Our itinerary had the ship leaving Newfoundland at 5pm yesterday, at sea today with a stop in St. John, New Brunswick tomorrow. We had one more sea day Wednesday. The cruise would be over Thursday, ending in New Jersey. Now we were aware the schedule would change but had no idea to what, or when we would find out. And, we truly didn’t care. Today was one of the three days left of our cruise and we would enjoy it, no matter where we would be tomorrow.
On our second or third cruise Wanda and I discovered something important. It didn’t matter what we did or how we did it. Where we went or what we took with us. What we said, or who we said it to, Celebrity Cruise Lines would not let us stay on their ship. We had to disembark where and when the ship made the final stop. Packing is inevitable so we do it early and hide the suitcase under the bed. We were going to have a last night on the ship so we were going to enjoy it.
We still hadn’t heard what the new plans were but it really didn’t matter. There was much speculation on the ship but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about anything. The lecture series about cruiseships and oceanliners was continuing at 10 this morning. Even though the theater seats around nine hundred it was so popular getting there early was a good idea. The morning was progressing and still no word on our next destination.
Honestly, I can not remember exactly when we were told about our new port. Wanda went to an afternoon piano concert with Elliot Finkel, the gentleman we missed one of the other evenings. She thinks it was around this time the Captain made the announcements about tomorrow. We were scheduled for New Brunswick but instead would be docking in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The interesting thing about this was our originally itinerary had Nova Scotia scheduled so I guess it was in the cards. If I forget to mention it later, Celebrity did one heck of a job getting everything organized for this port which was tomorrow.
We breezed through the day doing the usual sea day things. Wanda went to several activities. I went out and took several pictures of the various public rooms on the ship. I also did my most special ship thing, napping. Maybe I make up for my lack of sleep at home? As the day waned and the evening began to settle in we made our evening plans.
Tonight was the third and final formal night. When we packed earlier we left our "uniforms" out. We both have pretty strong opinions about dressing for dinner and I doubt those will ever change. One thing for sure, if we go to the dining room we wear the suggested dress of the evening. To be honest I think we both would be just as happy with two, rather than three, formal nights but when in Rome, or the Atlantic Ocean.
This evening was the "baked Alaska parade" and the festivities associated with it. I was hoping to get out of the dining room early; I wanted to see the final production show. I’m sure the wait staff wanted us out as well, they would have to set up "Le Grand Buffet" the photo session starting at 11:45. So the late show starts at 10:45 the buffet pictures at 11:45, the buffet itself at 12:15 and all the while I’m wearing uncomfortable shoes and my underpants are riding up. This is going to take a big commitment.
So, dinner was good and we made the theater on time. We were now waiting for the last of three production shows. The score was missed one, not good one. This was going to be the tiebreaker. The theme of this show was "Celebrate the World." I would like to say I liked this show, I can’t. I really, really liked this show. The singers, dancers, sets and stage were lots of fun. It was nice to see something fresh. We both enjoyed the performance. The show ended with more than enough time to grab the camera and go to the buffet picture session. We were both pretty tired by this time and had been to a couple of these. We decided to head back to the cabin and get ready for Halifax. Oh, if you have never been to the big buffet, be sure to check out at least one.
After a little more packing we talked some about Halifax. We had a Celebrity Today which listed four excursions; we could sign up via the interactive TV. Rather than plan anything we decided to explore Halifax on our own, maybe hop on the HOHO bus. We figured we would know what we were going to do, when we were doing it.
The cruise was winding down quickly now. The morning would bring our last port followed by one more day at sea and then New Jersey. Even though we were going to spend two days in New York City prior to flying home Saturday it was hard not to get the "cruise end blues" when going to bed that night.
We woke to a beautiful warm and sunny morning. After breakfast we went back to the cabin to review our docking information. There is a very nice cruise ship terminal in Halifax. The day already had two ships scheduled, an NCL and a HAL, our initial info had us tendering in and docking later when a berth opened. This morning we were told we would be docking, not at the terminal but in a working commercial area.
Anyone remember the rude guy from the tender line in Falmouth? He was back. This guy must have been born to organize line-ups. I felt like I was about to stand up behind one way glass. Really, I’m pretty sure he had experience working in police stations. With "Bills" direction we eventually realized four nice, straight lines. We were waiting for one of four busses that would take us out of this dock area and deposit us in front of the cruise ship terminal. We would also take one back. Safety and security reasons prevented us from walking and they took this seriously. I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself here but they did stop the bus on the way back in, boarded and checked everyone’s passport.
Eventually we decided on a couple of things and headed off to explore Halifax. The history of the area was interesting, mixing it with new buildings and construction. Many of the victims of Titanic are buried in Halifax and the waterfront has a maritime museum dedicated to the ship. After several hours walking around town we decided to head back to the waterfront area and the ships terminal. On the way out we passed a fudge shop and I needed some. We also went to look for a few souvenirs, as this was our final stop.
Our departure was scheduled for 7pm and we were back on board with plenty of time to spare. Our balcony faced the dock, a lone bagpiper played as we slipped away from the area. We did enjoy seeing Halifax and made the most of our situation. Tonight was a casual night, a good thing considering what I left out of the suitcase.
It had been a long day and neither of us was interested in the show. We walked over to the photo shop and located all of the pictures we didn’t want to buy. I sure wish something could be done about all of the waste. We had some pictures taken at Disneyland and were given the picture number and the time they would be available. When we went to the PhotoShop they displayed the pictures on one of several monitors. We could buy them, or not. Very little waste. I bet they could set something up on the interactive room televisions.
We went ahead and got most everything put away and hit the sack. We made one last clock change, setting it back one hour. Between the heat and humidity in France and all these clock changes my watch finally gave up (did I already mention this?) Tomorrow would be our last day and I would have no idea what time it was.
Today, our final cruise day and a day at sea. I sure wish I could write about winning the big Bingo jackpot, I can’t since we don’t play. Honestly, neither of us has ever had a desire to play bingo but a game of scrabble? Every cruise always leaves us with a list of "to do" things we haven’t done. Some folks might think it sad, all that time and things were left out, it really is good. Not that we need a reason to book another cruise but a game of scrabble missed seems good enough.
There were plenty of activities the last cruise day and the next and final installment I’ll write about some of them. I’ll wrap up the cruise and add a little about our two wonderful days in New York. This, our vacation of a lifetime was holding up to all and any expectations.
No comments:
Post a Comment