NCL Sky October 9-19, 2024 Quebec City to Baltimore live

[boffoboffo]

My wife has a real camera with a proper lens so I’m sure you can tell this is a waterfall in her pictures. 

Lot’s of reds and oranges in the leaves. 

[boffoboffo]

Day 2 Freestyle Daily. 
 

[boffoboffo]

We decided to go to the MDR for dinner. Arrived about 7:15 and it was a 20 minute wait. Neither of us were overly hungry, so that was fine. 

French onion soup. 

Pork spare ribs. 

Warm lava cake. I also splurged and got a fruit plate. 

[boffoboffo]

Slept in until 5:45 this morning. I must have been tired. On the Saguenay River right now heading to Saguenay. Set to be there from 8 until 3:30. A brisk morning. 7°C feels like 2°. I suppose on a moving ship that would feel like below freezing. Here’s a webcam from Saguenay if anyone wants to watch the ship come or go or sit there doing nothing. 
 

 

[boffoboffo]

Breakfast and dinner menus for the MDR today. 
 

[boffoboffo]

Fruit salad. Not to be confused with the totally different fruit plate offered at lunch and dinner. 

Pastry basket. 

Ham and cheese omelet with a side of bacon and toast. 
 

We were docked and able to disembark 7 minutes early at 7:53am. We’re not really in any rush to get off, but probably will shortly and just wander around for an hour or two unless the rain decides otherwise for us. 

[boffoboffo]

Saguenay certainly isn’t a fancy port. There’s a small terminal along with music and some dancers. They also do the maple syrup in the snow thing. There’s a nice walking path along the bay that we did for a bit. Now we’re sitting on a bench waiting for an old friend to come say hi. 

Here comes our old friend. The Gem is heading into port. The first time we’ve crossed paths with it again since the end of our very first cruise two and a half years ago. 

[lepidoptera]

Super cool seeing the Gem. We vacation on the Saint Lawrence, but much closer to Lake Ontario. We always stop what we are doing to watch the Cargo ships go down the River. It would be even cooler to see a cruise ship. 

 

Sorry to hear about your Kitties. I lost my Katrina a few months ago,

 

Loving the review so far. Following along, may be delayed responding to anything I am boarding the Celebrity Eclipse in Boston tomorrow.

[boffoboffo]

I guess due to the chilly temperatures outside they noticed more people were on board than usual for a portion of the day, so they decided to open the MDR for lunch. So here’s the menu. 

With a view of the Gem sitting beside us. Poor suckers have to tender since we got the dock first. 

[boffoboffo]

Loaded baked potato. It’s really more of a potato skin but I guess they’re kind of the same thing. 
 

The picture of my main course wouldn’t upload but I got the Monte Cristo. Never had one before and really had no idea of what it was. After eating it I’m still not sure what it is. A sandwich covered in fish and chip batter, I guess?

Milk chocolate cheesecake. It’s no peanut butter cup cheesecake but it’ll tide me over until then. 
 

We did explore La Baie a bit further. There’s a convenience store/gift shop/sushi restaurant/thai restaurant there. And a pet store that had a bunch of kittens in the window. That kept my wife busy for quite a while. I should have taken pictures just so this live blog would finally have some pictures of cats that are still currently alive. 

[0106]

2 hours ago, boffoboffo said:

Monte Cristo. Never had one before and really had no idea of what it was. After eating it I’m still not sure what it is. A sandwich covered in fish and chip batter, I guess?

Basically it is a ham and cheese sandwich dip in French toast batter (milk & eggs) and pan fried.  Sometimes jam is on the inside too.  
 

Thank you for your live thread.

[boffoboffo]

Well whatever a Monte Cristo is my stomach has certainly not enjoyed it. Who would have thought a sandwich wrapped in grease would sit in my gut all afternoon and cause raging heartburn? Don’t think I’ll get that again.

 

Watched the sail away from the promenade deck and later the Great Outdoors. 

While at the Great Outdoors we checked their afternoon snack buffet and look what they had sitting out in the open for all to take. 

Scones!! So exciting. 
 

Then spent some time relaxing hoping my stomach would relax and allow me to eat supper. It wasn’t so we checked out the magic show. It was pretty good. 
 

Now we’re sitting in the buffet and even in a compromised state my stomach couldn’t say no to cheese. 

That was my supper. 

[boffoboffo]

Freestyle day 3. Don’t know why most ended up sideways but I’m too lazy to flip them, so just tilt your head. 

[boffoboffo]

Very busy in the MDR for breakfast this morning. They were encouraging table sharing but we got a table at the aft window with no wait. 

Seas are fairly choppy but we’re moving slowly enough that you barely notice it. Currently passing by Gaspe on the Gaspe Peninsula. 
 

Same breakfast menu as yesterday aside from the two daily specials. 

Stomach feels mostly better but I’m steering clear of grease for a bit, so sadly I’m skipping bacon at breakfast. That seems wrong. 

[boffoboffo]

Had a nice window seat in the Spinnaker Lounge but after about half an hour we were told to get out for a private function(Latitudes cocktail party) so we had to find someplace else to loiter. Buffet, La Cucina, and the Local were all packed so we ended up in the Pinnacle Lounge. Very empty in here and would be quiet if not for one table in the corner. We’ll probably just relax here until lunch time. 

[boffoboffo]

Tonight’s MDR dinner menu. 

[boffoboffo]

No cell service most of yesterday so I’ll catch up on updates from yesterday later. Fortunately it was just announced the Charlottetown stop for today was cancelled due to high winds and bad weather, so I should have plenty of time with another sea day. 
 

1 star, worst cruise ever. Maybe spend the day in the atrium listening to the whiners. 

[boffoboffo]

Currently staked out a window seat in Spinnaker Lounge. 

Our view. Definitely not what you could call a nice day. 11°C but with the wind it feels like 4°. 

The lounge is currently mostly empty. Just the window seats taken. Looks like they won’t be kicking us out this morning as they have a table set up with coffee and pastries. 
 

Currently cruising the Northumberland Strait so we’ve got PEI on the port side of the ship and Nova Scotia on the starboard side. 

Nova Scotia. 
 

On the couple minutes since I took the first picture of the view from our seat the land has completely disappeared into the fog. 

The ship’s wake at the back of the ship. I think they might just have the crew out with paddles to move us right now. 

[boffoboffo]

Soon to be revised Freestyle Daily for day 4. 

[boffoboffo]

After lunch yesterday we ended up back in our cabin and just spent the afternoon in there. I dozed off for a while and once I woke up the ship was really rocking in the waves. I had taken a Gravol in the morning but my head and stomach were bordering on what I have to assume was sea sickness, so I took another and felt fine shortly thereafter. Ended up just going to the buffet for supper around 8 and it was pretty quiet there. 

Went to Crossings for breakfast this morning. There were a bunch of empty tables and no line but I guess they don’t want to sit two at a table for 6 or 8 so we were offered a shared table or a 20 minute wait for a smaller table. About two minutes later we were being taken to our smaller table. When we left at 9 the lineup was back to the elevators so I guess we went at the right time. 

The daily breakfast features of the day. 

The loaded breakfast potatoes with a side of bacon. No way I was skipping bacon two breakfast’s in a row.

 

I guess that catches me up. Should be another slow, do not much of anything day today but I’m more likely to have cell service so I can post what little I do, as I do it. 

[boffoboffo]

Just noticed I forgot to add lunch from yesterday. The main dining room will be open for lunch again today and we’re just rotating back to the embarkation day menu. 
 

Yesterday’s menu. 

Another nice window seat. 

Caprese Salad

Fish Tacos

Peanut butter cup cheesecake

Fruit plate

[boffoboffo]

Tonight’s dinner menu in the MDR’s. 

[schmoopie17]

On 10/10/2024 at 7:20 PM, boffoboffo said:

Well whatever a Monte Cristo is my stomach has certainly not enjoyed it. Who would have thought a sandwich wrapped in grease would sit in my gut all afternoon and cause raging heartburn? Don’t think I’ll get that again.

 

My thoughts exactly. I had read here on CC that if you can get the Monte Cristo, you simply must try it. Since I had never had one, when I saw it on the lunch menu I jumped at the chance. BIG MISTAKE. Yikes...that thing was horrible. Ate about three bites and couldn't bear the thought of a fourth. All that breading/coating with very little fillings inside...just gross.

[boffoboffo]

Just reading the words Monte Cristo makes my stomach sad.

 

Had another lunch at Crossings today. Got there right near opening and they were asking if we’d share a table but we were seated right away without sharing. 

Cobb Salad. 

Pork chop. 

Orange chocolate mousse and a fruit plate. 
 

Didn’t feel like staying cooped up inside so headed to the promenade deck for some walking in circles. Currently cruising between PEI and Cape Breton Island so there was occasional land on either side peeking out through the fog and rain. Been cruising steady at 8-9 knots and the apparent wind speed is around 20 knots, so it’s rather decent down here. 

Rain all around us or from the looks of that first picture, right beside us. 
 

In reference to a comment I made earlier today at one point while walking I saw a crew member walking around with a paddle. 

[boffoboffo]

While making that last post I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Looked up and saw three dolphins or dolphin-like creatures jumping alongside the ship. Got a short video but a zoomed in screenshot from the video works better.