The Official Trippingpara's Chasing the Canadian Sunshine in the Maritimes Review

[trippingpara]

great review. sailing the sunshine in dec.

 

glad you enjoyed the maritimes. the leaves are just starting to change. although i find it hard to enjoy fall knowing that winter is coming.

 

Hi paxpax07. We loved visiting your city. It was very beautiful! I agree with you. I love to see the incredible colors of the changing leaves but I know that it is the sign that winter is right around the corner. :loudcry:. Although watching football and hockey does help some. I'm much more of a spring kind of guy. Everything is blooming and growing and the boat is in the water! Hope you have fun on the Sunshine in Dec.

[pacruise804]

hello from halifax, just had to comment when i saw you mention donairs and a few pubs. there is the real halifax experience.

you can get through the citadel quicker than 2 hours.

hope you have a great visit.

 

 

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Thanks, we are really looking forward to it:)

 

I prefer to not have ice storms or 90+ temps with the 90% humidity, but otherwise I can find something to enjoy - especially if on a ship:cool: (Love Spring and late Summer/early Fall the most)

[deladane]

Yay! I finally got a chance to get caught up after getting home from my cruise on Sunday. I loved your review and all of those photos (especially the ones in NYC... really makes me miss my city!) Thanks for sharing your cruise with us :)

[Russ Lomas]

Thanks for a wonderful review and sharing your vision of the ports through your eyes. I'm an eager photographer as well, so I enjoyed your photos. Great composition in your photos, especially love the one with the colour of the ship in the foreground and the monochrome looking NY city in the background, and love what you did with the bracketing feature one of your last shots (I will have to play with that on my camera now that I see what it can do).

 

We are planning on driving to the East coast for a 2 week vacation with stops in PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia next summer. This will be the first visit for me to the East coast of my country. You have inspired me and I am really looking forward to the photographic opportunities I will have next summer.

[trippingpara]

Yay! I finally got a chance to get caught up after getting home from my cruise on Sunday. I loved your review and all of those photos (especially the ones in NYC... really makes me miss my city!) Thanks for sharing your cruise with us :)

 

Hey deladane, you're back! Guess I need to start reading your French Polynesian review now. Love your reviews, so I'm sure this one will tide me over for a while! Thank you for joining in on this review and I appreciate the kind words. Cheers!

[trippingpara]

Thanks for a wonderful review and sharing your vision of the ports through your eyes. I'm an eager photographer as well, so I enjoyed your photos. Great composition in your photos, especially love the one with the colour of the ship in the foreground and the monochrome looking NY city in the background, and love what you did with the bracketing feature one of your last shots (I will have to play with that on my camera now that I see what it can do).

 

We are planning on driving to the East coast for a 2 week vacation with stops in PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia next summer. This will be the first visit for me to the East coast of my country. You have inspired me and I am really looking forward to the photographic opportunities I will have next summer.

 

Hi Russ. I'm so glad that you enjoyed my review and photos. I really appreciate the kind words, thank you. I grew up listening to the radio from London, Ontario from right across the lake from you in Erie, PA. The Maritimes is truly a beautiful area. Are good friends live in PEI and we are looking at taking a trip out there to visit them.

[trippingpara]

Saturday, August 12th – New York City (cont.)

I love Kimpton hotels. Of course, since it was a little after 8 am when we rolled into the lobby of Ink48, our hotel room wasn't ready. No problem. We dropped off our bags with the bellhop, grabbed our cameras and headed out to see the city.

 

Last weekend, we stayed in central Midtown, right next to the Empire State Building. This time, we opted to stay near the ports in Hell's Kitchen (or Clinton as they are now trying to call it - apparently, this sounds less frightening than Hell's Kitchen). Seeing how I am completely politically incorrect and love history (whether we like the history or not), I'm going to continue calling it Hell's Kitchen.

 

We were planning on visiting the Intrepid since I have free entry as a veteran, but it didn't open for a couple more hours. So, we strolled along the riverfront taking photos (I know, real shocker, huh?)

 

 

We ended up stopping just down the street and grabbing a 2.5 hour boat tour that went down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, around Governor Island into the East River, up the east side into the Harlem River across the north end of Manhattan back into the Hudson River. It was a great tour that allowed us to see areas that we wouldn't have seen on our own.

 

I'll let the photos do the talking from here:

 

 

 

The Governor Island Ferry heading back to it's garage.

The iconic Brooklyn Bridge flying the American flag with the Freedom Tower in the background. 'Merica!

 

 

.

[trippingpara]

Saturday, August 12th – New York City (cont.)

Here are a few more shots from our little cruise around Manhattan.

 

The ruins of the Smallpox Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island

 

The UN Building with the Chrysler Building looming in the background.

 

It was a tight fit going under the bridges on the Harlem River. We were warned when we left that high tide was coming in and we stood a very high chance of not being able to go all the way around the island. We got lucky and just squeezed under all of the bridges.

 

The High Bridge with the High Bridge Recreation Center in the background.

 

As you can see, the weather really took a turn for the worse. Well, not really for the worse, just very cloudy. Here's a pick from when we got off the ship and walked by the Intrepid:

 

Quite the sunny skies, huh?

 

 

.

[trippingpara]

Saturday, August 12th – New York City (cont.)

Sorry for the delay in completing this review, I'm trying to preparing for our trip to Hawaii next week. It's our twentieth year anniversary and we are having a beach vow renewal ceremony. Family and friends are all flying in. It's going to be awesome! Anyways, let's see if I can wrap this puppy up real quick.

 

As soon as the tour ship docked, we immediately headed over to the Intrepid. Thankfully, I had ordered our tickets (even though they were free) online beforehand and just had to go to the Will Call booth to pick them up. This allowed us to bypass the regular ticket line (which was huge and according to signs there, was well over an hour wait time.

After I proved that I was a veteran, we were given our tickets and headed inside the old aircraft carrier. Holy cow! Talk about kids running amok! Eight out of ten placards that I tried to read were impossible to even get to by kids and their rude parents stepping in front of me. Here’s a hint people, when you go to read a placard, if there is someone standing there looking at it, it means that they are reading it too. Please do not stand right in front of them. You are no more important than they are. I heard quite a few other people complaining about the same thing.

 

Once we were up on the flight deck, it was much better. There seemed to be less kids running amok and the parents were more considerate and respectful too. We also go to see the Enterprise Space Shuttle. This is the first time that we were able to see a complete one up close. Very cool! We tried to go visit the USS Growler but the line was too long. It is the only nuclear sub that can be visited by the public and it is a very unusual submarine in its own right.

 

By this time, I had received a text from the hotel telling us that our room was ready, so we headed back there to check in. With key in hand, we strolled up to our room. Shazam! The room was huge and gorgeous! We’re not really into modern architecture, but that room was beautiful! The bathroom was enormous! Every hotel room and bathroom that we’ve stayed at in NYC has been tiny, almost claustrophobic. This was one of the largest bathrooms that I’ve ever seen in any hotel, anywhere!

 

Lady Trip enjoying the view out our hotel window.

We relaxed there for a bit before we headed back out. This time, we made our way towards Times Square to see if we could score some discounted tickets to a Broadway show.

The world's cutest police car

The infamous Naked Cowboy

The hustle and bustle of Times Square

Wait....is she giving the horse a ticket?

After a brief stroll over there, we hopped in line for TIXS in the heart of Times Square (the only place to get 50% off tickets for same day shows). The line was really long but it moved quickly (surprisingly!). We were able to get tickets to Bandstand, a musical about a swing band formed right after the end of WWII of all veterans and a lady who had lost her husband in the war. The acting was outstanding and the music was really good. I am not a fan of musicals/plays, etc., but this was really good.

 

It was a very nice tribute to veterans and they did a very good job understanding some of the challenges that we faced when we came back from combat. Hats off to them. It definitely struck a chord with me. The musical was rather long and ran almost 3 hours including intermission. I understand that it’s run on Broadway is about to end soon. I’m glad that we got to see it before it left.

 

Afterwards, we strolled back to our hotel room, had a couple drinks and finally called it a night. Tomorrow was going to be a reality check and force us back into the real world. We are so not ready to go!!!

 

Goodbye New York City...until next time!

 

.

[Jamman54]

Thank you so much for another wonderful review!!!! (y) (y) Enjoy your trip to Hawaii. Happy Anniversary!!! :bottle-pop:

[riclop]

Thanks for the great review.

[pghsteelerfan]

I have to say that you are going to take Cruise Critic picture reviews to a whole new level. All we so unique and beautiful. So glad you had nice weather, as I've heard it can be hit/miss with the weather/fog. So, what did you think of the Space Shuttle? Wasn't it smaller than what you thought? Back in April 2012, they brought Space Shuttle Discovery up to go into the Air/Space Museum (the one near Washington Dulles). They flew it, piggy back, on top of a NASA 747 with a NASA fighter jet as an escort. We got to see a lot of the "show" from our driveway. Our house is under the flight pattern for planes coming into and out of Dulles. When they flew it in, they took it on a tour of the whole Washington, DC area (northern VA and MD). They flew it right over our neighborhood four different times. It was a sight to see.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to do another review. I always enjoy them, the pictures and your humor. I hope you have a great time in Hawaii and renewing your vows, and again, congratulations on 20 years. We just got back last Sunday morning after being over there for 2 weeks, so that's why I haven't commented recently.

[WillWorkForCruz]

Great Review!!! Outstanding Pictures!!!

We are sailing on the Sunshine June 16, 2018 and your review has been amazing for my "count down therapy" on a cold rainy day in October.

Only 230 days away........that's entirely to long to wait........I need more therapy

[Spudder]

Great question and I wish I had thought of it before we got on board! The ship stayed on EST the whole trip. So when we docked at 8:00 am EST in either Saint John or Halifax, it was 9:00 am AST. Something I'm quite sure our good friends from PEI that met us in Halifax would have appreciated me knowing in advance!!

We are also from PEI and always curious how people enjoy coming to the Maritimes. It is truly beautiful and worth a visit. Here in PEI we have 50-60 cruise ships per year. Thanks for doing this review and all the best!

[trippingpara]

I have to say that you are going to take Cruise Critic picture reviews to a whole new level. All we so unique and beautiful. So glad you had nice weather, as I've heard it can be hit/miss with the weather/fog. So, what did you think of the Space Shuttle? Wasn't it smaller than what you thought? Back in April 2012, they brought Space Shuttle Discovery up to go into the Air/Space Museum (the one near Washington Dulles). They flew it, piggy back, on top of a NASA 747 with a NASA fighter jet as an escort. We got to see a lot of the "show" from our driveway. Our house is under the flight pattern for planes coming into and out of Dulles. When they flew it in, they took it on a tour of the whole Washington, DC area (northern VA and MD). They flew it right over our neighborhood four different times. It was a sight to see.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to do another review. I always enjoy them, the pictures and your humor. I hope you have a great time in Hawaii and renewing your vows, and again, congratulations on 20 years. We just got back last Sunday morning after being over there for 2 weeks, so that's why I haven't commented recently.

 

Hey pghsteelerfan, I just got back from sunny Hawai'i and it was incredible! Too bad I can't do land vacation reviews on here. My daughter is trying to get me to start a blog so I can write about it there (along with my other recent trips to England and India). Who knows, maybe I'll give it a try!

 

The Space Shuttle was smaller than I expected. Wish you were allowed to look inside that it, that would be neat to see.

[trippingpara]

Great Review!!! Outstanding Pictures!!!

We are sailing on the Sunshine June 16, 2018 and your review has been amazing for my "count down therapy" on a cold rainy day in October.

Only 230 days away........that's entirely to long to wait........I need more therapy

 

Hi WillWorkForCruz, glad you enjoyed the review. Those 230 days will be gone in no time! At least that's what I keep telling myself for our upcoming Alaska cruise in August!

[trippingpara]

We are also from PEI and always curious how people enjoy coming to the Maritimes. It is truly beautiful and worth a visit. Here in PEI we have 50-60 cruise ships per year. Thanks for doing this review and all the best!

 

 

Hi Spudder,

We absolutely loved the Maritimes and are trying to find some time to come up to PEI to visit our friends there. We'll probably just drive up since we're not too far away in Boston and it sounds like a fun road trip up there. Thank you for reading along and dropping me a note.