My Summer Cruise, Part 2: The Ports

Pier 1, Port of St. John. Our parking spot for the day.

On Thursday, June 6th, 2013, I woke to a bright, sunny day. It was about 6am EST, and looking out my porthole window, I start to see land. It's the second full day of the cruise and we are coming into the first of two port days: St John, New Brunswick.

St John--not to be confused with St Johns, they get very particular about that--is a small city with a population of 68,000 in the city proper; it is the largest city in the province. It is nice, but there's not much to do there except shop or head off for the Bay of Fundy. I did the bay last year, so I stayed in town. There are a good number of bars and restaurants, a craft fair, Farmer's Market, and the Brunswick Square Mall. There's even an old time General Store. The people are very friendly.


Since I had no particular rush to get off the ship as I was not on a group tour, I disembarked around 9. First stop, I needed to get to the mall as I heard about a store called the Little Shop of Science (those of you who know me well can see why this would be important.) And it's a little shop indeed, chock full of science toys, books and games.

After leaving the mall, I wandered around the park, past the University of New Brunswick-St John, and headed over to Barbour's General Store (www.barbours.ca) . This "old fashioned" general store and museum has been in operation for several generations and is a famous St John spot. Here I discovered something very delicious- and healthy- Barbour's own brand of almond butter with cinnamon. The roughly 14oz jar I bought cost $10 US, but it's definitely worth the money. So good.

Last stop, the Farmer's Market. This is a a great place to walk around and see some nice local crafts and food.

 

St  John Farmer's Market

You only need to be in town for a few hours to see it, in fact I was back on board in time for lunch, but it is a great place to take a break from the ship.

The next morning, Friday,  started with a bit of rain, but the ship's weather report said that it should clear early and be a sunny warm day--that, in fact, was the case. It's our second, and last, port day: Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Halifax, nicknamed by the locals as "Hill-ifax" or "The San Francisco of the North", is quite the hilly city with a population of 390,096 (2011 figures), is the largest city in eastern Canada, and is the seat of the provincial government. It's also home to the nearest North American airport to Europe.

Once again, I leave the ship around 9, but this time I'm going on a walking tour of the city. The tour, which will take about 3 1/2 hrs is lead by Jim, a former art teacher who grew up nearby.  We get on the bus for a quick drive to the Public Gardens, and will walk the rest of the tour from there.

 

Jim and the gang

The Public Gardens is a very beautiful place, although with my allergies, I wouldn't be able to spend the whole day there unless I planned ahead. The flowers and trees are perfectly manicured, however, as Jim told us,"Everything is left natural. No feeding, watering, or fertilizer or mulch. It either makes it or it doesn't". This is on purpose, he says. Once planted, the beds are manicured and weeded, but otherwise, nature just does what it does.

 

Halifax Public Gardens

The other interesting thing about the Gardens is down the center line, both sides are perfect mirror images.

As we leave the Gardens and head on the way to the Citadel, Halifax's old fort, we hear the story as to why Halifax has a close connection to Boston, Massachusetts.

They call it the Halifax Explosion. On December 6, 1917, 8:45am, the Belgian relief ship Imo was departing Halifax for New York when it collided with the French munitions ship Mont Blanc, which was coming in to wait for its convoy. The Mont Blanc was fully loaded and the resulting explosion killed nearly 2000 people and entire sections of the city were destroyed as the fire spread after the Imo crashed into Pier 9.

Boston's role here? Well, Boston was the first US city to send help. This is why Boston's official Christmas tree always comes from Halifax. Even all these years later the tradition continues as Halifax's way to say thank you. And it's a big deal for the Canadians too. If the tree comes from your land, you get to make the trip down to the States with the mayor for the lighting ceremony.

A few minutes later, we have climbed the hill to the Citidel and arrive just in time for the Changing of the Guard. In keeping with old tradition, the sentry at the gate is relieved every couple of hours and it is quite a show as the orders are given. Just before this (it's now local noontime) the ceremonial firing of the cannon takes place.

We didn't get a chance to actually go into the Citidel, but I certainly will when I go back. There are lots of great hotels in town, and it would be worth the trip to stay.

Changing of the Guard, Halifax Citidel

 



Working our way back down the hill to the boardwalk along the ocean front, you can see how the city's grid is laid out. All major roads work up the hill from the ocean, so it is easy to see where you are.

The tour has ended, but I'm not going back to the ship just yet; there is still one more stop to make. I have to get my Beaver Tail.

No, not an actual beaver tail...but the fried dough goodness that was probably the least healthy lunch of my life. I get a #9--peanut butter, chocolate, and Reese's Pieces. Yummy, yummy.                                                                                                 



With a full stomach, I wend my way a mile along the boardwalk and back to the ship. It was a good two days in Canada, and looking forward to going back.

In keeping with ancient tradition, the Nova Scotians see us off with a song on the bagpipes and drum.

My Summer Cruise, Part 1: The Ship

This is the first of a two part post. In Part 2 we will explore the Ports of Call.





The Carnival Glory--Home Away From Home

On June 4th through 9th 2013, I took a cruise out of Boston to Canada, with stops in St. John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the Carnival Glory.

Given all the bad press Carnival Cruise Lines has had the past year or so, let me start with the really, really, very excellent news: this was an uneventful trip. There were no mechanical failures, fires, or epidemic illnesses (although I did catch a cold), and no one disappeared overboard. Even when we spent a day sparring with Tropical Storm Andrea, the ship remained steady and true.

Having said that, this cruise could be rated "OK" at best.

 First off, there are a lot of what I'll call "vendors" on board. In food service, there's Guy's Burger Joint, as in Guy Fieri, the Food Network personality.  The entertainment department has "Punchliners Presented by George Lopez", which are comics personally chosen by the veteran comedian. Also in entertainment, there's "Hasbro: The Game Show", life size versions of popular Hasbro games. Finally, the shipboard sports bar is called "EA Sportsbar", named for EA Sports, the popular sports video game company. These are the four most obvious examples. My point here is that Carnival seems to be starting to lose their own personality, almost like they own the vessels and simply rent out space.



Chocolate Shake from Creamers Coffee Shop

Although, when it comes to the food, I do have to admit the burgers at Guy's are excellent, as are the fries! The Carnival Deli is also a good choice if you want a simple, light sandwich. The Red Sail Restaurant, the buffet style food service on Lido Deck, for the most part is good, however the food was a bit cold on occasion. (One way around that at breakfast is to use the omelet station, where they are made to order.) As for the dining room for dinner, the portions are a good size and taste good, but one of the people I traveled with had to send back the food three times over the course of the week because it was cold. On the other hand, I am glad to see that Creamers Coffee Shop still had their chocolate shake--the single best ice cream-based food on the high seas.


As for the entertainment, I can't say anything about Punchliners as I didn't go to any of those shows, but I did see both sessions of Hasbro: The Game Show and frankly thought it's just plain stupid and made me wonder what happened to my childhood. There were three Broadway-style production shows; I did see one of them and it was canned music-no live band-and it is possible that even the singing was lip-synced.

Other entertainment around the ship included a couple of soloists with guitars (one of which really stunk), and a husband-wife piano and singing duet called Summer Breeze who are really good.  There was some bingo, but not as much as in past years, and tons of trivia contests. The movies chosen for the Seaside Theatre, the outdoor big screen on Lido Deck, was an interesting mix running from Gone With The Wind to Men In Black 3. In the end, the entertainment, under the purview of Cruise Director Matt, was a mixed bag.

A quick note on the staff. The crew members overall were excellent. From the cabin stewards to the dining room waitstaff and bartenders to (from what I can tell) the Camp Carnival (the children's program) staff. The one exception here, unfortunately, is the cruise director staff, including Matt himself. There was a real edge to this group. Matt was very sarcastic (all cruise directors are to some point), but he took it to a new level, almost to the point of  being just plain mean. One of the trivia contests I participated in was hosted by Jessie, and he seemed really bored.


With all that, one of the most disappointing bits of news came from Kai, the host of the Future Cruise Talk. One good thing about this itinerary is that, being from the Boston area, it is a good cheap vacation; no flights needed. Well, no more. Starting in 2014, Carnival will no longer be going out of Boston. Fortunately, other lines will still depart Boston.

I started cruising roughly 13 years ago, all but one on Carnival.  In fact, this is the same ship and itinerary as last year. (We actually got the same cabin, too.) But this is the biggest year-over-year change I've seen in the line. This "new" Carnival Glory is part of the company's "Funship 2.0" concept, and of course this is based on one voyage on one ship, but if this is what's happening fleet wide, then maybe Carnival has lost its way.



The view from Lido (Deck 9) down to the Lobby (Deck 3)