ACorgan

Thanks so much for the live review! Do you happen to know at what time they started allowing people to disembark? We’re planning to hop straight to Disneyland from our cruise to meet people, so trying to get a realistic idea of how soon we’d be able to get over to the park

On a few occasions, I noticed some couples dancing to the evening live music in the Ocean bar. I had just stopped by to grab a post-dinner can of water on my way to the cabin, so didn’t stick around long. There was also a line dancing class one day - can’t remember if it was in Mix or the Ocean bar. I had just finished the On Deck for a Cause 5k, so didn’t stick around for it, but it was a decent sized group and they all looked like they were having fun

*Going Home Day* We weren’t sure if there would be room service available on the last morning, but we put our order out on a door hanger the night before, just in case. We were pleasantly surprised to have our order arrive right before 8am. We started to eat it out on the balcony, but were soon interrupted by the crew cleaning all of the balconies and exterior windows. We’d chosen to do self-disembark, so gathered up all our bags a little before 9 and strolled right off the ship. There was a distressingly long taxi line, so we just hopped out of the port, across the street (about a normal block worth of walking) and called for an Uber. Although Uber estimated 2 min, by the time we finally connected with a driver, it upped the estimate to closer to 10 min. Still far, far faster than the snaking taxi line, though. The airport was just over a 20 min drive away. We’re flying West Jet home and there was absolutely no one in line for the checkin/luggage drop line, so that was easy breezy. The security line was a little more robust, so that took awhile. I have pre-check in the US, which doesn’t work in Canada, so had to get back into the swing of taking out liquids, computer, etc. They did let us keep our shoes on, which was nice. It was a little unusual though, that no one checked your passport (just boarding passes) until after your stuff was on the belt and you’d walked through the metal detector. Luckily, I noticed all the other people carrying their passports through the metal detector, so didn’t stash mine in my bag, like I normally do. The line for the Tim Hortons post-security moved at a glacial pace, but most the other shops and restaurants looked to have quick lines. The line at the Starbucks might have been the shortest one I’ve ever seen at an airport. Now we’re just cooling our heels at our gate for another 2+ hrs until our flight, but I much prefer being early to the airport than running late and stressing

*Last evening on the ship* Our last dinner in the MDR featured dishes from the culinary council. I went with the tomato appetizer, the Halibut main, and the chocolate cream puff for dessert It’s been a delightful trip and we’ll be sad to leave the ship tomorrow, but I’m also looking forward to sleeping in my own (non-moving) bed

*Quebec City* Had our last breakfast at the Pinnacle Grill 🥹 We’re planning to get up and get going early tomorrow, so will just hit the Lido. I went with the bread pudding and, since it was vegetarian, a side of an English banger. This was my favorite breakfast of the entire cruise. The bread pudding was very sweet, so be warned if you don’t care for overly sweet things, but it was just perfect for me I had my spa credit to use up, so spent part of my morning getting a facial. After that we headed out for our self-directed foodie walking tour of Quebec. First up was Le Côtes à Côtes Resto-Grill, where we tried poutine with duck, an appetizer platter, including delicious pate, and a local rose wine Next we stopped by Petite Cabane à Sucre (Little Sugar Shack) to buy maple syrup and try the maple taffy. The taffy is made by pouring syrup over ice; something I’ve always wanted to try ever since I read about it in the Little House on the Prairie books. After that, we swung by Cidrerie Pedneault for iced cider. They have a complementary tasting and we came away with three bottles of hard ciders to enjoy at home. Our last stop was a nearby shop (forgot the name) for goat’s milk ice cream. We were back on the ship in time for 4pm trivia and are now starting to think about seriously packing for tomorrow morning. This cruise has gone by very quick!

Oh! Yes - might have forgotten to mention it, but the orange party was the night before (PEI day). It started at 10 pm in the crows nest. They had music, dancing, passed Dutch treats (sweets and sandwiches), and orange drink specials. We only stayed about 20 min, since very tired, but I heard the next day that several stayed to close it down at midnight

*Sea Day* Today was our one and only sea day of the cruise. I had grand plans to sleep in, but with the extra hour (time change last night) was wide awake and showered before 8am. Had a leisurely breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. Tried the classic eggs Benedict and much preferred them to the crab version I had earlier in the cruise I participated in the On Deck for a Cause 5k, which was raising money for Ukrainian refugees. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, so the 9 laps around the promenade went quickly. One note - I did notice one woman (not part of the 5k group) who was having a morning run on the deck, despite all the posted “no running” signs. Hopefully it wasn’t too noisy for the people in the cabins below 🙁 Not sure if she honestly didn’t see the signs or just thought they didn’t apply to her. We had lunch in the main dinning room and I went with the Dutch pancakes, which had apples and bacon in them. It took a little longer than everyone else’s food to make, so came out a little late, but I thought it was well worth the wait The large pipe organ in the Atrium played today and I enjoyed watching the show. I’m trying to attach a brief video showing some of the mechanized characters moving in time with the music, but the internet is struggling, so not sure if it will upload. I attended the mixology class in the afternoon, which had much lower attendance than ones I’ve been to on other cruises, only 5 of us signed up. I forgot to take any pics of the drinks (was too busy sampling 🍸), but they walked us through 4 cocktails, a Cosmo and a variant and then a Manhattan and a variation. Everyone thought that the “Metropolitan” was the winner out of the four The rest of the day was filled with trivia competitions, time in the casino, and starting to pack away a few things in the room. This was our final gala night and I went with the apple, pear, and cucumber salad for a starter, the club orange special of a lemon pasta with shrimp for my main, and the dulce de leche and coconut tart for dessert. They were all delicious, but didn’t have much of an appetite to do them justice. Tonight was also the chocolate surprise event, but I decided to skip it since way too full and tired. A friendly elephant towel animal and chocolates greeted me in the room when I returned IMG_0434.MOV IMG_0434.MOV

*Post-PEI evening* We ended up sailing under Confederation Bridge, but the fog had rolled in by then, so couldn’t see much of it For the MDR dinner, went with the egg roll, the crab carbonara, and the almond fruit cake. The carbonara was my second favorite dish so far that I’ve had on board (right behind the shrimp jambalaya), but the almond fruit cake was a pass for me. It reminded me of the gluten free almond flour cookies I’ve had before; not my favorite

*PEI part 2* Our last literary stop was the Anne of Green Gables museum at Park Corner. I enjoyed this stop more than I thought I would. For those of you who’ve read The Story Girl - Aunt Rachel’s blue chest was based on a true story and the real blue chest and its contents (including the wedding dress) are on display here. The property also looks out on a body of water that L. M. Montgomery confirmed was the inspiration for The Lake of Shining Waters in the Anne of Green Gables books Since my traveling companions had been such good sports while I dragged them to all my “Anne” stops, we decided a treat was in order. We stopped by the Cow’s Creamery for ice cream cones and then hit up the chocolate shop next door. The ice cream was delicious 🍦(I haven’t tried the chocolate yet) After dropping the car back at the airport, we grabbed a cab back to the ship (much easier to find cabs at the airport; several drivers were sitting around looking bored). While the ship was preparing to depart, the captain announced that there are high winds expected tonight that results in lower speed limits for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. With the lower speeds, we wouldn’t have been able to make Quebec City at a decent time, so we’re changing routes. Instead of circling the East of PEI, we’re going to cut across the West. This means that we’ll pass under the Confederation Bridge, which is something the Zaandam ship has never done. I’ll try to get some pics as long as I’m still awake. After the busy day, I’m feeling ready for a nap 😴

*PEI - Charlottetown Port* Today was the big day - one of the primary reasons we booked this particular cruise. As a huge L. M. Montgomery fan, I’ve long dreamed of visiting the island that is the location for so many of my favorite childhood books. We were fortunate to get a rental car, but we needed to pick it up from the airport, about a 10-15 min drive from the marina. Once we disembarked, we saw several people waiting for taxis, but none to be found. We got smart and directly called a taxi company. When “our” cab showed up, some other people wanted to grab it, but luckily the driver insisted that he was there for the airport group who reserved it 😉 Our first stop was the most iconic: Green Gables Heritage Place. The house was everything I had hoped 🥰 and the gift shop was quite large. The only piece I might recommend skipping is the trail through the haunted woods. It’s a nice little walk in the woods, but I didn’t think the information along the path was anything groundbreaking. We also encountered quite a few mosquitoes. Luckily I had an Off bug wipe in my bag with me The Lover’s Lane path also looked nice, but we didn’t travel very far down it Next up was LM Montgomery’s Cavendish National Historic site. It’s very close to the Green Gables stop and you’re able to buy a package that includes admission to both. This is the house Montgomery grew up in with her grandparents. The house is no longer standing, so not a ton to see. We thought the gentleman at the entrance was very informative and friendly, so that made it worth the stop for us I have to store my phone for trivia, so will continue with our PEI stops later (internet willing 🤞)

The internet on the ship was non-existent last night, so will try to get caught back up *Post-Sydney evening* This was the night we had our Pinnacle Grill reservation (from HIA package). The food was plentiful and definitely a step up from the MDR in terms of seasoning. I had the lobster bisque to start and my table mates had the steak tartare and the crab cakes (not pictured). We decided the lobster bisque was the winner out of the three. We passed on the clothesline bacon because of dislikes of mustard, pickles, and “sweet meats” among some of our group, but the neighboring table ordered it and it looked appetizing For the mains, we went with the NY strip, the boneless ribeye (not pictured; also added a lobster tail), and the special which was the beef tenderloin with lobster dumplings. The ribeye came perfectly cooked, but the other two steaks were slightly over. All had a decent amount of salt, which is something I’ve found lacking in many of the MDR dishes For sides, we shared the creamed spinach, the asparagus with hollandaise, the mashed potatoes, and one person got a baked potato. The servings were very generous and we could probably have done with half the number of sides Finally, for dessert, we tasted the not-so-classic baked Alaska and the crème brûlée After our heavy meal, we headed back to the room, briefly admired the bright moon, and then all crashed early in expectation of our early morning at PEI

*Sydney* This morning for breakfast I decided to try the congee. The toppings were good, but I prefer a little more salt in my congee (I make mine with chicken broth and chicken thighs). It was fine for this morning, but probably not something I’d order again After getting off the ship by the giant fiddle, we snagged a cab to Budget to pick up our rental car We had a “manager’s special” and ended up with an SUV. Picking up the car was very quick and easy. Our first stop was Baddeck, where we went to the Alexander Graham Bell museum Since we were efficient in Baddeck, we decided we had time to squeeze in a visit to the Fortress of Loiusbourg and spent a pleasant hour or so there If I were to visit Sydney port again, I would probably just focus on the fort. It’s a much closer drive and we thought there were more activities to do there. We grabbed a late lunch from the Dive-in and are putting our feet up before our Pinnacle Grill dinner reservation tonight

*Post-Halifax Evening* After we returned from our excursion, I headed to a spa appointment. I had originally inquired about a Swedish massage, but got talked into booking a deep tissue one, instead. I was a little apprehensive, but I ended up enjoying it and would consider trying deep tissue again…which might come sooner rather than latter. Tonight, in my cabin, I received a notice that I could have $70 off any new spa booking on port days - right after I’d already had my appointment 😭 For dinner tonight, I ordered the salad app, but had food envy, so convinced one of my table mates to trade me their butternut squash soup instead (note: several croutons were devoured before the salad pic was taken) I had a main all picked out before we went to the MDR, but was swayed by the club orange choice: spare ribs slowly braised in red wine. I was so happy with last night’s club orange (jambalaya), that I decided to roll the dice again The ribs were delicious, so I think I might be on to something with sticking to the club orange specialty. For dessert, I ended with a chocolate whiskey torte

Yeah, they were a little soupy. Even more fun, I just had a fork and no spoon, so a little challenging to eat. They tasted good, though

I’ve had the best luck going when the casino first “opens” as we leave port. I usually have the place almost to myself for an hour or so. I’ve walked through it after dinner (8pm fixed seating), but never had any desire to stay since so smoky then

*Halifax* Woke up to beautiful, sunny weather today. After our leisurely breakfast at Pinnacle Grill (tried the Full English today), we headed off the ship for our HAL excursion We had signed up for the “Halifax Gardens Walk, Panoramic City Drive, & Extended Peggy’s Cove” excursion, which was slated for 6 hrs. First stop was the gardens, which were lovely 🌹🌸🌺🌷🌻🌼🪷 They had planned for a 30 min “guided tour” followed by 15 min free time, but ended up continuing the tour during the 15 min for those who were interested. Next up was the drive to Peggy’s Cove, via a pass by the Citadel National Historic Site. At Peggy’s cove, we had a brief (~15 min) walking tour and then 2 hrs on our own to grab lunch and/or look around. We tried the Sou’Wester for lunch and it was ok, but not our favorite. Our table had the lobster nachos, fresh oysters on the half shell, lobster rolls, and the gingerbread with lemon sauce for dessert. Compared to the lobster rolls we had in Maine, these just didn’t fare well. The lemon sauce on the gingerbread was good, but there wasn’t a whole lot of ginger taste to the cake itself. Our least favorite was the lobster nachos, which had lobster pieces that were too dried out on it. The oysters were really good though! On the plus side, the price was very reasonable The town itself was very picturesque and has the most photographed lighthouse in Canada Since our group was very good at staying on schedule, our tour guide added a “bonus” stop at the end to see the graveyard with the titanic burials. We spent about 20 min walking through with narration from our guide, which seemed like just the right amount of time to me. The tour bus was very comfortable, with an included restroom and power ports at every set of seats. I would definitely recommend this tour to others, especially if they luck into such a gorgeous day, like we did ☀️

*Power Ports in Our Neptune Suite* I had trouble finding info on this prior to our cruise, so thought I’d share here, in case it’s helpful. We brought some (non-surge-protected) extension cords and were glad we did, since there are minimal outlets in the room. There is one between the bed and the window with a US and a European outlet There’s a second one in the dressing room (same US/EU pairing) and some USB ports nearby Other than that, the only other outlets we’ve found is the shavers-only one in the bathroom

At the Captain’s Toast tonight, he shared that there are 1207 passengers on board from 22 different countries. It was the first gala evening. I decided to go with the club orange special for my main entree, the jambalaya. It was the best dish I’ve had so far on this cruise. Very flavorful and well seasoned. For the app, had the prosciutto, manchego cheese, and port cherries. I had strawberries Romanoff for dessert and one of my table mates tried the chocolate soufflé When we got back to our room, we had a cute lobster towel animal and some chocolates waiting for us

*Bar Harbor Part 2* We wandered around town a bit checking out the cute shops and then met up with a friend who summers in Bar Harbor for lunch. We told him we were interested in lobster rolls and he took us to Stewman’s Lobster Pound, which happened to be right next door to the HAL tendor dock. They were quite busy, so the service was a little slow, but we weren’t in a hurry, so didn’t mind at all. The food was good and couldn’t have picked a more convenient location, so I would recommend it. We had one of the traditional lifeboat tenders back to the main ship. It felt a little claustrophobic to me, but I’m not a big fan of crowds. Very few masks in sight. Made it back to the ship just in time for afternoon tea Headed up to the crows nest for the trivia competition that coincided with sail away. We were pleased with our impressive (to us) score, but we were beat out by a team with a perfect score. Tonight is our first gala night

*Bar Harbor* We had proactively decided that this was going to be our “leisurely” day of the trip, so didn’t get an early start this morning. We tried out breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and enjoyed the ambiance. Went with the dungeness Benedict As we were headed out our cabin door to catch a tender to Bar Harbor (a little before 11), they were just making the announcement that tender tickets were no longer required and that it was open boarding. We lucked out and got a normal boat instead of one of the lifeboats for our tender to shore. I think it was a crew that normally does whale watching tours (based on the logos on their fleece jackets). The ride was very comfortable, with lovely views on this sunny day. They even had a live, local lobster 🦞 on the boat that they brought around for people to pet and take photos of One COVID related note - they had made announcements on the ship that masks were required on tenders, but they weren’t enforcing it. We wore ours (we’re rule followers 😉), but only saw three other people on our boat with masks. It wasn’t very full, so if anyone was concerned they would have been able to socially distance well; we had a whole empty row in front of us and plenty of room behind us. We weren’t bothered by the lack of masks, but thought I’d pass it on in case it’s an important topic for anyone else. Now we’re off to find a lobster roll for our lunch on shore 😋

Hmm…I’ll have to check when we get back to the ship. We only turned on the tv for the safety video and haven’t touched in since

The green book is just a random journal I brought with me. Something we snagged off Amazon pre-cruise

First dinner in the MDR went well. I had a ham croquette (forgot to take a pic), the Haddock with risotto, and a slice of Boston cream pie While we were at dinner the room stewards got our room set up for night, making up the pullout couch We also stocked up on a bunch of canned beverages to take advantage of our drinks packages There were still quite a few people at the Ocean bar when we came back from dinner, but the time change, travel, and motion sickness pills all caught up with us, so we’re going to call it an early night. We should be in Bar Harbor by the time I get up tomorrow

*Beverage package for 3rd person with Have It All (HIA):* Prior to boarding, we weren’t sure how this was going to work. The first 2 names on our reservation had the Signature Beverage Package (SBP) through HIA, so we didn’t know if the third person would automatically be enrolled for the SBP or not? In practice, the third adult didn’t have any beverage package, but was told they could add one, if they liked. After looking at the options, they decided to go with the Quench package, since they aren’t a big drinker and that package was significantly cheaper. Adding the quench package was a little bit of a challenge. The Neptune suite concierge wasn’t able to do it, so we stopped by the Sea View Bar. They were very helpful there, but had to involve a manger for an override, since the system wanted to charge all 3 people in the suite (even though the other 2 already had SBP). They quickly got it all worked out and everyone is happy with their package of choice. Now, we’re all stocking up on pops and canned waters for the room since this is our shortest day and we want to hit our 15 drinks

Made it onboard, stopped by our room for keys and the Neptune Lounge to change a specially dining reservation. We were in the MDR shortly after noon to enjoy a leisurely lunch The MDR was very empty, so either we beat the rush, everyone went to the lido instead, or they were all still getting settled in their rooms. Our suitcases were waiting for us outside our door when we returned from lunch and I got everything unpacked. Back to the Neptune lounge to turn in our Canada forms, to our muster station to check in, and then we might swing by the lido to check out the dessert options since we decided to forgo dessert in the MDR