The cruise staff conducted themselves far beyond our modest expectations of good service - especially our dining room waiter Yatin from India and our assistant waiter Olga from Lithuania.
Even though he manages dozens of tables, Yatin found time every night to seat my mother himself. Olga discovered early on that we enjoyed hot tea with our meals and layed out a tea service every night for us.
While the cruise line provides everyone with generic envelopes in which to place cash for tipping, we picked out some handsome watercolor greeting cards in which to enclose a gratuity with our handwritten thanks.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Final Sea Day!
We dock and disembark in Boston on Saturday. Once there, we rendevous with my uncle and his family for a weekend in the New Hampshire woods. Then Monday we fly home.
Today on the Atlantic, the cloudless sunny weather persists. Mom went to a towel folding demonstration this morning and I read my book by the pool in the Solarium where I took a dip in the saltwater pool. We're looking forward to watching the sunset from our nightly stakeout in the Champagne bar (one diet Coke one regular Coke, the bartender calls it "the usual").
Today on the Atlantic, the cloudless sunny weather persists. Mom went to a towel folding demonstration this morning and I read my book by the pool in the Solarium where I took a dip in the saltwater pool. We're looking forward to watching the sunset from our nightly stakeout in the Champagne bar (one diet Coke one regular Coke, the bartender calls it "the usual").
Thursday, September 21, 2006
The Grand Buffet
Our final food event of the cruise took place at midnight.
700 man hours went into preparing all the foods and sculptures for this incredible display that took up most of the 1000 seat dining room.
Highlights included:
-gryphon, dolphin, swan, and mermaid ice sculptures.
- a verdigris green statue of liberty made entirely of chocolate.
- cheese wheels carved to resemble American coins,
- animals made from cut fruit.
- caviar and salmon in mass quantities.
- seven layer cakes in seven flavors.
Mom grabbed some salmon, cheese, and crackers. I got some fruit and a wedge of white chocolate black forest cake. The best part of the buffet? We got to take our portions back to our stateroom for all night munching.
Halifax and the Evangeline Trail
Our kilted guide Ken toured us through the Anapolis Valley where French Catholic settlers, known as the Acadians, first settled.
They built clay dikes to permit the high Bay of Fundy tides to flood the area, leaving mineral rich silt for farming when they rolled out.
The British forced their expulsion from the land in the mid 1700s. Longfellow's narrative poem "Evangeline" popularized the cause of the Acadians internationally. In the last century, Queen Elizabeth dedicated the histroic park at Grand Pre to the memory of thier tragic exile.
We ate in the small college town of Wolfville. Mom and I tried out the "national obsession" Tim Horton's coffee shop. I had a few sips of the brew - my tounge grew fur and my ears began ringing. Later, we journeyed to a local apple orchard where I tasted a 400 year old cultivar, the German Gravestein. Most everyone else enjoyed a scoop of homemade ice cream.
When we passed back through the Anapolis Valley the tide was high and the clay dikes we'd photographed earlier in the day were now swollen marshlands. As a bonus, our coach took us to the star-shaped dry moat Citadel that looks over Halifax, guarded by soldiers in traditional costume.
St. John's Surprise
Our unreally perfect weather continued into St. John's, Newfoundland. Rough winds, however, chilled us at our first stop, Cape Spear.
This handsome stetch of coast, a lookout station during the second world war, still boasts a working lighthouse and status as a national park. Wild yellow lupins, thistle, milkweed, and black eyed susans bind the soil with their roots and prevent it from blowing away. The evergreens all bend in the direction the wind blows and lose their needles on the eastern side.
After a pass by the settlement of scenic Petty Harbor, we drove through downtown St. John and up Signal Hill.
We could see our cruise ship from this site that overlooked both the harbor and the Cape Spear lighthouse. I climbed the steps to the Marconi Turret where the first wireless transatlantic signal was exchanged.
Our guide Laura, a young Newfoundlander, though less steeped in history and fact than our other guides gave us the best demonstration of what it was like to live in the area as she joked with the driver and shared personal anecdotes.
The locals easily gave us our best welcome and our best send off of the cruise. At the pier, huge furry Newfoundland dogs, Canadian mounted police, actresses in Victorian dress and a Tv crew greeted us. As we departed, our friendly hosts lined the piers, cliffs and roads surrounding the inlet and waved to us until we passed from sight.
This handsome stetch of coast, a lookout station during the second world war, still boasts a working lighthouse and status as a national park. Wild yellow lupins, thistle, milkweed, and black eyed susans bind the soil with their roots and prevent it from blowing away. The evergreens all bend in the direction the wind blows and lose their needles on the eastern side.
After a pass by the settlement of scenic Petty Harbor, we drove through downtown St. John and up Signal Hill.
We could see our cruise ship from this site that overlooked both the harbor and the Cape Spear lighthouse. I climbed the steps to the Marconi Turret where the first wireless transatlantic signal was exchanged.
Our guide Laura, a young Newfoundlander, though less steeped in history and fact than our other guides gave us the best demonstration of what it was like to live in the area as she joked with the driver and shared personal anecdotes.
The locals easily gave us our best welcome and our best send off of the cruise. At the pier, huge furry Newfoundland dogs, Canadian mounted police, actresses in Victorian dress and a Tv crew greeted us. As we departed, our friendly hosts lined the piers, cliffs and roads surrounding the inlet and waved to us until we passed from sight.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Sea Days
The transatlantic crossing, constituting the middle three days of our journey, ended today in St. John's, Newfoundland.
During our sea days:
- Mom played a sanctioned game of duplicate bridge
- I saw a French Caberet singer in the shipboard theater.
- Mom went to the daily Catholic mass held in the discoteque.
- I worked out in the gym. ("Why do these weights seem so heavy? Oh, KILOS!")
- Mom watched a cooking demonstration.
- I worked on my novel in several quiet corners.
We saw a several movies in the cinema including "The Devil Wears Prada," which seems to be the passenger favorite. We also both got treatments in the spa.
During our sea days:
- Mom played a sanctioned game of duplicate bridge
- I saw a French Caberet singer in the shipboard theater.
- Mom went to the daily Catholic mass held in the discoteque.
- I worked out in the gym. ("Why do these weights seem so heavy? Oh, KILOS!")
- Mom watched a cooking demonstration.
- I worked on my novel in several quiet corners.
We saw a several movies in the cinema including "The Devil Wears Prada," which seems to be the passenger favorite. We also both got treatments in the spa.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Lismore and Waterford
Our most rewarding of the journey, the shore excursion to Waterford took over nine hours. Our guide, Claire passed around a bottle of Potcin, or Irish moonshine, and a sod of dried peat or "turf" as exhibits to explain the way of life in the Irish Countryside. She graciously explained hurling, mandatory prayer in schools, Irish divorce (the couple must spend four year apart to make it legal), and many Irish aphorisms.
Mom wants to import "Tidy Town" and "Tidy Street" competitions to the U.S. We passed the all-Irish "Tidy Street" winner on our way through Lismore and took a stop at Lismore Castle which one can rent out for 2 grand per weekend with 12 friends.
Ultimately, we traveled to the Waterford Crystal Factory. In the last 30 years, the factory, which originally employed a team of about 70, expanded to 900. We saw at least two dozen active workers on the tour, pouring, molding, turning and shaping hot glass.
The three floor showroom was crowded both with crystal and with consumers. Both Mom and I made small purchases.
Mom wants to import "Tidy Town" and "Tidy Street" competitions to the U.S. We passed the all-Irish "Tidy Street" winner on our way through Lismore and took a stop at Lismore Castle which one can rent out for 2 grand per weekend with 12 friends.
Ultimately, we traveled to the Waterford Crystal Factory. In the last 30 years, the factory, which originally employed a team of about 70, expanded to 900. We saw at least two dozen active workers on the tour, pouring, molding, turning and shaping hot glass.
The three floor showroom was crowded both with crystal and with consumers. Both Mom and I made small purchases.
Cobh, Ireland
We arrived in Cobh, the second largest natural harbor in the world (Sydney is first, San Francisco is third) at dawn. This pic is a little shaken by ship motion. Cobh is one of two islands in Cork county that are connected by bridge to the town of Cork on the Irish mainland.
The first immigrants to be processed on Ellis Island originated from Cobh. Irish immigration to the United States is percieved in Ireland to be a century-long phenomena, tailing out in recently with a twelve year technology related boom.
Dublin Pics Part 3
A view of St. Patricks from the lawn. Near the gate is the well where St. Patrick performed baptisms.
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