mking8288

Hi, it went wait for our SIL at Pier 88. Go thru security first & then on your left, should be a greeter to show you to the small lounge for SA. Get checked in there & wait, patiently for crew to be free & do WC boarding. Our SIL was anxious using WC services, noted on her eDocs - said it worked. Good luck, slip the crew a $$ bill bring a big smile & thank you too 😉 🤗

Since towel animals are no longer done, except ... notice the simple & subtle pillow placement trick for today. Yesterday was a different pattern or arrangement - creative 👏 More from Cagney's later ... 5:30 PM reservation for 6 of us 😋

Noticed that we are now below pavement or street level with low tide, dropping lower than 2 hours earlier. Gangway on Deck 5 near us won't be usable until high tide. Let's see when we sail at 9:30 PM ADT, with all abroad at 9 or 21:00 Latitudes party hosted by CruiseNext has been rescheduled to 1 pm tomorrow at the Supper Club since it's a sea day ... 👌 much better 👍 than 6 pm as that's prime time for dinner to many 👎

Heading back to the ship, this health walk is about 1 mile to/back from the City Market along the waterfront, accessible friendly using elevators & ramps, our SIL made it slowly with her walking cane. Started raining again by the time we reached the terminal. Lobster place still has a line, shorter than earlier. Souvenir shop remains busy while some of the street vendors are getting ready to close for their day.

City Square at Saint John

Follow the yellow bricks road ... tiled floors thru these brick buildings toward Delta Hotel, check signage & get to City Market, indoors & without getting wet, rain hard outside at times

City Tour - 2 hours, book on the spot $35 USD or $40 CDN. Go in here and escalator upstairs within the mall for the skybridge to City Market 2 blocks uphill, minus the incline walk. The Skywalk

Heading out via gangway on Deck 7 and 5 into Marco Polo terminal, out thru the Container Village stores toward the waterfront indoor, Market Square (free WiFi, off-duty ship crew hang out here)

While logged into ship's satellite WiFi by EMC last night, did a speedtest to benchmark it, not bad for the basic 150 free minutes, unlimited is the same, premium just unblock those udp/tcp ports ... still won't be smooth streaming YouTube. As always, YMMV - depending on your choice of gears & equipment used. This is on Samsung Galaxy S22+

Docked in front of Marco Polo Cruise Terminal on Water Street, easy to walk 2 blocks north to the Market Square Indoor Mall, escalator up 1 level to the passage that connect the buildings along King Street to SJ City Market ... we shopped here last September from the Joy, had a great lunch at Billy's Seafood attached to the mall. @10:40 AM, ship hasn't been cleared yet and pax still waiting to go ashore.

Breakfast as we watch us pulling into our berth, 5G signal now vs. 4G LTE ... 9:45 AM local time (ADT) in front of the Caribbean Princess.

Good morning 🌄 heading to MDR for breakfast, should reach SJ dock in about 30 minutes. New itinerary posted, $100 OBC issued plus 10% discount on a future cruise thru 2024.

Interesting updated plan or schedule on our MyNCL app.

😎😁😊 My BIL just wanted to make sure that we get to Cagney's tomorrow night plus the free bottle of wine. Assured him that I will reconfirm that our La Cucina for Friday night is protected (that's another bottle of wine) but we did change Moderno's schedule - maybe will see if we can go Food Republic for lunch instead. Good thing we did duty-free shopping last night. The whole ship is rocking with positive energy from what we could tell. They might need to kick us off, 😆 lol.

Thanks, I suspect that the earliest will be sometime on Saturday depending on port availability with a berth. If someone can check out what's scheduled, it will help to clear the rumors. Wind & swell will be high but not expectong monster waves. Well stocked with meds. We will ride things out, much appreciated. Hey, won't be surprised with a CTN down coastal NJ where things should be calmer. I will watch Windy App & tune to marine VHF radios for traffic news once we get near the harbor, on my smartphone App. mking8288 - Henry

@The P and @Turtles06 and all - we are enjoying tonight's dinner at Taste. It is what it is, mother nature always has the upper hand. Cruise ship pax are mostly enjoying as we steam toward SJ for morning arrival. Just feel bad for others needing to make plans for flights, hotels and other new arrangements.

Additional update: new scheduled for arrival into Saint John is 10 AM tomorrow for an extended stay until 9 PM, before setting sail back direct to NY to seek safe harbor against Lee, arriving in area sometime on Friday ... cruise terminal not expected to be available until later or next day. Shorex booked thru NCL are being cancelled & refunded automatically for the 3 original port's scheduled ones. Further details to follow.

Tonight, we set at 7 PM, all abroad is 6:30 PM - "postponed" dinner time too for 6 of us at Taste, returning to the MDR again. Let's see how things go. Thus far, lines aren't too bad for Taste & what we can see with Savor, the 2 smaller MDR. Buffet is said to be often crowded & not easy at times to find tables - staff reported to be friendly & helpful, assisting those with special needs carrying their plate of food back to their tables. Blasting out interim details on my Lenovo Chromebook, faster & easier vs. those fat fingers on a smartphone, even when the screen is 6.7" "big" tethering over T-Mo's 5G signal, with the Google Pixel 4a 5G by our OV picture window - just luck 50:50 that we are docked starboard side, no issues with cellular reception whatsoever. Got plenty of fast data to use. AT&T's signal actually appeared to be worst here, as shown on my iPhone SE 2022 with dual e/Sim - which I'm surprised ... hence, we always travel with more than 1 backup option. Ship's WiFi, sorry to report, appeared less than good - long lines during iCafe manager's office hours, friends purchased the voice calling & message options for $20 to cover 2 devices, having issues connecting - can't call or going to VoiceMail instead, texting seemed more reliable. Going to look into this issue further for them, maybe ask for a full refund - don' think the trouble is with their pair of Samsung Galaxy S21+ Ship's WiFi upgrade option with the free 150 minutes x2 (FAS promo) discounts remained at $109 if we switch to the unlimited basic plan for the balance of the week, whether it's at Day 6 and now Day 5 ... and, we really don't see the need to "spend" some of our non-refundable OBC credit on it. Basically, still has all 300 minutes unused now and if we are disciplined & careful, can use a little each day while at sea, read only and post mainly when we are in range of land signals as we have 100% coverage in Canada too, at no extra costs or charges. Can retain 150+ minutes to use for "emergencies" while out of range over ship's satellite signal. That is our plan at this moment - so, this will probably stay at Semi-Live and not full Live ... perhaps, our "contributing" writers can fill in while I'm offline - should be able to read CC posts but maybe not post. Tonight, we move the clock 1 hour forward, change to ADT as we sail into Bar Harbor (just 132 nm in distance from here) & Canada for the next 3 days ... later on, return to EDT.

Tomorrow is Bar Harbor, Maine - a tender port & we have our priority tickets to go ashore, all set - our stop to get some great lobsters and/or lobster rolls, walking distance from the tender pier. Thursday is the ultra-early pre-dawn arrival into Saint John, Bay of Fundy - around 2:30 AM, departing at 2:15 PM (early afternoon) due to tidal tables. Friday is scheduled for Halifax, 8 AM to 8 PM. But, looking at the latest 5 p.m. NHC forecast details & charts - isn't bad but doesn't look too pretty, although we are seasoned cruisers thru storms & nasty weather, rough waves & sea swell. Checking Halifax's latest predictions: Posted Sep 12, 2023, 4:39PM ADT. A tropical cyclone information statement has been issued for the Halifax area and other parts of Nova Scotia as Hurricane Lee is expected to impact the region this weekend. The Canadian Hurricane Centre says Lee is expected to begin a march to the north on Wednesday, and will be transitioning to a post-tropical system as it reaches Atlantic Canada. The latest track indicates the storm’s centre could still track anywhere from Maine to Cape Breton. “Since it will be a rather broad system, the rain, wind, waves, etc would affect most of the Maritime provinces and neighboring waters to varying extent,” the statement reads. Forecasters say recent trends are showing a faster arrival time for the storm, and say that could mean stronger winds making it further inland. “As of now, western Nova Scotia has the higher possibility of impacts which is worth noting since that region wasn’t impacted by recent storms like Dorian and Fiona.” Building surf conditions and rip currents are expected along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia over the coming days, particularly on Friday. But, you know what ... we booked to cruise during the peak hurricane season, it is what is is - go with the flow. Stay tuned as soon as we find out & learn more of NCL's decision to stay with the schedule and or make changes, etc.

Extra info - details on the Upgrade Advantage bids - which I embargoed until we sailed to avoid disrupting the bidding strategies & amounts submitted are as followed: CAS player bidded just $150 p/p x 2 to upgrade from Inside (sleep 3 or 4) to Balcony (BA category) on Deck 15 Mid/Aft, won & awarded - credit card charged over 50 days out, more than 7 weeks prior to sailing. Platinum status and used 2 CruiseNext deposits as partial payment, and triple points being earned. Non-CAS guests, Platinum & used 2 CruiseNext deposits to reserve or book, triple points earned - final bid (increased by $50 p/p x 2) was $250 x 2 to successfully win their bid from Inside to Balcony (BB) on Deck 12 Mid, won/awarded & c.c. charged at 5 days out only. Their initial and overall costs or price paid - much, much higher & more than the other one, subsidized by CAS. Generally, everyone bidding nowadays are spending & paying more up-front for their cabin. That magical formula remained a mystery.

@The P - Hi, Sharon ... Susan said hi and being a good girl, she did shopping yesterday in Newport - just 1 small bag, fit in my small day pack just fine, no shoes ... wait till we get to Spain (again) for that, LOL (an extra, empty carry-on ??) Ship is full but haven't gotten a # on headcounts, didn't seem too bad compared to the Joy last September or this January's Getaway ... the Epic was worst than this, for reasons that I can't explain or yet explain. Perhaps, the crew on the Escape are doing better as a team and on the whole, managing well the surge in crowds. CAS players apparently well represented what I've heard & seen, and they are more seasoned and too busy on Deck 7 playing ... couldn't walk thru that area at times (looking down in the mid-ship atrium from Deck 8 when we came out of Bayamo) Apparently, just a dozen or so Insides remaining within 3 days of embarkation, Solo cabins sold out. A # of folks with airlines booked had flight issues coming in a day or even two early, more flights delayed & cancelled even on the day of (Sunday) and resorted to renting or jumping into their cars to drive non-stop to get to Pier 88 last minute, worried about booking parking on the roof-top (would've told them not to worry, plenty of empty spaces at Pier 90 to handle overflow) I heard chats about some needing to make their way to Newport yesterday to embark instead - hopefully, they all made it safely & just fine. Travel, trip & medical/accident insurance are offered and sold for these reasons vs. going "self" insured & taking 200% of the risk & losses. Elevators aren't skipping floors and/or going on bypass in "concierge" mode for Haven most of the time, and that's a good thing - easy to get into one that isn't already packed full like sardines -unlike the Epic's TA in April. Since we are hiding in steerage on Deck 5, easy to walk up & down to 6-7-8 as we avoid the buffet as much as we can. The new brand of choice, "Good Gold" Columbian coffee is very good, makes a nice 6 oz cup in the cabin (like it strong) and a happy old man, don't need that Starbuck stuff, not at all.

Perspectives on housekeeping: our "gang" has 3 cabins, 2 balconies - Deck 15 and Deck 12, plus our relatively large 22 Family Oceanview on Deck 5 (comparable/larger than the Club Family Balcony (mini) Suite without the outside balcony. Aside from embarkation or turnaround day, it appeared that despite the heavier workload given to the room stewards, 22 cabins with once a day cleaning vs. 15 cabins with 2x daily service ... the results and customer experience is a mixed bag. Hallways & corridors are mostly clear, done and the service carts gone by 4 to 5 pm ... today, they're done in our section of Deck 5 by 3 pm. We asked for coffee maker (creamer & sugar plus extra coffee pods minus the decaf) & mini-refrigerator to be cleared of liquors & sodas, done - had extra clean towels in our bathroom, which we didn't asked for - nice touch. This morning, we left for breakfast at 9:30 and by the time we got back at 10:30, cabin was fully serviced - an extra box of tissues on the table, next to the coffee/tea-maker ... going above & beyond. Maybe, it's the case of YMMV - our steward has been responsive thus far and we can usually find him either up or down the corridor or hallway that he's responsible for. Our best friends said they seldom see the steward around and needed to try hard to find him (didn't know that he can call him via housekeeping extension) whereas BIL/SIL has no issues for/against or dissatisfied with services.

Chair hogs, not a problem today, at least but the atrium lobby is another story, packed full & busy, dawn to dust. American Diner on Deck 17 looks empty when we walked by yesterday, burgers in O'Sheehan's are just as good & juicy. Opinions on food are subjective, personal & always biased, FWIW, dessert in the buffet was good as the gang didn't want to eat at OSH again. Let's just say, nothing worth posting or writing about, the usual and starboard side was closed after 1:30 PM, good walk to go around to port side, beef noodles soup cook to order was worth standing in line to wait, while the junior chef was chatting with a supervisor in white uniform. Thank you to this semi-live report's contributing writers that supplement mine, provide that richness in content, variety & points of view ... from steerage 😄😁😀🫢😲

Tour buses lines up outside the pier, back already and or going out for the afternoon 😁

More pix from the narrow gauge railroad - good backup plan for us as the rain has stopped for now