LIVE from the Emerald Princess - August 4-11, 2024

[Honolulu Blue]

I have a bit of time until 90s trivia, so let me try to post my review of the Salty Dog Gastropub. 

 

Let's get most of the bad stuff out of the way early. I showed up at the Pub without a reservation. This is apparently not the approved protocol. But how do you get a reservation? It's not easy. You can't book through the app or the TV at all. You can only go down in person and book or call their special number. Very analog, I thought, and would have been quite fine for a fancy restaurant 20 years ago. But for a casual restaurant on a cruise ship with a very techy app and TV system? I expected better.

 

BTW, I did get in right away without a reservation or making a reservation. YMMV. I recommend learning the secret handshake. 

 

The service was sluggish throughout. I expected better for a casual restaurant. 

 

And the first glass of water they gave me was room temperature warm. Yuck! Fortunately, the other glasses were colder and had ice. Much better.

 

For those of you who have crossed thus restaurant permanently off your list, I suggest sticking around. 

 

Here comes the good stuff. It wasn't crowded. I got a good seat. Service was good despite its speed. The short ribs were very good as was the lemon poussette for dessert.

 

It's one of Princess' casual dining options that's available for free through their package. For slackers like me without a package, it was $15 for breadsticks (hard but good), an appetizer (declined), a main course, and dessert.

 

I thought it was worth the $15 despite everything else I described here.

 

Attached is the menu. You're welcome.

 

[paddingtonbear]

9 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

She covered all our stops, including Boston. When she mentioned this excursion, I thought, "Why loan falcon, why?" Give me alike of you get the reference. 

We have the same ridiculous ads here in Australia - with a different bank!

 

Edited August 5 by paddingtonbear

[Honolulu Blue]

More spare moments until the show, so let's describe the 90s music trivia. 

 

Staff member Adrianna hosted. She was perky and had some moves.

 

 

Unfortunately,  what she failed to do was ask enough of the right questions. The trivia drifted into country, rap, and pop from the 2000s, which I'm weaker at.

 

There were 21 total songs with a point each for song title and artist. 42 points total. I got 26, which I didn't think was half bad. But it was never going to win as that group had 38. Oh well, maybe the next trivia session will treat me better.

[Honolulu Blue]

Hey everyone, this thread is an AWARD WINNER!

 

 

Seriously, the honor is appreciated. Thank you. And thank you all for reading. I hope to have more entertaining and informative content in the days to come.

[Honolulu Blue]

I decided to book a couple of excursions- one for Halifax and one for Sydney. This is the description for Halifax.

 

 

And this is the one for Sydney:

 

 

Both should be fun and informative in their own ways. And they weren't too heavy on the pocketbook.

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

Locations of reserved seats for production shows on the Emerald:

 

1. Lower level, back 2 rows.

 

 

2. Upper level, left side, lower 4 rows.

 

 

3. Upper level, left side, upper 2 rows.

 

 

Theater is slowly filling for Rock Opera. I've heard some good reviews here, so I'm cautiously optimistic. 

[Honolulu Blue]

I went to Rock Opera. My review in fewer than 10 words is "too much opera, not enough rock". I do respect the amount of performers this show used - musicians, dancers, and singers. But it just wasn't my cup of tea. Here are a couple of pretty pictures:

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

Among the correspondence I found waiting in my cabin was a disembarkation questionnaire. I have to get off? I do not approve of this! 🤪

 

I have to decide between self disembarking (which would make me one of the first off), purchasing just a shuttle, or getting the shuttle with an excursion that explores a bit of Boston. They want this form filled out by tomorrow evening. I may go down to the wire this time. 

 

Also, I can see into the future using tomorrow's newsletters.

 

[EDVM96]

Oops, you have to tender in Halifax today?

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

Oops, you have to tender in Halifax today?

Yes we did. Celebrity Eclipse and NCL Star got the two dock spaces today. Princess drew the short straw. ☹️ It could have been worse. We only had to ride the tender for about a mile.

 

Edited August 6 by Honolulu Blue

[High C's]

Thanks again for this blog.  You have such a great way of writing - entertaining AND very informative!

[Honolulu Blue]

I didn't do anything of interest last night after Rock Opera.

 

Today we got up bright and early anchored just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I got some breakfast at the trough. It was the same old thing as yesterday, but with better company. 

 

 

It was surprisingly uncrowded in the buffet and we had no problem finding a seat. 

 

After breakfast, I went to the main theater to join the rest of the group on our morning tour. It turned out to be a small group, only about 20 people. We were seated in the front row of the main theater. This was less of a privilege than you might think. I would hate to be in the front row for a theater show I actually liked; it's just TOO CLOSE.

 

 

Eventually our group was called and we went out to the tender. We were one of the last ones on and we squished with some other groups. Not too long after we got on, we headed toward the terminal. 

 

There's very little in this terminal orher than security, lines, people, and a nice gentleman who handed me a map of the area.

 

 

We boarded, dodged some protesters, and headed to our first stop, the Fairview Lawn Cemetery. 

 

 

This is known as the cemetery that houses many of the Titanic non survivors. Our guide gave us several stories about this. His name was Doug and I thought he did a good job. He's Scottish. Say hi to Doug.

 

 

We then proceed to Citadel Hill, one of the highest points in the area with nice views. There's also an old British fort nearby that we were not allowed to enter because we didn't pay for it.

 

 

Then we made it back to the terminal. I could have walked some to do shopping for trinkets, but I didn't want to. So I headed directly back to the ship. Again, I got lucky and only a few minutes after I got onboard we headed back to the ship. It wasn't anywhere near full.

 

 

And that ends this portion of the adventure. Halifax has al ot going on. I'd like to come back sometime to explore another portion of it.

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

 

All right, time to acknowledge the elephant in the room. The NHC's most likely path says that Debby will light up our lives over or near both Boston and Portland between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We, of course, plan to leave Portland Saturday night and return to Boston Sunday morning. 

 

This has three important ramifications:

 

1) It could be a soggy day in Portland, 

2) It could be a rough ride that last night, and

3) It could be tough getting out of Boston Sunday afternoon. 

 

There's also a non zero chance Debby could disrupt our cruise in some way, but it's too soon to worry about it. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. 🙏

 

I also want to note that I have not heard anything about Debby onboard this cruise and certainly not how what's left of her could be coming up to meet us. But I believe forewarned is forearmed. No panic in this quarter yet, and probably not ever. Let's hope this is just a Chicken Little post in the middle of more exciting posts about graveyards ☠️ and visits to the trough.🐷

Edited August 6 by Honolulu Blue

[Derbie]

21 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I decided to book a couple of excursions- one for Halifax and one for Sydney. This is the description for Halifax.

 

 

And this is the one for Sydney:

 

 

Both should be fun and informative in their own ways. And they weren't too heavy on the pocketbook.

 

 

Did you book through the cruise line?  We are sailing (different ports) in October. I am interested in the Halifax tour.  Many thanks.

 

[Derbie]

1 minute ago, Derbie said:

Did you book through the cruise line?  We are sailing (different ports) in October. I am interested in the Halifax tour.  Many thanks.

 

Disregard.  I went down the thread a few entries and located the answer to my question.

[Honolulu Blue]

Here are the newsletters for tomorrow. 80s day! Yay!!!

 

 

 

[wallyj]

On 8/5/2024 at 6:54 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

I found out his name is Lloyd Flay. I'll post the complete senior officer board since I think it's important enough to have its own post. And also, our Captain's first name is Johnathan. I would like to apologize for misspelling it earlier. 

 

Hi @Honolulu Blue, if you have time will you check to see if CD Lloyd is leaving?
 

I am joining Emerald on 8/11, and in the current Journey View it has a scheduled activity of Trivia with your CD Holly?

[Honolulu Blue]

Since I don't think I will go back put this evening, I'll describe what has happened so far.

 

The buffet continues to fight me. I find the self serve water station to be EXTREMELY position sensitive. If I positioned the glass just so it would work and if I moved it an inch in any direction it would stop. 👹 I'd like to thank the nice lady behind me for helping me out. Of course, she did it because she was next in line and felt it was best to help this fool out. 🤡

 

Enough about that. I had some beef and some pork. The selections I had were all good. Seating inside the main buffet area remained tight, but by the main pool there wasn't much activity, so I sat there and ate. 

 

After dinner I went to the Explorers Lounge for a new (to me) trivia experience- musical connection trivia with C.S. He was peppy and had some moves.

 

 

The trivia itself went mostly like I thought - snippets of three songs were played and we had to guess the connections between them. Some were obvious (e.g. songs with weather in the title), some not so much (songs in 5/4 time? Really?? I haven't worried about time signatures since high school band class).

 

I got the first six before things started to get away from me. I ended up with 13 out of 20 correct - not bad for a new category that had a lot of possibilities. But the winners had 17 and they had to go to a tiebreaker. Congrats to them. 👍

 

After this I went into the casino for a little video poker. I thought it was moderately busy and didn't notice much cigarette smoke.

 

I checked the video poker and found the pay tables for the versions I liked to play very bad. I settled for 7/5 Jack's or Better Spin Poker for dimes. At $4.50 a spin it ate my money quickly. I did get one nice hand, sort if. Here it is.

 

 

I cashed out $49 down. I needed the small bills.

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you're having a good time where you are. 

Edited August 6 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, wallyj said:

Hi @Honolulu Blue, if you have time will you check to see if CD Lloyd is leaving?
 

I am joining Emerald on 8/11, and in the current Journey View it has a scheduled activity of Trivia with your CD Holly?

I'll see what I can do. 

[wallyj]

@Honolulu Blue, would you verify if my memory is off?

 

I think I remember you were posting on our roll call for a Transpacific sailing you eventually cancelled a few years ago, but posted about your extensive Aloha shirt collection and would be at International cafe in the morning for an informal Coffee Klatch?

 

Enjoying your posts and humor.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, wallyj said:

@Honolulu Blue, would you verify if my memory is off?

 

I think I remember you were posting on our roll call for a Transpacific sailing you eventually cancelled a few years ago, but posted about your extensive Aloha shirt collection and would be at International cafe in the morning for an informal Coffee Klatch?

 

Enjoying your posts and humor.

Thanks for your kind words, but I think your memory is off. I've never canceled a transpacific sailing. I'm going on one later this year. I don't hang out at the IC and don't drink coffee. 

 

I hope you find the person you thought I was. He sounds kind of cool.🙏

[wallyj]

Just now, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks for your kind words, but I think your memory is off. I've never canceled a transpacific sailing. I'm going on one later this year. I don't hang out at the IC and don't drink coffee. 

 

I hope you find the person you thought I was. He sounds kind of cool.🙏

Thanks for your quick reply, I will count this as a memory fail.

[paddingtonbear]

11 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Yes we did. Celebrity Eclipse and NCL Star got the two dock spaces today. Princess drew the short straw. ☹️ It could have been worse. We only had to ride the tender for about a mile.

Was it written as a tender port on your initial itinerary?  Or is it really a first come first serve basis?

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

Was it written as a tender port on your initial itinerary?  Or is it really a first come first serve basis?

It was originally not listed as a tender port, but we got correspondence last week confirming that we would tender there.

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning! True to my word, I didn't do anything eventful last night.

 

This morning I got up and watched the Wake Show. This show is always interesting to me. He mentioned our theme for today, and the fact that he's hiding another duck onboard. Oh ducky. 🦆 Not my thing, but it's interesting that he's explicitly catering to the group that lives for this sort of thing.

 

I think the demographic mix on this cruise is very diverse - lots of the superannuated Princess fans with gray hair and various aids, parents and kids, younger couples, and even a few solos. I guess Princess truly has something for everyone. 

 

I got another flyer this morning about discounted excursions for Charlottetown, our next stop. This time there was something that caught my eye and I booked it by putting the completed form in their drop box.

 

I went to breakfast at the trough and found it a similar experience to my other two days here. It was a little busier today, and there was one other difference on my plate. Can you spot it?

 

 

BTW, I stopped in the Wheelhouse Bar to write these notes while I wait for my excursion to meet up. We're docked in Sydney and cleared to debark whenever we're ready.