Live from the Caribbean Princess, Oct 14 - Nov 5, 22-day Canadian and Atlantic Coast Land and Sea Adventure

[vickykay]

That’s pretty windy.  Our stop at Prince Edward’s Island was cancelled back in Sept due to the so we stayed an extra day in Quebec.  By the time we reached the open sea, things had calmed down.

[Ken the cruiser]

This afternoon after a tasty lunch where I finally met both @cr8tiv1 and @NavyVeteran, we headed to the Fusion Lounge to watch True or Moo. A true or false game show where the questions were definitely quite unique and Guido, the host, was awesome as usual! But after the first round the wave action started to pick up and everyone played from their seats rather than getting on the stage floor and choosing which side to stand on depending on the validity of the question. 😂

  

 
Then we were off to watch another lecture by David Wiemers in the theater, which was also very entertaining.

 

 
Then it was time to head back to the cabin, and ride the waves until it was time for dinner. As you can see, we have definitely made the turn into the Atlantic Ocean.

  

 

 

and the swales are definitely getting bigger! 😱
 

 

[cr8tiv1]

I hope you don’t mind my addition.  We are rocking, rolling, and creaking. 
 
This is just the beginning. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I hope you don’t mind my addition.  We are rocking, rolling, and creaking. 
 
This is just the beginning. 
 

 

 

 

 

Fun times! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

47 minutes ago, vickykay said:

That’s pretty windy.  Our stop at Prince Edward’s Island was cancelled back in Sept due to the so we stayed an extra day in Quebec.  By the time we reached the open sea, things had calmed down.

From what I can tell the winds should be long gone by the time we get to Halifax tomorrow morning. But it’s forecasted to be a chilly 46 F in Halifax when we arrive! 🥶

 

 
Unfortunately, at 11 pm after the winds have hopefully moved on, the wave action still looks like it’s going to be with us the whole way.

 

Heres the forecast for the wind speeds at 11 pm.

 

 
However, at 11 pm the waves aren’t forecasted to do the same. So for those folks that like to be rocked to sleep, they should have a sound rest tonight! However, for those that have issues with a lot of wave action, they may be in for a long night. Hope not, but it looks pretty rough out there, especially if you watched the @cr8tiv1 video at post #201.

 

 

At 7 am, after we have hopefully docked in Halifax, there’s at least some blue around the shoreline. 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

But on the bright side as we headed off to dinner, there was some blue sky from our view from the back of the ship ! 😁

 

[c-boy]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Fun times! 😂

I love foul weather and high seas. Brings back memories, only now I'm not on duty and I can enjoy a cocktail (or two) while while someone else is at the helm. 

[GonzoWCS]

Hang in there!

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after another tasty dinner, we were off to see a “replacement” evening show, as the production show, Bravo, was postponed due to the rough seas. With only about an hour to prepare, Raquel Munn, one of the production cast singers, and the Princess Band produced a quality show! 
 

 

 
We then went over to the Explorers Lounge to watch a fun game called Mind Duel, Officers vs Guests. One thing I have to say, Princess offers a huge variety of unique game shows. Way more than any other cruise line we’ve had the pleasure of cruising with. This is also one of many reasons Princess has become our goto cruise line, if they have an itinerary that interests us, which they usually do most of the time. 😁

 

 
Then it was time to head back to the cabin to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening rocking away! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 10 - Oct 23 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

  

 

 
The internet service has been pretty solid so far.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

This should be a memorable Halifax excursion, especially if the weather is as questionable as we think it might be! Hope that Duck Boat has a convertible top in case it’s still raining! 😂

 

[abbydancer2003]

We did the Duck last time we were there.  It was great.  For those who don't do ship excursions, it's an easy walk from the pier, and you can save some money if that's all you want to do.

[HotRoot]

Raquel did that show last month for the first time, or so they said.  She did not have to throw it together in an hour this time.

[Ken the cruiser]

We arrived in Halifax around 7:30 am. The forecast for today is cloudy with temperatures between a chilly 46 - 51F. Luckily, we brought our cold weather clothes for our Duck ride this morning! 🥶

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

Raquel did that show last month for the first time, or so they said.  She did not have to throw it together in an hour this time.

That would make sense, especially with all of the rough weather they have had to deal with this fall up here in the North Atlantic cruising in and out of the Gulf of St Lawrence.

[Ken the cruiser]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This should be a memorable Halifax excursion, especially if the weather is as questionable as we think it might be! Hope that Duck Boat has a convertible top in case it’s still raining! 😂

 

All I can say is that we had a memorable time seeing the sights and going for a cruise in the Duck, especially when we were cruising downwind and the heat from the exhaust was keeping us warm! 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to go into the water on the ramp barely visible in this picture.

 

 

 

With a variety of sea gulls waiting to greet us! 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oceania Insignia arrived about 30 minutes after us which is a much smaller 660 passenger ship.

 

 

 

We even had a seal pop up and say hi as we made our turn to head back to the ramp! 😁

 

 

Just thought this was an interesting cargo ship of some sort. 
 

  

 

And then there was a farewell group of birds wishing us safe travels as we were about to head back up the ramp! 😂

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[cr8tiv1]

6 hours ago, HotRoot said:

Raquel did that show last month for the first time, or so they said.  She did not have to throw it together in an hour this time.

The Princess musicians are a talent bunch or instrumentalist. By throwing it together in a couple of hours means:

 

Sound checks

Lighting checks

Strike Bravo set/put up her set design

Musical scores run through, pauses, finite instructions.

 

Guest stars also go through said limited amount of time.

 

Raquel and musicians did a wonderful job.  They’ve got to be excellent sift readers!

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

After a tasty lunch up at the buffet, I did a little bird watching off our balcony

  

 
before it was time to go to a port lecture about Newport, Rhode Island.

 

 
Then it was time to watch us set sail to our next port which is Portland, Maine.

  

 

 

 
I also checked Windy to see what the wave forecast was for this evening around 11 pm. So far it’s looking a lot calmer than last night as we head towards Portland! 😁
 

 

[CGinMTL]

Bye bye canada

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, CGinMTL said:

Bye bye canada

Hello US immigrations 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, CGinMTL said:

Bye bye canada

We definitely had a wonderful time in your beautiful county!! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Hello US immigrations 

Speaking of US immigration, here’s the “general” instructions we received in our cabin this evening. We also received some “special” instructions the other day since we are on an excursion that leaves at 11:30 am. It will be interesting to see how PCL handles getting both the excursion folks with a 11 am show time through Customs, like we have, without them having to stand in the line with all of the other US citizens not going on an excursion, since we all have to meet in the Fusion Lounge starting at 11 am. I’m sure they have a plan. 
 

[Ken the cruiser]

After another tasty dinner in the Reserve dining room, we headed to the theater to watch the encore performance of Jassen Allen.

 

 

 
Then we were off to a packed Explorers Lounge to participate in the always hilarious Majority Rules game show! 
 

 

[abbydancer2003]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Speaking of US immigration, here’s the “general” instructions we received in our cabin this evening. We also received some “special” instructions the other day since we are on an excursion that leaves at 11:30 am. It will be interesting to see how PCL handles getting both the excursion folks with a 11 am show time through Customs, like we have, without them having to stand in the line with all of the other US citizens not going on an excursion, since we all have to meet in the Fusion Lounge starting at 11 am. I’m sure they have a plan. 
 
 

Good luck.  When we did ours, (Boston instead of Bar Harbor) we were each given a time to go, which were different.  They said to come at the one we preferred.  When we got there the line went to the front of the casino and then back around through explorers.  They told us to come back in about an hour.  We did, and it went from Fusion to Explorers, and took about 10 minutes.  We'd had an excursion in Bar Harbor but not in Boston, so it was no big deal.  That said, there are around 5-8 agents, so I have no idea, if they board a 11 how they'll get all the shore ex people through.  

Good luck, in any case, and I hope it goes faster than ours did.

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 11 - Oct 24 - Portland, Maine 

  

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Ken the cruiser