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plainsstormchaser

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Everything posted by plainsstormchaser

  1. Don't know if they made it, but aft lines have been reeled in and it looks like this end of the ship is ready to roll...
  2. Sitting in Halifax harbor waiting for all aboard in about 15 minutes and the Captain just informed us of the plan: we have commandeered 7,200 Zodiacs and will use them to make a high-speed run for clear water. Well, part of that is true... We are sitting in Halifax harbor waiting on pier runners, though I'll be surprised if the wait lasts more than 8 more minutes. The Captain has announced the plan. It does involve pushing, encouraging, coaxing, and cussing and kicking if necessary, to eke every ounce of performance and speed from Escape's propulsion system to get us past Nantucket by 3pm EDT tomorrow. At that time we are expected to have to slow and trim to run as safely as possible in gale-force wind and waves. So, some Rock and Roll Hoochie-coo will be part of our Saturday! Bring it on!
  3. We called an audible today (a sportball term I heard somewhere, I'll trust it's used correctly) and went walkabout instead of on our excursions. On balance I think we made the right choice. After perusing the shops in the quaint Shipping Container village just outside the cruise terminal and buying some authentic Maple Syrup from a "farmer" (I'll return to that) We walked out to see what we could find. Ooh, look, a glass blower! And they're doing demonstrations! This is an example of a piece like we saw blown in the demonstration. On the way down the hill we found a store and did our first souvenir shopping of the trip. And, oh, look there was the Maple syrup! So, either it's manufactured not by a farmer, or the farmer and gift shop have a deal.... Not that it really makes any difference to me...I have authentic Maple syrup, so it doesn't really matter 🙂 Eh?
  4. Had dinner this evening in Savor...that has become our default because Avelino works there in the evening. The menu has been good each evening. Tonight I enjoyed a NY strip steak and a Pork Belly on "smashed" yams. We had the best non-specialty service experience tonight of the trip so far. Kudos to our waiters, Lahan and Arjay!!
  5. As for our activities today, Roxan took another down day. I went whale watching. NCL was not well organized at shore. I arrived on tender at 1030 for a 1045 meet time, showed my ticket to a ShoreEx crew member and received an indistinct "1045, stand over there for a bit" motion and gesture. At 1042, after not drifting more than 100 feet and never hearing the tour called, I approached the same person only to find the group had left. I got handed off to the first of two people who hustled me to the whale watching boat dock. They were pleasant enough, particularly the first person. On arrival at the dock, I encountered the first example of the attitude I think the locals are displaying with the cruise ship limits and re-forming the tourism board without any cruise industry representation...we're happy to take your money, but only until you become inconvenient. The specific statement was something I overheard (isn't it always?) "This ship leaves at exactly 11 and we are still 16 stragglers short." Mind you, this is at 10:50am. It was quite clear a little thing like a paying customer who didn't make it by straight up 11 wasn't going to deter his on-time cast-off. Whatever. We left when we left, and actually enjoyed a fantastic day! In fact our guide Julie said it was perhaps the best day of the year, with five breaches close to the boat, a total of 12 or more unique whales, 8 of whom were recognized by name, and more breaches, blows, and whale tails than anyone could count. My images and videos are far from the best taken 😎
  6. We are still making St John tomorrow...this is shaping up quite similar to the last time, 2 weeks ago, where it really didn't become clear what was happening until Silversea made the turn out of Bay of Fundy and Escape kept on course for NYC. Latest NHC forecast cuts a narrow window where we could make it, but I imagine based on previous patterns they will err on the side of safety.
  7. Will Phillipe become a factor? Given recent history and this morning's NHC forecast times for Tropical Storm-force wind arrival, I'd put chances at 50/50. NHC earliest reasonable arrival time of TS-force wind. NHC forecast most likely arrival time of TS force wind. Bottom line: TS force wind sometime Saturday along the path Escape usually takes from Halifax to NYC. We shall see. And make the best of it either way 😎
  8. Tuesday turned into a down day for us... mostly me. I think the past month, plus a bit of over-exuberance in participating in the bar "sit" (it wasn't a crawl, we didn't go anywhere because so many were delayed by the tender lines getting back aboard), finally caught up. I've slept more hours than I've been awake in the past 24, and that's okay. I feel less stressed and more ready to vacation for the rest of the trip. We skipped the Lighthouses of Maine excursion, realizing about 10 minutes before time to board the bus that we'd get back too late to host the Meet & Mingle. So we dropped it last minute...commitment to our fellow cruisers being the more important thing. The event went well. Syd Norman's is a neat venue and we were introduced to the ship's hotel officers. It ran somewhat differently than previous ones, and frankly felt a bit less welcoming from the NCL side than previous ones. I think it's because it was just an introduction, none of the officers said anything, and because they rushed out as a group to another event. We were talking after they left about the scheduling difficulties these port intensive itineraries create for social events. The lack of a sailing day until Saturday makes a noticeable impact. The jury is still out on how much of the less-friendly vibe I'm getting is the itinerary related challenges, how much is the personality of the current leadership, and how much may have to do with the changes that have come due to COVID-forced efficiencies and changes in service/staffing levels and their impact on morale. The subtle difference in environment is something I'm observing but not sure how to allocate a cause. I think maybe I don't have enough data yet.
  9. So...the Rose Island lighthouse tour is NOT a lighthouse tour! And that's a good thing.... Rose Island was part of the assembly program for US torpedoes in WWI and WWII. The current conservator is gradually reclaiming portions of the military side of the island from the overgrowth and is making some intriguing discoveries. Like this bunker, circa WW1: He will soon be attempting to open what he believes is the underground facility that would have housed military families if the island had come under attack. Her has a page about his finds on social media, Tales from the Rose (Rose Island). Check it out...and if you can take this your I recommend it highly!
  10. Breakfast this morning at Corner Cafe in Newport. Vermont Omelette, the main distinguishing taste being caramelized apples. A good experience and good food, worth the half mile walk. Sitting 9n a bench at the pier now, waiting on our lighthouse tour!
  11. Yesterday was a special day, as we experienced something we've read about from others here, seeing two (at least) crew members from last year's Encore sailing. Avelino, the O'Sheehans Maitre'D, was The Local Maitre'D last year, and our lead waiter in Cagney's was someone I remember from last year, though he didn't serve us directly that I recall. Still, it is a cool experience.
  12. Looks like last night's post didn't "take," ship wifi, what can I say? I'll repost after we get aboard this afternoon, while we still have 5G.
  13. We heard from a lot fo the group who were fling in, during the day today....sounds like they made it successfully. I'm so glad for them! Or two-day drive is over, we saw some foloiage starting to turn in the Appalacians and I've attached some here as well as linking to a coupe of videos.
  14. ...and this is what "on the road" looks like... (Car status, on my phone at top, mapping at left side of the tablet (directions), radar at right side of tablet, and map of current location and surroundings (follow-me) on the radio screen, lower. Don't worry, Roxan was holding the wheel while I took this! Unfortunately, this is also "on the road"... An injury traffic crash ahead of us with a car that caught fire. We're in a construction zone and just have to wait for it to be cleared. As you can see we have no way around it due to the barrier wall and both lanes of traffic being on this side of the road. We're 15 minutes or so east of Effingham, IL. I'm glad we're here and not stressed out over whether our flight will make it into rain-soaked NYC, or worse yet, whoever was in that crash! There but for the grace of God go I....
  15. As we reach Day 0 on the countdown to this cruise, an update on the countdown to our next cruise: We hit the road in under 5 hours.
  16. Probably ought to have put this in the M&M/Roll Call thread first, but this was the more active thread so it came up first! MEET & MINGLE HAS MOVED -- It is now at Syd Norman's Pour House, Deck 8 Starboard, just to the aft of the forward elevators. IT HAS ALSO MOVED TO TUESDAY NIGHT AT 6PM EDT.
  17. I think we're doing one first load of laundry tonight, maybe a second. I'll be packing thru the day tomorrow, To an works. Gotta do it very last minute because of the stress it causes on our kitties.
  18. Oh, I've been talking back and forth with NCL's shoreside events team for Escape, and should find out today if the Meet and Mingle will be moved to a larger venue. I stopped taking signups for it around mid-August when the signups grew past 200. The-group-that-shall-not-be-named is now nearly 10% of the listed full capacity of Escape. I've honestly been a bit frustrated/concerned at what has appeared to be much less involvement in roll calls across the board on CC this year and what I can see of next -- there are so many sailings that don't even have a roll call! I'm not sure if that's a post-COVID impact, an impact of having a different toolset for driving engagement, or just what it is. There's so much good stuff here, and I do everything I can to promote people signing up for CC accounts and availing themselves of the wealth of info on the boards as well as the posts. But when I compare this sailing to my sailings last year, the CC roll call is much smaller and much less active. I'd love to hear what others think about that and what we can do to help keep engagement and quality high on Cruise Critic.
  19. My friend and first travel customer, Pamm Tropp, is an avid photographer. She took "only" 6,000 to 8,000 photos on their two-week cruise tour this spring, and shared a few of them with me for the slide show. I wanted to share them with you here, too. More are in the blog post linked above.
  20. My calendar has started to lighten up ahead of the cruise. This is the scheduled from Planning Center Online, the tool my church uses to schedule volunteers. You never see me with a three week hole in the schedule unless there's a cruise involved 🙂 HOWEVER, as I mentioned in my blog post this morning (Three Days Before the Trip...and you did WHAT?) my calendar was looking a bit TOO light this morning! "For someone who lives their life electronically, this would come under the heading "check the newspaper, buddy, and see if your obituary shows up and nobody bothered to tell you." ...or the phone needed restarted. Yeah, that was it.
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