August 28, 2024 – Boston, MA – Partly Cloudy – 70s

The Oceanview Café opened this morning at 6 AM and when I got up there, the place was already teeming with passengers.  I was fortunate to get a decent seat and put together my usual breakfast and drink at least two cups of coffee.  I also watch Eclipse sail into Boston Harbor passing alongside several islands.

Eclipse is joined here today by the Emerald Princess, docked behind us.

I brought Ellen her standard complete breakfast lox breakfast – no room service this morning. 

We were able to get out of our room by 7:30 AM. 

Our next stop would be a face to face meeting with CBP (Immigration) in the Foyer when our number was called (10A on our little Immigration Card).  We waited to be called on Deck 5 just above Celebrity Central.  The process started late and they calling two numbers at a time.  At around 10:00 AM, they hadn’t reached double digits. 

My wife has Jedi powers and she talked to someone and told me to come with her.  We went down to the Foyer and got in line – no one asked for our little ticket and we started moving slowly toward the agents.  The face to face was so brief that I think I could have given her my Costco Card and that would have been sufficient. 

We then proceeded to the Terminal to find out bags.  That was easy and that’s when the real craziness started. 

There were several lines outside the Flynn Cruise Terminal – some people had ship transfers – some must have had Ubers and we were going to take a cab.  We got into the cab line and waited for it to move – there were many more people than taxis and then the taxis stopped coming.  Our flight would be boarding at 11:47AM and it was now 11:00 AM.  We also noticed that people with porters were jumping the taxi line.  We found out that if you hire a porter for $5 you can jump the taxi line.  This little known secret really frosted people in line especially the mobility challenged person behind me.  Tempers were flaring – Ellen was working with the port staff to ensure that other people weren’t jumping the line as well. Chaos defined.  

There was one cab I probably would not have taken were it available.

Around 11:15 AM, we finally got a cab – the ride took a little longer than it should have – traffic – so we go to Logan around 11:40 AM.  We tried to go an agent but that line was moving slowly – so I used a kiosk to print bag tags and boarding passes.  An agent helped us tag our bags and directed us to another agent to check in. 

We hustled to TSA PreChek which was not as long and got through there relatively quickly.

We arrived at Gate 5A at around Noon as boarding had started for our flight – AA1457.  We don’t usually arrive at the gate during boarding but we made it onto the plane.  If we hadn’t gotten on that cab when we did and he didn’t find a way around the traffic and if that kindly agent at Logan hadn’t assisted us in getting our bags tagged (my bad was too big to carry on), we would have been close to have those doors close on us.  The immigration process on the ship probably did cause some people to miss their early flights.  I am thinking that our Immigration number was called while we were in that cab on the way to Logan.

We have good seats – Cabin Extra 9A and 9B on this B737-800.  The seats were comfortable and the chargers were on the seat back in front of us.  

I was encouraged when I saw the slats and flaps extended on our plane - it means we were in takeoff configuration.

We taxied at normal speed to the active runway and held there,

We did take off on time and I got some nice views of Boston and vicinity on the climb out,

I had a Bloody Mary along with my lunch (maybe not the best choice of a drink) and Ellen had a Baileys.  The flight was generally smooth 

with the Captain maneuvering around any weather.  There was some weather stuff near ORD but he took the long way around and kept it smooth.  I took some pictures of our approach over Lake Michigan and on final approach to ORD.

In this photo, you can see the airport in the distance.

We landed a little early and our bags came off the carousel early.

Rebecca picked us up and we went to get our cars.  We took the cars to the remote lot and loaded our bags into the van for our ride to the condo. 

The condo was not quite finished but the Master Bedroom and Bath were done so it was livable. 

Great trip but it is good to be back..

August 27, 2024 – Sea Day – North Atlantic Ocean – Mostly Cloudy and Foggy – 60s

Didn’t get a morning shot of the sea as I am getting Room Service for the first time on this cruise.  I actually ordered three cereals – Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, and Special K – for breakfast along with a toasted bagel (blueberry is all they had this morning) and coffee. 

He came right on the button at 6 AM and I was able to eat in less than 30 minutes – this gave me ample time to wake up completely and get ready for my talk. 

I got to the theater at 7:30 AM to set up.  This is the first time in my cruising career that I have given an 8 AM talk and probably the first 8 AM talk in Enrichment Speaking History.  My expectations were set pretty low for this time slot and the crowd was smaller but they did come out to hear “Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs” (60 percent full). I modified the talk so it would definitely run only 45 minutes and it ran only 39 minutes – I must have sounded like an auctioneer.

I was too tired to stay for the other talks (although I would have wanted to hear about asteroids).  Instead, Ellen and I went to the Oceanview Café for a proper breakfast. 

The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon was spent in the little cubbies on Deck 11 – nothing to see outside since it was so foggy that the horn was sounding constantly.  We also did some packing and were basically done (thanks to the packing prowess of my wife) save for the clothes we would need for my afternoon lecture and for tonight for dinner and the show. The larger suitcase that I bought for this trip, while bigger and more difficult to maneuver, makes packing simpler.

I should mention that Ellen has been fighting some kind of respiratory thing for a few days.  I am pretty sure it’s not COVID (no fever and the other malaise that comes with COVID) so I started her on Augmentin – she has started feeling better and today, she is feeling pretty good.  (I used my time machine to zip into the future to report that both us tested NEGATIVE for COVID on the day we got back – so she did not have COVID). 

At 3:00 PM, I went to Celebrity Central to do my encore presentation of "Forensic Detectives: The Search for Jack the Ripper".  I was surprised to find quite a few people already there. One woman thanked me for doing this special lecture.  The venue was full for this session as well and I am sure the passengers appreciated not missing this presentation.  The audience was once again engaged and interactive - there were quite a few votes for Aaron Kominsky in this group but Lizzie might have just edged out our favorite hairdresser.

Ana made me my final pasta of the cruises – it was not as good as usual – not her fault – the sauce now tasted different.  I had some of the pizza, which tonight was pretty good.  No one starves on a cruise ship.

Another Elton John Tribute tonight in the Theater – Craig Meyer taking on Sir Elton.  

We did not find him to match up with the others we have seen with the exception of the outfits and some of the body movements.  We did not stay for the whole show. 

Back in the room early – it will be a long evening (which is OK) because even though it is the last night of the cruise, the clocks are moving back one hour to put on EDT.  Changing clocks on the last night is tricky in that some people might be operating on incorrect time.  Usually breakfast helps people figure out the right time.

We are in Group 23 (independent transfers) departing around 8:30 AM (but needing to be out of our rooms by 7:30 AM so the ship can be cleaned and sanitized for the next bunch of passengers).  Our flight is at 12:23 PM and the airport is less than 30 minutes away so we should have plenty of time tomorrow.

I put our bags out before 10 PM.

The ride has really been smooth on this leg.

October 26, 2024 – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mostly Cloudy – 70s

I was up early and beat the excursion crowd to breakfast.  I went back to my pancakes, cottage cheese, sour cream, and jelly medley combo today.  Still yummy as are the mini-biscuits. I brought Ellen her breakfast when the people density in the Oceanview Café reached critical. Back in the room, we could see the final approach to Halifax.

It's a beautiful day in Halifax and warm enough to walk around. 

Here's where we are docked.

Eclipse is docked behind the HAL Zuiderdam, which we were told by one of their crew, was “the really big ship”.  In reality, the Zuiderdam is smaller than Eclipse.  The hypermodern Seabourn Quest is parked at right angles behind us.  The ship looks like it sailed in from the future.

 

At about 10:30 AM, we disembarked and started walking toward the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  Originally, I had wanted to see the Titanic Child’s shoes but spending the day in a museum on such a nice day seems like the wrong thing to do.

The ship is docked in an area teeming with monuments.  The first one we encountered was the tribute to Ruth Goldbloom (1923-2012), who co-founded the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.  

Pier 21 served as an immigration destination and drop point from 1928 to 1971.  Ruth, a philanthropist, raised millions of dollars to revitalize Pier 21 and establish the Museum. Ellen joined Ruth on a bench for a brief chat about her contributions to the Halifax Cruise Terminal.  There was a large queue for the Museum so we kept moving.

Next up was a huge bronze statue of Samuel Cunard, 

a native Haligonian (that’s what they call themselves), whose name is associated with Ocean Liners and the current Cunard Cruise line (QM2 and her sister ships).  In 1840, the mail-carrying steamship, Britannia, arrived in Halifax after a 12-and-a-half-day voyage from Liverpool England.  The ship would be the forerunner of the iconic Cunard Line.  We are carrying on that tradition by having sailed on the QM2, QE, QV several time and hoping to grab a gig on the new Queen Ann. 

The statue, “The Emigrant” by Armando Barbon, and unveiled in September 2013, recognizes the immigrants who entered Canada at Pier 21. It depicts a man jumping on the gangplank of a ship while leaving his family behind. 

Next we stopped to admire a set of statues, “The Volunteers” honoring WWII Female Volunteers. 

The statues, created by Artist Marlene Hilton Moore, was revealed in 2017.  There are several scenes each depicting activities supporting Canadian troops in the war. 

We passed through the entrance way to the Halifax Boardwalk 

and continued along the well maintained path. There were plenty of people out today because of the mind weather and the presence of two huge cruise ships.

The next statue we passed was a huge granite structure with a rectangular opening – one side is a polished blue gray color and the other side was painted red (for passion).  

The statue, "The Passage", was carved from a 9 ton boulder by scuptor Vassillis Vassili and installed on the waterfront in 2015.  It is a tribute to Anna Leonowen, the governess to the King of Siam and the Anna of “The King and I”.  After her employment in Siam, she moved to Halifax to lecture and write.  She also participated in the education of her own grandchildren and became a social activist for women and children.

We also spotted a group of costumed Spider-Men – (the costumes looked pretty good) and I guessed they were going to put on a show for kids or maybe just walking around as street entertainers.

The harbor area provides plenty of areas to sit and watch the water.  We found some Adirondack Chairs (where I attempted one of my “selfies”) 

and spent a while just observing. Across the way was a Canadian Naval Memorial, 

consisting of a vintage ship and probably a gift shop. Lots of folks were lined up to visit that.  We also saw a Canadian Police Zodiac (armed of course) patrolling the waters and coming quite close to our position. 

The Boardwalk is saturated with shops and eateries.  We checked out a number of places but settled on The Summit Restaurant (we saw their ad on the boardwalk).  The restaurant is on a terrace overlooking the boardwalk.  We shared a generous plate of fish and chips and a Diet Coke.  

The fish and chips were perfectly cooked and delicious.  I suppose that since Nova Scotia is “New Scotland”, fish and chips are right at home her. 

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a craft store and picked up a unique item (a school of fish placed on sticks – much cooler than my description). 

We dragged ourselves back to the ship.  This time, it seemed longer to get back than our outbound journey.

Since the weather was still pleasant, we spent the rest of the afternoon up on open Deck 5, checking out the scenery and watching the Zuiderdam depart.

Another small pasta cooked to order for me and then the main course, super good vegan chili.  It was so good I had two bowls, as we watched the Zuiderdam sail away from Halifax. 

We passed on the show tonight – “Rock City” I am guessing, and also didn’t stay too long to hear DeeZee in the Ensemble Lounge – he singing voice wasn’t as pleasant as it was during  their previous performance.  We instead found some seats on Deck 6 and listed to Next Stage do their thing. 

I got a message earlier that I would be doing two talks tomorrow – the last sea day.  The first would be “The Romanovs” at 8:00 AM.  (they had to squeeze the Captain’s Navigation Talk in so I am on at 8 followed by Kelley and then Samantha. It's a lecture relay tomorrow morning.  Then at 3:30 PM, I would do an encore presentation of "Jack the Ripper" in Celebrity Central.

The talk is so early that I actually ordered Room Service at 6:00 AM.

Today was a big walking day for us as immortalized on my watch. I certainly feel it.

10,453 Steps (phone pedometer)

August 25, 2024 – At Sea – Atlantic Ocean – Mostly clear – 60s

A nice smooth day at sea.

I had another nice breakfast up in the Oceanview Café.  This morning it was a pancake with two eggs over medium.  Very tasty.  They have pre-made fried eggs on the buffet but I prefer to have them made fresh.  The ship has run out of brown sugar for my oatmeal so instead I have a small bowl of Special K/Frosted Flakes/Rice Krispies as a starter.

I got to the Theater at 8:30 AM for the “Forensics and History: Search for the Unknown Titanic Child”.  I missed doing this talk on the first cruise to flight cancellations. The turnout was very good – maybe 70-80 percent full (it's impossible to measure the attendance and it doesn't actually matter).  The time changes and the early slot, I believe, are still affecting attendance but I am pleased with the turnouts.

The run time of the talk was under the 45 minute spec.  I chatted with a few people out in the foyer before heading to the room.

Ellen and I went up to the buffet for a late second breakfast.  I had some herring, which was at the dregs stage by this time but still good.

Lunch was once again very crowded – you really have to get up there early to get a seat.  We did just that and did get seating.  It was English Day at lunch today so we got in line early so we could get some freshly cooked fish and chips.  The fish was quite good today – there was something different about the batter.  It was a very good lunch.

We tried to get a seat with a window view and watch the ocean go by.  We did catch the first sunset of the cruise - it hasn't been easy because the Sun was setting so late.

Dinner was in the Oceanview Cafe - another freshly prepared order of pasta.  Still good.

We passed on the show again.

Tomorrow, we are in Halifax.

August 24, 2024 – At Sea – Rain, Foggy then Partly Cloudy – 60s

The ship is sailing through some very thick fog and it is also raising outside

 – the visibility is pretty limited and the fog horn is active.  The rain stopped and by early afternoon, the fog had lifted and we were treated to a beautiful day – blue skies with few clouds.

My talk today is at 3:30 PM in Celebrity Central so I have time for a more leisurely breakfast.  The Oceanview Cafe wasn’t too crowded when I got up there around 6:45 AM.  Today, to shake things up, I had two eggs over medium plus a cranberry pancake topped with syrup, chocolate syrup, walnuts, and banana slices.  The eggs were cooked perfectly, the pancake was nice and soft and the whole combination was delicious.  I have also been having the mini biscuits – they are pretty good. 

It was warm enough today to spend some time on the back deck (out of the wind).  The couches are comfortable enough and with a hot drink, it is just fine.

The ship is really moving today as she steams to Halifax.

Today was Italian Day at lunch in the Oceanview Café and that meant lots of focaccia breads along with make your own Caprese Salad.  I tried all of the breads which I slathered in sundried tomato paste.  Absolutely delicious.  I put some balsamic vinegar from the salad bar on my Caprese salad.  It was a simple but yummy lunch. The Cannelloni was also good for dessert. The best lunch - for me - so far on these cruises (even better than the Fish and Chips, which is usually the best for both Ellen and me).

I was concerned about the Celebrity Central venue for my talk today.  The capacity of this room is 208 people (the theater holds 1113).  I went down there around 3 PM and there were a lot of people in the room.  I set up my computer and watched as more people came. At 3:15 PM, the place was full and more people tried to get in. I just waited to see what would happen and chatted with the passengers.

There was a line outside the venue 

and when it got packed, I went to see Kristine to let her know what was going on.  To complicate matters, there were technical issues with the video recorder so people would not be able to watch this on their TVs.

When the room became overcrowded, I went to get Kristine to see what we should do.  

She came to the venue and apologized to the crowd and said that I would do this talk again before the end of the cruise (much to my surprise).  Out in the hall, where people were lined up through the game quad and further, Manuel was speaking to some of the guests.  

Don’t know what he was saying but I think it was nice that he came out and got involved.

I gave the talk to a fully stuffed Celebrity Central – there were people listening to the talk in the entry way to the venue, 

where I don’t think they could see the slides.  Even though the place was crowded and warm (Kristine had the AC turned on) the audience was terrific and super interactive and the session was a blast.  I still like the interaction that is possible in Celebrity Central.

I was hoping that some of offerings at lunch would also appear in the Oceanview Café at Dinner time.  Alas, no.  But Ana whipped me up a delicious pasta – onions, garlic, tomatoes and broccoli in tomato sauce over spaghetti.  I had it earlier in the cruise and it was a tad too sweet but tonight it was perfect.  I let her know that.  I can't imagine what you would pay for a dish of pasta like that on land.

We went to see Vox Fortura’s Second Show in the Theater.  

The playlist contained some material from their first show (they said it would) but they also did a very unique version of “Hallelujah”, where they mashed up the lyrics in the verses and spent most of the time on harmonizing the chorus.  It did work.

It's been a long day with the afternoon session so we went back to the room after the show.  The time changes, even sailing West, are tiring.