Semi-live from the CB - Quebec to NYC 10/1/2015

Day 1 aboard the Caribbean Princess:

We had arrived in Quebec on Tuesday and did a walking tour of the city on Wednesday despite the cold weather (55F) and strong wind. Today came and we had to vacate the hotel at 11 AM so we decided to go ahead and take the taxi to the ship. Arriving around 11:20 or so we were quickly checked in and presented with our sea cards. We waited about 15 minutes in a very crowded SRO area for platinum and up before being allowed on the ship. We were on the ship before 12 noon. Lunch was in the MDR (coral deck 6) followed by unpacking and settling in for the cruise even though the ship was not sailing until the next afternoon. The cabin attendant introduced himself, Adones from the Philippines, and seemed quite friendly. We were told that the ship was moving from pier 22 to pier 30 tonight from 9 to 11 PM for maintenance and that the mandatory safety briefing would be tomorrow at 4 PM. We stopped by Sabatini’s and made reservations for the first formal night, Saturday, and dropped our order for 2 FCC for each of us at the future cruise consultant. The show tonight (we seldom go to them) was the Quebec Folkloric Show put on by musicians from Quebec. It was fantastic and for us a not-to-miss show. They did folk dances from Ireland, Scotland and France and were quite good. We love the Irish jig. It was a 45 minute show with audience participation at one point. Dinner followed (ATD) with a nice selection of seafood or prime rib. The seafood was excellent per usual as I have had it before and my partner along with several others at the table pronounced the prime rib very good. The piano player, David Williams, was really great and it was SRO. Happy hour was in Skywalkers from 11 to midnight and was buy one get the second for $1. The friendly cocktail server told me that happy hour would be from 3 to 4 and 11 to midnight in skywalkers every day. Pax arrived all day long including one of our dinner partners who had arrived onboard at 7 PM just before dinner. The ship seems to be in good shape and we have not noted any problems or areas that need attention. The crew is very friendly from the ones we have had contact with so far. Friday we will be in port until 5 PM when we cast off the lines for Saguenay. More to follow.

I'm looking forward to your updates! We will be doing the cruise in reverse on 10/10. I hope the weather/rain/storms does not impact you negatively over the next week.

Oh please do let me know how you like Sabatini's as we are thinking of doing them next year.

Oh 1 other question..when you booked Sabatini's did you happen to notice if it was open the night you boarded for non suite pax?

Thanks for checking in. Hpe you are having a great cruise. Take care of the CB for me please.....:):):)

Bob

Enjoy your cruise. Saguenay was such a great port when we did this cruise last year. Hope you managed to see the show La Fabuleuse while you were there.

Will be looking forward to your posts as we board the CP in New York on Oct. 11th back to Quebec City..Any suggestions or recommendations will be appreciated..Judy

Oh please do let me know how you like Sabatini's as we are thinking of doing them next year.

I will let you know tomorrow night when we dine there. We have been to Sabatini's several times before and enjoyed it. Neither of us are red meat aficionados so the grill is lost on us. We do love Italian however. Sorry i did not notice if it was open to regular pax. I will try to ask them tomorrow hopefully.

Day 2 aboard the Caribbean Princess

We are still in port of course and have moved to pier 30. HAL Maasdam took our place at pier 22. We did a private tour today to Montmorency Falls and the island. The tour guide/driver was born and raised in that area and was quite good giving explanations while adding personal notes. We had booked through Viator for those interested. We had used a bank ATM near our hotel yesterday and the USD was converted to CAD with $1 USD equal to $1.33 CAD. This was after all bank charges as I checked my account later online. The convert at a rate of $1 USD to $1.22 CAD! We met the tour at the appointed location across the street from our old pier at 10 AM and they delivered us to our ship at 3:45. We had to be back on board by 4:30. The mandatory drill was at 4:45. There were several announcements looking for a couple from aloha deck. We may have left them in Quebec. The ship dropped its lines at 5:00 and set sail. We watched the departure from Skywalkers while enjoying the nightly elite/platinum party.

Tonight was the usual welcome aboard show in the theater which we did not attend. We have ATD and tried to go to dinner at our usual 7:15 only to find both ATD MDR lined up back to the IC on 5 with 6 similar. We looked around and found a guitar player in the Explorer lounge who was quite good using recordings to back up his singing. We finally made it to dinner at 8:30 PM. Tomorrow we have reservations at Sabatini’s which happens to be the first formal night. In our wandering around waiting for the lines to decrease we noticed the ship now has an Effy shop along with the older jewelry shop. The other store on deck 6 has mostly women’s clothing etc. All the sundries and souvenirs have been moved to the shop next to Vines on deck 5. The liquor and tobacco store is gone but they have sheets to fill out and order liquor. Doing my usual pax watching, the gray hair is very predominate and I would guess the average age of the pax is in the 70’s. I think I boarded a HAL ship by mistake! Tomorrow is Saguenay, 120 miles north of Quebec City. We will tie up to the pier at 7:00 AM and we have a ship tour that starts at 7:30 AM so early morning again tomorrow. More to follow.

Thanks for checking in. Hpe you are having a great cruise. Take care of the CB for me please.....:):):)

 

Bob

That we shall. We have a B2B scheduled in March on the CB from Houston and then we will have a B2B scheduled for the British Isles cruise followed by the TA with you. I think we hopefully will continue to enjoy the ship. We have found it to be in excellent condition so far. They had new carpet for the ship loaded yesterday so I presume they will be replacing carpet sometime on this cruise. As you know it is an on-going operation.

I will let you know tomorrow night when we dine there. We have been to Sabatini's several times before and enjoyed it. Neither of us are red meat aficionados so the grill is lost on us. We do love Italian however. Sorry i did not notice if it was open to regular pax. I will try to ask them tomorrow hopefully.

Great thank you. I am loving your posts and living through you and your adventures. Your trip to Montmorency Falls did that include St Anne de Beaupre?

Great thank you. I am loving your posts and living through you and your adventures. Your trip to Montmorency Falls did that include St Anne de Beaupre?

Yes. Our guide was from the area and was quite descriptive of the area. The basilica was really beautiful and most impressive. Whether you are RC or not, the building itself is quite a beautiful structure. Evidently miraculous cures have been worked here as we were told. The pope had visited the basilica in the 80's.

Day 3 aboard the Caribbean Princess

We were up early (before dawn!) for our 7:30 AM tour of Saguenay. After breakfast in the room – they were very punctual delivering it 5 minutes early, we met our tour in the Explorer’s Lounge. All the tours had been sold out for weeks before so book ahead. Luckily Princess does not demand payment until you are on the ship. The ship was able to put out only one gangplank provided by the port which was quite steep. When we returned there was a huge line to reboard and it took about half hour to get back on the ship. Saguenay is a collection of towns formed into one large very spread out city. The shoppers were disappointed by the availability. On return we went directly to the MDR for lunch which turned out well. At our table of six most partook of the Irish stew and was delicious. The meet & greet in Skywalkers was today so thanks to Wdmtraveler for organizing it. She had made up name tags for all of us ahead of time. We were there as the ship left port at 2:00. Again they were looking for two couples who had not boarded. I am not sure if they made it or not. We managed to make it to happy hour in the Fusion Lounge (BOGO $1) which also was hosting trivia. Once again we learned we are really bad at this game but the drinks were great. We skipped the very over crowded elite/platinum party in Skywalkers tonight. Dinner tonight was in Sabatini’s where I had lobster three ways and my partner had the chicken with an Italian twist which she pronounced excellent. Desert was my favorite, tiramisu. We will be sorry to see Sabatini’s demise in the near future. This was the first formal night in the MDR. We went to the Princess marriage show which is always a fun time. The CD made it as he was really into the funny comments. They had to bribe three couples with a dinner in the Crown Grill for the winner and the other two getting the usual bottle of champagne. They went through the crowd trying to get volunteers and at one point said they would have to cancel the show. We hid in the back behind a table. The “newly wed” couple had been married 28 years with the oldest at 44 years. As the CD said this is an indication of who is on this cruise. There are no children aboard. The theater production was Piano Man but we were not able to work it in our plans. We had wanted to go.

I checked several times last night and we were running at 14 knots and the vibration was about normal. We have a stateroom in the stern area near the stern stairwell/elevator bank. The staff has been very friendly and helpful.

Tomorrow is Gaspe, our first of three tender ports. Again the tours are sold out but we had booked months in advance. We arrive at 10 AM so we can be leisurely in the morning before our 1 pm tour. More to follow.

Saguenay is a collection of towns formed into one large very spread out city. The shoppers were disappointed by the availability.

They may have been lucky.

On our cruise that stopped there we made a purchase in a local store using a credit card.

Two days later our card number was used to charge a restaurant meal and movie theater tickets in Toronto, obviously not by us.

Had to have our card number canceled and new cards with a new number issued.

Thanks for the details in your review satxdiver,

We will be with whitecap, boarding in New York so hope there will still be autumn leaves to view and that Joaquín doesn't cause you any problems.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the details in your review satxdiver,

We will be with whitecap, boarding in New York so hope there will still be autumn leaves to view and that Joaquín doesn't cause you any problems.

Enjoy your cruise!

Yes, so hope there will be some fall colors…please let us know .

I'm looking forward to your updates! We will be doing the cruise in reverse on 10/10. I hope the weather/rain/storms does not impact you negatively over the next week.

Thanks for the heads up. We make it a practice to not use a CC in a foreign port although with the new technology of the card containing a chip, it might be more secure. We have noted that we need to contact our issuer and get a pin. Did not know about that part of it. I have had my card info stolen at home in a restaurant we frequent and had the task of canceling the card etc. Real downer.

Day 4 aboard the geriatric cruise

Finally we have better weather. The sun was out all day, the wind was mild and it even seemed to be warm for a change. We actually used our balcony for a period before we had to go to shore for the first time this cruise. We had a 1 PM walking tour of the national park so we decided to have breakfast in the MDR since we would miss lunch not that would be a problem for us in several ways. Breakfast was really great but no eggs benedict today unfortunately. We had breakfast with two lovely CA couples. We went down to the tenders at noon and walked right on the tender. The ride to the port was about 15 minutes which is longer than the published 10 minutes according to Princess. The tender port is away from most things so not really within walking distance. They had free WiFi in the building at the tender port which was nice. Our bus was a school bus with a guide who said little other than make sure everyone was on the bus. The walk through the national park along the bay was led by an informative guide that worked (volunteered?) for the NP. This hike was not for the unprepared as it was around 3 miles long. One upside to all of it was that there were some trees exhibiting their colors. However according to the natives, September was exceptionally warm meaning no freeze and hence no changing of the trees yet. We were able to go into the restored general store with products on the shelves and period dressed attendants. The last tender was advertised to be at 5:15 PM which is the time we boarded the tender with 3 more tenders in port waiting and more tours expected to return. Great reason to take a ship tour since they will wait for you. The ship finally left port over one hour late due to tardy tours. After a quick visit to the pizzeria, we went to the evening performance in the theater. Chris Watkins on four strings (violin) was the performer and he was really good. He played the violin while dancing around the stage backed by the ship orchestra. I recommend anyone who likes the sound of the violin to consider it. Dinner in the MDR tonight had my favorite duck while my partner had orange roughy and did not disappoint. The waiter recommended the black forest cake which turned out to be dry and had a bad taste not like what we have had before on Princess. It was a failure. Tonight in Skywalkers they were playing Beatles tunes at 10 PM before the happy hour at 11 PM. There were quite a number of pax present for the Beatles hour. On returning to our cabin, we had a notice that the ship would be moving the clocks ahead one hour tonight. Tomorrow we will be calling on Charlottetown, PEI. More to follow.

Yes, so hope there will be some fall colors…please let us know .

We have seen some trees that had changed colors but not many. We were told that the last month was warmer than normal and did not produce any significant freeze required to change the trees. We have more ports so maybe we will get lucky.

Thanks for the heads up. We make it a practice to not use a CC in a foreign port although with the new technology of the card containing a chip, it might be more secure. We have noted that we need to contact our issuer and get a pin. Did not know about that part of it. I have had my card info stolen at home in a restaurant we frequent and had the task of canceling the card etc. Real downer.

Note that most of the USA credit cards being issued with the chip are only "chip and sign" when making purchases and any PIN you get is for making cash withdrawals (with interest charges and fees) from ATMs.

Only a few of the new cards are true "chip and PIN" cards which can use the PIN to make purchases at a merchant overseas or at unattended terminals (train tickets, gas stations). The Princess Visa card is one of this type.

Visa claims their agreements require foreign merchants and unattended terminals to accept a chip card that is only "chip and sign" without a PIN, but I would not like to test that when I need to use the card overseas.

Breakfast was really great but no eggs benedict today unfortunately.

Ask for them even if not on the menu. On most ships they will make them for you every morning in the dining room.

Thanks for the leaf colour info. Maybe another week will kick them into action.

Glad to hear your weather is good, hope it continues.

Ask for them even if not on the menu. On most ships they will make them for you every morning in the dining room.

Good luck! We just left the CB. IF they tell you yes, they will come from the Lido. One of our first mornings in the dining room it was on the menu. It was wonderful, best I have ever had on any cruise line. The next morning it was not, so I asked, they said "NO". Later, they came back and told me "it would be available for the rest of the cruise after today"It was, but, it was not prepared freshly, and not the same. It was obvious it was from the Horizon Court(heat lamp encrusted "sauce"). After tasting it, I chose not to eat it, and did not order it for the rest of the cruise.

Day 4 aboard the geriatric cruise

Finally we have better weather. The sun was out all day, the wind was mild and it even seemed to be warm for a change. We actually used our balcony for a period before we had to go to shore for the first time this cruise. We had a 1 PM walking tour of the national park so we decided to have breakfast in the MDR since we would miss lunch not that would be a problem for us in several ways. Breakfast was really great but no eggs benedict today unfortunately. We had breakfast with two lovely CA couples. We went down to the tenders at noon and walked right on the tender. The ride to the port was about 15 minutes which is longer than the published 10 minutes according to Princess. The tender port is away from most things so not really within walking distance. They had free WiFi in the building at the tender port which was nice. Our bus was a school bus with a guide who said little other than make sure everyone was on the bus. The walk through the national park along the bay was led by an informative guide that worked (volunteered?) for the NP. This hike was not for the unprepared as it was around 3 miles long. One upside to all of it was that there were some trees exhibiting their colors. However according to the natives, September was exceptionally warm meaning no freeze and hence no changing of the trees yet. We were able to go into the restored general store with products on the shelves and period dressed attendants. The last tender was advertised to be at 5:15 PM which is the time we boarded the tender with 3 more tenders in port waiting and more tours expected to return. Great reason to take a ship tour since they will wait for you. The ship finally left port over one hour late due to tardy tours. After a quick visit to the pizzeria, we went to the evening performance in the theater. Chris Watkins on four strings (violin) was the performer and he was really good. He played the violin while dancing around the stage backed by the ship orchestra. I recommend anyone who likes the sound of the violin to consider it. Dinner in the MDR tonight had my favorite duck while my partner had orange roughy and did not disappoint. The waiter recommended the black forest cake which turned out to be dry and had a bad taste not like what we have had before on Princess. It was a failure. Tonight in Skywalkers they were playing Beatles tunes at 10 PM before the happy hour at 11 PM. There were quite a number of pax present for the Beatles hour. On returning to our cabin, we had a notice that the ship would be moving the clocks ahead one hour tonight. Tomorrow we will be calling on Charlottetown, PEI. More to follow.

We were on the Caribbean Princess for the transatlantic prior to this cruise and I can attest that the Black Forest Cake was bad. Not at all like it usually is. Definitely a failure!!!:(

Happy Sails!!!

So glad to have another "live from" to get me to that next cruise!