Jazmyn49 Posted September 9, 2013 #351 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Great posts and pix! Be on deck on the port side as you leave St. John's. Signal Hill is the gathering spot for the locals to wave at the ships as they depart. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam as the last ship of the season and had a royal sendoff. Captain Mercer replied to the people and banners with mighty toots. The locals were among the friendliest we've ever met. We'll go back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapper1 Posted September 9, 2013 #352 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Great posts and pix! Be on deck on the port side as you leave St. John's. Signal Hill is the gathering spot for the locals to wave at the ships as they depart. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam as the last ship of the season and had a royal sendoff. Captain Mercer replied to the people and banners with mighty toots. The locals were among the friendliest we've ever met. We'll go back! Newfies are the friendliest people you will ever encounter no matter where you travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted September 9, 2013 #353 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Love the pictures of St John's Newfoundland. It has been at least 20 years since we were there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted September 9, 2013 #354 Share Posted September 9, 2013 The Bar Menu is the same one I posted some time ago. Grey Goose is still $6.95. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 9, 2013 Author #355 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Sun., Sept. 8, 2013, St. John’s (Cont.) As you can see from the photos of the approach to town, Weather.com and the HAL daily program predictions of partly cloudy and 70 F were wild hyperbole, gross exaggeration or flat-out wrong. We had an excursion for a walking tour called “A Stroll Through St. John’s. As we stepped off the ship, we even thought we should have brought sunglasses, as the skies were getting brighter. That feeling lasted at least 45 seconds; it quickly became gray again. The walking tour started with a bus ride … um, what? OK, they explained that we would drive to the top of the hill of St. John’s and walk back, which sounded like an excellent arrangement to me; much better than the reverse. The bus dropped us near Government House. Our excellent tour guide pointed out some buildings from Fort William of early St. John’s history (some of which are now the Sheraton Hotel). We then walked to and into the foyer area of the Government House, the residence of the Lieutenant Governor: We had a couple of quick passing showers, but thought nothing of it during this portion of the walk. The weather was lulling us into complacency. We then mosied past a green space and another historic building, the Colonial House (currently undergoing renovations, so not open), then on to the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. John the Baptist (the twin-towered building in the skyline photo in a previous post): This was a beautiful cathedral, with lots of ornate decoration. But, while we were inside, the rain started. And how! We waited for a bit for the rain to slacken, and then strolled a bit faster to the Anglican cathedral, called … uh, St. John the Baptist. It, too, was a beautiful place of worship, and I could hear the rain really pounding on the roof as we toured it. Our guide called for a bus to take us back to the ship instead of having us do the 6-8 minute walk back. Some opted to walk anyway. When we pulled in, I noticed a lot of houses with a lot of color on them, kind of like Reykjavik and Nanortalik – I posted a photo in an earlier post. On the walk, I saw many more such houses. Here are some shots: Colorful houses 2: Colorful house 3: Colorful houses 4: It was a nice tour, about 2.5 hours, and our guide offered a lot of history and context. But, this is one tour that would be easy to do on your own – just get a map and some info from the St. John’s tourist info folks who were readily available, and set off on your way. I did notice from the vantage of the Catholic basilica that anyone who booked a tour that included a visit to Signal Hill and was hoping for a shot of the Eurodam in the harbor was out of luck, as the hill was socked in: More later, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innlady1 Posted September 9, 2013 #356 Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) Oh thank goodness. :D LOL! :o Edited September 9, 2013 by innlady1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 9, 2013 Author #357 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Sun., Sept. 8, 2013, St. John’s (Cont.) We came back, showered and changed to dry clothes, and had a drink before dinner. During dinner, the weather cleared and the fog lifted from the hills. Of course. Here are the menus: I had the mussels starter: Followed by the liver with pancetta and onions and spinach: For dessert, I had the most noblest chocolate dessert of all (or at least yet this cruise), the double chocolate tortlet, with both dark and milk chocolate mousses: The weather continued to improve until just before sailaway, when the sun (which had been Godot all day) made a few cameo appearances, before setting behind the city in what was, OK, a pretty impressive show: We attended the sailaway performance by the Lido pool of two kilted gentlemen from the Halifax Citadel, but we were too far away from the bagpiper corporal and Highlander sergeant to get a good photo. The bagpipe music filled the space, even though the ship opened the Lido roof. More later, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted September 9, 2013 #358 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Thx for today's update. I hope you see the sun sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 9, 2013 Author #359 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Monday, September 9, 2013, at sea Yesterday was full of things to do, and I did not finish blogging it all until this morning. It should be a relaxing day at sea today, although there are all kinds of things going on if we are interested. Tonight is the final formal night. Here are the photos of today’s program: More later, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innlady1 Posted September 9, 2013 #360 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Beautiful photos, Dave. Thank you for taking us along! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Eyes Are Sailing Posted September 9, 2013 #361 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Hey, Sail!! They had your Calf's Liver on the menu!!!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 9, 2013 Author #362 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.) We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun! Here are some shots: More later, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthC Posted September 9, 2013 #363 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.) We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun! Oh, what fun! :D I love it. Give a whole new meaning to the term "chair hogs". I am so glad you had your camera with you, and that you got there before the delightful scene was demolished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapper1 Posted September 9, 2013 #364 Share Posted September 9, 2013 What fun!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare brazilgirl Posted September 9, 2013 #365 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Oh , my kids would have loved that! They get such a kick out of towel animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sppunk Posted September 9, 2013 #366 Share Posted September 9, 2013 That is AWESOME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Eyes Are Sailing Posted September 9, 2013 #367 Share Posted September 9, 2013 I am surprised that the crew could find the time to do all that! Really unique! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantwilma Posted September 9, 2013 #368 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Thank you for bringing to life your voyage experience. I know this takes a lot of time. We're on this ship next year for our Baltic journey and have sailed on it last year through the Caribbean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startwin Posted September 9, 2013 #369 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.) We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun! Here are some shots: More later, Dave Wow, sounds like a real fun morning! Great photos, Dave.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumsysailor Posted September 9, 2013 #370 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Thank you for bringing to life your voyage experience. I know this takes a lot of time. We're on this ship next year for our Baltic journey and have sailed on it last year through the Caribbean. I noticed this is your first post. Welcome to Cruise Critic. Mumsy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Copper10-8 Posted September 9, 2013 #371 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Awesome!:) Never seen that done before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumsysailor Posted September 9, 2013 #372 Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) Absolutely loving the towel animal pictures. I would have liked to have seen that for real. Great fun! Mumsy. Edited September 9, 2013 by Mumsysailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaspersmycat Posted September 9, 2013 #373 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Wow! This is what keeps me coming back to HAL. The crew members who did this went a step above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innlady1 Posted September 9, 2013 #374 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Hey, Sail!! They had your Calf's Liver on the menu!!!:) Thanks for pointing that out, Linda! And, Dave posted a photo, too, as that was his entrée. It is yummy...I had it on either the Ryndam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innlady1 Posted September 9, 2013 #375 Share Posted September 9, 2013 That is so cool, Dave! What fun...haven't experienced a pool party for the towel animals yet! They do go above and beyond..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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