LIVE! Dragon OfTheSeas and the Snowbird Migration from Quebec to FLL Oct 7-20, 2019

[YlangYlangF9PB3E]

Thank you for taking the time to post your wonderful trip! I am thrilled to tag along, as we are another pair who had to cancel this beautiful cruise.  Also, our friends are aboard, another fun reason to follow!  Have fun - wish we were there!!!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

33 minutes ago, YlangYlangF9PB3E said:

Thank you for taking the time to post your wonderful trip! I am thrilled to tag along, as we are another pair who had to cancel this beautiful cruise.  Also, our friends are aboard, another fun reason to follow!  Have fun - wish we were there!!!

 

It is a shame you had to cancel.  Maybe you can do it next year.  It will be the Vision of the Seas doing this itinerary then. 

 

Also, the Empress will do a similar itinerary, but it will start in Montreal.  It is such a small ship it can get under the bridges between Quebec City and Montreal.  . . . and I think it has an over night stay in Quebec City.  Happy cruising.😊

[5280mom]

 Can anyone give me an idea of the average age of guests on this itinerary?  We would love to take this trip but are  mid to late 40s. 😉

[LXA350]

5 minutes ago, 5280mom said:

 Can anyone give me an idea of the average age of guests on this itinerary?  We would love to take this trip but are  mid to late 40s. 😉

 

At least on last year's cruise the average crowd was more towards 60+. Also, in the next years at least smaller and older class of ships will offer this itinarary (Vision Class)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, 5280mom said:

 Can anyone give me an idea of the average age of guests on this itinerary?  We would love to take this trip but are  mid to late 40s. 😉

 

2 hours ago, LXA350 said:

 

At least on last year's cruise the average crowd was more towards 60+. Also, in the next years at least smaller and older class of ships will offer this itinarary (Vision Class)

I would say for sure that this cruise has an older demographic.  There are a ton of veteran cruisers.  

 

However, on the excursion we took to the Quebec countryside there were 2 younger couples in your demographic.  Also, I have noticed a couple of children in stroller.  I am thinking their parents are in their 30s.  YMMV

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This is where we are at the current time.  

 

The Internet is a little glitchy. I tied to get on the server this afternoon and could not.  I am not sure if it is the distance from port or the number of people using it.  On a sea day you always have a high volume of users. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We will be on Prince Edward Island today.  When she was young our DD loved the Anne of Green Gables books.  We are going on a tour with 2 other couples from our Cruise Critic roll call. [Thank you Linda for arranging this].  I reread the first 2 books in the series to get myself ready for the visit. 

 

First we are going to drive through Charlottetown.  Then we will make a stop at Prince Edward Island Preserves in New Glasgow [preserves, honey, etc] PEI is very agricultural and these will be local goods.

 

Then we continue to North Rustico/PEI National Park, home of Cavendish Beach and the Green Gables House. We will get the opportunity to tour homestead, walk paths, and boardwalk. The admission is ~$7 CAD.  It seems many people do not want to actually tour the house--they just want to say they have been there. So the admission is on your own.

 

Next is Rustico Harbor. This is a traditional fishing village and then we drive back to the city.

 

FYI--Admission to Green Gables House is $6.55 & Cavendish Beach is $3.40 CAD

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I was up early this morning and got a couple of sunrise pictures.  Also, I got the sail in.

 

It was very foggy before dawn.  When it cleared it still hung on the water. 

 

 

 

The first rays of light

 

I was not the only one up.  There were people out walking the track on deck 12.  It takes 8 laps to equal a mile.  My first thought was --CRAZY!  But, they likely thought the same thing about me taking pictures of the sunrise. 

 

 

 

 

This is always my favorite picture when I am on a cruise.  

 

 

Here is our first view of Charlottetown.

 

. . . of look!  They have a large church near the port.  DH says I take him to forts and churches everywhere we go.  

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[wishuponasea]

I LOVE the Anne books! We will definitely visit Green Gables when we are there next year! I'll need to borrow the book back from my mom  :)  Thanks for posting!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

OK, it is time for a few more pictures from around the Royal Promenade. 

 

A casual place to get a quick bite to eat is the Café Promenade.  The car out front is cool, too. 

 

 

 

 

The Duck and Dog Pub is very popular.  They have seating inside and out on the promenade. You can see the TV screen.  It was showing sports each time we passed by.  I am not sure if the had the baseball games on this TV.  We were able to get it in our cabin.  We only watched for a short while because we wanted to be out and about.  I am sorry we did not at least get to see the end of the game.  Washington sports fans so seldom have things to cheer about. 😂 We have to savor the moments.

 

 

This is Izumi, the Japanese specialty restaurant.  We never see anyone eating here.  Maybe it will be busier later in the cruise.  

Edited October 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[dani negreanu]

Thank you for your riveting and enjoyable review.

We've done part of your itinerary, mainly for PEI and the overnight in Quebec. Your pics are amazing and it's nice to relive memories.

[FionaMG]

Thanks for sharing Dragon.

I will be on Adventure over Thanksgiving so thoroughly enjoying your pics and comments about the ship. The last time I sailed on Adventure was 8 years ago so I know there will be differences this time around!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Time to share a few pictures from Prince Edward Island.  We had a GREAT day.  The weather was perfect. It is a little crisp for us Virginians, but I guide told us this is as good as it gets in the fall. The temp was 58 and very sunny. 

 

This is the terminal building.  It has a few kiosks for shopping. 

 

 

This is Founders Hall.  It is just across the parking lot and has more shops and a few restaurants.

 

First we toured Charlotte town by van.  We had a ~14 person van for the 6 of us.  It was perfect.  It had wifi, but we were all too busy looking at the scenery to use it. 

 

Here is the Large Catholic church we could see from the ship. 

 

 

The Province Hall is where the Confederation took place.  It is currently under construction. 

 

 

One interesting story regarding Charlottetown involves Lucy the duck.  The local home center put out their trees, shrubs, etc for planting season.  And Lucy decided to make her nest in the store lot. 

 

She had her ducklings and they had to stop the traffic on the main road to get her and ducklings to the other side of the road to the pond.  This story reminded me of the children's book, Make Way For Ducklings. 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

PEI is mostly an agricultural area.  We had the most beautiful drive.  The fields were being harvested and the leaves were in full color.  

 

 

 

 

Our first atop was at the Prince Edwards Preserve Company.

They sell jellies, preserves, honey and PEI potato chips.  They make their own products on the site.

 

 

 

The guide said most of the potatoes harvested here go to processing plants.  He said if you have ever eaten  Wendy's fries you have had PEI potatoes.  The top picture is a potato field.  The dirt here is very red from the iron content.  

[YlangYlangF9PB3E]

Great pictures!  Thank you😉

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The next stop was the Anne of Green Gables property. This house was actually the McNeil House.  It belonged to the authors cousin. [she did not live there]  However, it was the setting for her books. 

 

 

 

 

They decorated the house according to the descriptions in the book series. 

 

This is looking toward what they called the "Haunted Woods."

 

 

The house is no place for a tall person.  My DH is 6' 3".  Look at this door frame.  

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Here are a couple more Anne of Green Gables pics.  

 

This is the walkway through the haunted woods.  [it was just a path before]

 

 

This is the cemetery where she is buried.  It is between the bushes.  I could not get a good picture--sorry.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

The Anne of Green Gables House is on the North Shore in the community of Cavendish.  

 

They have designated a narrow width of land along the coast as a national park to preserve it.  It is losing about one foot each year due to erosion.  Hurricane Dorian took away 7 feet in some areas.  

 

 

You can see Cavendish beach in the upper right.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We visited North Rustic which is a lobster fishing village.  Unfortunately all of the little lobster shack restaurants are closed for the season.  It is hard to describe how beautiful and rustic this area is.  It is perfectly named. 😊

 

 

Lobster traps--This is a very regulated industry.  

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

One word to the wise--I came back out to look at the shops.  The line to get back on the ship now goes all the way through the terminal. and it is 3:15.  All aboard is not until 5. 😮

 

Tides here are 7 feet.  We got off the ship on deck one,  but we have to get back on deck 2.  It is a smaller area and takes longer.

Edited October 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[gnr25]

Thank you Dragon for the pictures of Quebec City. It is a throwback to when I visited on a school trip in grade 8. We were there September 11-14, 2001.

 

I have been to Halifax, but nowhere else in the maritimes.

[Ginlyn]

Thank you Dragon for another great review.  I live in Charlottetown and want to say what a lovely job you did depicting our little province with your pictures and commentary.  I haven’t been out to Anne of Green Gables for several years and after seeing your posts and pics, I’m thinking it is time to go again!!!  You certainly had a beautiful PEI fall day for your touring. Hope the rest of your Maritime port stops are enjoyable.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

17 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

One word to the wise--I came back out to look at the shops.  The line to get back on the ship now goes all the way through the terminal. and it is 3:15.  All aboard is not until 5. 😮

 

Tides here are 7 feet.  We got off the ship on deck one,  but we have to get back on deck 2.  It is a smaller area and takes longer.

 

I want to correct one thing on this post.

 

It was actually 4:15pm when this was true.  I was looking at my Fitbit and it still was telling old time--before we went forward one hour.  

 

I spoke with someone that got back from a bus tour at 5:15 and he said it was similar for him. [all aboard was 5pm, but he was on a ship tour.] Several tour buses were back.

 

When I made it to the front of the terminal and I had only 5 people before me to show my seapass card I took this picture. [I can't find it right now--I will post it later] The line was all the way to the end of the terminal and out the door on the top right.  It is a great place to visit--just leave yourself time to reenter the ship. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I want to finish a couple more thoughts on Prince Edward Island before I move on to Sydney.

 

I mentioned that the lobster industry is very regulated by the government.  Lobsters are measured very precisely to make sure they are large enough to keep.  Fisherman are fined for lobsters that are too small or for taking females with eggs.  There are only about 1200 licenses to harvest lobster. . . and only from May 1 to June 30.  The rest of the year the boats are used for fishing for hire [think tourists] and for other types of fishing.  That is good for the lobster boat owners, but they do not need as many workers for this.

Some of the other lobster workers turn to raking up oysters to pay the bills.  The stand in these boats and rake the bottom of the rivers and streams.  They get $0.50 per oyster.  They sell in the store for $3 each.  We saw one of these men bring up some oysters.  I was not fast enough to get a picture. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black buoys in the river as a mussel farm.  They submerge strips of netting/mesh and the mussels latch on. 

I know it is not very clear, but it was from a moving van. 

 

The drive back to the ship was just as beautiful as our way out.  

 

edit--I am not sure why this post is a little crazy--I am sure it is operator error. LOL 

Edited October 11, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

14 hours ago, Ginlyn said:

Thank you Dragon for another great review.  I live in Charlottetown and want to say what a lovely job you did depicting our little province with your pictures and commentary.  I haven’t been out to Anne of Green Gables for several years and after seeing your posts and pics, I’m thinking it is time to go again!!!  You certainly had a beautiful PEI fall day for your touring. Hope the rest of your Maritime port stops are enjoyable.

 

We had a very nice visit, thank you!