Saint John New Brunswick and the Night Prior

We are a little slow getting up today.  You see last night we were busy.  First it started with Multi Media Trivia with the theme being 60s and 70s music trivia.  We joined up with some ladies we met earlier Mark hosted.  He played a bit of a song and we had to name the song and the artist.  Wow we actually tied with another team and we were each given a bottle of sparkling wine.  We left it for the women to enjoy.

At 7:45 we had the Most Travelled Passenger Party. 

This is a party to honour the top 40 travellers on this voyage.  For this trip we are number 8 and 9 and we are happy to attend.  The Captain was surprised to see us and we posed for the picture, for which I will scan and put here when I get home. Oh and they had only one door open for the Most Travelled Party, remember last week I stated here that the queue was long and awkward to get in and looks like they have fixed it.  It ran much smoother this time.

Tonight we sit by ourselves and we both get a drink and then the appetizers start coming around.  This week we thought the tapas were much better than last week’s party.  Loved the goat cheese balls, the drumettes, and the sirloin.  Dana the CSD came by and we caught up with her.  Bernie even stopped and chatted with Captain Pomata for a bit and asked him about the Bay of Fundy and asked how difficult it was to sail it. 

Dana and Jasper

After the party we went to Sabatinis for dinner with a friend.  The meal was very good, I started with the calamari (which I couldn’t finish) and then had the lobster three ways.  It was done a bit differently and I enjoyed it more this time.  We had a few bottles of wine and Sicilian Kisses drink for dessert – yup my dessert is a martini drink.    Alberto came down and surprised us for a bit and we didn’t get back to our cabin until midnight!  And with the clocks going forward ouch!

So I am back to the morning of St. John and well a bit of a hangover!  Little sleep and it is overcast with a light drizzle and all I can think of is more sleep.  I didn’t go to breakfast I just took my time getting ready.  We wandered ashore around 10 am and walked to the mall to pick up a few things and then crossed the street to the dollar store and then wandered into the city market again.  Oh and went to the Starbucks in the mall too.  I am feeling a little bit more alive now. 

We decide to walk the boardwalk along the Harbour which is lovely and it has stopped raining.  It is rather cool and windy but I really enjoyed it.  As we make our way back towards Uptown we agree a bite to eat is in order and we enjoy a relaxing meal before walking a bit more.  This is a nice city.

We are back on board and I try to stay awake but I am so tired.  I crash and I sleep until 6 pm (2 hours)!  Guess I needed it.  Tonight is the Captain Circle Party.  Captain Pomata welcomed us as we came in and even hugged me!  Wow guess since we have sailed with him five times this year he feels comfortable with us.   We make our way to a seat near the back, we have learned we prefer these seats near the back cause it is away from people and we feel okay chatting throughout it and it doesn’t bother anyone.  A quick cocktail but no food for us even though the wait staff are trying to get us to take something we are good.  We chat with Dana again, and she joins us for awhile and she is a hoot.  I like her, and if she lived closer I know we would be friends.  One thing we noticed is they didn’t show the Royal Princess christening like they did last week.  Maybe they read my blog and how I didn’t enjoy it…. Anyways just glad they didn’t.

Down to the dining room for dinner.  Douw is waiting for us and we enjoy a lovely dinner with Remil and Jerwin serving us, I am going to miss these guys when I get home. 

We then head to the Princess Theater and watch the Born to Be Wild show.  Amazing again!  I took lots of pics will try and post some here now or at least when I get home this weekend. 

Corey the Deputy Cruise Director is a hoot - he got a hold of the camera and well he let out his artistic side

After the show we head down to say hi to Delmarie in Facets – she is happy to see us as she didn’t see us yesterday.  We catch up and a few other crew come in and chat and well lots of laughs were had.  Time for bed.  Halifax tomorrow.

St. John New Brunswick

Reversing Falls

this is the pier, the white tent is a marketplace

We are docked early and we have to leave early so we wish we could say we woke early but sadly we didn’t.  We didn’t get to bed until late and we didn’t sleep well after all that food, and wine and time change.  Yes the clocks went forward an hour last night to East Coast time. 

I am still full from dinner so I opt out of getting breakfast.  We head ashore around 10 am and walk thru a little market of crafts and local items right at the pier.  We dock right in town, and it is easy to walk almost anywhere if you are physically able.

There were selling numerous tours right at the pier including the hop on hop off buses.  There are a few taxis here too and we jumped in one and headed to the Reversing Falls look out, which was rather close and we had the tai wait and then take us back to the city center too.  The cost of the entire ride was $15.

There is a mall in the downtown where you can find pretty much anything you might need, including a Starbucks and Tim Hortons and both have wifi.  We walked around the mall a bit and then crossed the street to the Marketplace which was lovely but boy was it crowded.  I should note that there were three ships in port today so the downtown was busy.

St. John is not a huge city but a very quaint city that is spread out.  There is some interesting history here and the people are lovely.  We stopped and had a meal ashore which was okay and then crossed the street for a cupcake and that too was okay.  You win some you loose some I guess.

The City Market

inside

this restaurant - Steemers is right across from the pier and was recommended, although we didn't try it, it was busy

We are both tired and in need of a nap and we leave port early today at 2:45 so we get back on around 1:30. 

I will say the lines to get on and get off the ship whole trip have been crazy.  Some of the blame can be on so many new cruisers who just don’t know or understand things, like which gangway to get off at or to get tender tickets first, or have cruise card out etc.  But a lot has to do with Princess too.  Not enough tenders operating, especially in some ports like Rhode Island where we had a long tender ride.  And not enough gangways open.  So far every port we have had a gangway open at they have only had one gangway open not the normal two to accommodate the crowds.  This is probably the worst cruise with regards to getting on or off the ship. 

Back to today.  There are lines again and we snake our way up the gangway.  It is one of those big gangways like they have for planes that scizzor back and forth and there must be over a 100 people on it.  I am afraid to look at what the maximum number is.  In all it took about 20 minutes to get back on the ship.

The sun is shining all day today and it is hot hot hot.  The pools are busy, people are sun tanning and I drop my things in the cabin and grab a book and head up to the aft deck on deck 17 for some sun and relaxation.  Until this loud obnoxious man comes and stands at the railing and basically screams to the person beside him and one of his comments was “what a useless place this is”.  I have to feel sorry for him, someone with such a shallow view misses a lot of great things in life.

We stay out for sail away and then head back to the cabin for a nap, a much needed nap.  We sleep just over an hour and decide to dress for formal night and take some pictures.

A quick glass of wine in vines on deck 5 and we watch some of the people and chat with the bar staff there.  Vines is busy every night.  Along with the Casino these are two places making money.

Tonight is the Captain Circle Party and there were two parties and we had an invite for the second party.  We meet up with Barb and Gordon again and we sit with them near the back.  Adam the HGM notices us and sends a waiter over to get us drinks.  None of us one the bottle of champagne – sad face.  But we had a nice time.  Princess shows the video of the christening of the Royal Princess, sure it is nice to see, but we are all here because we have sailed numerous times on Princess.  You don’t have to sell it to us we are hooked.  It was a very nice party and I really like that the party is just for Platinum and Elite passengers now.  It keeps the crowds down and a more manageable group.

We dine tonight back with our regular servers in the Palm Dining room.  It is formal night tonight so that means two things escargot and lobster.  I get the escargot and then the vegetarian spring rolls and the yoghurt soup and then the ravioli as an entrée.  We loved it all and we left full.  One nice thing was one of the head waiters started to sing and the whole dining room got right into it.  Douw came over and grabbed our pepper mill and started to lip sink to the song and made us all laugh.  A few people even got up and danced.

As much as I normally dislike traditional dining and the formality of a set time each night I have enjoyed the camaraderie with the neighboring tables. 

The production show tonight is Born to Be Wild, the one with the pink Cadillac.  A show we like and we are sitting up front enjoying it and cheering them all on.  Great job you guys.

Bedtime, another big day tomorrow awaits – Halifax.

Ketchikan June 6th

We dock at 10 am and we are awake around 8 am for the picturesque views coming down the channel.  We turn the tv on and put it on 49 where they show the bridge cam so we can listen to Mark the naturalist discuss sights as we arrive.  We stare out our cabin window with binoculars close by to watch the eagles and the fish jumping.

Not sure what we are going to do today.  It is raining out, it is cold and wet (reminds me of home).  Bernie heads up to the Horizon Court and when he comes back he tells me it is an absolute zoo up there.  I told him it would be.  With docking at 10 am everyone is still on board for breakfast.  He tells me there is a woman he sat with who was complaining about the discounted price she had heard others had gotten.  When he tells her yes, they were selling this off for cheaply.  He informs her that that price was for an inside cabin guarantee.  Oh no not an inside she says.  Well that is what you get for that price, for a bit more we got an oceanview.  But for a balcony it was a lot more even last minute.

I head up to the Hozion Court a little later after the ship has docked and many have started getting off.  I am not that hungry but want something.  I am tired today, feel run down and think today is going to be a day of pure relaxation.

We give our steward the time to clean the cabin by sitting in Explorer’s Lounge for awhile doing Suduko and Bernie reads and then participates in the Trivia.  Trivia is popular this voyage but even though Bernie loves the trivia he doesn’t like to take it too seriously and so many others do so he makes sure to join others who are also there to just have fun.

Back in the cabin around noon and I change into more comfortable clothes and crash for like three hours.  Guess my body needed it.

When we wake the cabin comes on in the cabin – kind of odd as normally when the Captain is sailing away they don’t announce in the cabin, but this voyage we have found they have often made announcements in the cabin when they really should be.  Like early one morning (I believe it was Skagway) they did the bing bing bing in the cabin to say the ship had clearance for people to go ashore.

The Captain warns us that we are heading out into open waters for a bit and the weather may cause a bit more movement than what we are use to.  Finally I think, have to say for the past two weeks I have not felt like I have been at sea at all.  So very smooth and I kind of miss the rocking.

We head to Calypso to see Ali and finally Michael her boyfriend has proposed!  Finally!  We met Michael and Ali last year on the Star and after talking with Michael at the beginning of this voyage he told us he was going to finally propose.  We have been waiting since then for the ring to show up.  Finally today Ali is sporting a lovey diamond ring!  We had bought a card earlier in the voyage for them to congratulate them and finally we can give it to them.  We know we are not true family but we want them to know how much we love them and that we are happy for them.  Congratulations to a lovely couple.  Heck we hope we get an invite to the wedding.

We head to Wheelhouse to have a drink with Peter and a few friends pop by.  We will miss Peter and not sure when we will see him again, but somehow I bet we will see him again.

Dinner tonight is in Savoy dining room again with Na and Sandudee.  It is the Chef’s dinner and I love this menu but want to switch some things up.  I order the standard shrimp cocktail but for my entrée I see that they have in the always available section an Oscar burger which is a standard burger but with asparagus and crab with Bernaisse sauce. I have to try it.  It looks lovely when it comes but both my fries and Bernie’s fries are cold.  We order a side of fresh/hot fries.  I remove the bun and just eat the meat and it is so good.  We opt for no dessert tonight but instead have some fudge from the cabin that we bought in Skagway.

Tonight is the last night for the cast of the Diamond Princess and the show is Born to Be Wild.  We get seats up close so I can get more pictures and we LOVE it.  We notice a few little fun bits the cast is obviously having a great time and they are so excited to be going home.

I am so tired after the show, my throat is rough and I need a hot drink and bed – too much singing along I guess.