Canada Cruise, August-September 2018

Travelogue: Canada Cruise, August and Semtepmber 2018

By Roger W. Reini

By day:
August: 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31
September: 1 | 2 | 3

This is the story of my cruise on the Rotterdam to New England and Atlantic Canada in August and September 2018.

Prologue

As 2017 drew to a close, I started to think about what trips I would like to take in 2018. For some time, I had been contemplating a cruise through New England and Atlantic Canada. I’d also been contemplating going to Britain for a Beatles Pilgrimage Tour. Now I had been to Britain before, all the way back in the 20th century, and I had visited many, though certainly not all, of the key sites associated with the Beatles in Liverpool and London. But I had never been to Atlantic Canada before. That was what ultimately influenced my decision to take the cruise. Perhaps I will take that pilgrimage tour in 2019. And so on December 4, I made my reservations for the cruise. I would sail with Holland America on the Rotterdam, departing Boston on August 25 and visiting Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and Quebec City and Montreal, Quebec, leaving the ship at Montreal on September 1.

In April, four months before the cruise, I made my arrangements to get to and from the cruise. I did consider flights available through Holland America, but I ended up getting train tickets to Boston and from Montreal. I like the train. Unfortunately, it will force me to spend 4 hours waiting for the train at Toledo in the middle of the night. Seventy days before the cruise, I decided on and purchased the shore excursions I wanted to take. A week before, I made a reservation for Canaletto, the premium Italian restaurant on board, and ordered a beverage card for soda pop — a half-price card, at that: $50 of pop for $25. I also arranged for things to do in Montreal after the cruise ends.

Three days before the cruise begins, but a day before I would leave for it, I received an e-mail from Holland America. My stateroom had been changed. I was not happy about that because it forced me to reprint my boarding pass and luggage tags. However, when I saw where the new stateroom was, I was happier. It was an upgrade: an ocean-view stateroom for the price of an interior one.

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Thursday August 23
When I booked this trip, I had no plans of retiring this year. I anticipated today would be a regular workday, for I would be leaving on the trip until that night. But plans change. Now, in my current state of semi-retirement, today was an off day: no need to go into the office for me. So I took my time getting up and getting going, choosing to watch BBC World News and then Have Gun Will Travel on the H&I channel,

I went downstairs to get my breakfast and to see that my papers had not been delivered, as I'd put them on vacation hold. U fortunately, they had been delivered: they were waiting on my porch. I didn’t want this to continue for the duration of my trip, so I contacted the papers to complain. I later heard from the district manager, who said that he would remind the carrier about the hold.

I did some more packing, and then I took a shower. After that, I went to Target for some last-minute items for the trip: batteries, Band-Aids, Pepto-Bismol, sucks, etc. I wanted to get a small tube of sunscreen, ut they didn’t have any. The smallest tube I saw was a size I already had at home, so I didn’t get any more. Then it was time for lunch; I went to the Leo¡s Coney Island up the street (I'm a regular there) and got one of my usual meals, a half-pound cheeseburger platter.

Back home, I finished packing my larger suitcase; it weighed 26 pounds, well under Amtrak¡s limits. The mail came, and with it came the return receipt for my birth certificate, part of the required paperwork needed to send to apply for my Ford pension (it would be returned three weeks later). The online benefits site still said that paperwork was required, though. II then finished packing the smaller suitcase, the one that would stay with me in my sleeper on the train. Then I took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

When suppertime came, I went to the nearby Subway and got a 6-inch cold cut combo meal. Back in February 2017, I got this same sandwich at the Toledo train station at the start of my journey to the Panama Canal cruise, so I figured I'd do the same thing, just earlier. It was good. I took out the small amount of garbage that I had, packed the car, went to the bathroom, and got underway. All the doors were locked. My vacation had begun.

While driving on Ford Road to Dearborn — or maybe it was earlier — I was listening to the POTUS channel on SiriusXM,, and one of the guests on the show that was airing was named Heather Brandon-Smith. Heather is the name of one of my nieces, and Brandon is my nephew. Now if her middle name of Candice, that would have been the trifecta!

Due to construction on Michigan Avenue in west Dearborn, I took Ford Road to Evergreen down to Michigan, where the turn for the train station was just before the start of the construction. I parked, unloaded the car, made sure it was locked, and then I went inside to wait for the bus to Toledo. Unlike the last time I'd left for Toledo, there were quite a few people waiting for that bus. I got a chair and sat down, getting up once to use the bathroom before the bus came. The TV had an NBC game show on: Game of Games, I think it was called, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. A little after 9, the Amtrak Thruway bus pulled up. It was already fairly full of travelers from East Lansing, Jackson, and Ann Arbor. The driver put my bags in the baggage area, and I took a seat.

The bus made its way to the Detroit train station in the New Center area, several more people got on, and then the bus got onto I-94 to I-275 to I-75 for the trip to Toledo, taking the official detour for the I-75 rebuilding project that was still underway. I leaned up against the cushion in front of me and rested. I may have slept some but am not sure. Soon, we arrived at the Toledo train and bus station. The Subway restaurant was open, but since I¡d eaten earlier, I wasn't that hungry. I checked my one bag, went to the restroom and began my scheduled four-hour wait. There were several Amish at the station traveling to who knows where.

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Friday August24

Around midnight the eastbound Capitol Limited arrived. When it left, the station was emptier, though not completely empty. Three more hours would pass before the Lake Shore Limited, the train I wanted, would arrive. I found a spot on the bench seats and lay down, but the bench was too narrow to be comfortable. In the background, the TV was struggling to show channel 36; the picture was breaking up badly.

The station started to feel chilly, even though I was wearing a jacket. I charged my iPhone and read from the Kindle for a while; I was currently in the middle of “The Quanderhorn Xperimentations”; I’d recent heard an audio version on BBC Radio 4 and enjoyed it.

The train was supposed to arrive at 2:50 and depart at 3:20. It did neither, for it was delayed and arrived at 4 AM. I walked down to my sleeping car, climbed aboard, and got ready for bed. The blanket didn’t seem all that effective, but I think it got better as the night went along. I did get some sleep, but it wasn’t much, for I awoke around 7:30. The train was nearing Erie; we were still an hour behind schedule. I changed shirts this morning, going from the Ford-themed Hawaiian-style short I'd been wearing to a long-sleeve Nautica shirt I'd bought on my last cruise.

Amtrak was experimenting with different ways of providing meal service. I became a participant in that experiment when I went to breakfast this morning. Instead of four or five choices, some of which were hot meals, there was only one meal option: a fruit plate, a muffin, parfait, and a granola bar. And not all of the fruits were to my liking. It was all right, but I would have selected another option had it been available. While I had my breakfast, I reviewed e-mails and read my morning comics on my iPad.

My room had been returned to its daytime configuration when I returned to it. I spent the morning charging my devices, especially the iPhone, and reading on the devices, including he Kindle. On occasion, I also got off the train at the so-called smoking stops ( but I’ve never smoked) to wander and take some pictures. I also did e-mail checks and received the occasional news alert. One such alert said that Senator John McCain was stopping treatment for his brain cancer and thus was not long for this world. That was most unfortunate.

When lunch came around, I went back to the dining car, which was more crowded than at breakfast. I sat with an older couple, whom I noticed had badge holders saying America By Rail. Were you on an AmericaBy Rail tour, I asked; indeed they were, a tour of Boston, Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. This was their fifth ABR tour, in fact. That appealed to me because I had just booked an ABR tour for next year, the Complete Trans-Canada Experience. They've been impressed, clearly, in order to be on their fifth tour.

Later, the train stopped in Albany, and I got off and took some pictures. There was a decent-sized gap from the train to the platform, bringing to mind the warnings on the London Underground, “Mind the Gap.” It was warm on the platform, a change from the generally cool train. When I got back on board and returned to my room, I noticed that the power was out. This complicated plans to use the toilet in my room. You see, all of the curtains needed to drawn when using the toilet, and when they were, it was DARK! But thanks to the flashlight on my iPhone, I could shine enough light so I could see what I was doing. And all was well.

After leaving Albany and traveling for several minutes, the train came to a stop. There was another train heading our way in front of us, and we had to wait for it to pass. This was not helping with our already-late arrival at Boston. Later, during supper, I was eating a chicken Caesar salad as another train was passing when our train came to a screeching halt. I had to act fast and grab my glass of Diet Pepsi before it slid off of the table! As I ate, I felt the chill in the dining car. When I got back to my room, I put on my jacket. I needed it!

The rest of the trip proceeded in the dark. We went through Worcester, Framingham,, and Boston's Back Bay Station before arriving at South Station. I retrieved my checked bag at the front of the train and then went inside the station. It was similar to, though not quite as nice as, other big train stations in other large cities. I looked for an exit, finally found one, and then I found a taxi. The driver, who seemed to have a West Indies accent, took me the mile or so to the Westin Boston Waterfront. Contrary to its name, the hotel was not on the waterfront (it was near it, though), but it was next to the Convention Center.

My room was 1362 (quick! Cue up “You're Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators). The room had a view to the south. I took some pictures with my iPhone of the nighttime scene. Then I went downstairs and outside to take a few more. I walked around the hotel to see what it was like (there were multiple bars and a comedy club off of the lobby), and then I visited the gift shop to get some snacks (ranch-flavored Bugles and a bottle of Caffeine Free Diet Coke) for some late-night munchies. And then it was time for bed.

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Saturday August 25

When I woke up around 7, it was already light outside, I did my regular e-mail and Web checks, and I even turned on the big-screen TV to see what was on. I ended up watching part of a Redskins preseason football game on the NFL Network (it wasn’t live, it was a replay). Then it was time to go down for some breakfast.

The hotel restaurant had a good breakfast menu as well as a good buffet. But everything was expensive. The buffet was $26, for example. But that was what wanted, so I got it. And it was good. $26 good, though? Hard to say. Afterwards, iPad in hand, I went outside, walked around and took some pictures. I know that taking pictures with an iPad is frowned on, but when that's all you've got, that¡s what you use. And it did a good job.

B ack to the room I went to brush my teeth, cool down somewhat, and finish packing. It was too soon to leave for the cruise port, so I worked on the travelogue for a bit. I rearranged some of the items in my suitcases. I put my passport in a more convenient place on my person and my iPhone in a less convenient place. As 11 o'clock neared, I went down to the lobby to check out. Once that was done, I sat in the lobby for a while; there was little else to do. When I was ready to head out, I went to the bathroom first, not knowing when my next opportunity would be. It wasn’t easy getting into the bathroom with two rolling suitcases, but it was easier getting out when someone held the door open for me.

I caught a cab to the Cruiseport terminal. The driver sounded like he was from Eastern Europe and had some trouble understanding where I wanted to go. He finally got it, though, and we set off. It wasn't that far away. It wasn’t obvious where to go for boarding the Rotterdam, but we stopped where people were dropping off luggage. Yes, that was the right place. I dropped off my big suitcase and entered the terminal with my small one. Up two escalators, through security, and then it was time to fill out the Canadian customs declaration. I wasn’t sure if I'd ever filled one out before, it I suppose I did on the two times I flew into Canada. I certainly don’t have to do that when crossing via the Ambassador Bridge or other land crossings. Then it was time for checking in. There were two lines, one for newcomers to Holland America and one for those who've sailed with them before. I fell into the latter category, as this was my third cruise with them. They already had my picture and other data so n file. Before long, I was on my way to the ship.

I took an escalator up and found myself at the gangway level. Soon, I was officially on board the Rotterdam! Our staterooms were not yet ready, so I went up to deck 8, the Lido deck, to have lunch. The Lido Market was similar to the ones I'd been to before on the Oosterdam and Zuiderdam, but it was slightly different because the Rotterdam was a different type of ship. The port side was very crowded and busy, but the starboard side wasn’t, so I found an empty table, parked my suitcase there, and went to grab my lunch. Since breakfast had been big, I wasn’t that hungry, so I just got a grab-and-go sandwich, some bread, and a glass of water. Nothing fancy, but it was good.

I went to the rear of the deck, the Sea View Pool area. It was bright out there; it was also warm. I took off my jacket and put it in my carry-on bag. I took a picture or two of the Royal Caribbean ship that was behind our ship as well as the big Dutch flag flying proudly from the stern-mounted mast. I should post that in honor of classmate and longtime Dutch resident Carl Guderian, I thought to myself. Off to the port side, I could see four lifeboats in the water. This was a lifeboat drill for the crew. Not too far from where I was were two ship's officers watching the performance of the lifeboat crews. I certainly hope it was satisfactory!

As I got into the elevator to go to deck 9, the Observation deck (officially known as the Sports Deck), there was an announcement that cabins were now ready to be occupied. But I decided to keep going to the observation deck, for I wanted to see what it was like. It was similar to the decks on the other HAL ships, but t deck didn't extend to the stern nor even that close to it. There was another observation deck one partial deck higher; it was shielded with shaded glass, a necessity to serve as a windbreak.

Now it was time to head to my stateroom. I had originally been assigned room 3355, an interior cabin towards the stern, but two days before departure, I was given an upgraded cabin, 3316, an ocean-view cabin. It only had a partial view of the ocean, as part of the structure of the ship was visible. Since I didn’t pay for the upgrade, I couldn’t complain. One more thing: I could also see anyone on the promenade. Weirdly, the official Promenade Deck was one deck higher than the deck that had the promenade, which was the Lower Promenade Deck. Strange!

The layout of the cabin was similar to the cabin I had on the canal cruise, except that the curtain behind the bed was not just for show. I unpacked my carry-on bag and put its items away. My other suitcase had yet to arrive, so its unpacking would have to wait. I then went to a presentation in the Explorer's Lounge on deck 5 given by cruise director Linda. It was intended for passengers sailing with Holland America for the first time, which I certainly was not (it was my third), but it also served as an introduction to the Rotterdam, and this was my first time on this class of ship. I had already started to pick up on the similarities and differences, and the talk highlighted more of them. I saw another one a short time later: the Explorations Cafe and ship's library were on deck 5, not the Crow's Nest at the top of the ship. One thing that wasn’t different: it still carried Vitamin Water Zero. I did if get any, nof then.

The time for the mandatory safety drill was approaching, so I went back to my stateroom. The muster station for my cabin was right outside of my cabin, extremely convenient. It began with the first alert, meant for crew only. Then came the second alert, which for passengers meant return to your cabins, and prepare to abandon ship. And then lastly came the third sequence, the signal to head to muster stations. I,d already heard that signal on the ship; then , it was part of the lifeboat drill for the crew. This time, it was meant for us passengers, so we proceeded to our muster stations. I thought I would be one of the first ones, but several people were there before me, having come down early. I later heard a crew member say that she should have told the early birds to return to their cabins. Fifteen minutes later, the drill was over.

I went back to to decks 9 and 10 with my camera to wait for our departure. It was scheduled for 4, but the captain came on and said we would not be sailing at 4. Luggage and other supplies were still being loaded, he said; also, an annual Coast Guard inspection was in progress. So we weren't moving for a while. I went to the Crow's Nest and used my beverage card to get a Diet Coke. Since this was its first use, the card needed to be activated, which didn’t take long. Then I went back to my cabin to find my other suitcase waiting for me. I unpacked that one and put everything away. As I unpacked, room attendant Arif came to introduce himself, check that my luggage had arrived, and see if there was anything I needed. There was, I said: an extension cord for my CPAP device. He went off and came back with a power strip. I was concerned it wouldn’t be long enough, and initially it wasn't, not for where I had put the machine. With the machine on the other side of the bed, though, it worked well. And later, having that power strip would prove to be a blessing.

Shortly before 5, I went back up to deck 9 to watch our departure. Shortly after 5, we were still at the dock. Supplies were still being loaded onboard. We could see them doing so from our high vantage point. While that was continuing, the gangway we board on remained in place. I could also see a line holding us to the dock. Eventually, the loading ended, the gangway was pulled away, and the line was pulled back. Then came the sound of the horn, and we were on our way! It was 5:48 as we shoved off, bringing that Royal Caribbean ship into view. It was the Anthem of the Seas, and it was a behemoth. The vast majority of its cabins were balcony cabins. The arrangement reminded me of the old Flagship Hotel in Galveston. As he ships passed, passengers on one ship could call out to passengers on the other. Our ship is bigger, said those on the Anthem; bigger isn't necessarily enter, said those on the Rotterdam. We sailed past and then encountered another Holland America ship, the Maasdam. Each sounded their horns in respect to the other.

The port was very close to Logan Airport. We would see and hear planes as they took and emerged from behind the terminal building. Now, we were in direct view of the airport and could see them taxi, take off and land. Other historic monuments became visible, such as the Bunker Hill Memorial and Fort Independence. Then I went back to my cabin to rest for a while.

At 7:30, there was a talk on what to do in Bar Harbor, or “Bah Hahbuh” in a heavy New England accent. This was mainly for the benefit of those not going on any tours. Now I was. Poked on a tour, but I was still interested in hearing about it. One thing that caught my attention was the Shore Path, a half-mile walk along the shore. My tour did not start immediately after the ship docked, so I would have some time on my own.

When I booked the cruise, I was not asked to choose a seating for the dining room. Instead, I was given open seating. I was urged to make a dining reservation, but when I tried, I was informed I was too late, that reservations close at 4. So when the talk ended, I made my way to the upper dining room on deck 5 and see what was available. I was placed at a table by myself, table 71. I had Bay Shrimp Potato Tots, New England Clam Chowder, Rainbow Trout, and Banana Crisp, along with a Diet Coke. Past experience told me that the dining room had excellent food, and in this case, past performance was indeed a predictor of future performance. As I ate my meal, my iPhone chimed. It seemed I was still in range of regular onshore service. The news was unfortunate: John McCain had died a short time earlier.

After dinner, I went back to my cabin and put on the news. MSNBC was showing a convoy accompanying the senator's body as it was being taken to wherever. BBC News was even giving heavy coverage to his passing. I watched for several minutes, and then I went to bed

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Sunday August 26

Sunday August 26

I woke up between 6 and 7, did my normal e-mail and web checks, and got dressed. And then I went up to breakfast (the restaurant was on deck 8, while my cabin was on deck 3). The selection was very similar to the other HAL ships I'd been on, which was not surprising. I looked for and found the All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes cereal: I learned my lesson from the last time and ,are sure to eat that cereal from the start of the cruise. I got some Special K to go with it as well, along with two small donuts, some smoked salmon, and some orange juice and V8. A fairly light breakfast, but it was good.

Back in my stateroom, I got ready for my day in Bar Harbor, Maine. Was my DSLR camera ready? Yes. Did I have my iPhone? I did. Did I have my shore excursion ticket? I sure did. Now it was time to to head to deck 5 to get a tender ticket. The pier at Bar Harbor was too small for the Rotterdam, so we had to tender ashore. When my number was called, I went down with the others to deck A, the launching point for the tenders. The seats in the tender were hard, and sitting on them for any length of time would be uncomfortable. Fortunately, it took only 10 minutes to travel to the pier, where we had to walk up two ramps to reach the town.

I was ashore well in advance of my excursion departure, so I had time to kill. I decided to take that Shore Walk mentioned in yesterday’s presentation. It went a half-mile along the shore, passing by some inns and some fancy houses. Since it was along the shore, I had a good view of the Rotterdam moored offshore. At one point, I could hear a ship announcement quite clearly.. I reached the end of the walk, where it turned inland, so I went back the way I came to get a different perspective on the trail. It was more picturesque than Galveston, that was for sure. Once I returned to the pier, I used the restroom and started to look for the meeting place for my tour.

I was on the Best of Both Worlds tour, which showcases both Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. It started a half-hour late for some reason. Our guide as an older gentleman whose name I did not catch. The tour. bus went first t Acadia National Park and the top of Cadillac Mountain. It was named for the same Frenchman who founded the city of Detroit, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. I knew that his crest is used by the Cadillac car company (I had to know that, having been in the auto industry for so long). It was pretty busy at the top of the mountain; everyone was there for the view, just like we were. And we could see our ship in the harbor as well as the town.

Once we were down from the mountain, we went on the loop drive through the park, which allowed us to see many wonderful sights. We saw some of the carriage roads intended for horse-drawn carriages, where cars were banned. We heard about the history of the park and the part of the Rockefellers in creating and extending it. We saw or heard about homes owned by famous people: Paul Stookey, Dick Wolf, and Martha Stewart were three. He told a joke or two at Stewart's expense. He also mentioned that Edsel and Eleanor Ford had an estate in the area, also know as Fair Lane; I wasn’t sure of that.

Our next stop was an old mansion on the grounds of and being used by the College of the Atlantic, which specialized in ecological studies. The name of the college reminded me of the College of the Mainland in Texas near where I grew up. The mansion reminded me of the Henry Ford estate, Fair Lane. Our last stop was at the Bluenose Inn for a presentation on lobster fishing by a retired lobster fisherman. We learned about their molting cycle, how to tell a male from female lobster, how lobster taps work, etc. and then it as time to return to the ship.

There was a long line of passengers waiting to board the tenders; nobody wanted to be left behind. The line moved fairly quickly, though. Behind me in line was a family from near London; I could hear the children talking to their mum. Soon, we passed the Sunrise Cafe, which had two blueberry pies cooling in an open window. I took — a picture of them. Did you think that I would have taken the pies? Eventually, I boarded a tender, and it sailed back, but then we had to wait for the tender in front of us to debark its passengers. Once checked back on board and through the security system, I went in search of lunch.

I found my lunch at the taco bar on deck 8. I also got a Diet Coke and a glass of water to drink with it. Then it was back to the room, where I needed to relieve myself. Afterwards, I felt — relieved. Then it was time to download my DSLR pictures to my iPad for easy viewing and time to make a dining room reservation for tonight. I also filled out the debarkation form that was waiting for me. Just one day after boarding the ship. Here, I would list my means of leaving the ship this coming Saturday. In my case, I had independent arrangements (I didn’t need their airport transfer) and wanted to leave in the last group of those debarking

Later, I was on the deck in front of my cabin. The ship did not set sail until 4: one hour after scheduled departure. A message chime sounded on my iPhone; it was T-Mobile saying I had used 40 of my allotted 50 MB for domestically data roaming. Time to turn cellular data off until the ship was in Canada, as I had unlimited data there. At 5: I went to the presentation on the three ports of call in the Maritimes, Halifax and Sydney in Nova Scotia, and Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. It was another informative presentation on places to go and things to do. I did notice one thing: the times for our arrival and departure for Charlottetown had been moved earlier by one hour. Instead of a 9-6 stay, it would now be an 8-5 stay. Would this affect the time for my PEI shore excursion? I figured that it would, and so I noted the new time for the excursion on the ticket. As later events would prove, my instincts were correct about it being pulled ahead an hour. There will be more on this later.

After the presentation, I went to the Explorations Cafe and got a bottle of Vitamin Water Zero and a chocolate chip cookie, which I took back to my room to enjoy. Later on, I got dressed for the first of two Gala nIghts, what used to be called formal nights. I went through the Photo Gallery area n deck 4, seeing what pictures were there. I knew that none of them were of me, for I had not posed for any, whether going on board or going ashore in Bar Harbor. I made my way to the Lincoln Center Stage at the Explorer's Lounge, where a string quartet was playing. This was Adagio, at least for this cruise. And what were they playing this evening? Songs from Disney films, mainly. What was this, a Disney Cruise? They played it very well, and afterwards, I went to the dining room.

The maitre'd had arranged it so that I would be at table 71 for the rest of the cruise. And what was my meal this evening? I had the shrimp appetizer, chicken with soba noodle soup, tenderloin with shrimp, and chocolate soufflé., along with 2 Diet Cokes. The meal as excellent, which has been true f nearly all of my cruise meals. Near the end of the meal, as I was eating my dessert, a man came up to me and said I bore a strong resemblance to Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey. He also said that one time, he was in Africa and met a man who looked like George C. Scott. The man denied it, but Scott was known to be in Africa at the time, so who knows? Now in the past, I've been told that I looked like famous people, and both of those times involved my wearing a hat. Once, when I had on a hat, sunglasses and a beard, a clerk at Kroger said I looked like Hank Williams Jr. Another time, in Juneau, Alaska, I was trying on one of those Russian fur hats when a man said I looked like Vladimir Putin. And now this comparison to Julian Fellowes. Back in my cabin, I used my onboard online plan to check Wikipedia. And yes, I would have to agree that there was a resemblance.

An aside: given that the name of the ship was the Rotterdam, I could not help but this no of the song “Rotterdam” by the Beautiful South. That was a hit in the UK during my first visit there n 1996. I don't think it ever was a hit I n the US.

A second aside: I was getting extremely frequent error messages on my iPhone and iPad about being unable to verify server identity. The se would occur when connected to the ship's WiFi yet not be connected to the outside Internet. After a struggle, I found that the solution was to fetch mail manually, not checking every five minutes or having it pushed.

A third aside: the onboard TV was nearly identical to the other HAL ships, except that this ship did not have a stern cam channel. There were ship’s information channels, several news channels (CNBC, MSNBC, Fox, BBC), two sports channels (ESPN, ESPN2), some movie channels, a ship’s position channel, and two music channels.

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Monday Augut 27

As the ship neared Nova Scotia, it entered the Atlantic time zone, requiring me to set my watch forward one hour. The iPhone and iPad would update their times on their own once they were in range of the cellular network. Sunrise and sunset would now be one hour later than what we had been used to, although they would now line up well with my experience in Detroit, for it too was in the western part of its time zone.

When I woke up this morning, I took a shower. For a while, though, it didn't look like I would be able to. I had a hard time figuring out how to work the controls, which were not the standard configuration for a shower. Then the drain stopper wouldn’t pop up once pressed down, but it wasn’t screwed in, so I could lift it out. Then I wasn’t quite sure which of the dispensers was soap and which was shampoo. I guessed, and it turned out to be the reason got guess. And after all that, I was clean.

I went up to breakfast and got All-Bran cereal, oatmeal, scramble eggs, a sausage patty, orange juice, V8, and water. I certainty wouldn’t have all f that at home or at work — or even most restaurants, for that matter. I picked up a Times Digest and scanned it; the lead story related to the afternoon of John McCain's death. Then it was back to the cabin to brush my teeth, shave, and change my shoes. I had worn sandals this morning, but they were quite new and not fully broken in. With the walking I would have to do ashore today, I would need comfortable shoes, so I put my sneakers back on. I also turned cellular data back on on the phone, for we were within range of the Canadian cell phone networks, where I had unlimited roaming.

My shore excursion departed early, so I wanted to get off fairly early. The gangway was supposed to open at 9, but there was no announcement. At 9:15, still no announcement. Had I missed it? No, I would certainly have heard it unless I had been unconscious. Finally, the announcement came at 9:20. I made my way to deck 2 and left the ship. The woman in front of me was in a wheelchair; she had problems navigate the bumps in the gangway, and then she had to ride her chair's brakes as she rolled down the ramps.

I was now in Nova Scotia. Five provinces down, five to go. Once I entered the terminal, I was not there for long. I went right across the building and exited in order to board the bus for my tour, The Best of Halifax, the tour was called. Would it be? I was about to find out. Our tour guide was Cathy, our driver Hap. The bus pulled away from the terminal, and the tour had begun. We drove through downtown Halifax, passing by several places, including the old City Hall. The clock on the north face on the clock tower read 9:05 and would always read 9:05. That was the time on December 6, 1917, of the great Halifax Explosion. Far larger than the Texas City Explosion of 1947, it was the largest non-natural explosion in all of history to that time (it would be surpassed by atomic explosions).

Our first stop was the Public Garden, a prime example of a Victorian-era garden. Like a proper Victorian garden, it was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence with iron gates; it had a bandstand, plants from around the world, themed floral displays, and more. One of the themed floral displays celebrated the 200th anniversary of Dalhousie University. Some of the plants from elsewhere were various types of cacti. There was one agave plant that was in bloom. the bandstand was surrounded by several flower beds. Elsewhere in the gardens, we passed by a rather large goose in its pen. It was known to be very aggressive, our guide told us. Mother Goose? More like Motha-Bleepa Goose! There was a placid pond that had two ship models afloat in it, one of those being of the Titanic. We saw one of the two fountains in the gardens. All in all, a very tranquil location in the city.

Our next stop was the Halifax Citadel, a fortress that never fired a shot in anger. Originally built by the British, it was taken over by Canada and was now a national historic site. We spent around an hour there. I climbed up to the ramparts and walked halfway around them, seeing the cannon mounted there and admiring the views of the city that they afforded. In doing this, I missed out on spending much time in the museum. Perhaps I would do that on a future visit. But I did get to see the 11 o’clock changing of the guard ceremony.

Next, we traveled to Fairview Lawn Cemetery. Its claim to fame was that several victims of the Titanic are buried there. The victims were buried in 3 or 4 curved rows, with headstones showing the victims’ names (if known), the date of death (April 15, 1912) and the order in which their bodies were recovered from the sea. Our guide Cathy told story of body 313, Luigi Gatti, a chef on the Titanic, who perished along with his whole family. Although I’m sure there was no relation, I could not help but think of the Mr. Gatti’s Pizza chain in Texas. Some headstones were more elaborate than the others; the families had chosen to pay for those. One of those upgraded markers honored an unidentified baby. Later, DNA testing allowed that baby to be identified, and another marker with his name and photograph were placed by his family. One of the other markers that drew interest was that of stoker J. Dawson, said to be the partial inspiration for the Jack Dawson character in the movie Titanic. I recited prayers for the departed for the victims and for everyone at the cemetery. I also reflected on the fact that I had met a survivor of the Titanic back in the ‘80s. She lived in Hancock, Michigan in the same senior citizen housing where my Grandma Reini was living at the time. Her name was Minnie, as I recall.

Now it was time for lunch. The bus went to a strip mall, and we ate at a local restaurant called Steak & Stein. Nobody had a steak or drank from a stein, but most of us had a large bowl of seafood chowder with a big dinner roll; for dessert, I had some gingerbread. It was very good; all of it was very good. Next came the out-of-town portion of our tour, a picturesque drive down the coast to the fishing village of Peggy’s Cove. On the way down, our guide mentioned many things, one of them being that gasoline prices are regulated by the province (true in the other Maritimes, as well) so that the price is fixed for that week, and all stations will charge the same rate.

When we turned off the main highway and drove into town, we saw the actual Peggy’s Cove, but the bus kept rolling until we reached a gift shop and parking area near the famous Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse. That was a prime attraction with the rocky coast and blue waters, and the nice weather made it even more so. I took plenty of pictures of the lighthouse, the scenery and the town, but I didn’t go anywhere near the black rocks. Those were the rocks right along the shore where one was in danger of being swept away by the waves. I visited the Sou’wester Gift Shop for a bathroom break and a review of their wares, but the only thing I got was a bottle of water from the vending machine outside.

When we left Peggy’s Cove, we got back on the Lighthouse Highway, where we drove along the coast some more and saw more sights. One of those was a row of some very expensive homes, one of which was rumored to be owned by Arnold Schwarzenegger and another owned by a top NHL player. Both of them could certainly afford to own them! Then we picked up the highway that took us back to Halifax. We returned to the port by a different way from how we had left; this route took us past the location of the Halifax explosion, and our guide told us more details. A French ship packed with munitions (World War I was still raging) collided with another vessel in the harbor, and the ensuing fire eventually set off the munitions, devastating the city. The governor of Massachusetts offered assistance, which was gladly accepted; ever since, Halifax has sent a Christmas tree to the state.

When the bus returned to the pier, the tour was over. It had been very enjoyable. Next door to the pier was Pier 21, the Canadian Immigration Museum. Pier 21 had been Canada’s equivalent to Ellis Island. It was quite likely that my great-grandparents Garrick (my maternal grandfather’s parents) had entered Canada through there, and possibly some other great-grandparents of mine had done so too. There was no time to visit the museum now, though; it would soon be closing, and the ship would be sailing. I now had a reason for a return visit. Inside the cruise terminal, I looked at the wares offered by various vendors. One vendor had some cat-related merchandise, which I considered getting but thought it might take too much room in my luggage. I did see a pare of Heritage wooden musical spoons, which were made in Quebec; I bought a pair — something to learn in my retirement, I figured. Then it was time to rebound the ship. Note: I learned later that the Pier 21 facility did not open until the 1920s, while my great-grandparents immigrated in 1902 or ’03. Maybe they did go through Halifax, but it wasn’t through that facility

While in my cabin, I heard bagpipes playing. I went out onto the promenade, and yes, there was a piper at the pier, sending us off in a Scottish way. I took a short video to remember the experience. I stayed on the deck for a while until the ship shoved off a few minutes after 6. After that, the terminal no longer blocked the sun, and it was too bright on the port side. Besides, I had to go inside and get changed.

I had a reservation for Holland America’s upscale restaurant Canaletto this evening; it specialized in Italian cuisine. Olive Garden, it was not! I ordered two courses of appetizers, an antipasto and a risotto, and for the main course, I chose spaghetti in a butter sauce with shrimp and clams in the shell. Everything was good. For dessert, I had the selection of Italian cheeses. It was cheese and crackers along with strawberries and some small nut clusters. This was not something I would traditionally associate with dessert, but as a change of pace, it was also good. After the meal, I walked halfway around the promenade before returning to my room. I’d planned on reading for a while, but when I lay down, I felt very sleepy. That told me it was time to go to bed.

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Tuesday August 28

When I woke up at 4 in the morning to use the restroom, I thought I noticed it was light outside my cabin window. It could not have been the sun, not at this time of year at this latitude. It had to have been a light on the promenade. An aside: I have to resist the temptation to write “promenade deck” because the promenade was not actually on the promenade deck; it was on the lower promenade deck. Why they did it that way, I have no idea. I got up for good shortly after 6, did e-mail and web checks, and got dressed. Not long after 7:30, I went for breakfast in the Lido Market. At the time, the ship was not far from Glace Bay. My grandfather on my mother’s side was born there, although he only lived there for three years. And what of my breakfast? I had some scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, 2 bowls of cereal, a cinnamon bun, a piece of ham and a piece of cheese.

After my meal, I went to the Sea View deck, but it was too bright for my liking. I went forward to the Lido pool area, which had more shade, and did a little bit of work on this travelogue. There was music playing in the background; one song I remember hearing was “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow, a song that I’d heard frequently on board during the Panama Canal cruise last year. That was an observation, not a complaint; I like that song. I like her, for that matter.

The ship would not dock in Sydney until 11 AM, so I had free time this morning. I turned in my disembarkation form, saying that I could leave the ship fairly late. I saw that the On Deck For a Cause 5K walk was taking place today, very early in the cruise; on my other HAL cruises, it had taken place during the final day at sea.

When the ship arrived in Sydney, I went ashore fairly early. I wanted to take a picture of the world’s largest fiddle that had been placed dockside. That proved difficult, as there always seemed to be people in front of it, and I didn’t want anybody in the shot. I ended up having to point the camera slightly upward to get the fiddle and not the people. Then I went inside the terminal to look for a currency exchange booth. I didn’t find one, but I did find the next best thing, an ATM. I got some money, paid a visit to the restroom, and then I looked for the bus for today’s tour, which was a visit to the town of Baddeck and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Our tour guide was Fred White (the family name was originally Leblanc, so he does have Acadian roots and Cajun relatives, he would explain later), our driver Jim. As we drove through Sydney, Fred told us of a castle that used to be in the west side of town but that had been destroyed in a fire in 1966. We proceeded on the road to Baddeck, which involved crossing over a river and going up a “mountain” (it may officially have been a hill, but the locals called it a mountain) and proceeding along the shore of Lake Bras d’Or. As we neared Baddeck, our guide pointed out the spot where, in 1909, the first powered flight anywhere in the British Empire took place (more on that later).

The Bell Museum appeared to be a small, A-frame building at first glance, but appearances can be deceiving. It was much larger than it appeared. The entrance area gave a timeline of Bell’s life, followed by highlights of his work with the deaf. One hall focused on the telephone, naturally. There was a vintage telephone, probably from the 1940s, I imagine, where one could pick up the handset and dial a number. That handset was very heavy and robust; it could almost be used as a deadly weapon. I contemplated the radical changes that had taken place in telephone technology in 142 years; I was carrying some of those changes in a holster on my belt, referring to my iPhone.

Other halls were devoted to other scientific experiments of Bell, his kite-flying experiments, and his experiments in aviation and watercraft. I was not aware that he had been behind the Silver Dart, which made the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire in 1909. using the frozen lakebed of Lake Bras d’Or as a runway. On exhibit was a replica built and flown in 2009 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the flight. The replica was authentic in every way except one: there was a cup holder for Tim Horton’s coffee at the request of the pilot, astronaut Marc Garneau. It called to mind the 2003 replica of the Wright Flyer on display at the Henry Ford Museum, which also flew, though not on the actual 100th anniversary of its flight due to bad weather. I was at the Canadian Kitty Hawk!

There wasn’t going to be a meal on this tour, so I got a snack from the museum cafe, a cookie and a small bottle of Diet Pepsi (the bottle was the size of a can). I visited the museum store and bought two books, one on the Silver Dart that I planned to give to my uncle and a book on the Cabot Trail for myself. When our visit was over, the bus took us down to the Baddeck harbor, where we got to see a sculpture of Alexander and Mabel Bell sitting on a park bench. From that location, it was possible to see the red roof of the Bell mansion on the hill, which still belonged to his descendants and was not open to the public. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the mansion, no matter how hard I tried. I’m not sure I was looking in the right spot.

On the way back to Sydney, guide Fred played us an example of Cape Breton fiddle music from a player who wasn’t a full-time musician (he was a cook at an inn in Baddeck). Later, he played a song about miners in Place Bay written and performed by Rita MacNeil, whom I recognized from a CBC TV show in the 90s (I never watched the show but remember it from TV Guide listings and possibly promos from Hockey Night in Canada). Fred also mentioned the big Celtic Colours music festival that makes place all over Cape Breton every fall; he’s a volunteer at the event. It did sound interesting; maybe I would consider going sometime.

We got back to Sydney a little early, so the bus made a slight detour through the Mik-Maq First Nations town of Membertou. The town appeared to be thriving, with housing in good condition, a hotel (Hampton Inn), convention center and casino, a strip mall, and so on. Leaders from other First Nations communities have come to Membertou trying to find out what the leaders are doing correctly. Then we returned to the cruise terminal. The tour was over. I spent some time in the terminal before rebounding the ship, picking up some tourist literature, visiting the restroom, and going through the artisans’ hall but not buying anything.

Once I was back on board, I did an e-mail check and transferred my DSLR pictures to my iPad, as I’d been doing all along during the cruise. I didn’t bring a laptop, and the pictures were much easier to review on a larger screen. Later, I went to the onboard shops, which had re-opened after leaving port. I was looking at some shirts, trying to find something in my preferred size but not succeeding. For dinner, I was back in the main dining room at table 71, and here is what I had: crab and shrimp crostini, French onion soup, petite beef tenderloin with creamed leeks and bacon with thyme roasted potatoes and frizzled parsnips, and peach crisp and chocolate whoopi pie. I must thank the online Holland America Navigator for having the menus available to transcribe.

Back in the room, I turned on the BBC News channel and watched it for a while. Then I tried to read from my Kinde, but I felt too sleepy and gave up, deciding to call it a night.

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Wednesday August 29

I woke up around 6:20 this morning and did my normal e-mail and web checks. After paying a visit to the restroom and getting dressed, I went up for an early breakfast around 7. This was due to a change in the ship’s schedule. We were originally supposed to visit Charlottetown from 9 AM to 6 PM, but I’d noticed in a presentation on Sunday that we were now scheduled to visit from 8 AM to 5 PM. Although I hadn’t been told, I figured that my shore excursion today would also be moved an hour earlier, which is why I was having breakfast as soon as the restaurant opened. That was a good decision, as it turned out, for as I returned to the cabin, I heard the phone ringing. I wasn’t able to answer the phone in time, so I went to do some cleanup in the restroom. Then I heard the phone ringing again. It was the shore excursions staff letting me know that my excursion had indeed been moved forward one hour. Apparently, notices should have been placed in our cabins last night, but they didn’t make it to everyone. I said I’d already figured out the time change. Now this last-minute notification was not a good decision on Holland America’s part; this should have come much earlier in the cruise. I would later hear stories on today’s tour about people who were awoken in bed by these phone calls and had to make a mad scramble to make breakfast and the tour. Some of them didn’t make it to breakfast.

Today’s tour was called PEI Top 10. Our tour guide was Donalda, I believe; our driver was Roger (not me). As we left the terminal, we drove through the streets of Charlottetown. The most historic site that we saw was Confederation House, where the first meetings took place that would lead to the creation of Canada in 1867. The building was under renovation and covered with scaffolding, so I didn’t take a picture of it (it was also on the other side of the bus from where I was sitting). We then went through the more commercial part of the city, passing by outposts of several Canadian businesses (I recognized (Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, Tim Horton’s, Sobey’s, Atlantic Superstore [which I recognized as Real Canadian Superstore]) and some American imports (Walmart, Best Buy). We continued outward, going through several roundabouts and passing by Cow’s Creamery, which we would be visiting later.

Now we were in the countryside, real farming country. Potato farms were everywhere, along with the occasional cornfield. We stopped briefly in the fishing community of Victoria for a photo opportunity with its lighthouse red-sanded shores. Then we continued along the highway to the community of Borden-Carleton and the Confederation Bridge. This bridge connected Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick and the rest of the mainland. I remembered the news stories about its completion in 1997. There was a little park at the foot of the bridge with a lighthouse, and it served as another photo opportunity for us. I took several pictures, but two people took pictures of me with the bridge in the background. One of them was one of the tour members, and the other was tour guide Donalda.

Our next destination was the Shop and Play gift shop in the Gateway Village at the foot of the bridge. We should have gone there before the bridge stop, but there were two other tour buses there, so the driver thought it would be better if we delayed our visit. The other buses were gone. This store had souvenirs for Prince Edward Island and Anne of Green Gables; in fact, there was a statue of Anne in front of the store, the only known statue of her, and inside, you could get your picture taken as Anne. I didn’t take advantage of that, though others on the tour did. I did get some gifts: a Green Gables bag for my niece Candice and a carved-wood cat for my aunt Marie. The cat came from Indonesia, which was fitting because I was on a Holland America cruise, and Indonesians made up a big part of HAL ship crews. As for myself, I got a PEI toque for the upcoming winter, as well as a can of Diet Coke. I sipped on that while I munched on the PEI-made kettle-cooked potato chips that we’d been given on the bus.

The bus departed for its next destination: lunch at a restaurant on the north shore of the island. We started heading to the west along the south shore. Those on the left side got a view of the Confederation Bridge as it extended to New Brunswick. In a number of fields, hay had been cut and was in bales, some being the traditional round bales, and some being rectangular bales wrapped in plastic. Suddenly, a police car came up behind the bus, its lights flashing. The driver pulled over. Had he done something wrong? No, he hadn’t; the officer was warning him that a bridge up ahead had been damaged and was under weight restrictions. The bus was too heavy for the bridge; it would have to turn around. So we did turn around and went back to the Gateway Village area. Those of us on the right side could now see the Confederation Bridge spanning the gap between the island and the mainland. That bridge was a toll bridge, by the way. it doesn’t cost anything to take the bridge onto the island, but it does cost $47 Canadian to leave. That’s a lot

We made it back to where we’d turned off, but we turned north and took a detour to get to where we were going. We passed by more farmland and more pastureland, and then we reached the north coast. That was the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the distance. Part of that coastline was taken up by Prince Edward Island National Park, which we would be visiting later on. Right now, though, we proceeded to the town of North Rustico, home to a gas station named Irving and, more importantly for us, home to a restaurant at their Fisherman’s Wharf. Today, all but two of us would be having a lobster roll with potato salad. I had missed the opportunity to have a lobster roll in Maine, but I would make up for it here. Now when the meal arrived, the piece of bread in which the lobster was served wasn’t quire what I would have called a roll. But neither was it two distinct pieces of bread, so it wasn’t a lobster sandwich. However, the lobster that was served in the bread was delicious. So was the potato salad, even though I’m not normally a fan of potato salad.

When I went outside after finishing my meal, one of the women on the tour came up to me and asked for help with her Canon camera. She saw that I had a Canon camera, too, and wanted help getting the large display to serve as the viewfinder rather than the small display in the viewfinder. Unfortunately, my camera and hers were not as similar as one might have thought. Mine was a DSLR, while hers was not, and the display options differed. They were different enough that I was unable to help her. At least the display in the viewfinder still worked.

Our next stop was Prince Edward Island National Park, where we could see whitecaps on the gulf and waves breaking against the red cliffs and rocky beaches. We turned off into a parking lot and walked to a prime viewing spot. It was very picturesque, and I took several pictures and even two videos of the surf pounding the shore. We then traveled to the Green Gables Heritage Site, inspiration for the Lucy Maud Montgomery novel “Anne of Green Gables”, which I had never read. There was a Canadian miniseries of the book in the 80s, but I never saw that either. Much of the significance of the site would have been lost on me. Perhaps I should consider reading the book in the future. As it was, I did tour the house and the grounds and took pictures. In the gift shop, I could have bought a copy of “Anne of Green Gables” or its sequels, but didn’t; I thought it would be better to get an e-book version.

Our final stop on the tour was Cow’s Creamery, which we had passed that morning on the way to the Confederation Bridge. We were given cards for a free one-scoop ice cream cone; I chose to get Oreo Cookie flavor. It had been acclaimed as the best ice cream in the world; I don’t know about that, but it WAS very good. Then we went back to the cruise terminal, where I took a quick look at the shops in the terminal but didn’t get anything before re-boarding the ship.

Some things I did not know: Gallant is a common last name on PEI. Gerard Gallant, former Detroit Red Wing and current coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, was from PEI.

Back in my cabin, I downloaded the DSLR pictures to my iPad and started to review them. Then I went to the Main Stage Lounge for a presentation on the sights of Quebec City and Montreal. I had never been to either city, so these were on my bucket list. I was scheduled to take tours in both cities, but I still wanted to find out about them.

The captain announced that our course would take us underneath the Confederation Bridge. This would take place around 7:30 that evening. The Rotterdam was one of the tallest ships that could pass under the bridge; any larger, and we would have had to go the other way around the island. I went up to deck 9 to witness the passage; so had many other passengers. I found a spot on the port side. In the distance, I could see the New Brunswick shore; I regretted that the ship would not be starting there, thus costing me the opportunity to visit my seventh province (the ones I had visited, in order: Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). Off ahead in the distance, I could see the bridge. I wondered if I would have been able to see where our tour was earlier today, but that was on the starboard side of the ship, and I didn’t want to lose my place along the rail. The sun was still up but was sinking lower in the west; if we’d kept to the original port schedule, we would have been going through after sunset. Or maybe we wouldn’t have been going this way at all; that would have depended on how well the bridge was lit at night. The bridge got closer and closer; would we clear it? Surely we would, otherwise we would not be traveling that way; but the passengers wanted to see for themselves. Then finally, we were there! The front light towers cleared; the smokestacks cleared; and then the rear light tower cleared. The bridge was behind us.

It was nearly time for dinner, so after returning to my room to drop off my camera bag, I went to the main dining room. And what did I have this evening: French onion soup with short ribs (meh, mainly for the shredded short ribs), classic Caesar salad, bucatini crab carbonara (good), and blueberry sundae. Afterwards, I went to the Main Stage to catch the evening’s entertainment. The two comedians that had performed earlier in the cruise were performing an additional show. I hadn’t seen the earlier shows because I’d been too sleepy. And as I sat watching the first comedian and then the second, I decided that I hadn’t missed that much. I didn’t stay for the whole show.

Now for some comments about shipboard Internet access. The packages that were being offered had changed since my previous cruise. Then, the packages involved buying X minutes of access for Y dollars. Now, access was sold by the day or by the week for less money but with data caps of 500 MB a day. This certainly worked for e-mails, web access and streaming media, but it didn’t work well for updating apps. Doing updates could easily put you past your daily limit. Updates would have to wait until I was in range of a shore-based WiFi service or when my phone could connect to the land-based cellular network.

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Thursday August 30

As the ship headed towards the St. Lawrence River, the clocks were set back one hour, returning us to Eastern time. That made me wake up way too early for breakfast, so I took my time getting ready. I did my normal web and e-mail checks, noticing a story that Ford’s credit rating had been downgraded by one of the major credit rating services. That sounded disturbing. I put on the BBC News, and I watched them before and after taking a shower (I certainly couldn’t watch them during the shower — well, if there were a TV in the shower, I could have). The temperature was supposed to be cooler today, so I put on a long-sleeve shirt and went to breakfast. I ate a lighter meal today than I had the last few days; yesterday’s scrambled eggs were a bit runny, and I don’t care for runny eggs. Sometimes, runny eggs don’t care for me.

Today was a sea day, the only one of the cruise. I was glad to take a break from the pace of a shore excursion every day. The weather today was nowhere near as nice as it had been at all of the ports; in the morning, it was chilly and foggy. I’d started a walk around the promenade but called it off because I was too cold. Even after putting on a jacket, it was still too cold for my liking. The fog and the wind caused by the motion of the ship created too much of a chill.

The ship was moving fairly slowly, no more than 10 knots. This was because it was traveling through a protected whale sanctuary. We didn’t want to feel any big thumps on the hull from whales telling us to slow down.

I went up to the crow’s Nest for a while; it was rather chilly up there. Then I went down to the Main Stage for the “Ask the Captain” session; it was cold in there, too. I was still wearing my jacket, while others were snuggling in blankets. The captain gave an informative talk about the bridge and the engine room, along with the ship’s navigation systems. When the time came for asking questions, I asked if the navigation systems used any of the other global navigation networks such as Glonass. No, the captain said, this ship just used GPS, although the ability to use other networks was being considered. Someone else asked about the time shift for our port call at Charlottetown. That was to make sure that we reached Quebec City on time, he said.

Because I was a repeat cruiser with Holland America (this was my third time), I was eligible to attend one of the Mariners’ Society brunches. There were two of them, for more than half of the passengers were repeat cruisers. We gathered in the lower main dining room; I sat at a table with 6 others, two of whom were widows. This was a champagne brunch, but I didn’t touch any of the champagne. And what was my meal? It consisted of a duck confit, baked cod with green beans and potatoes, and a lemon tart. Just like at the brunch on my previous cruise, we received a coaster of the ship.

Later in the afternoon, I tried to complete the online check-in process for my room in Montreal this coming Saturday at the Novotel. I had tried a few times earlier in the day, but the process stalled out and couldn’t be completed. I’d been getting very annoyed by that. I tried again, but this time, I got some additional prompts for information that I hadn’t received before. This time, I was asked to provide a passport number and other key details. I could see why I couldn’t complete the process earlier, if that was missing. I suspect the Internet connection wasn’t the best, and some prompts were getting dropped. At least I could complete the process this time.

That brunch wan’t particularly filling, so I was looking for something else to eat. I tried the New York Pizza first; unfortunately, all they provided was whole pizzas, not pizza by the slice, and I wasn’t hungry enough for a whole pizza. Then I went to the Dive In hamburger stand, where I got — no, not a hamburger, but a Nathan’s hot dog and some fries. It was pretty good. So was the bottle of Vitamin Water Zero and the chocolate chip cookie that I got afterwards from the Explorations Cafe. Back in my room, I started to read from my Kindle, but I got a low battery warning, so that was the end of that. I had to charge it up before I could use it again.

Tonight would be the second and final Gala night, so I got dressed for that. I went outside on the promenade for a bit and saw the the ship was now moving at great speed. Whatever the equivalent of putting the pedal to the metal would be for ships, the captain had done it. Or maybe he’d just given the command “full speed ahead.” We must have exited that protected whale area.

Dinner this evening was on the fancier side, befitting the Gala night theme. Here’s what I had: shrimp cocktail, chicken and orzo soup, surf and turf, and flourless chocolate cake. It was a very good meal. Later on, I went to the Main Stage for the premiere of a new show, Post-Modern Jukebox. This show took popular songs of today (well, the last few years) and performed them in musical styles of the past. Two of the song that I recognized were “Call Me Maybe” and “All About That Bass.” The show didn’t do that much for me; I left halfway through.

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Friday August 31

This morning, I woke up around 5:30 and did my normal routine. But when I went to use the bathroom, I noticed that the water level in the toilet was lower than normal. It still worked, though. But when I went to wash my hands, no water came out of the faucet. Something was wrong. The captain came on the intercom with a ship-wide announcement at 6:30, and this was audible in the rooms as well. That meant it was a very important announcement. He told us what I already knew, that the water on the ship was out. Apparently, there was a leak on board, and it was in the process of being repaired. Breakfast service would be delayed until water service was restored.

While I waited for the all-clear to be given, I noticed that my iPhone was getting good LTE service. Since I had unlimited cell phone data, I took this as an opportunity to download updates for both the iPhone and the iPad. Eventually, the all-clear was given, and breakfast was now being served. I didn’t have to eat that early this morning because my shore excursion didn’t start until after lunch. Today, I had 2 kinds of cereal (All-Bran flakes and Special K), a blueberry muffin, some scrambled eggs (not runny this morning) and a sausage patty (I liked the patties better than the bacon).

We had docked in Quebec City. I went up to the sports/observation deck with my camera and took some pictures. It was a cloudless sky as I admired the view. The imposing yet picturesque presence of the Chateau Frontenac dominated the skyline and was a natural subject for the camera. Afterwards, I went down to the starboard promenade and sat on one of the deck chairs for a while, but it was chilly over there because it was in the shade. I went back to my cabin and put on a long-sleeve shirt underneath the snort-sleeve shirt I was wearing (I did this instead of putting on a jacket).

I went up to the Lido deck and sat around for a bit, drinking a glass or two of water. I was starting to feel weary; perhaps I needed another day at sea, of not doing anything. I wasn’t going to get that, though, for I did want to go on today’s tour. I wanted to get a taste of Quebec City. When 11:30 rolled around, I went over to the taco bar, but it wasn’t a taco bar today. No, in honor of our visit to Quebec, it was a poutine bar. French fries, cheese, gravy and other toppings were available. I decided to try some. Now I don’t know if what I made would officially be called “poutine”, but it was — OK.

After lunch, I went to the restroom, and then I left the ship. I walked around the plaza next to the ship for a little while. There was an unusual artwork in the middle of the plaza, a white ball on a pole. But it wasn’t just a white ball; it was a rotating eyeball. Was that a security camera of some sort? I couldn’t know. I heard a lot of French being spoken, naturally, since Quebec was predominantly French-speaking. A major walk-bike path went through the plaza and up and down the shore. I walked over to the cruise terminal, looking for the meeting place for the tour. It was inside the terminal, in a room just off the entrance. Two tours were gathering there, one a walking tour of the old city and the other a bus tour of historic and modern Quebec; that was the tour I was on. Before long, our tour guide came in, held up a sign with the name of our tour, and led us out to the bus.

Our tour guide was Marie; unfortunately, I didn’t catch the name of the bus driver. We started off with a drive through the old walled city, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It certainly had the look of an old European city. We were heading to La Citadelle, the fort located on the highest land in the area. It was similar to the Halifax Citadel, but with one big difference: unlike the one in Halifax, this was still an active military base. We had to stay with our Citadelle tour guide. Our group had to be split into two, each with its own guide; the group I was in had Thomas as a guide. He was not a serviceman; in fact, I think he was still in high school. He took us through some key locations on the base, such as the museum that was housed in a former fortress/stockade, the row of cannons pointed towards the St. Lawrence, and the oldest building on the site, dating from the 1600s. The largest cannon we saw was named “Rachel”; I do not know why.

When we left La Citadelle, the bus drove through the old city some more, passing by the provincial parliament building among other places, and made its way to the Plains of Abraham, site of the critical 18th-century battle where the British ended French control of its American territories. Now, it’s a park and popular gathering spot. We stopped at the Joan of Arc Garden to admire the view and to use the nearby public washrooms. Our next stop was the Observatoire de la Capitale, a vantage point atop a 31-story building that provided a 360-degree view of the area. I took plenty of pictures up there, including some of the downtown area and the ship. I almost had a mishap up there; I had forgotten I was standing on an elevated platform, and when I stepped away, I stumbled and almost fell. Fortunately, I didn’t fall.

When we left, the bus went out to the suburbs and drove through the campus of Laval University. It moved from its Old City campus in the 1940’s and ‘50s, and thus the buildings were fairly modern. One feature that could not be seen: the buildings were all interconnected with tunnels, meaning faculty and students would not have to brave the cold in winter when going from building to building. We also learned that higher education in Quebec is different from the rest of North America; there, “college” refers to the first two years, and “university” is reserved for the final two years.

The bus returned to the ship by way of the St. Lawrence. It was another long line to rebound the ship. Back at my cabin, I found waiting for me a nice printout of the cruise: our route, key facts about the ship and the voyage, etc. The ship shoved off shortly before 5 PM, and I took some pictures as we sailed away. The EXC guide Claudia was narrating our passage up the St. Lawrence for a half-hour or so as we neared the Quebec Bridge. It was a repeat of the Confederation Bridge passage: would we clear the bridge? Yes, we would. On my way back to the cabin, I noticed signs for access to the bow. I went up there after we’d passed the bridge, but by that time, everyone else had left.

Tonight was the last dinner on board. I started with French onion soup, which was good, as I already knew. The main course was grilled salmon, which started out good, but I wasn’t able to finish it. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for salmon. For dessert, I had some vanilla ice cream. Then it was back to the room where I finished my packing, put out one suitcase for collection on shore, and turning on a college football game before turning in.

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Saturday September 1

I woke up around 5 this morning, not feeling particularly great. I didn’t feel like eating breakfast this morning; all I wanted was one of my Fiber One bars. I got dressed and looked out my window; we were docked in Montreal. The cruise was over. Now it was time to leave the cabin for the last time and wait to be called to leave. We would leave from deck 2; the closest public seating area was on the promenade, so that’s where I sat. I sat on a deck chair (no cushions) until 8:45, which is when my departure group was called. I went down to deck 2, made sure I had everything, and then I left.

Inside the terminal, I picked up a tourist map and brochure, found my suitcase, and then got in a long line for a taxi. It moved quickly, though, so I didn’t have to wait that long. I asked the driver to take me to the Novotel, which he did. It was still quite early in the morning when I arrived at the hotel, so I sat in the lobby and did some e-mail checks. As 10 o’clock approached, I walked up to the front desk. I was merely looking for a place to store my luggage until I could check in, but it turned out that I was able to check in right away. Room 501 had already been cleaned and was ready to be re-occupied.

In order to turn on the lights in the room, you had to put a keycard in a holder. That was something that the Disney Cruise ships had. The bathroom had darkened glass for one of the walls, so it was possible to see from one room to the other. The room definitely had a European flavor to it, which made sense, for Novotel was a much larger brand in Europe. By this time, I was feeling better, and hungrier, so I went to the hotel restaurant and had the breakfast buffet.

As noon approached, I went outside. I had arranged for a hotel pickup for the Gray Line bus tour tour of the city. I was expecting a large tour bus to come down the street, but it was a smaller shuttle van that arrived instead. It took us to the main office for the tours, which also happened to be an official Quebec tourism agency. There was quite a bit of literature here. I picked up another copy of the Montreal tourism booklet, making sure it was in English; the one I got at the cruise terminal was in French. I made a restroom stop on the lower level before going out to wait for the bus.

On this tour, the guide and driver were the same person, Richard. He drove us through the streets of Montreal, explaining the sites and sights as we went along. Our first stop was near the Notre Dame Basilica. It cost $6 to go inside. I was not particularly interested in going inside, but even if I were, I would not have been able to. There was a very long line to enter, and by the time we would have been able to enter, the bus would have left. I did take some pictures of the outside of the basilica as of the surrounding area. When I returned to the bus, I took off my jacket, for it was fairly warm.

As we drove around the city, we passed more sites, including the Lachine Canal. That was how ships went up and down the St. Lawrence before the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. Then we drove onto the island that was the location for Expo 67, the World’s Fair that was held in Montreal. We passed the former Habitat 67 originally built for the expo and now converted to expensive housing. We saw the geodesic dome that was the American Pavilion, one of the symbols of the expo. I remember hearing about Expo 67 at the time; my aunt Marie went to it.

As we drove around some more, Richard pointed out the apartments that had outdoor stairways to the second floor; in a few rare cases, there were outdoor stairways to the third story. This was done for tax reasons. It would also have been very treacherous in winter, and the practice is no longer allowed. We drove across from the old Olympic Stadium, used for the 1976 Olympic Games and then for the Montreal Expos until they moved to Washington.

Next, we passed by the Molson Stadium used by McGill University and stopped for pictures at St. Joseph’s Oratory. We then went up Mount Royal for views of the city stretched out below us. We’d passed by a large cemetery on our way there; that cemetery had some famous graves, including Lorne Greene, Leonard Cohen, Rocket Richard and Anna Leonowens (of “The King And I” fame). No, we didn’t visit the cemetery. That was the last stop on the tour, and Richard took some of us back to our hotels, while most got off at the departure point.

Before the cruise, I’d bought a ticket to Montreal’s 360 Observatory. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit sleepy, and the observation deck was a good distance away, so I decided to forego the opportunity. Perhaps I’d feel more like it on a return visit. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for supper, so I walked around a couple of blocks near the hotel. There was a pizza place that looked interesting on the map, but when I got there, it was merely a walkup, with no on-premises seating. That ruled it out. Some other restaurants looked a bit interesting but not interesting enough for me to visit. Some stores on Rue Sherbrooke were still open, but I had no interest in visiting them. Lots of young people were out; it was a Saturday night, after all. I ended up having soup and a burger back at the hotel restaurant. It was French onion soup, again; I must have wanted to keep the cruise experience going a little while longer.

Before heading back up to my room, I changed a $20 at the front desk so that I could use the drink vending machine on my floor. My room had a minibar, but the vending machine was less expensive. Also, the minibar didn’t have Coke Zero; the vending machine did. Back in the room, I flipped around the TV channels. Many of them were in French, naturally. One of them that wasn’t was an ABC channel from New Hampshire or Vermont, and it was carrying a college football game (Alabama-Louisville). I watched that game for a while. Occasionally, I could hear some chanting from the streets below. I couldn’t understand it, for it was muffled and probably in French.

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Sunday September 2

Today, I would start heading home. I got up around 6:20 in the morning, did my normal web and e-mail checks. I had time before I had to leave for the train station, so I took my time getting ready. I transferred the pictures I had taken yesterday to the iPad for a better opportunity to review them. I didn’t have breakfast at the hotel; I thought I would get some at the train station.

I checked out around 9 and took a cab to the train station. Yes, I could have gotten breakfast there, but there was a long line waiting to board the train, so I got into line and waited. A clerk came by with a rolling scale, weighing suitcases that looked too large. Mine was not weighed. Eventually, the boarding call came, and we went down to the platform and boarded the train. There was no checked luggage on the train, so I had to put both of my suitcases in the overhead rack. That was easy for one bag but less so for the larger, heavier bag.

The train pulled out of the station at 10:15, right on time. There was Amtrak WiFi coverage, but it only worked in the US, we were informed. I could still get service on my iPhone, though. A little while after leaving, I visited the snack car to get lunch, for we’d been warned that the car would be closed while we were undergoing US Customs inspection.

When we reached the border, we didn’t stop right there but proceeded to a special Customs stop a few miles past. There, we waited an hour while agents reviewed our papers and collected our declaration forms. Then we proceeded onward through the Adirondacks. I paid a return visit to the cafe car for a Diet Pepsi, a bottle of water, and two chocolate chunk cookies. I read from my iPad (and later, from my Kindle).

When the train reached Schenectady, I got off, as that was the official transfer point to take the Lake Shore Limited. However, if I’d connected at Albany, that might have been a more comfortable connection, for the Schenectady station was just a trailer. It was air-conditioned, and there was another trailer with the restrooms. I waited there for around two hours for the westbound train to arrive.

The train from Boston was more or less on time, although when I boarded, I had to get on in the cafe car and head back three cars to my sleeping car room. I settled in, called the attendant, and told him to fold down the bed while I was having supper. And what did I have for supper? The antipasto plate, which I had had last week on the outbound train trip.

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Monday September 3

I didn’t get the best sleep; the roomette felt too cold, even after adjusting the temperature. At least I thought I was adjusting the temperature. Also, there was one time where i awoke in the middle of the night, felt for my iPhone to check the temperature, couldn’t find it, turned on the light so that i could find it, found it, learned it was almost out of battery power, plugged it in to charge it up, and then I went back to sleep.

The car attendant woke me 15 minutes before the train was scheduled to stop in Toledo. Problem: the train was running late and was nowhere near Toledo at the time. Under the circumstances, it was better to get up too early than to oversleep and miss my stop. So I got dressed and got ready to get off the train. That wouldn’t happen until close to 7:30 AM, some 90 minutes behind schedule.

Once the train arrived, I got off, picked up my checked suitcase, and then boarded the bus to Michigan. The bus was very full. I saw a s eat that had a bag in it, but it was unclear who it belonged to. I asked (softly; most people were sleeping), did not receive an answer, and so I sat down. A few minutes later, two women boarded the bus and said it was their bag and their seat, and so I moved to another seat. I sat in the seat one row behind. Then the bus driver checked our tickets, and then we started on our way to Detroit. I got out my earbuds, plugged them into my iPhone, and listened to the Stumped podcast (that’s a podcast about cricket).

by 9 o’clock, the bus was in Detroit; by 9:30, it was in Dearborn. I got off the bus, retrieved my bags, put them into my car, and then went inside the station to use the restroom. But I couldn’t use the restroom, as it was closed for cleaning. My drive home had the potential to be uncomfortable, It wasn’t, but the first place I went when I got home was to the bathroom. It was just before 10 AM. Now it was time to unpack and get ready for work tomorrow. The vacation was over.

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THE END

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Written by Roger Reini September 15, 2018