camasidaho

Wednesday found a gray and cool day but Bar Harbor was a great stop. Many things people like here. We found the quaint shops and town to be quite intriguing. It was late in the season so many clothes items were at least 50 percent off.

We let the kids sleep in as all of texting worked fine if the needed us. I don't think they would like another day of walking around.

We walked the 3 blocks to the park. Went to the ranger station and bought the 5 buck entrance pass but you could get in Acadia without one. Then we took the free bus in. We took 3 around the shore. Then 4 to the pond. Then 5 around north and back to the dock. Very scenic. About the only thing the free one doesn't do is go to the top of Cadillac hill or as the locals call it Cadillac mountain. I hear it is a stunning view but you might pay 20 or 30 bucks for a private service to get you there.

Hot chocolate again and back on board after a short tender ride.

The comedian show was tonight. I thought he was good and many I heard agreed. The teen club director took our boys to the 830 show and bowling again no one else showed up so it is a 1 to 2 ratio and our kids feel pretty special having their own staff guy taking them around. They also went bowling again with the teen up paying for it.

Thursday we pulled into Boston. Another dark cool and rainy day all though the rain went away.

We were up by 720 and eating at 8 and then took a cab to enterprise rent a car on south dotcher We were on our way to Lexington by 845. We stopped at the visitor center at Lexington but not alot there. The real Gem is the movie "road to Revolution" at the minute man national visitor center. It is much more than a movie. Interactive maps and such. It basically tells a mile high view of everything that happened. If you went to one thing I recommend this. We went on to the north bridge and took some photos then over to salem. Got to the 1230 pm film and presentation at the salem witch museum. They have a 1 hour presentation that was fair.

Then we took the car back and got some gas for it. Enterprise dropped us off at the south station and we walked to Boston common then down the freedom trail with stops along the way until we hit flanuel hall. We watched a film at the park service office in the basement. Was wanting to push on to the old north church but the kids and wife said they had had enough. So we took the t back to the south station then took silver line 2 right back to the ship. Road with some crew so back we knew what stop to get off at.

People can spend weeks or months in Boston but I am hear to tell you that you can do a nice overview in a day. At least we felt we had done it. It was my 3rd time here and admittedly picked and chose as much as my kids wanted to do.

I will just continue with more parts here as we are in Newport today and waiting for hw and kids to roll out of bed.

I have used the butler twice. He polished 2 pair of shoes and also served us 1 meal in Suite. Ooops. He also brought us 1 dvd we requested. Then he brought the daily plate of snacks. Other than that we haven't used or seen him.

So for 2 adults and 2 teenagers what would you tip?

We used the conseiger once. We called her and asked her to get us a window table day 2 on the grand pacific main dinning room so we could watch the ocean off the back. That is our only request.

Last our room steward. He hasn't done anything special and gets the automatic tips. But we have a larger room. How much extra would you tip him?

So do I. My kids travel a bit more than their classmates. This is their 3rd cruise this year. They grew up traveling so sometimes their reaction is a bit more typical teenager ish. The roll of the eyes and the I don't want to see another dumb historical site comment. So photos are good here

Yahoo. Getting ready to leave Boston. We did Lexington then concord and then salem. Had the car back at 2 and on the freedom trail at 230. The kids made it to flanuel hall and lost interest and energy so we were back on ship by 445. Had time for the old north church but kids said no. I had gotten them up too early. So while you can spend a month here or longer you can do a good visit in 1 day and see alot. Salem witch museum program was slightly week but the presentation Road To Revolution was outstanding out at the minute man visitor center

Clark you are funny. I caught that and corrected that later. With S note and cutting and pasting it was hard to edit. But thanks for that. As far as the menus they were new judging from the lack of food stains and finger prints :p

Part 12 ok. I am impressed. Prizm and a crew member just did Billie Jean. The hat. The glove the moon walk. The black jacket and pants. Thriller album feel all the way. The vocals. One of the best at seas performances I have seen of this type of music. Worth the elevator ride up to the 13th floor. Made our night. Hope prizm plays on later cruises for the rest of you. Now rock with you. This is good stuff for a cruise ship. This Michael Jackson impersonator is good and the live band makes it better if you like 70s o and 80s make this a must do if they are playing when you sail. Too bad my hw is absolutely exhausted and too worn out to dance. She insists it was a 10 mile walk to the reversing rapids. I say 2 miles. Truth in the middle. It was far from a flat walk also. Very hilly and they didn't bring great shoes. My bad and I don't get to dance tonight with her because of it. But they band has kept the group out on the floor during many songs and now doing some b52s. My wife just said it sounds like Xm 33s Saturday night safety dance - my favorite radio program it's a retro mix of the best 80s dance music and tonight sounds like a good sampling of that show

Just ran into oldiesdj again from cc and was able to give them the bottle of wine we got with our room. Would have hated to just throw it away.

I normally don't write about food because everyone as different tastes but do want to mention that they do have ice cream. Yes soft serve. But also regular hard scoop ice cream. Had butter pecan yesterday. Good stuff. I felt the buffet is pretty robust especially for breakfast even though we cagneys for breakfast and lunch if we want.

Good morning. Woke up a bit early and watched the ship pull into bar harbor. Worth getting up for. What's unique was all the little markers or floats in the bay for the lobster traps. We passed by hundreds of them. And several lobster boats. Loved seeing the fancy houses overlooking the bay. It is overcast and cool. Top of Cadillac mountain was cloud covered which means no use to ride up there on the free busses until it burns off because there is no view from there yet. Finally have great cell and data so will probably post this on cruise critic now in hopes it might help passengers boarding this Saturday. I will say the fall new England colors are in full swing here. Much more than the first 2 ports.

I beat up on Peggy cove a bit as being hyped and it is. Again the rocks are cool but it's far from the only lighthouse around. Yesterday 2 were near the pier. Today saw several as we pulled in. Each pretty cool to see.

Bar Harbor is a very small town and thr biggest 3 buildings you see from the ship are smaller hotels one looks like a 2 story with maybe 50 total rooms. Looks pretty quaint and a fun place to see. Cadillac mountain looks like a hill but can't quite see the top. I am sure it is a nice view but being from the west when we say mountain we mean like 10000 feet or taller. So I will probably refer to it as Cadillac hill.

Again it is cool. Long pants and a jacket. My hw had worn a sweatshirt yesterday and it was soaked from the drizzle. I had more of a windbreaker and was dry and fine so I recommend something more like that.

Since tomorrow is our cram everything in day I decided to let the boys sleep in as late as they wanted. I will say this aqua guy in the teen club has become their new best friend /older brother type. He took them bowling last night then took them to karaoke yesterday joining my youngest in a duet of Toto's song Africa. We missed it but heard about it. Again my kids are not singers so if you had to endure that my apologies :) but the kids had a blast and that was fun for them.

OK I wil try to post all 12 of these in the same thread and come up some clever title I hope gotta kill a few hours before everyone is up and ready to tender in to bar harbor

Sorry for the typos. Newer phone and fat fingers. When the trip is over I will post the second half under a completely new thread as this one will probably be buried. Thanks for reading.

Part 11. I had initially wanted right side- port- (I had called left port side in error earlier) thinking it would be cool to see land as we come down the coast and around cape cod. But we took what we could get. Now I don't feel so bad because the weather and rain and fog and clouds limit seeing much or spending a ton of time outside.

I did wrap up and chill on the sofa with the balcony door open last night listening to the waves while watching a dvd. I found out today that the buttons on the side of the TV including power and video input source have been disabled and you must use the remote to change the input from the dvd back to cable TV input. May not be important to most of the readers but I wish I would have known that so I wouldn't have nearly broke the buttons on the side of the TV.

Our butler did drop by 2 plates of chocolate covered strawberries and Virginia our concierge did leave vip priority tender passes to skip the line into bar harbor whenever we want. Not sure how that works exactly with the other folks in line but I will report the mechanics in the morning.

Did appreciate last night the bags of popcorn in the atrium during the football game. A little comfort food

Leo is taking requests. Everything from hey soul sister to Margaritaville to sweet Caroline to the general standards. Again pretty talented and a wide repertoire of tunes. Saw our first group of apparently totally drunk passengers tonight at Leo's gig. On other ships we notice day 1 or 2. We may have had them earlier but didn't notice them til tonight. Again an older and perhaps more refined or mature cruise crowd generally in my opinion.

My hw commented that the weather today really reminded her of our Alaska cruise. We had a sunny day up there or two but mostly it was overcast like the last couple days here. Again bring a jacket and long pants. After all it is almost October in Canada right? Or is it heh?

Travel tip: by the main desk on deck 7 by attrium the staff posts a large poster size sheet showing info on the next port. So just walked by and they had a map of bar harbor and photos and write ups on different points of interest. So if you need a brush up a brush up on what you want to do or see drop by and study up.

Photos: The ship has backdrops set up in the attrium most nights. Sunday was a day where most guest dressed up a bit more it seems. We had a series of family photos taken and was told if we bought them Monday we would get a smaller additional copy for free. So we happen to have 1 out of about 10 that seemed good enough to purchase. It was 19.99 then got a smaller one for no additional. Thry tried to up sell us a folder and such for 10 bucks more but no thanks. We paid and we're told they also have a 15 percent off deal that day so we'll take that also thank you. Pay I mean charge to our room. They needed an extra day to print the free copy so we dropped by tonight and picked up both copies. They keep track by cabin numbers which makes it easy for both them and us.

Tuesday night up at spinnaker s at the retro 70 and 80s dance. This crew is doing a great job getting everyone up and doing group dancing. Thr band is doing mostly 70s disco with a little other mixed in. Ymca, disco inferno, etc

We had gone up above spinnakers which at the front of the ship before we left new york. Big chairs with comfy pads. Later they took the pads away probably due to rain and such but we did sit up on just the wicker type chair frames as that part of the front is shattered from the wind but not the rain.

Also an interesting thing our kids liked was on deck 11 forward there is an area where you could watch the bridge. Sometimes they close the curtains but when they are open it is very interesting. In the area you watch from are screens showing some of what the staff see. A radar screen. A speed and direction screen. And other data. If you a sailor this is a must see and it is just there for no charge. I am sure you see a ton on the paid behind the scenes tour but this area is open for everyone to see when the curtains are up. Didn't see a schedule since our room was close it was easy to just look down the hall and see if the curtains we open.

OK the 2nd part of this 70s and 80s retro thing is 80s. Started off with 2 great slow songs including some Whitney Houston. Very well done by a group called prizm. So I am saving all my love for you, hw. I know she will be reading this ridiculously long review and personal journal.

OK. This band is pretty good. If you like 80s music at all be sure to catch this retro night. Footloose. Etc. They are area full band which in my opinion outshines the solo pianist or guitar player. Drums. Key board bass guitar 2 vocalists. Sort of what you might see on a younger geared cruise. As you might guess most of the younger guests are up here. Average age 50 which is who you would expect here

Part 10. The blue lagoon is one of the ships best kept secrets. It has just a few comfort item foods and is open 24x7. So if it is late and the garden cafe is closed or very limited you can grab something here. It's on the 8th floor and overlooks the atrium and Monday night football game right now.

St John. Here is what you need to know. Once again the ship time is NOT local time. Crazy. So if you looked up the high and low tide chart you are an hour off. Ship time is an hour behind so noon here is 11 am ships time. St John is known for its tides. It wasn't cold but overcast and rain made it seem cold. Absolutely jacket and long pants weather.

Sort of slept in and got off and went over to the museum. Again Tom's port guide has the maps and pictures of where the ship docks and how to get to the museums and indoor wall way. It is a short 5 minute walk. Just across from the benches with the statues is the local police museum. The kids liked it. They have out on the street a Volkswagen beetle they used as a squad car in the 1960s. Very interesting.

I failed to mention yesterday the westin hotel where we rented from dollar had free wifi and I am sure it was available at the dock Today wifi was available for free in the terminal.

The museum was interesting. First floor had artifacts and history of the area. A big loyalist movement from new England came and settled here during the revolution. Tons of Irish settled here during the potato famines of the 1840s. Later they had a huge fire here that leveled the downtown area. Middle floor had a nice exhibit about whales and marine life that is vital to this area. Whaling is now illegal but played a huge part in earlier history of this area.

We got all 4 of us in for under 17 bucks us

Then decided to walk to Fort Howe. Warning- it's a bit of a walk. With two winning teenagers in the cold drizzly weather it took us 20 minutes to walk it. The view was ok but cloudy and drizzly. Then I made a huge error in telling the family we will just walk to the reversing rapids.

I somehow got the impression that it wasn't that big of a walk. Perhaps without the winning kids it might be faster. But all they did was whine. And it took us about 1 hour or more to get there in the drizzle. Needless to say I earned a place in the doghouse for wearing the family out. Too far. Too much walking. Too much drizzle.

Frankly by the time we got to the reversing rapids I had lost my audience. They really couldn't care less which way the river or rapids was flowing. They didn't care what it was or what it looked like. All they wanted was to go back to the ship So we took a few photos and called a cab. I had seen a few while we were walking so thanks to my wife's phone and local service and siri I just called on. "Siri call diamond taxi" and it was ringing. 10 minutes later the 4 of us were in a cab and 10 bucks plus a tip we were back in the cruise ship terminal. Made everyone much happier. If you want take a cab right from the pier go to the right out of the terminal instead of left thru the market there. Also on the right was a table from a couple companies offering local tours. I think the hop on hop off bus had a table where you could buy directly and save a bit from buying from the ship

Again you need your phot Id plus your room key to got on and they had hot chocolate as you get on board.

Today was drizzly and dark and overcast. Should have packed less shorts and more pants.

Had an early dinner in thr grand pacific and watched the ship pull out to sea about 610 pm ships time which was 710 local time it was already almost dark outside and very much rainy and overcast.

Went tonight's show - something about world beat. Music from around world. Pretty full at 630 show. Not my type of show but I think most of the guests liked it. I actually dozed off before waking up enough to add this to my writings. My hw seemed to enjoy it as the 4 advil kick in as all the walking today made her muscles ache. Even the boys needed an advil. Yes reversing rapids is that far of a walk.

We hit the music with Leo next in the atrium. He is a gifted musician and played 60s thru 90s type of music. Sometimes his accent came through on some songs. Sometimes not. Either way gifted. He learned guests names and during his shows mentioned them by name. Last night he went around the room and called some of the audience by first name. Impressive he r embers so well when each week he gets a new group of folks to learn.

Our kids started hanging out more in the teens club even though it was just them and the counselor aqua. Aqua took them bowling tonight for no charge. Regular 9 bucks a game. My youngest was hoping to do karaoke tonight even though he is completely tone deaf.

The 1030 pm movie tonight in the stardust is non-stop I had seen most of it but had had a pressing matter that took me out of about 40 percent of it 1st tim

Part 9 halifax Monday. Just docking. Nose to nose with Holland America and have another big ship coming in and a smaller ship already here also. Already saw 3 light houses which makes me wonder if peggy cove is really special or if their chamber of commerce has just dome a heck of a job hyping it as a must do place. This little lighthouse on thr island in thr harbor looks as cool as any so far. Actually I guess we pulled past the Holland America ship so we are stern to stern and we are facing out to sea. Check out the webcam for the ship online and on Mondays and see the Gem pointing out to sea. Btw they are playing some better music on this channel in my opinion. some standards from the 60s so far. Elevator music but songs most would know

Note: in the 2 bed Suite there is a sliding door by the bathroom. As the ship lists or tilts a little in the night that can noisily slide open and close. So shut it if u want a quite nights sleep.

Since we are renting a car I will spend the morning reading the wiki articles I printed including learning about the "burying of the hatchet" ceremony that happened here in Halifax in the 1760s.

Again note that on the Gem the ships time is not local time. So if the ship let's passengers off at 830 am that is really 930 am local time. Which means if you rented a car at 11 am u need to get it at 10 am ship time

Well we just got back. As you exit the Gem you walk through a building with several local vendors selling their wares.

The car rental places are very close to the ship. We rented a car from dollar. It is I'm the westin hotel right near the terminal. The other agencies on hollis street are I'm the building next to the westin in the via building.

my hw has t mobile so her siri worked to give us step by step directions. It took us around to the front which took 10 minutes or so. We later learned we could have come in the back to either building and save 5 minutes.

Being in Canada I decided to buy the extra insurance. So thr car and insurance was 75 for the day. They gave us a new van and it had a lot extras but mainly Xm radio. I felt back at home. My comfort food for my ears. Driving is pretty much like in the u s except everything is in kilometers. The gauges in the van was set that way so it was fine.

Note: either have really good maps or a GPS that works in Halifax. Thankfully my hw had a GPS on her phone with free data.

First stop was the citadel. You could spend a ton of time there but we got there for the noon cannon demonstration.

Instead of ending at the citadel our change of plans were to sleep in and start there. There are guided tours for no extra charge admission was like 8 bucks and the kids cheaper. We saw the 15 minute over view of the history of the fort and city and walked around and the kids wanted to go the guided tours are about 45 minutes and there are other films and exhibits. The guard changes on the hour so plan accordingly.

Next we drove to the cemetery of the titanic Graves. It was less than a 10 minute drive and a somber experience. Then we drove to Peggy cove. A nice drive. There alot of lighthouses up here but what made this unique was the large rock outcroppings. My teenagers joined the hundreds walking around and exploring.

We left and soon stopped and shared a lobster. They brought the entire animal cooked with tools to eat it.

We now can say yes we had lobster up in nova scotia!

We returned the car after getting about 50 bucks in gas.

So we had 175 into the day for four including citadel and peggy cove and cemetery and shared lobster lunch. About the ships price for 1 person. True we missed out on some narration but the kids got me. And I got my Xm channel 16 and 33 and 32 and such.

Halifax is a fun town. The university is near the ship port so we saw tons of young people walking around both coming and going to the ship.

One nice touch was that as we boarded the ship ncl was passing out hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was a bit gray and cold outside and that was a nice touch. Getting on required both your room key and your picture id. Again the ships time was an hour different than land time if you rent a car or arrange tours on your own.

Had dinner on grand pacific and saw halifax dissappear out the back windows as we ate. Nice town with phenomenal history. History worth learning about before you cruise. My kids perked up learning about the ship explosion that killed 2000 and injured 9000 then a blizzard comes the next day. Wow.

2nd city comedy mystery show tonight. Listening to guitarist Leo playing his tribute to the Beatles now. Fair in my opinion.

Went to the second City comedy show tonight Monday. We thought it was very well worth the time. Absolutely hilarious. If we had to do it again we would have aren't to both the 630 and the 830 shows as they were slightly different as there was some improvisation. They called my 13 yr old on stage

Part 8. I normally wake up early on port days just naturally and today was no different. My hw knows this and left clothes out for me in the living room so I don't wake her. Been thru this too many times where I just wake up and want to watch the ship dock.

Woke up at 645 ships time and got up unsure where we were or what time it was as again I was charging my phone in thr bathroom as my side of the bed Sis not have the phone light switches or power outlet.

At 645 we were about an hour from docking and you could barely see land. It was barely light and 59 degrees and very windy out the balcony turned on living room tv and found the movie momma Mia playing. Nice to hear the music od Abba.

Although I printed and studied tomsportguides for each port I decided to change our halifax plans the day before we left home. First read tomsportguides ! Second our original plans were to get off the ship first and get a taxi mostly for the narration at 50 bucks an hour then go to peggy cove and titanic cemetery then to citadel by noon for the Cannons. Maybe have 200 or 250$ in to it. But on cc I learned rent a cars were cheap and booked on line for under 50 for the entire day. Thanks again cc. Tom's port guide had a whole section on car rentals in Halifax but I threw that part away ... more on our car experience at the end of the day. I have Verizon and got the same message that texting in Canada costs and incoming calls work but data and outgoing calls are shut off. My wife and kids all have t mobile and their data and voice is suppose to work like at home. I think thry pay 20 cents a min for calls. We had a picture text from my older son college basketball coach I couldn't download last night so hope hot wife also got it or I will be looking for our favorite Scottish restaurant McDonald's to get a few minutes of free wifi

So our plans changed and we decided to rent a car and it was not prepaid but just reserved. I tell my wife I would like to beat the tour busses to peggy cove and be back by noon to hear the cannon and then relax on ship til we leave port She looked at me like I was crazy. How about we let the kids sleep in. Again in the 2 bed Suite there room is completely dark like an inside cabin. So it made sense. Instead of rushing today to beat the tour busses we will go behind them.

Travel tip: this is weird. The dailies announce that ship time is an hour behind local time! Ship stays on eastern time and nova Scotia is an hour ahead! Haven't seen that much where the ship doesn't adopt local time. Ship leaves at 5 pm ship time or 6 pm local time. Weird.

I personally love the sound of waves breaking and spent a quite late evening falling asleep on the sofa listening to this magic sound. I think I woke up at 2 am and wandered to bed. Again my brain just triggers on port day and I am up. Going to the top outdoors now to watch us pull in. Travel tip. If you Google nova Scotia Web cam there is a cam at the mouth of the channel and if your timing is right you can watch the ships come in in the morning and pull out in the evening. I caught it 2 weeks ago and it was fun to see the Gem. since we rented a car and have no narration I printed a couple of wiki articles on the areas we will see so I guess I will read and highlight those up while the kids sleep. I figured we saved 200 bucks by doing a rental vs a taxi gotta pay for the Suite some how.

When we changed our travel plans today I texted a family member the reservation info and asked them to call dollar rent a car and moved our pick up time back which they did. Because I had not prepaid I was afraid thry may count us as a no show and give our car away. I didn't want to call and maybe be put on hold away 2 bucks a minute so a 50 cent text did it

I guess my cell phone had local local time on it and ships time was was 547 when I got up as I am up on deck deck and deck and it deck and it is deck and it is just deck and it is just 630 deck and it is just 630 am. A bit surprised that there are not but just a few people watching watching the ship pull in. At my parents parents retirement community at 630 am you would be late for breakfast!

Wow pulling into halifax halifax is halifax is amazing. Beautiful homes over overlooking overlooking the channel. A light house. And a ship following following us in.

We'll what a difference a a day makes in the weather. It's almost almost October almost October in almost October in Canada so we shoukd expect expect cooler temps right?

Found the crowds. Eating Eating at Eating at the garden buffet. First First morning for me there and it was quite impressive. What a variety of choices.

Sitting on the balcony now now as now as we start to dock. Holland America tied up facing into port. We actually went around a little island and are are going are going to be pointed out out to sea so nose to nose with with the other.

To be clear there is nothing wrong with 1950 music's and I complement ncl to find music for the older new England tourists. Thankfully I like a wide variety of genres of music. My wife not so much. I like mostly 80s and a lot of new pop and listen to cm 16 and some mx 2 and 3 so listening to fats domino's is a bit of stretch but again they hit their target audience. There was a trio playing Celtic and fiddle music that appealed to many as well.

Others have commented the ship was worn and tired. I liked it and felt it was clean and we'll kept compared to other ships I have been on by the rock climbing wall was a large sport court with three teirs of stadium benches. I imagine on caribean or younger cruises that full court basketball court gets well used as the rims were slightly bent down.

Also the fall weather was awesome and the back of ship had caribean type set up this afternoon out by the food. 75 degree or warmer on the ocean in the bright sun. A bit unusual for what we expected in almost October in these parts. But it was a nice surprise. .

The tv was a bit of disappointment normally it wouldn't matter but our 2 bedroom had 4 tvs! Msnbc is my last choice for news but they did have fox perhaps I was looking for what we have seen on other lines is a variety of music channels even as background on the front camera or on the channel showing position of ship. Maybe a standards or easy listening channel and a more modern music channel or two. Have seen this on other ships and would like that on this one. Got a new phone so my cold play and arcade fire and Bruno Mars didn't make it on this trip and I missed some tunes while I got ready in thr morning or evening. We did find newer music playing in the shops on deck 7. Xm 2 and Xm 3 style

There was nick so my teenagers got plenty of SpongeBob and other stuff. In fact nickelodean and the gem and maybe all of ncl have a partnership of some sort.

Sorry for all the random details. I have actually written for money in a previous life and grew up in a religion where family history is huge and journal writing is a part of that so I am writing as I go like a journal. But trying to put views and details I just haven't seen in many reviews. Again most of these applies to the new England route

I should also say that in the suites the toiletries are upgraded with hotel style of shampoo and spa type soap. For what it's worth.

We found both the crew and the passengers to be very friendly. Perhaps it was the older crowd that was just friendlier. Also didn't see the occasional drunk that we have seen on thr more party booze cruise type of trips. In fact walking around at 1130 pm felt as empty as 4 am on other ships. Maybe like some grandparents most were in bed by 9 pm so they can be up early at 5 or something. I don't know.

Coming back to the room we stopped at blue lagoon. A 24 hour cafe that is free. Sort of tucked away on the 8th floor. It overlooks the big screen so if a ball game is on in thr lobby you can watch it up here they have some great snacks as well

Looking forward to halifax in the morning. Made a major change of plans the day before we left and then again today. So details in part 8.

Part 6. We woke up at 645 our time which was 845 ship time. At least I did and went out on the balcony. Still warm. Land out of view. Saw 3 dolphins.

Hw got up (not dear wife but hot wife) a few later and we decided to hit cagneys we left our cabin at 950 and squooze in before it closed. There was a rush at end.

Then spent the day by the pool. It was a sunny warm day. Some were swimming in thr salt water pools. Some were in the fresh water pools. Lots of folks eating. I took the boys rock climbing. That was fun. There was a bit of a crowd. It is no charge. They have climbing shoes and helmets and harnesses there for free and there are a couple people running it. Make it to the top and ring the bell and look around. My boys liked it. I wear a size 13 and they have climbing shoes even larger than that.

My hw made it to one of just two total hours the library was open today. Climbing was quite strenuous at least for me and in the hot sun I needed to clean up. Took a bath with a window looking over the ocean. Wow. Cool.

We final met our room steward at 950 going to breakfast.

About 2 pm I called our concierge and she helped me make the specific reservation I wanted for dinner. And got it. I love the cordless phone in the room. It works all over the ship but didn't eat to carry that. The people I have to accessible to wouldn't use that.

Anyway travel tip: the grand pacific dinning room is great. Very nice. There are windows on side and in back. We wanted the back but failed to take into account the bright setting sun and thry closed the shades because of that. And thry should. To view the water we should have asked for a side window or come at lunch or after the sun went down. This was the first time we used Virginia our concierge to arrange that and she gor us exactly the table we asked for. Thank you Virginia.

Sunday night was photo night and we had dressed up for that. Found the photographer very good in helping us get turned and positioned for the best photos. With 2 kids and unphotogentic parents we needed all thr help we could get.

Anyway we had a good one. We will see if they turn out good enough to buy. He took some of the boys. Then hw and myself and all four of us.

Earlier in the day we held our own religious services as there were none on the ship. Last year on princess I was able to find several. I even visited for the first time a Saturday Jewish service. None to be had on this ship darn it of any type.

Since we had a suite we were invited to the haven to meet the captain and have a drink. We are lds so we don't drink (mormon) but they got us 4 sprites and thr kids enjoyed a soda without having to pay for it !

Hung out listening to music in thr various lounges. The boys went to the teen club and then we're taken to the family feed game with their teen club counselor and their team won a prize.

The food at dinner seemed so so tonight. Youngest had the chicken and it we all tried it and liked it the best. Sort of a Cornish hen type.

Meet oldiesdj tonight at the Elton John tribute. Another poster on cc. The Elton John guy played the guitar and was not a native English speaker. So it was ok but nothing great.

We went too far out from Cape cod to see land tonight but the crescent moon dropping down into the ocean is spectacular as I write this from the balcony getting ready for more music tonight. The sunset earlier was also spectacular

Got some goodies from butler at about 445 and he did polish my shoes upon request earlier.

Finally had a chance to visit with cabin steward tonight as well. Big complement to all staff as they are calling us by name or at least making a giant effort.

I should add that there was a list of movies in the room that could be checked out from the dvd library. About 100. There is a dvd player in the living room and also in the big bedroom.

In the stardust theatre they played the movie gravity tonight at 1015. The stardust is a large and very nice venue. The 830 production show was standing room only and 630 was not so full so travel tip go to Earlier show if you can to get better seats possibly.

They had sunday night football on the big screen tonight in the atrium this is a 2 story led screen not a project or but led and for at sea satellite reception it looked really clear and good.

It wasn't too windy at sea tonight. Still warm in late September.

Most of the piano and guitar and other musicians catered to the predominate age group. Mostly 1950s stuff like sinatra and Tom Jones for example. So the program director did a good job appealing to most of the guests. I am much younger but knew my parents would have enjoyed most of this. One piano player was playing tv themes and other songs such as "this land is your land this land is mine land" and people walking by singing out loud. Again the average age was at least 65 and some of these walk by singers older

End of part 6

Part 5. About the teens club. Last week thry had zero sign up. This week they had 6 teenagers 13-17 and as of the 2nd day only my 2 boys had signed up. Sort of a bummer as they didn't have any friends to make on the sea day.

To answer one of my earlier post we did hug the coast line until about 11 going up along the Hamptons before the coast line came out of sight. About 9 pm we all got texts saying we are on the ships cell phone service and texts out are 50 cents and inbound only a nickel.

What I did like is that data was turned off and outbound calls were turned off by them you had to call in to have those services activated. This was good because many people are getting new phones ever y 2 years and I guess the cell company got too many complaints.

While some can forget the world I have a few family and business and even church responsibilities and I received several important texts Saturday night and even sunday. I wish I could shut my phone off but my life obligations don't allow me to. I also have a diabetic son in college and other items. So I appreciated the ship cell to automatically shut off international data while at sea to prevent a huge bill for as updating automatically.

We hung out til almost midnight in the different lounges listening to music then running into our kids at the buffet and hanging out with them. It's fun to have older kids that can hang out with their parents and both groups enjoy it.

Note about the 2 bedroom suites. You can hear between the bedroom wall. We could hear the kids chat in their room slightly. We slept with the balcony open in the living room and that chilled down the rest of the cabin.

I was a bit surprised that all the light controls and phone and only power outlet in the master bedroom is on the same side. My wife's side. So I charged my phone in the bathroom and turned the text one and ting tone up. Again I have a diabetic son I also have alarm systems at home and at one of my companies and I am the first on the list to be called. My choice to be accessible but I choose to

Also we are still on mountain time so midnight didn't feel that late.

The pools are saltwater and were medium heat but warm enough to swim. It was nice to be out there as the staff had started their sailing away party. My hw loves a quite room to unpack so she was doing that while we swam. The Gem was about 20 minutes pulling out and we followed a carnival ship out to sea but soon passed her

We were starboard side. (Left) and wanted to watch us leaving Manhattan from our room. So we quickly showered the salt water off and sat on our deck. As we got down the Hudson we went up to deck 13 and watched the statue of liberty.

I had researched this and decided to have in Suite dinning from the dinning room. Although we didn't meet our butler until 326- remember we had been on board almost 4 hours- we finally got ice after we asked him for it. At that time I made arrangements for him to get us a dinning room menu and then we called him with our order. I plan to tip him well. He did a good job with bringing us dinner and that helped us enjoy the continued views and avoid the reported long lines at the dinning room. We also were able to get to the stardust about 615 for the only show the first night.

For dinner I had both the steak and shrimp. The stake was thin cuts and the shrimp were seared. The chocolate volcano was good. In the 2 bed Suite we had a table the butler pitu set up with a white table clothe. Very nice.

The show was good and had short offering of the ships performers. A song or two from the trio that was playing. A short sampling from the comedian and other bits.

They replayed the show continually on one of the TV channels if you missed it.

We went from lounge to lounge as there were different musicians and such the first night. Barry in the piano bar did a good job with audience interaction.

The bliss lounge has beds scattered around. Unusual but nice.

Did I say that the average age of the cruiser was pushing 70? That's ok. My kids just saw them as to friends of their grandparents.

My teens tried out entrouge or whatever. The teens club. The counselor aqua was great. But only 6 teens on the ship and my 2 were the only ones who registered. Last cruise none registered. I was impressed with a gal nicknamed hurricane up there. She was a camp counselor for the younger group and when we went up to register our guy wasn't around so instead of telling us to come back she went above and beyond and registered our kids. She impressed me by doing more than she was suppose to do. End of part 4

We had a 2 bedroom suite on deck 11. If you see pictures of the ship these are the rooms that have the black sections next to the balconies. The black sections are around the tub and shower windows next to balcony sections. I think there are 3 of these suites per side on deck 11. All I can say is this was an awesome set up for our family.

The kids had their own bathroom and bedroom and tv. We had our own giant bed and bath and then we shared the living room. For 7 days u don't know how we would have survived our originally booked inside cabin with the 4 of us and still remained friends. Others can tell you more about this room. lots of power outlets. 4 tvs. 4 phones including a cordless to take with you around the ship to call other rooms or your butler or whomever if u wish.

We spent the first bit exploring the ship. Impressive and a nice change from what we normally have done. Loved the big chairs up front at the top looking at Manhattan. We did our family ship your which is our tradition and really liked many lovely things. There is that lovely word sorry

It was a warm 80 degrees so after the 5 minute muster drill. Yes 5 minutes. We went and got our swimsuits on and went swimming. The water slide was open and my boys ad I did that about eight times it is slow unless you go head first. Which we did.

So the taxi driver unloads our luggage and frankly there was alot of overwhelmed porters. The queen Mary 2 was next to the Gem and all the luggage carts were being used for her. We finally realized that at the far left was a guy loading bags for the Gem on a Conveyor belt. So we wheeled our bags over to him and he put them on the conveyor and walked back through all the luggage carts and into the terminal. Again it was all set up for the Queen Mary 2 and then there was a little isle way down to the far end with a person holding a sign for the Gem we walked about half the length of the ship to the NFL area. It was almost 11 am and the terminal was 40 percent full. The staff were pretty happy and nice. When we went up to see where we were to go a mistake was made buy it wasn't major.

The background was this cruise showed sold out for a while as there was a big group with Harrahs. I had studied different ships itineraries and dates and this is the cruise I wanted to be on. When I found an opening it was for an unassigned inside cabin. A bit tight for 4 but I took it. I checked back several times and found a 2 bedroom suite had opened up. It was a bunch more but the price or passenger 3 and 4 stayed the same so we took it. It wasn't in the haven but it was a suite.

So when we got to the lady telling us where to go to check in I told her we had a suite. She asked if we were in the haven and I said no just a suite. Her English wasn't great and I am not sure if she understood what I said. She looked confused and put us in a latitudes line. It took us a bit but we got checked in and had our forms filled out and pictures taken. When we were suppose to get our keys at the end of check in the agent apologized and sent us to the vip lounge as it was then he realized we shoukd have been there all along. The bright side is that we meet and interacted with Anthony our agent and had a fun but Archie bunker type interaction. I caught on early and gave it as good as I got it and my boys mouths dropped. Certainly only in new York but we left friends. Anthony warned me not to piss off a native new yorker. I told him not to piss off an native Idahoan. All as mad and as serious as we both could be without cracking a smile. My kids later realized it was all in fun. But only in new York right?

When we got to the via lounge there were cookies and drunks and cheeses and such but we basically got there just in time to get our key and be escorted on to the ship. Our group was the first on and we went to cagneys. Actually the lounge next door for a few minutes then seated for lunch. A bit slow but very good food. Shrimp cocktails were big shrimp.

We had heard we would be escorted to our room but no one was around. We finally found someone who called someone and said yes. So we found our room and it was very nice. End part 2

We were on the Gems New England cruise Sept 26 out of New York City. I hope to give some logistical details that most writers leave out. If you want to hear how lovely the food or floor shows are this is not the review although I hit on that a little.

We flew in the day before and as most here know always fly in at least a day before. Our flight went through Denver and because of that fire at the Chicago airport our plane went way north through Canada and was an hour late into LA. Grateful we got there as we had pre booked and pre paid an activity that night. We stayed down by times square and because the United nations was in session and it was Friday night some traffic was at a standstill. Took 45 minutes and 50 bucks include taxi tip but the 4 of us got there.

We got a little settled then went down to street level. It was my hw (not dw dear wife but hot wife) and my 14 and 13 yr old sons. Times square is a unique place and a great eye opener for my kids Had hot dogs from a street vendors - save 2 bucks a dog by going a few feet out of times square. John Mayer was just ending a brief outdoor concert when we got there. Extra security and lots of police officers all around. Ton of people and different tv characters like spiderman milling around wanting tips for pictures with them.

The activity we booked was called The Ride. It was unique and very entertaining and my hw and boys liked it. Good thing we chose the 830 pm option and not the 7 as our flight was delayed. The Ride is a fun way to see New York and is a mix of tour and performance and music and flash mob and just pure entertainment as you are driven around town. The bus seats are turned into a 3 tier stadium seating side type arrangement with video screens and large windows to see the street performers who are part of the cast. It's one of those things you gotta do once but once is enough. We walked south from times square to 4 2nd and 8th the get to the pick up spot.

Then back to hotel. We had points for some of the hotel cost and splurged on a times square facing room and watched it til late. Got upgraded so boys had a separate living oom with 2 hide a beds.

Got up late as our body clocks were on mountain time and skipped breakfast and went to get a taxi about 1015 am. It's about 10 blocks to the pier but traffic was crazy and took a long time and 20 bucks or so. The worst part was around the pier. 4 ships in. The pier is like a 2 or 3 story airport terminal with taxi and car drop offs at the top level. The Gem was the furtherest down river but all vehicles had to go up river past the furthest ship then you do a 180 on to the road that takes you to the drop off on the top level. So we passed the Gem and the others in bumper to bumper traffic that took 15 minutes to go 4 blocks or so only to do a 180 and come back by where we were. So travel tip- we saw (smarter) people being dropped off at street level across the street from the pier. They saved 15 or 20 minutes plus 10 bucks or so by being dropped off there then waiting for the crosswalk and walking across the street and taking the elevator up. Maybe when there are fewer ships in town it is not as crazy. End of part 1

This is part review, part trip report, part journal, part what I wish I would have known, and part this is what I learned or experienced. Your experience will be different. I am posting this from 12 entries from my s note program so I hope it works from my phone. I decided to do this now at the mid point of the cruise so those boarding soon might read it. It's pretty detailed so read at your own risk. :) Hope I can get it all transfered over in order

Don't get me wrong we are loving it. My message was simple. Just cause you read it somewhere doesn't mean it will happen to you.

The room is fabulous traveling with 2 teens. We splurged and this week will be nice to have the 2nd bed and bath. The gem is wonderful also.

Here is thr hang ups. Got to NY port about 1045. Told 3 people we were in a suite but not haven. They sent us in the long latitude line. After check in we were taken to the via lobby then up to the ship. We missed out on the snacks there because maybe the directed us to wrong line?

We were escorted first on the ship. Nice. Had a nice but slow lunch at cagneys when we were done there was no one really around so we asked a worker if we could go to our room. She called someone and was told yes. No escort. We just found our way.

We walked around the ship and about an hour later noticed our bags by our door. So we put them inside. Again with a suite we thought they might at least put them in.

It's 326 and getting ready for the muster drill and we finally got to meet our butler - steward and had to ask for ice. To his credit he did barely deliver fruit and snacks. Maybe reading too much cc set my service expectations a bit too high. Idk. Room and food good. Just expected paying triple of an inside room we would have not had to wait 3 1/2 hours for ice and then have to ask for it.

I guess my message is this. Go. Have fun. But just because 1 person was escorted to their room don't think everyone is. Just cause the brochure says thr butler will unpack your clothes don't count that you suitcases will even be brought in to your room don't expect ice early.

Again we are having a blast and love the room. But don't take all the writings in cruise critic as gospel or what you will experience. Thanks.

Hmm. Duck tour good suggestion.just did one in Seattle and. I was actually thinking of squeezing in Plymouth rock it's only an hour south of where we pick up the rental car

Our frontier connection from Denver to lga new york was even affected by the Chicago fire. Learned long ago to always fly in at least 1 day before your cruise. Heading over to pier in a few hours.

What was interesting is the air traffic Control people routed our flight way north into Canada and it added over an hour to the flight time as we as we were leaving late. Feel bad for people missing their cruises

I am sure people feel like it is worth it but just think some times on 3 day cruises some people pay about $99 for the entire cruise!

That being said we do get on the ship tomorow and we have upgraded to a suite. We could do 3 regular cruises foe what we are paying for that but felt this was a time we wanted to do it. Hope you guys enjoy the chefs table

So wow. Canada actually monitors who enters their country? Novel idea.