ADVENTURE (Canada/New England) Sept 16-27,2019 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

This time we took the 45 minute'ish inland route back into Halifax, arriving back to the rental car agency about 1/2 hour prior to all aboard. The next time I'm there, I'll want to check out the Immigration Museum which is right there beside the cruise port. I quickly went inside to determine whether even a 1/2 hour was worth it, however I decided not to. The Halifax Immigration Museum is like Ellis Island to the Americans... a historical entry point for so many European immigrants into Canada... my parents entered Canada here in 1953/1956 respectively. I would've liked to see if there's an paper record like they have at Ellis Island. Next time.

 

Back on the ship, the weather is beautiful, as is the view of the Bay

 

 

With GF napping, I took this opportunity to head aft to the Sports Court area to check things out

 

 

More scenery from here

 

 

No slide line-up.... barely any kids on this sailing (if any that I can remember)

 

 

Pickle Ball was set up at the Sports Court... more on this later (not good)

 

 

Sailaway time has come

 

 

Lunenburg is also the mooring spot for the replica of the Bluenose Schooner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluenose

We were told she had just set sail that morning for Halifax, and we thought that perhaps we would get a glimpse of her at some point while in port. There she was in the distance heading in to Halifax

 

 

 

Once again, with camera tucked away for the most part, we headed up to the VCL for a quick drink. I believe this evening was our 3rd and final time in the disappointing Giovanni's. We did not return for # 4 and 5. Fortunately the entertainment, at least the shows we saw, were quite good on this sailing with hats off the the RC Singers & Dancers. We were blessed with a great cast on this sailing

 

 

 

Anything else for this evening? Nope! An earlier bedtime compared to other sailings has become the norm with all the early wake-up calls. Thankfully tomorrow we get to sleep in a bit with a later arrival to Portland Maine at 10am

Edited June 1, 2020 by Hoopster95

[erinsmom03]

Great pics and review!  You were really blessed with amazingly blue skies!

[Hoopster95]

A little background relating to this sailing.... the original itinerary included Bar Harbor. For some reason (we believe it was due to ships in port) that was scrapped, and instead we'd overnight in Portland. To add to that, today we were still supposed to be north, in Saint John, New Brunswick, however the schedule RCL came up with had us routed here to Portland first... and then in a couple of days we're going back to New Brunswick. Very strange, and I never really heard a final say as to why that was decided upon.

 

Nonetheless, today was a later morning start... and without an all-aboard as we're over-nighting here.

Today's plans were relatively simple and not us rushed as the previous few days. Firstly, having the opportunity for some photo ops around the ship this morning, as we head for breakfast I took the opportunity to snap a few shots

 

Imperial Lounge deck 5 forward

 

 

 

Down a flight of stairs to deck 4 forward, in front of the Lyric Theatre

 

 

Schooner Bar ... entrance to Chop's Grill is just to the right of this photo

 

 

A few more photos of the Casino as we walk through deck 4 from forward to aft

 

 

 

 

The evenings that we had a 1/2 hour or hour before bed, our go-to was Boleros for a drink and a little salsa or meringue. The latin band on this sailing was fantastic.

 

 

Facing aft, looking through the elevator "Centrum" towards the MDR. Note the deck 5 bridge above

 

 

Same spot as above looking forward, Boleros on the left, Aquarium Bar on the right

 

 

And finally a couple of shots of the Centrum artwork... below on deck 3 you see the art center, which also leads to studio B Ice Rink

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Breakfast done with a great view from the WJ, sail in was about to begin. I saw the pilot boat coming from the distance as land was coming into view

 

 

Ever never visited Portland, however I suspected as we entered the channel that we were passing by the famous Portland Headlight. We'd be visiting here tomorrow on a full day bike tour

 

 

 

After passing the Headlight and viewing the scenery from our balcony, I was stoked for our time ashore not only tomorrow but upcoming today within the old town as well ... gorgeous sail in views from top deck

 

 

From the Helipad... closing in to the pier, right on time around 10am

 

 

 

So today would be "interesting" ... frustrating for many ...  a P.I.A.... call it what you will:

US Immigration. Because we've been in Canada until now, we had to go through immigration first before debark. This would be done on land.

 

We had planned to do a private excursion this morning at 11:30, and knowing how immigration line ups can be for 3000 cruisers all trying to get off a ship, I asked the DL concierge Rafael to possibly help us out? I'll mention Rafael Soares now... great guy, really liked him a lot. Always helpful, always around. Rafael offered to meet us and escort us down to deck 1 in order to get off right away. So escorting us down, the customs staff as well as RCL staff were still positioning ropes, equipment, etc... Rafael had us wait in the medical center until it was a go, and then we rushed out. We were probably one of the first 10 people off thankfully.

 

Note only a handful of people behind us... I understand hundreds of cruisers were all lined up along deck 4 and 5 in the massive line-ups trying to get off

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

So reaching the immigration area at the port building, they had two gentlemen there. The two couples before us took 5 minutes each. Why so long I don't know. Us? Maybe a minute?? Nonetheless... 2 lines, 1 minute per couple, 3000 cruisers... you do the math. Yikes! I felt sorry for everyone behind us trying to get off and was extremely grateful for Rafael's help.

 

Our plan today was an 11:30 private excursion called "Lucky Catch", to go out for lobstering and then have the catch for lunch! Being off the ship so early gave us more than an hour to roam around the old town for a while to get a lay of the land and enjoy the architecture and ambiance or Portland

 

This picture is from the next day, however I'll put it on here. Street vendors were ready to go just outside the port. Tours are available, and some great one-of-a-kind art

 

 

We decided to walk to our pier where the Lucky Catch office was in order to check in. It's about 15-20 from the port entry building to Lucky Catch. I had originally wanted the first trip of the day which started at 10:45 (I think) with a different route out to the Headlight. They told me online not to book it as we definitely wouldn't make it.. they were right had we not had the concierge's assistance. 

 

 

There's plenty of other boat tour options available, not just Lucky Catch

 

 

Also the well-known red fire engine city tour starts right there. This pier seems to be the hub of all tourist activity for the most part

 

 

The map below outlines the old town area of Portland. You can see where Lucky Catch is (the red star). Just above it in the larger red oval is the "main" part of old town... lots and lots of cool shops, cafe's, Starbuck's, Visitor center, and the often talked about here on CC Donut Shop called "Holy Donut". We walked around this area before our lobster catching tour

 

 

 

 

We spent about an hour, slowly enjoying our walk up the cobblestone streets, taking note of the old red brick heritage buildings, and feeling a very cool easy-going vibe. We stopped for another coffee at Starbuck's at the corner, 1st floor of that heritage building, and then made our way back to the pier

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Arriving  back at the pier, we walked right past the restaurant that we'll be having our lunch at. Once the Lucky catch tour has ended, the deal is we have the option to take our catch over to this restaurant and they'll prepare our lobster for lunch... fresh New England lobster for lunch ??!!?? Uhm, yes please.

 

 

We had a few minutes to spare awaiting for the tour to begin, so I took a few photos around the pier area.

 

 

There's a piece of the Berlin Wall here

 

 

There's one of the Lucky Catch boats across the way, tied up alongside the Portland Lobster Co. Restaurant area. 

 

 

Finally on the boat getting the run-down of the day by the Captain. There were only about 10 of us. Excellent size.

 

 

 

Finally it was time to head of of the pier area

 

 

 

Great views of the wharf as well as Adventure

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Ocean Boy]

Back in the day when they would make you do the immigration thing when arriving in St. Thomas after visiting other Caribbean islands, they would make everyone walk though the MDR where immigration officials would look at your passport and wave you through. You didn't even have to slow your pace as you walked by. It was, however, a PITA. I'm glad they scrapped the ordeal. I never much understood it anyway. They knew exactly who was on the ship and their document information from the ship's manifest.

[Hoopster95]

This was a really fun hour and a half, enjoying the sail out through the bay to the various traps they had placed. It would've been very cool to have headed in the other direction towards the Headlight to view the lighthouses, however this was great as well. Time to check out the first trap... crabs in this one, no lobsters

 

 

 

Second trap, lobsters yes.... but too small. Had to throw back. We had the opportunity to bait the traps and hold the lobsters. Note we all had aprons.

 

 

 

Today wasn't a great catch. We caught a few, but had to throw them all back... along with the crab. In this case they keep a few in a tank at the front of the boat

 

 

 

They checked 4 traps I believe with limited success as mentioned above. They mentioned that yesterday they had fuller traps. You just never know. Great views as we went along, including a trap right in front of Fort Gorges

http://www.portlandlandmarks.org/fort-gorges

 

 

 

Back at the pier, it was time to choose our lobsters for lunch our of their tank up front. Here's mine as I pulled it out of the tank. We were also instructed how to protect ourselves from the claws. All around a really great start to the day.

 

 

 

They would hold our lobsters at their office as the Portland Lobster Co. had their restaurant was reserved for excursions from the ships from 12-2pm... we finished this excursion at about 12:30 so we had time to kill. We again meandered through town a bit, checking out some of the quaint shopping and buildings. before heading back to the restaurant.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

It was getting closer to 2pm .... we were getting hangry! So we head back to the Lucky Catch office around 1:45pm. They would not let us even get a glimpse of our lobster until 2pm sharp. Finally, we were able to get them... and I was surprised. They hand them to you and you walk them up the pier, past people down the street and over to the restaurant! Hilarious

 

 

They weigh them... larger lobsters cost a but more (I forget exactly, it was minimal)

 

 

This place is hopping! It was full with a small line-up when we passed by earlier. They had some large shared bench seating out back, but we opted to wait a few minutes for a two top alongside the water. 

 

 

 

In the meantime we enjoyed the music and a beer... soon enough our lunch arrived! If I remember correctly I believe the lobster and fixings was a $16. They also have a ton of other local specialties like lobster rolls and chowder. Great lunch, great venue, great time people watching and listening to music.

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Because of the late lunch, we didn't get out of the Portland Lobster Co. restaurant until around 3:30pm. We still wanted to get a walk around town so we headed out and towards the upper side of town... referencing the previous map we walked up to Monument Square ...

 

 

along Congress Ave to see some of the historical buildings and sites (we did not enter the Children's Museum nor the Portland Museum of Art... heard they were "ok")

 

 

and then down to the Victoria Manson which we did plan on going in to, however under renovations and closed unfortunately.

 

 

And finally back through old town

 

 

We're back to the pier... I forgot to mention in the posts above that when we ailed away from the pier on Lucky Catch, we passed right by Adventure around 11:40am'ish . We could clearly see the gangway, and it was chocked full of cruisers lined up to get off.... this was 1 1/2 hours after we had got off just after 10am. Not good at all.

 

Now coming back to the ship in the early evening it was relatively empty

 

 

Getting ready for the DL and late dinner at Chop's this evening, great sunset from my balcony.

 

 

No further photos this evening... left the iphone in the cabin so that I wouldn't be tempted.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Day 2 in Portland... we were booked for a 5 Lighthouse Tour starting at 9am, so we had to get up early'ish to get ready. A beautiful sunrise this morning and yet another superb sunny day ahead of us. We were so very lucky with weather on this sailing

 

 

The Zuiderdam was coming into port.... they were following us around much of this cruise

 

 

Had time this morning as usual to take photos of an area I had not yet visited. The Adventure Ocean and teen areas are not discussed much on this forum. Here are some photos from deck 12

 

 

 

 

 

Never visited Johnny Rockets on this sailing even with the UDP... our two sea says we reserved lunches for the awesome Izumi

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

We were ready to get off the ship, and meet the private excursions just outside the port building (red arrow)

 

 

We booked our cycle tour with Summerfeet

https://www.summerfeet.net/bicycle-trips/portland-bike-tour/5-lighthouse-tour/

There 5 lighthouse tour included all the 5 mainstays on a full day bike ride (approx 5 hours) which included lunch.

 

 

Outside of the port building

 

 

 

Great photo op of Adventure here while waiting for our transportation to arrive

 

Right on time, they arrive. Our entire group was there waiting for them... about 10 of us

 

 

They drove us out of the the port area along Old Town, over the Casco Bay Bridge opposite of Old Town and where Adventure is docked. They parked on a side street and got us all set up to ride

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

The area where we parked was very close to a walking/biking trail that connected through this quaint area of town, a really nice way to start the morning with a short ride and site seeing the local community

 

 

 

Within about 15-20 minutes, we were arriving at Bug Light Park 

 

 

We gathered our bikes as a group just outside of the Bug Lighthouse with a great view across the channel of Old Town and Adventure

 

 

And of course the main attraction....

 

 

I didn't mention it on my "sunrise" photo to start the day, however Serenade had joined us in port. They had to tender. Great view of her from this vantage point

 

 

Very cool start to the day. We hung out here maybe 10-15 minutes to enjoy the view and listen to some history from our guide

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Leaving Bug Light Park, we followed the shoreline maybe only 15-20 minutes and arrived at a park-like area with what looked like a very bad steel replica of a front of a ship....

 

 

I had no idea, but this was a memorial of sorts to the Portland Ship Yard made famous in WWII

 

 

These liberty ships were made famous during there landing in Normandy 

 

 

This turned out to be super interesting as it was unexpected. The displays were actually very informative and interesting to scan over.

 

 

I can't say how many times I've seen this iconic photo of this sailor, note the dialogue at bottom of the sign. Maine Maritime Academy... 250,000 civilians who fought in the war

 

 

 

we spent another 15 minutes or so here enjoying the display before getting back onto our bikes

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Once again, only another 10-15 minutes bike ride up the coast we arrive at Spring Point Ledge Light, 

with a very cool boulder breakwater out to the lighthouse itself

 

 

And a gorgeous view of Serenade out in the bay as well as Fort Gorges

 

 

After a short talk on the history, we got to walk up and out to the lighthouse to get a good look

 

 

 

We were enjoying an amazing day

 

 

If you are not mobile or unstable, walking these rocks out to the lighthouse would not be advisable. You have to be sure footed as the rocks were somewhat far apart at some points.

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

The next part of our ride was much longer, away from the shoreline and into the streets. Nonetheless a gorgeous bike ride along the first streets which bordered on the cliffs with several heritage homes on large properties. Soon enough, we reached Fort Williams Park.

 

 

Here the tour company set us up within the park on the picnic benches....

 

 

where we enjoyed a great lunch featuring a delicious lobster roll & local root beer

 

 

 

If you look through the two root beer bottles, you can that the Portland Headlight is just a short distance. After cleaning up from lunch, we all headed over there for our first view of this iconic site

 

 

What a gorgeous place. I would've liked to drop the bikes off for a bit and walk right up and into the complex, however the time didn't allow for it. 

 

 

There is a gorgeous cliff-side walk right there that we entered and were able to get the perfect viewpoint for photos.... 

 

 

and this is where I took that iconic shot of the Headlight, one of my favorite photos of this trip. We hung out there enjoying the scenery for a while, around 10-15 minutes, and then again we were off for our next adventure.

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Last two site points coming up... we head away from Fort William Park through the streets of South Portland, again another gorgeous ride through the countryside.

 

 

We arrived at Kettle Cove State Park, a local beach spot

 

 

 

with great views of the coastline and various trail heads for hiking

 

 

The shale rock was interesting, and came off in very thin pieces that seemed like they were shaved off. 

Sssssssssssh... I brought a couple home with me.

 

 

We then headed off to our final spot down the coast, Two Lights State Park

 

 

We spent some time here, walking on the extensive rock/shale shoreline and enjoying the views

 

 

 

Unfortunately, our day was wrapping here. So the staff gathered all of our gear and loaded up the bikes. 

 

 

Our drive back took us through South Portland and back over the Casco Bay Bridge

 

 

I promised my GF that the camera was being put away this evening, so that's what I did. Sailaway was great from atop the DL, heading back out the channel and past the lighthouses which we had seen that day. We stayed in the DL a bit longer on this evening, skipping the show and enjoying company with two couples we had met the last few nights.

 

We opted for a late dinner this evening at Izumi, one of the cancelled bookings from Giovanni's. While I'm not thrilled at the location of Izumi, the quality here was outstanding and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal as a dinner (rather than just at lunch). I cannot remember what we had, however we did try a couple of new rolls on the menu on this evening. We asked our waiter why many various people were dropping by to get what seemed like take-out bags from the chef's station... We noted that this venue has a brisk "take-out" business.... for staff only. 

 

We made this another short evening as we had an early wake up call for tomorrow morning back in Canada, Saint John NB.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Jimbo]

kindle= kindly

[bobmacliberty]

14 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Wow.  Great shot.  Would make a nice jigsaw puzzle.

[Ocean Boy]

I love lighthouses. Were you able to climb any of them?

[loug1601]

Thank you Hoopster. I’m just LOVING your review!

[Hoopster95]

Another super early rise this morning... today we're booked for a private tour with 4 other fellow CC'ers, we all met each other on the roll call. The tour was booked with "Go Fundy Tours" and cost $80 US per person for the full day. 

https://gofundytours.ca/about-your-tour

 

I'll set the stage right now in this first post.... even if we had a beautiful day, this day would not have compared with any of the previous days. Not trying to be negative, however Saint John for me personally was the least interesting, so much so that if I were to ever visit the Maritime again on a land tour, I would definitely not bother driving through New Brunswick.

 

So where do I  begin.... the weather. Here was our one bad weather day of the entire cruise. We entered the bay with a great deal of cloud and precipitation

 

 

Nothing changed from the time we docked over the course of the entire day.... periods of heavy rain mixed with periods of no rain thankfully. We were going to make the best of it.

 

 

This area is all about the tides, as the GoFundy website description explains.... and because of that, docking and dealing with the gangway was a problem. There was a very long delay in getting everyone off, and most people were antsy.... including us. Our driver was waiting for us a couple of blocks away, and any lost time is horrible as we had a ways to go for our site seeing.

 

We were off with about a 45 minutes delay unfortunately, however we found our driver very quickly and exactly where explained. We got in the vehicle immediately to go to our first stop, which was only a few blocks from the port area....

 

 

This was the spot where you see the massive tidal change from one time of the day to the other, and in fact in many cases see the waters flowing in two different directions with quite a level difference between them. 

 

I didn't see any massive difference of the tides at this time... what I did  notice is that several tour buses and tour vehicles all coming here to this tourist boardwalk to view the tides with us... with the awesome view of the smog creating industry across the way, and I thought to myself "Is this co-called major tourist viewpoint for real?". It set the tone for the day

 

 

We went off, and the driver mentioned we did have a decent drive to get tour first stop St Martins. Of course, right about now I was dreaming of going to Sint Maarten and Maho Beach

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Today's tour is along the Fundy Coastal Drive... also known as the Fundy Trail Parkway

https://fundytrailparkway.com/

When you look through the website at the various viewpoints, waterfalls, etc, you can see some beauty as portrayed by professional photography. 

 

 

We arrived at our first site seeing spot, the tiny village of St. Martins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martins,_New_Brunswick

 

 

St Martins is known for it's lighthouse, two covered bridges & caves, as well as the beginning of the Fundy Trail... this is the town below basically. The few buildings across the road there are a few various shops selling art and other things. Only one of the 5 on that side were open for us. 

 

 

We got to climb the lighthouse, inside being the "museum". Truthfully it was more like rummaging around grandpa's attic, looking at a few antiques. 

 

 

We spent maybe about 20-30 minutes here in the rain, walked across the bridge for some photos, and then made our way out of this area.

 

[Hoopster95]

Within minutes, our driver drove right by an area along the beach which he said we would come back to for lunch, and instead went farther ahead, into a dirt/gravel road. We then hoofed through some man made trails to get to a couple of viewpoints

 

 

There was the view of the beach across the bay.

 

 

Below us were the Sea Caves, part of the UNESCO Bay of Fundy Biosphere.

 

 

We shortly thereafter continued along the Parkway quite a ways... we did not stop at very many places... obviously (like Nova Scotia, Cabot Trail, PEI) one needs more than a 6-7 hour excursion in a rental car to really see and visit the area properly.

 

 

We did arrive at one of their more "famous" viewpoints of the Flower Pot rock formation along the coast

 

 

Unfortunately if you are not mobile, going down these steep stairs will be an issue

 

 

That's the Flower Pot formation. Pretty view... not as stunning as what I've seen the last 5 days. Better weather would've made a very big difference for sure.... as well as being able to walk down there if time allowed.

 

 

Best part of this morning so far? Climbing up the stairs from the viewpoint, the driver had pre-ordered Tim Horton's coffee and muffins as a mid-morning snack for all of us. A really nice touch

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

The next stop was my favorite of the day.... Melvin Beach

 

 

After some easy walking through the forest, we arrived at the entrance to the beach....

 

 

and miles and miles of colourful ocean rock, as far as you can see

 

 

 

We were able to walk the beach a little to explore the surrounding area. Here you get the idea of the scale of cliffs. 

 

 

 

As mentioned, colourful ocean rock of all shapes, sizes and colours everywhere...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you better believe I was bringing a handful home with me! This was a fun stop.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Hoopster95