Live from the Zuiderdam - August 24 to August 31- Maine and Canada

[FlorenceItaly]

23 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

Sorry - got distracted with packing ... And booking another cruise ... 

What did you book???

[Rubyfisch]

8 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

What did you book???

A very similar itinerary in May of next year, starting in Quebec and ending in Boston on Zuiderdam. Not 100% sure we can do it, but we'll decide in the winter.

[Rubyfisch]

Back to the excursion - we started with a thirty-ish minute drive up to the Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre. I knew nothing about it, but I can't explain how beautiful it is. We had an hour there.

 

Here is the neighborhood around it:

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

The outside of the church:

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Mosaics in the entry way:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

The pees have ornate animals carved into them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

It's far too early ... But we are going up to the Lido for breakfast before our 6:30 am tag call ... I'll finish up yesterday on the bus to Montreal.

[Hlitner]

16 hours ago, Indianadaytripper said:

On the Zuiderdam on World Cruise Scooters were not allowed sitting in the hallways.

I am shocked that they are letting scooters park in the corridors.  I believe that it is a violation of SOLAS to have anything parked in the corridors as it blocks egress in case of an emergency.

 

Hank

[Rubyfisch]

Back to the excursion - the stained glass is amazing. You don't need to be a church person or an art person to appreciate the beauty. I think the only place I've ever seen that was more beautiful was Sainte Chapelle in Paris:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

There is a beautiful chapel in the basement with mosaic inlays in the columns:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

There is also a little cafe on-site. We got some soft serve before getting on the bus. As first, and hour seemed like too much time, but it was just about perfect.

[Rubyfisch]

We had 40 minutes at Montmorecy Falls. A little longer would have been nice, but it was okay. You can get so close to the falls if you take the path on the left. On the right are the stairs, but we didn't have time for that or the gondola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

It's a short 15 minute ride back to the ship from there. All in all, it's a fantastic excursion, and I would highly recommend it.

[Rubyfisch]

After the excursion, I went to trivia, packed, and booked a cruise. Here are some sunset views:

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Dinner menu:

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Last dinner in the MDR for this trip:

 

Tomato soup:

 

 

Salmon:

 

 

Cookie sundae:

 

[Rubyfisch]

After dinner we went to the Rolling Stone Lounge for a bit - they were great:

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We were up at 5:20, had breakfast in the lido, and our tag was called at 6:32. Our bus was on it's way by 6:55, and we're a little over halfway to Montreal. 

 

We'll be there for a couple of days, and I'll post some highlights of that, but happy to answer questions, etc.

[puppycanducruise]

Looks like you had a great cruise, thanks for sharing.

Safe home.

[Rubyfisch]

We got to the airport around 10:00 am, and are now on the 747 bus into Montreal. Fingers crossed our room is ready.

[seagarsmoker]

Thank you for all of the wonderful updates and photos!

[Rubyfisch]

Our room isn't ready, so we went to Starbucks. My partner pointed out this is first cup of strong coffee we've had all week ... The coffee on the ship tastes fine, but man is it weak.

 

Also - I got this ... Do they have these in US Starbucks? They are really good ... It's egg, potato, and chive:

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We always stay at the Holiday Inn on Rene Levesque. Last time, we randomly got upgraded to a suite, and it was really nice to have some extra room to unpack and repack everything. This time around, upgrading to a suite was only like 30 CAD a day, so I decided to do that. They put us in the most ridiculously large room ... Not complaining, but I don't get it. I don't have much IHG status anymore (I switched to Marriott for work travel). But regardless ... 

 

 

 

 

 

[FlorenceItaly]

Fabulous room!  I love a big room to spread out in, lol.  We are Diamond Elite with IHG.

Thanks again for your wonderful review.

[daisy-mae]

I'm a little late to this thread...just wondering if you noticed anyone playing pickleball onboard? I didn't see it mentioned in the dailies? Thanks.

Edited August 31 by daisy-mae