geoherb

From the park, I walked to the Halifax Public Gardens. They're Victorian gardens originally designed in the 1800s. I enjoyed walking along the paths. The hike over from the park was a couple of miles. I enjoyed walking along neighborhood streets past Victorian houses, modern houses, and 20th century bungalows.

I had a great time in Halifax. I walked down the Point Pleasant Park. A misty drizzle fell. I did not need my umbrella most of the time, but occasionally it would start raining enough to get it out. There are nice wide walking paths with fine gravel. I enjoyed seeing a lot of locals walking their dogs. There are some ruins of a fort there and the Martello tower. A man saw me trying the door. He said they keep it locked now, but that when he was a kid, people used to be able to climb to the top.

Here is today's Patter. The rumors about afternoon tea are true: they're not having it on port days currently. I remember when they made the change to choosing not to serve lunch in the dining room on port days several years ago. We still miss it sometimes, especially in the Caribbean when we get back to the ship in time for lunch or don't leave at all. Someone mentioned that the line for afternoon tea yesterday was to the piazza. I did not go.

He is on the cruise with his wife, but she was sleeping in this morning.

The weather delayed our arrival in Halifax by about an hour. I got to call home and talk to DH while watching the workers tie up the ship's ropes as we docked. It was a light rain, but the shopping cart handle and Skywalkers was blocking most of it as I walked back and forth while talking on the phone. My T-Mobile plan includes free calls from Canada. I waited until getting the confirmation message: "Welcome to Canada! Your plan includes coverage that gives you 5GB/mo. of high-speed data On Us, plus unlimited calls and texts to and from the US at no extra cost. Enjoy your stay!" They just made an announcement that excursions are delayed, naturally, because of our being late in arriving. Passengers with tickets need to check in at the theater or excursion desk. Several have been canceled.

A man from Alabama sat at my table this morning for breakfast. I did not get his name. I know he's going on the world cruise next year on the Island Princess.

The forecast for today in Halifax is calling for rain after lunch. I'll try to get the bulk of my walking around in the morning, have lunch, then visit the indoor places in the afternoon before heading back to the ship. The cruise director recommended walking down to Point Pleasant Park. There are easy trails and a Martello tower--an old round stone fort. I forgot to mention that I went to dinner early last night so I could be finished in time for the Yes-No gameshow. It was fun as always. Only one contestant managed to make it the full three minutes without saying yes or no. A few made it into the last quarter on the clock. The first one out lasted just 7 seconds. Kristoff and Gareth were the inquisitors. They did not enforce the formal dress code at dinner. I'd guess 10 percent of the men in the dining room had on casual shirts. The majority did wear jackets and ties. There were a few in tuxedos. I did not feel out of place in my dress shirt and tie and slacks. I did not see anyone wearing shorts or jeans or baseball caps in the dining room. The ship continued to rock and roll throughout the night and still is this morning.

Dinner tonight was delicious. I had the crab cake appetizer, an appetizer size portion of the Indian butter shrimp, and the filet mignon. Dessert was one of my favorites: the hazelnut chocolate journey. Unfortunately, we are rocking and rolling a bit, and they postponed the production show (Broadway Ballroom) for later in our cruise. John Bressler, a piano player and former nominee as Princess entertainer of the year, performed two shows in the theater instead. I enjoyed his show overall, although he's not that great a singer. He ended up, though, being funnier than last night's comedian.

It's is general sharing with strangers. I was wrong about it being less crowded in the back. I had to wait about 10 minutes in line. At one point, it stretched up the stairs to the Promenade Deck. Tonight was the first formal night, so lots of people dressed up and wanted to eat early. They had the entrances marked--one for people with reservations and one for people without them. But they were telling people without reservations to check back at 8:00 or later. I'm not sure how I'll feel about sharing a table with strangers on my next cruise when we won't have to test before boarding and any natural immunity I may have from having had Covid in June has waned. Maybe I'll have my third booster by then.

Temptation was available at the International Cafe when I went down for the ring toss. They're doing a cruise long mini Olympics. (Don't let the U.S. Olympic Committee know.) Each sea day will have a different event--ring toss, bean bag toss, putting, basketball, etc. Passengers get 5 points for showing up. Today we got additional points added for however many we scored on the ring toss game. A few people are in the lead with 50 points apiece. I had 15. Unfortunately, the two rings I nailed were the 5 and the 10 point ones instead of the 25. Around three-quarters of the people had 0. The points will accumulate throughout the cruise. The little mini cheesecakes at the International Cafe are my weakness. Today's flavor was mango. They're light and deceiving, I'm sure. I stopped by the station where a crew member is helping people with app problems. I gave up, though, because my phone would not replicate the problem I was having earlier with making dining reservations. It was just spinning and spinning on a "loading" page. But now that I'm back in my cabin, I managed to get it to work. I have a reservation at a shared table at 6:20 in the Palm Dining Room. I'm hoping it's less crowded than the two central dining rooms.

I ate an enjoyable lunch in the dining room. I got there a little before noon, and they had already started seating people. I had the soy-glazed prawns and vegetarian burrito. As one of my tablemates mentioned, "They just look like shrimp to me. They're too small to be called 'prawns.'" But they tasted very good. Once again, I skipped out on getting a dessert. I will check out the sweets at the International Cafe later this afternoon if I'm hungry. After lunch, I attended the martini demonstration. I was one of the first volunteers, getting to shake it and keep the one I shook. It was vodka, blue curacao, and melon liquor with a bit of juice. I couldn't hear if it was lemon or pineapple. It was tasty and free. The progressive trivia was interesting. Teams of up to six people as usual, but the 20 questions were written on pieces of paper instead of presented one by one on the screens. I'm confident in 15 answers out of 20. I guessed at the other five and looked them up later. I got two out of the five right, so I should have 17 out of 20. I should have had 18 if I had followed my first instinct on one of them instead of second guessing myself. I forgot to mention earlier that they said they were not holding the chef's table on this cruise. I wonder if she was telling the truth or if they had already filled it by the time I called the dine line.

Thanks for the tip about walking to the lake. The itinerary for the cruise is three ports in Canada and three in Greenland and lots of days at sea. It's a 16-day cruise. We will stop in Halifax and Sydney on the way to Greenland and St. John's on the way back. The three ports in Greenland are Nuuk, Nanortalik, and Qaqortoq.

I went at 8 and there was not much of a line. They separated it into those with reservations and those without. I did not make any reservations for the cruise--waiting to see the schedule each day. And now the app not allowing me to do so. At breakfast, it was separated into those who were willing to share a table and those who did not want to share. At lunch today, it was the same as for breakfast eventually. When I left, they were telling people who wanted a table for two that it would be a 10-minute wait.

It's been adequate so far, with download speeds of 2.5-3.5 Mbps. I haven't tried streaming any videos or using wi-fi calling yet, though. I am getting a Cruise Critic hiccup. I've learned to copy anything I write before hitting the button to post it, just in case it doesn't go through.

She said she is. I enjoyed it in December--songs made famous by Julie Andrews and Judy Garland, plus a few others thrown in.

I asked the room service steward who delivered my minibar items. She did not know. I'll try to ask someone else who may have a better idea later.

The refund for the transfer from the airport showed up on my onboard account overnight. I wish passengers could still check their statements on the television. There's still an option to do so, but it gives a message to check on the app instead. It's too difficult for me to see on my phone, so I'm glad it's still accessible on my laptop through "Ocean Concierge" online. There's also a refund of $13.79 from port fees and taxes. I also used that section to purchase a couple of future cruise deposits. I like to keep three on hand just in case. A team won the morning trivia with a perfect score. My team had 18. There was another team with 19. We missed out on the fabulous coasters. The cruise-long progressive trivia is this afternoon.

Here's a photo of the officers on the ship. I can try to find out the names of the ones that are illegible because they are wearing white jackets.

I checked my notes about the guest soprano, Caroline Miller. I really enjoyed her shows in December, so I'm planning on going back to see her again when she performs in Bravo and her solo show. There's a conflict between this morning's meet and greet and trivia. Trivia will win for me. We lost an hour last night. I woke up a little after 6. Getting up so early yesterday must have set my body ahead in advance. About 6:30, I heard the crew members start moving chairs around the pool. It did not bother me since I was already awake. It's much quieter than the dancers were last night. According to the numbers given by the cruise director last night, there are around 2,600 passengers. He broke down the numbers by the top six passenger nationalities--from three South Africans to 209 Canadians and 2,338 Americans.

And today's Patter.

Here is yesterday's Patter.

The production shows are Broadway Ballroom, Born to Be Wild, and Bravo. I talked with the guest soprano. She's been on since November and will be on until the first week of November. I'll have to look up my notes to see, but I think I enjoyed her performances last December when I was on the CB. The cast is four singers, three male dancers, and five female dancers.

Sailaway was great. We got to see a beautiful sunset since the ship did not leave until 7:30. I figured out the herd of elephants I could hear from my cabin were the dancers right above me. They did the sailaway party from Neptune's Reef and Pool area. MUTS is at the Calypso Reef and Pool. I went to dinner after we passed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It was a nice table for 8 with a couple from Florida, a couple from Iowa, a couple from South Carolina, and a solo woman from California. The food was good. I thought there would be plenty of time to eat and make it to the show. I was wrong. I skipped out on dessert to go see Doug Funk's show. I don't know if I've seen him before or he was just telling old jokes that other comedians also tell. I left about halfway through.

Bars of soap are gone. There's a liquid soap dispenser at the sink as well as a lotion dispenser. The fragrance is described as eucalyptus and sea salt. It smells more like gardenias to me. A woman ahead of me in line at the handwashing station at the buffet sniffed it and said that she wasn't going to be using it. I'm glad I brought a bar of soap for the shower, and I had an old bar from a previous cruise in my Dopp kit. My cabin steward said they did not have any Elite bathroom amenities. He did offer to search for a bar of soap, but I told him not to bother--and that was before finding the little bar for the sink. Even after calling room service about the mix of beverages I wanted, the word had not gotten around to the steward delivering them. But she wrote down the assortment I want and said it would be delivered. My cabin is right under the pool. I can hear the music and dancing from the sailaway party. I'm heading up there to watch us leave New York City in a minute. Thankfully, this will not be an everyday occurrence.

Sorry you're not joining us. I hope you have mild cases. I saw several people post on the roll call and Facebook threads saying that they had to cancel in the past couple of weeks for various reasons, including the woman who was organizing the meet and greet and several of the activities.