AKR2011

Alex and I typically love Le Bistro and last week's meal was great. This time I was really unsure what to get since I wanted something different. I don't like mushrooms very much and this was the first time that I noticed how mushroom-heavy the menu was. I settled on French Onion soup for my starter, but I was stuck on the main dish. I have heard great things about the Lobster Thermidor, but it had mushrooms. Luckily, they were able to cook it with just butter instead. I went for the upcharge and had that. Sadly, the lobster was tough and not very flavorful. It was not worth it. We would do Le Bistro again possibly, but like I said in an earlier post, it was overall a disappointing menu. We definitely would not go twice. After dinner, we met my parents for Legends. We had to really run to get there, but it was a great show. Once again, the crew came out to sing and flood the stage, and we made sure to cheer loudly. This really is my favorite NCL tradition. Mom and Dad wanted to try their luck in the casino and I wanted to buy a couple of scratch-off tickets there. That's the extent of my gambling. Dad won $100 in Black Jack and walked away, but Mom quickly lost $20 in a slot machine. My scratch-offs were not winners, but that's okay. Mom and Dad went to bed and retired to bed after this, and Alex and I ran back to the room to change and put our luggage out. We like to wear the clothes that we are wearing to get off the ship on the last night on board. Less to pack and worry about in the morning.

Back on The Pearl, we focused on packing. I really hate this part of vacation, but we kept the room pretty organized, so it wasn't too bad. I ventured down to the atrium to look for luggage tags and couldn't find any. In the past, I have always seen them on the shelves going towards the photo gallery. This time, there were none there. I went to Cruise Next to grab certificates and inquire there since the Guest Services line was very long. With no new itineraries released this week, I was unable to book, but I did get two certificates. Hopefully, they will do another double-up at some point. The rep offered me yellow tags, but that is an early color, and we planned to get off at the very end. I didn't want to take early tags away from someone who may need them, so I walked toward the desk and gazed at the line. A very nice Shore Excursions staff member ran up to the desk and grabbed me some purple tags. I would later learn that bags were tucked inside that eviction paperwork from the week before. I never bothered to open it and therefore never saw the tags! Back in the room, Alex and I finished most of the packing and changed for dinner. We went down to The Atrium and found my parents. We took some family photos and then agreed to meet up at The Theater for the Legends show at 7:30.

Our last stop was Jordan Pond. Alex already walked the entire pond last week, but it was my first time here. It was definitely a beautiful place. We tracked some birds on the trail and grabbed our last Christmas ornament here as well. I would highly recommend Oli's Trolley. It was a very well-run excursion! We were quite hungry after the tour and also wanted to look around town. We had Le Bistro for dinner and didn't want to spoil that, so we just grabbed a cup of ice cream. Alex and I were determined to find gifts for co-workers. He found locally-made chocolate bars and I grabbed little bottles of maple syrup. We then headed back to wait for a tender. What a great last day! I wish NCL had their port parties going on. I really didn't notice any of these on this trip. Have they stopped? We were always offered drinks and washcloths, but they used to pump up the music and line dance in port. Perhaps this is a thing of the past, sadly.

Next was Thunder Hole. It overlooked the ocean and randomly made me think of that scene at the beginning of Grease where Danny and Sandy are at the rocks on the beach. There were multiple trails going down and the waves were crashing on the rocks. Alex thought he saw a whale, but there is a famous rock that looks like a whale. No real whales today sadly.

Our next stop was Sieur de Monts. This is famous for its art trail and gardens. It had flooded from rain the day before, so we were unable to explore the gardens. It was still a nice stop.

Our tour was scheduled for four half-hour stops, and I felt like this was a great way to see many of the sites at Acadia. It was very well organized with a great leader. The first stop was Cadillac Mountain, and the views were beautiful! We could see The Pearl from below and there were a few different oaths meandering around. Each stop on our tour also had bathrooms and a gift shop.

Hi all. Sorry for another delay, but this is it. Last port 😞 We headed back to Bar Harbor, and today would be an excursion in Acadia National Park. My parents did a simpler excursion around time that they booked with NCL. My mom said that she wished that they had just explored the port. I get that. It really is a great town. The ship was scheduled for an 8am arrival and Alex and I were up early for breakfast. We wanted to get on an early tender and had asked about tickets yesterday. We were told that it was just a first come-first serve basis. I thought part of being Platinum was priority tenders. I also thought maybe NCL would have learned from all of the other ports this week that organization is important. Neither appeared to be true, and Alex and I found ourselves stuck in a mess on Deck 7 mid waiting with the masses for a tender. We did get off fairly quickly, but it was quite stressful with so many people. We were booked on Olis Trolley for a 4-hr. tour that left at 9:30, and the cost was $85 paid ahead. We went to the booth to get our boarding passes and were told to return in 30 minutes to board. This gave Alex time to grab a cup of coffee. We popped into a coffee shop close by and also grabbed some yummy doughnuts. Then we headed back to board the trolley and go to Acadia.

Thank you! Me too ❤️

You can absolutely use a clean glass at the buffet to fill your bottle with ice and water. Bars will do it too. I like going to O'Sheehan's in the morning. They are not too busy and happy to fill for you. The main dining room will also fill bottles.

Back on board, I found our last towel animal hanging from the ceiling. I also found our last laundry sitting with our eviction notice. I didn't want to think about getting off the ship and put that aside. I showered and changed and then headed to Maltings for an Old Fashioned with Jameson...Well, 5 or 6 Old Fashioneds I think. I was reading a book on my tablet and at peace. This was a perfect way to spend the early evening. Eventually, Alex came back to the ship and found me, and we headed to Summer Palace for dinner. We went to The Atrium after for Seaside Duo. The Billboard Top 100 was finishing up when we arrived, and we stayed for The Bee Gees Tribute. This is one of their best sets and not to be missed. They played an extra for us as well. We stayed long enough to grab a bag of popcorn before heading to bed. Tomorrow was our last day and last port. When we came back to the room, I saw that Alex had changed our towel animal, and the monkey was now strangling my beloved monkey! 😰 At least I have a sense of humor!

After the tour, Mom and Dad decided to go on a hunt for gluten-free clam chowder, and they did find some. Meanwhile, I wanted to relax on the ship. This was a very port-heavy cruise, and tomorrow was both our last day and a port day too. Everything was moving so fast, and I also longed for some time alone. I hadn't been walking in the morning the last few days and needed some quiet time for myself. Alex decided to explore Portland on his own, so I will share with you some photos that he took. He had a great afternoon!

Our one stop on this tour was Portland Head Lighthouse, but we only had about half an hour. The park where it is located is beautiful, do I really wish that we had more time to explore. Mom had her lighthouse passport and was excited to get her stamps in the little museum, but you could not walk to the top of this one. It had cleared up by now, so we had lovely views here.

Our tour today was the Portland City and Lighthouse Tour through Portland Discovery Land and Sea Tours. This tour operator also has tours of the city on antique firetrucks. Our tour was on a trolley, and we had a really enthusiastic guide that spoke about the history of the city and the many times that Portland burned down in history. It's a really beautiful place that I would love to return to someday.

It was raining down pretty hard when Alex and I made it off the ship around noon. We were supposed to meet for our tour at 1:30, and I had a few things I wanted to do before that. The first was lobster rolls. I was hoping to go to either The Porthole or Portland Lobster Company. We found The Porthole first, so that choice was made. This lobster was served buttered, but it wasn't hot. Alex and I agreed that we prefer hot and buttered, but we thought that the quality of this lobster was better. It also came with delicious fries. The waiter noticed that we had an agenda and was quick to drop off the check. Much appreciated! If you have been following along, you may remember that I had my heart set on purchasing a Sea Bag in Bar Harbor last week, but the store was not open while I was in the area. Portland has both an outlet (where the flagship store is located) and another shop downtown. The outlet was right down the street from The Porthole, so this worked out well. We were able to see them sewing the bags there, and I enjoyed looking at all of my options. These bags are made from recycled sails and are perfect for any lover of the sea. I was looking for a medium-sized handbag, but there were not many to choose from here. Luckily, the main store was just another block away. Here I found my bag, and I am in love with it! We also found my parents here and were able to walk to our tour together. We were a bit early for our tour, so we ventured across the street. I noticed The Holy Donut, which was on my list of places I wanted to go. They do potato donuts that are gluten-free, so I knew that they would be perfect for my mom. I bought one for all of us, and we enjoyed them once we boarded our trolley tour.

Portland Day! 😀 Also US Customs Day 😕 After doing this in Bar Harbor last week, Alex and I thought we were prepared for another round of customs. It was cloudy this morning and rained as the morning went on, but we were excited for a lovely day. The ship was scheduled for an 11am arrival, and we had a 2pm excursion with my parents. When I first started planning, I wanted to do The Real Portland Tour, which advertises seeing three lighthouses. Mom loves lighthouses, so I gifted her and Dad this tour for Christmas last year. It was scheduled to leave at noon, and I thought this would be ok. The tour operator emailed me in the spring to let me know that we likely would not make it due to customs. I was really bummed, but he refunded our money, and I decided to look around elsewhere. I found a Portland Discovery Tour that visited Portland Head Lighthouse and purchased tickets for this tour instead. Alex and I woke up together this morning and had breakfast in the main dining room again. We did the 10-Minute Mystery and Trivia with my parents and just hung out together, relaxing. Alex and I were Group B for getting off the ship while Mom and Dad had a while and were G. Once again, we walked a maze through the ship to get off. Deck 7 Theater down the stairs to 6, through the casino, through Indigo, down the stairs, and off the ship. It was the same as the week before in Bar Harbor, but it was much less organized and overall a big mess. There were a lot of angry passengers, and I now understood why our original tour operator advised us to cancel.

Thank you for following, and I hope you have a great cruise! I had no idea that the water could cause swollen ankles. I do drink a lot of water. I do not drink coffee and only have juices if they're cocktails. Bottled water, unfortunately, gets so expensive! I may have to look into a package on our next cruise. Thank you for the tip. Thank you for being here! I always appreciate your posts and really want to give back to others who have helped me along the way.

Thank you so much for taking us on your cruise with you, Megan! I was horrified to hear how you were treated by those kids, though. You definitely seem to be having much better experiences with Virgin. You seem very busy, but I would also guess that a longer itinerary on Carnival might also be a good option. I always find that longer cruises have less kids - at least during the school year.

Thank you for following along! Ornaments were not hard to find except for on the ship itself. We collect the ship ornaments, and they did not have any. Now I need to scour the internet for one. Bar Harbor has many souvenir shops, so they are easy to find there. In Charlottetown, I found one right in the building in port that is a simple anchor. Syndey was a handmade one in port with the fiddle on it, and I bought two in Halifax. The gift shops at The Citadel and Maritime Museum had nice ones that I felt like we needed to have, but there were others on the boardwalk back too. Coming up in Portland, you will see the lighthouse, and we bought one there. Lots of shops in town to get them too. Then we went back to Bar Harbor, we went to Acadia, and each stop had a souvenir shop. We decided that we needed another ornament here too. Thank you for being here! Most of the clothes were pressed. That shirt on top is just naturally wrinkly, unfortunately. They did a really nice job overall. Actual pressing does cost more I believe but free laundry is such an awesome perk. A lot of people enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables tour. I am a bookworm but was never into those books. We loved this itinerary overall and would not mind doing it again. PEI was a great stop!

I will be back either later today or tomorrow to post Portland. In the meantime, I will leave you with the Day 5 Freestyle:

My parents stayed in port longer than we did, because they had some Canadian money to spend. Alex and I were looking for treats to take back to our co-workers this entre trip and could never settle on anything, so we headed back to the port on the boardwalk. There is a lighthouse not far away and the company that runs the buses also does a ferry there. If we come back again, we want to look into doing that. We also need to go to The Public Gardens. There just wasn't enough time since we had a late start and spent so much time at the two museums. Back on board, Alex and I decided to play a board game. He packed a bigger one, Empires at Sea, and we had not taken that out yet. It's quite large, so we set it up at a table on the pool deck. I had a hard time getting bar service at first since Topsider's was one of the few places open (Still dealing with that Canadian rule), but eventually someone came over and I gave him a couple of bucks. I did not have an issue after that. We weren't sure where my parents were, but we told them about the Throwback to 1969 show earlier. Alex returned Empires at Sea to the room and I went to Spinnaker to grab seats. I was able to get a nice booth up front, but my parents never made it to join us for the first show. They ended up getting dinner and then coming in for The Eagles with Seaside Duo. We played some cards while watching and then Alex and I left to get dinner too. My parents stayed for the second 1960 show instead. We all loved this show and agreed that it was a highlight of the week. The Spinnaker is a great spot for the show, and they were doing the Win-a-Cruise Bingo in The Theater. That to me is a waste of a night in the theater, so I'm really glad that we snagged the good seats for 1969 and The Eagles. Alex and I had mojitos after dinner, and I ended up bumping into someone that I worked with about 15 years ago. The world is so small sometimes. The bartender up at Sugarcane was fabulous as always, and Alex and I enjoyed a game of Mystic Vale on my tablet. We never met up with my parents again, but we all had another tour together tomorrow.

Once outside of the museum, there are a couple of ships that you can tour. That would have been cool, but we were very hungry. It was now mid-day and well past lunchtime. My parents found a cafe right next to the museum and went there, while Alex and I ventured down the boardwalk a bit. I really wanted some poutine and found a shack specializing in that. Alex and I split this, which was a very good idea. It was a lot of food! We then went over to Cow's Ice Cream and split a small cup. Dave's Lobster is in this port too, as well as Beavertails, so it's nice to know that you can have these Canadian treats at multiple stops.

I should mention that NCL offers two Hop-On-Hop-Off tours. One does not include any admission, but ours included the Citadel and Maritime Museum. This worked out very well for us. The ticket line at The Citadel was a bit long, but we just walked in with our stickers on. The same was true at the Maritime Museum, which is where we went next. I absolutely love maritime museums and have been to many. The one in Halifax is huge and has tons of smaller ship models, as well as full-size ships. There is an exhibit featuring Cunard Cruises and another focused on The White Star Line. There is also a big section of the museum dedicated to Titanic with a bunch of artifacts from that. We were here for over an hour and enjoyed our time. I also found a really nice ornament in the gift shop.

The double-decker buses used by the tour company were from the 50s and seemed cool at first. We went on top and sat in front for a nice view. However, that diesel smell was not good, and Mom and I were not feeling great. We hopped off when we reached The Citadel. This is a historic battleground site that has been transformed quite a few times. Alex and Dad love these kinds of places. Mom and I can only handle them for a while. There were modern exhibits inside, and many people dressed in character and were walking around talking to the guests. We stayed for over an hour and grabbed some cold drinks at the snack bar before getting on a different bus. There are many buses in the fleet, so you don't have to wait long for another bus to show up. This was a very well-organized tour and had guides talking and explaining the sites as we drove through the city.

Day 5 was Halifax, and we were scheduled to do the Deluxe Hop-on-Hop-Off Tour all together as a family. With the Free at Sea and Latitudes Discount, Alex and I repaid $108 through NCL for this. I have heard great things about these kinds of tours but have never taken one. My parents were excited as well and did one in Boston many years ago. We were scheduled to arrive at 8am, and our tour was supposed to leave at 8:30. Unfortunately, we were delayed once again. We all had breakfast together in O'Sheehan's and watched out the window as the captain was trying to dock us. The Escape was already there and docked, but we were taking forever. I really have no idea what happened, but it took over an hour to get us docked and tied up, and of course, everyone was lined up at Deck 7 (im)patiently waiting to get off the ship. We eventually got into line too, and it was a hot mess. We were backed up passed the atrium jewelry shop, and it only became worse around the elevators. We didn't get off until after 10am. Luckily, there was a fleet of double-decker buses in port ready to take us around Halifax. Halifax is a very industrialized city, and there is a lot to see. We decided to ride the bus most of the way until we were ready to get off. We hoped to do The Citadel, Public Gardens, Maritime Museum, and Brewery. My family is not into cemeteries, but there is a Titanic Cemetary and they offer tours there that you can join in on if you want.

Back on the ship, I went back to our room to shower and change, and I found our latest towel friend waiting for me. I then went to the coloring activity and hung out with Crew Member Zoran, one of my favorite people on The Pearl. He spoke about customs and how hard it is for the crew to get cleared. Once a month they release the names of those that can go ashore in Bar Harbor, and even though Zoran has done all the paperwork needed, has not been cleared yet. He was hoping to get cleared in Sept. Otherwise, it would be another month again. That being said, he was looking forward to tomorrow in Halifax, when we would be in port with The Escape. Friends were on that ship and they could hang out together. It was really nice to just color and hang out for a bit. The ship was really quiet since most passengers were still ashore. Canada has a rule about bars and only one per deck is allowed to be open. As the afternoon went on, it became pretty busy at the bars that were offered. Luckily, they added extra staff at those for support. We had Magnums/Shaker's on Deck 6, The Atrium Bar on Deck 7, O'Sheehan's on Deck 8, and Topsider's on Deck 12. After 5:00, more bars were opened up. I grabbed some pretzels from O'Sheehan's and played Scattergories after coloring, then attended the Music Lyrics Game Show. Bar service at The Atrium was busy, but the crew always took care of me there. My parents and Alex then found me and joined in the Norwegian Pop Quiz, and then we played Ring Toss together. We were trying to rack up signatures this week and looked forward to finding out what prizes we could get at the end of the cruise. I wanted another try at the Bamboozled Tabletop Escape Game, so we convinced my parents to join us. Now remember, Alex and I did this last week with Emilie and Luca. We should know how to complete the challenge. Unfortunately, we could still not get through everything. We did get all 6 locks unlocked, but we couldn't figure out what to do with what we found in the box. No one else completed it either, but we still had fun. We headed to dinner in the main dining room together after the game and then went to the Elton John show. We all enjoyed that one and agreed that this was a great show. However, Jason Ostrowski got off the ship after this week, so that's the end of this one. We all headed to bed after the show since tomorrow was another day in port.