rudeney

We skipped dessert and made it to the 7pm ice show. I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure exactly what the plot was, but it was 100% action and the skaters were excellent.

Sorry for the delays. It was crazy foggy last night and Voom was nearly unusable. Chops was great. Jan had her usual shrimp cocktail and rib eye. I had the carpaccio and filet, plus lobster. They did charge even on the UDP, but it was worth it.

Don't worry about the market - it's not much. Some vendors with interesting things, some lunch counters and that's it. We didn't do anything in Sydney, but those who did say some great sights - lakes, streams, foliage. Chops was great! Make sure you ask for Vlad - he's the best.

It's very hilly - you might want to keep that shorex. There's not much to see on your own. Which shorex did you book?

Day 6 Cruise Compass:

Day 5 Cruise Compass:

We played a bit in the casino yesterday and last night. I won 1,200 in black jack. 1,200 pennies, that is. 😜 Yep, if I didn't have the DBP, I'd have bought myself a drink (or part of one). We'll probably play some more tomorrow. Jan has not yet lost all her money in the slot machines. Today is Sydney, NS. We were docked by the time I got up and out at 7:30am. It's foggy/drizzly and cool. I did water aerobics and some hot tubbing before breakfast. We decided to do Chops this morning as we wanted a change from the Windjammer. We have a massage booked for 1:00pm, then dinner in Chops at 5:30, and the ice show at 9:15.

The only evidence we saw of storm damage was in the low tide caves of St. Martins. The storms blew down some trees and eroded some soil so they were afraid more trees would fall, so they had the caves roped off. Otherwise, they said they just had high winds and rain with minimal damage. We're in Sydney now and it all looks fine, but we only got off the ship briefly to pickup a few souvenirs. They did cancel some excursions due to storm damage on the Cabot trail.

We are in the Windjammer tonight. It was good and not too crowded. After that, the show was Frankie and The Dreamers. They were great! The best stage show I've seen on a cruise ship. "Working my way back to the Windjammer" (yes, that's what they sang)

I would save my money of the Saint John shorex. There are some interesting sights there, but we were spoiled by Bar Harbor and Portland. I am not sure what the pax count is, but the ship does not feel crowded. I've never had to wait in a line to get a drink - behind one person at the most. We've been able to get a seat in all the bars. Today is a sea day, headed from Saint John to Sydney, and it's VERY foggy, cool, and drizzly, so everyone's staying inside. Even with that, it does not feel crowded. I was down on the Promenade a few hours ago around 3:00pm and it was busy, but not congested. All the tables at Pig & Whistle were taken, but I walked up and grabbed a drink with no wait. There was no wait at Cafe Promenade, except about 4 or 5 in line for coffee. There were plenty of seats at the other bars, and the casino was busy, but you could get a machine or table seat if wanted. I will say something about the "spirit" of this cruise. All the passengers we meet are happy and having a great time, but the crew is even more enthusiastic. They have been AWESOME! Masking for them is optional, and I'd say about 1/3 are wearing them, but they often drop them when talking to us. The ship is in good shape - yes, there's some rust and some worn surfaces and such, but it's still beautiful and so far just a great experience. We've have no problems with shortages, though some wines are unavailable. For cabernet by the glass, it's pretty much Oberon, which is just fine. It's listed at $15/glass, but I've not been up-charged with the DBP. I've been drinking Johnnie Walker Double-Black and not all bars have it. I have not seen a great selection of bourbon. I am not a big bourbon drinker, so I haven't really looked for specific brands, but mostly I see Jack and Wild Turkey and such. I think I saw some Evan Williams, but no Bulliet or other higher-end brands. Oh, and Voom as been "usable" I've not done any streaming, but it's bee great for calls and texts, and I'm able to get to FB and CC, so I guess I'm good with it!

I have no clue! Vlad just said this this chef tweaked the recipe a bit. Something about using the "older" recipe maybe?

Boston Logan really doesn't want you to use Uber or Lyft. They have to pickup somewhere in "central parking" and we never could find out how to get there as the signs were terrible. We ended up walking by the taxi staging area (also in parking, directly across from the terminal building) so we took a cab. Even with tip, it was still less than the Uber price prior to tip. As you'd expect, the cab drivers and their traffic managers are rude. We had a bunch of luggage and needed an SUV. They put us in a RAV4 which barely held it., and only after I yelled at the cabbie to stop trying to slam the tailgate and force my luggage to fit. From the Westin to the terminal is walkable, but I wouldn't do it with a lot of luggage - the sidewalks are uneven, there's a lot of traffic, plus construction. We took an Uber and it was $10. I tipped another $10 because they guy was so nice and helpful.

I am not sure how they are doing tender tickets. We booked through RCCL, so we just met in the theater and they escorted us onto a tender. I think they give priority to those on RCCL excursions, but everyone else has to get in line.

Cruise Compass Day 4:

Cruise Compass Day 3:

Cruise Compass Day 2:

Cruise Compass Day 1: Day

Oh! Before I forget...the Chops wine list:

Today we're at sea, enroute to Sydney, NS. It's very foggy. We awoke to the fog horn sounding. I was up before 8:00am and headed up to the Solarium for some pool laps and hot tub soaking. It was totally vacant. The pool was not as warm today as it had been, and the hot tub was almost too hot, but I still enjoyed it. We then had breakfast in he Windjammer, and relaxed in the room. The fog lifted enough to not have to use the horn, but it's still a dreary day. We're headed to the casino now.

We headed back to Saint John and made a stop at the Reversing Falls again to see if things had changed. They had not, except that the paper mill across the river was down for the evening so it was less noisy. We were back on the ship around 6:00pm. Sail away was not until 11:00pm. I am not sure why it was so late, because there was not really a lot to do in town. Portland would have been a much better port for a late departure. Jan was tired so she decided to rest before our 8:00pm dinner in Chops. I headed out and ran into some friends I had met on boarding day, so I enjoyed a few drinks with them in the VK lounge. Saint John is not as nice looking as Portland or Bar Harbor, but it has it's own bit of charm. Dinner was in Chops. Our waiter was a young man from Ukraine named Vlad. He had a VERY dry but VERY funny sense of humor. For example, we had no salt and pepper shakers on the table so as he grabbed the ones from the vacant table next to us, he casually said, "Hmm, someone must have stolen them. I will open an investigation." We talked about his family and the war. He had left in 2019, before the invasion, and was scheduled to go back home in August to start college, but now he can't As we dined and chatted, we told him how much we enjoyed is sense of humor. He said that it almost caused him to be fired. Some guests had complained on the end-of-cruise survey that he was rude and "sarcastic" to them. I guess they just had no sense of humor, and maybe had a hard time with his Ukrainian dry wit. He hustled, kept our win glasses full and was one of the best servers we've had so far. On the way out. we asked the maitre de to please seat us ad Vlad's for our next two meals in Chops. So for the meal, Jan had the shrimp cocktail appetizer and I had the tuna tartar - both were excellent. For entrees, Jan had the bone-in ribeye again, and I had the NY Strip. Both were good, but I think I'll have the filet next time. I forgot to take shots of the steaks, but they look just like the ones I posted a few days ago. I usually don't get dessert, and Jan said she wanted to get hers to go, and chose the apple pie. Vlad said that was a bad idea, because the pie is best hot, and the ice cream would melt. She then talked about getting cheesecake. We had seen a lot of people enjoying the red velvet cake, and Vlad said the chef used a slight alteration to the RCCL recipe to make it more moist. He ended up bringing Jan the apple pie, red velvet for me, plus a cheesecake and key lime pie to go. Oh, and he never let our wine glasses get empty (we have the UDP and had ordered some wines by the glass - white zin for Jan, cabernet for me). After that, Jan decided to relax in the cabin, but I wen up to the VK lounge to see what was going on. I found our friends still there and enjoyed a few drinks with them as we sailed away.

Next up was a drive to the small town of St. Martins, about an hour northeast of Saint John on the Bay of Fundy. We too the long way so we could see some of the shore areas along Fundy. It was nice, and there was just a hint of color in the trees. St. Martins is a small fishing village. It has an unusual rocky 'beach" and when the tide is out (which it was), there are caves that could be explored, except they had them roped off due to falling trees.

They drove us up to the remnants of an old fort that had a good view of the ship. I didn't get out for a photo because it was not a very good shot of Voyager. Our next stop was the City Market in town. We were there for about and hour, giving us more than enough time to see all the vendors wares, and grab a sandwich to go. It was an interesting place, but not really something I'd pay for a tour to go see (it is walkable from the terminal). We ended up sitting in the park across the street enjoying the nice day - mostly sunny, upper 60's.

We did the Saint John Bucket List shorex. It was nothing great. We had fun, and our tour guide Lynn was very good, but it paled in comparison to the tours in Bar Harbor and Portland. The fist took us to Reversing Falls, which was nothing exciting. I guess had we been there when the tide was coming in and pushing back into the river, it might have been more interesting, but otherwise, it's just a turbulent river in an industrial area.

We're in Saint John, New Brunswick this morning. No one in the pool!

Last night's dinner was at Izumi. The edamame starter was very good. Jan doe NOT like sushi - she won't even try it! So she had fried rice, beef teriyaki, and yaki udon with chicken. I had the gyoza dumplings, the chef's sushi selection, and sashimi. I liked everything. Jan said the udon noodles were a bit too mushy, and the chicken didn't have much flavor, but I thought it was fine. I don't normally each the garnishing (besides the wasabi and ginger) but I got a bite of the seaweed on the sushi plate and it was incredibly good! It was like a sweet slaw - not a briny seaweed flavor. I asked the matire de about it when he came by and he said it was special long preparation process to get it to taste that way. I could easily have eaten a side of that! One thing I didn't mention was that yesterday's all-aboard was at 4:30pm, but our RCCL-purchased tour was slightly late, by about 5 minutes. We got stuck at a drawbridge. Of course the ship waited for use, but I noticed several people on their balconies looking at us, probably hoping to get some "dock runner" videos. Sorry to disappoint! After dinner, Jan had some Ben & Jerry's ice cream and I had (another) drink and we enjoyed browsing around in The Promenade. And speaking of drinks, here's something I had been curious about. I drink mostly Scotch, and have had no problems finding Johnnie Walker Black Label, but I find that all the bartenders have been carefully measuring the drinks. By the time I have them add some ice and a splash of club soda, it gets a bit watered-down. I asked one of the bartenders for a double, and she said it would be an upcharge because basically, I'd be getting two drinks. Since I had both Jan's and my SeaPass cards (and Jan was at the table), I asked if I could get my drink as a single and a shot "for her". The bartender immediately understood and complied with my manipulation of the system. I did that later, but didn't ask about a double - I just ordered the drink and shot. When that bartender saw me pour the shot into the drink, she laughed and gave me a thumbs-up and laughed. Anyhow, that's how I've been getting doubles.