a miserable activity, but as luck would have it, we had a beautiful, sunny day, so it was a really nice jaunt around the harbor. They had a small bar where I picked up a spiced rum and coke (no idea what kind of rum, but it was tasty) and they had miniature tarts in either maple or berry flavors for everyone. Afterwards we took a more leisurely walk back, stopping at a few spots along the way, and then after some final shopping we headed back onboard.
Tonight we were scheduled to dine in the Supper Club again, this time with a show by Marva Hicks, onetime Broadway performer, and backup singer to both Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. She put on a nice show, but the food was not to my taste overall. They served a five-course menu, and each course had a few components, some of which were better than others. Dessert was the best part, actually, where each guest received a plate with four mini desserts. Nothing noteworthy on the schedule later, so we just hit the casino and then headed to bed.
Saturday, September 21st, 2019
An action-packed day at sea was ahead of us! After breakfast we headed to the Skyline Bar for sunrise trivia, then a little casino time, followed by Harry Potter trivia. Harry Potter trivia was really hard, even for a devoted fan like myself, and I only ended up with 15 out of 20 correct. I did win the next trivia, which was on cat breeds, and then we had a follow-up cruise critic event in the Brewhouse. The event was great, and the officers brought around small beers for everyone, and even scared up some cider for me, as I don’t like beer. As before, hors d’oeurves were passed around, and we didn’t even need to grab lunch after. We had another go at win, lose or draw, and my team crashed and burned horribly. Another stop at the casino, and then we headed to Star Wars trivia, which was hosted by a member of the cruise director’s team who I had been fortunate enough to not meet before now. I never did catch his name, but he was from Brazil, and he, by his own admission, did not know how to read English, so trivia was just painful. Especially in Star Wars trivia, where characters and places are entirely imaginary names.
We had a tight window before our reservation for Choir of Man, so we just grabbed a quick dinner at O’Sheehan’s. Choir of Man was outstanding! The whole thing takes place in a British pub called The Jungle, and the cast is the eight men who hang out at the pub. Fifteen minutes before the show starts, the cast invites the audience up to the stage to grab a beer with them, and many did partake. The cast literally served the audience beer from the working taps onstage, and then mopped up the spilled beer during the actual show. The singing was just fantastic, and I was really glad I had a chance to see it. After Choir of Man we went to the Brewhouse to see Al Venditti’s tribute to Elton John and Billy Joel, which was fun. From there we headed to Tobacco Road to check out the Sunshine Duo, which turned out to be our favorite bar entertainment of the cruise. I’m sorry we didn’t discover them till the last night, but what can you do. After that I popped down to guest services to see what time we’d be sailing past the Statue of Liberty, and they gave me window of 4am to 6am. Not setting an alarm for that early! And I’m off the bed.
Sunday, September 22nd, 2019
As it happened, I woke up at 3:57am, so I quickly peeked out the balcony, got dressed, and headed up to Spice H2O to film us going back under the Verrazano Bridge. After we passed under the bridge, I headed back to my room to wake my dad in time for the Statue of Liberty (it was now about 5am). I needn’t have rushed, since he had awoken himself and was watching the bow camera on the television to see when he had to get up. We enjoyed sailing back into Manhattan from the balcony, and then finished packing our stuff in time to head out to breakfast at Taste or Savor. We disembarked around 9am, quickly found two out of three bags in the terminal. The third took a bit more of a search, and turned out to be right next to me while my dad was elsewhere looking for it. Fortunately a porter moved an adjacent bag, drawing my eye to our missing item, and we were able to move along. Customs was a bit strange in that they never looked at my passport, or spoke to me at all. I was directed to stand still for a photo, and then sent on my way. It was the same for my dad, and we got back to the car without incident. No traffic on the way home, and we arrived there by around 11am. A great time was had by all, and I think I will wrap this up here. Thanks for following along! If you’d like to see more of this trip, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8wxfeIWYS4 to see my trip video.