Half Way To Greenland

   Around 6 tonight we were over half way to our first port in Greenland called Nuuk. It is up the western coast a bit from the other ports which are on the southern edge of the continent. The temperature is in the low 40's.

It was a better day at sea for activities and everything we attended was packed. That is to be expected with the 3000 plus people aboard. We started the day with a Zumba workout. It was the not as hard as the first day even though it was the same instructor. They had another holiday shopping day – all items for $10.00. I also went to a basic photographic class. He covered many basic topics but it was a chance to do something different. The advanced class is to come later. They tried to hold a “chat with the cruise staff” about life

Medallion Board

at sea but most of the comments were about the lack of activities. For example, where are the port talks? Why is there only one lecture aboard? Etc. With 2000 elite (veteran Princess cruisers) people notice the differences on this ship. We took the time to watch an on demand movie, then had a small lunch in the Atrium.

    After a Neil Diamond tribute show, we stayed for the workshop by the Magician from last night. He demonstrated about 6 tricks and how to do them. They are not “magic”. I only guessed how part of 1 trick was done. He explained in detail how all were done so we can now amaze our friends. That took care of the afternoon except for a Rumba dance lesson.

    We did have our photos taken as tonight was the second formal night. We still have not heard about the Captain's party or the wine tasting. Before dinner we saw a new production show called Broadway Ballroom featuring music from Broadway hits. It is only on this ship. Our reaction was ok. There were only a few songs

Rainbow

that we recognized. Jersey Boys and Abba were included. The swells are down to 1 meter so they could safely perform. Other than the normal Effy jewellery and one game show, there were no other activities planned for the evening. We were along eating tonight. One couple had other arrangements and the other ate quickly in order to get to the show, We had a leisurely dinner which was very nice.

   As were are far north, the internet is spotty at best. I can get on in the middle of the night. Some of the posts may not be the “right” date. Last sea day tomorrow

Out Into The Atlantic

   When we left Sydney last night, the ship headed out into the Gulf of St Lawrence through the Straits of Belle Isle and then north to Greenland. The total run will be about 1200 miles. The seas had remained relatively calm but we are getting a little more rock as we moved along.

   The sea day started with our usual Zumba. The instructor was different today and she had more of a routine. It is what we have experienced on other ships. More people were there today. After a light breakfast, I did manage to find some port tees that were on sale. They are both from the Caribbean! not Greenland. We have not seen any Greenland tee shirts in the shops.

    We had raman noodles in the small buffet at the back of the ship. That buffet has limited choices which is a good thing. For lunch they alternate between a noodle station and a Mongolian stir fry station. They also have a Mexican station and a few other selections as well.

    We went to our first art auction since they changed to Park West many cruises ago. There was very little of interest on the entire afternoon. Most of the artists that we were familiar with are long gone. We also noticed that the works were more high end than before. There must have been collectors in the crowd because some works went for thousands of dollars. The bid price was a lot closer to the estimated price for most of the works. They also sell most of the works unframed which was another change from the past. It is probably the last time I will go to an auction this cruise.

   

Steamer's Dinner

 The main showtime was a magician. We had seen a number of the tricks like the rope cutting. The Princess theatre is so packed that they do a broadcast to one of the lounges.

We were scheduled to go to the Italian specialty restaurant tonight but we cancelled that and went to “Steamers”. You can get a basic seafood dinner for a lower price but we enhanced it with our certificate. You add king crab and lobster. The meal was excellent and we could not finish everything that they brought.

   They also held Country Western night which of course meant the electric slide! Enough said. 2 more sea days before we hit Greenland. The temperature is around 7C (44F) already.

Sydney Revisited

Old Church

Who Me?

     Today was our last stop before the 3 day transit to Greenland. Weather is looking good there but you never know. We have been to Sydney a few times before on transatlantic crossings. We had travel this area years ago so for us there was not a lot to do except to go ashore and wander. It took about 3 hours to see the entire city. Along the was we stopped at the Tim Horton's and a rest. We talked to a very nice couple from Arizona who had travelled a lot in Canada. They said that they met someone else from Windsor! There are about 500 Canadians on the cruise and we have yet to meet any. We have only met some of the 2000 Americans onboard!

Beaver Tail Truck

 

Big Fiddle

   We walked the main road and the older parts of the city where all the brightly coloured older houses are located. There are a number of old churches which we saw. In one the women were dresses in Victorian era clothes.

When we got back to the dock, Judy wanted a beaver tail from a local vendor. They have a wonderful local craft area filled with jewellery. Judy did manage to find something.

   The rest of the day was spent watching a movie which they have “on demand”. We went to see a comedy juggler. For jugglers he put on a good show. Because we attend the “early show” (6:30) there was little to do later in the evening. We hope that in the next 3 days that they fill it with more “late night” activities. Judy medallion was not working again! (and again!) Sea routines the next 3 days.

Loretta and Bernie Excellent Halifax Tour

   What a wonderful day in Halifax. We spent the entire time with friends Loretta and Bernie. This is the third time we have stopped in Halifax and Loretta and Bernie have toured us. They picked us up at 8:30 and we were off for the day. Our first stop was a trail out to a headland outside of Halifax.

Along The Coast

Bernie leads the way

 We walked along the rugged shoreline for about an 2 hours enjoying the wonderful sunny day. The scenery was the typical wonderful Nova Scotia coastline as shown in the photo. It was a great time to catch up on the each other. We can't say enough about how much we enjoyed the hike. It was like a practice for our upcoming Greenland hikes.

The Hikers

    After the hike we went back to their condo located right on Bedford basin. The area has really changed since we were last in the area years ago. After refreshing drinks, lunch was the best lobster roll that anyone could expect. They have an absolute great location and condo. We did take some time to stroll along the Bedford waterfront where they live. We suggested that they should go into the private tour business for cruise passengers. They would be continually booked! In all no matter what is in store for us in the future of this cruise this will be a highlight.

    They dropped us off along the waterfront in downtown Halifax and we strolled back to the ship. The area was very crowded as there were 2 other cruise ships docked near our ship. 

 Back aboard, we took a quick dip in the pool and when we returned to our cabin, the new

Halifax Memorial

system would not open our cabin door. We were locked out until someone from the ship came and opened it for us. Judy needed her 'medallion' reprogrammed. It worked when we returned.

   We did get to the main show. He was a piano entertainer/comedian who was elected Princess entertainer of the year. It was a very good show. Dinner followed. We were too late for the dance class (scheduled during our late sitting). With little going on, we decided to end the day. We are in Sydney tomorrow and are planning to wander around.

Moving To Halifax

   We are sailing along up the east coast on our way to Halifax. The schedule had very few things to do. We did Zumba first. The leader was in a full zumba mode and it certainly was not gold level as we have seen on ship before. It was a very a hard work out. Judy loved it. The ship scheduled the enrichment lecture at the same time and it was the only real activity of the day. There was very little to do after the exercise. We went to the “big” sale, nothing there. The we went to the lecture on the ports which turned into a commercial for the Effy stores. The only part that we heard about the ports was “ we have some interesting tours planned”. We did the waltz ballroom dance class and had the pub lunch.

 

Eating Noodles!

    Bravo production show was in the evening. We had seen it before. It was formal night with the waterfall followed by the Captain's speech. All activities were “planned” at the same time.

    The ship pushes the “medallion” system at every point. Gone are many things like an introduction of who the cruise staff are, activities that do not involve shopping, etc. For example formal nights in the past were really played up. Narry a mention. The production show ended after our dinner start time. The last was while e were eating. I hope that the time change as we go on.

     We did go to the comic and he was very funny! We had not seen him before. After, we managed a glass of champagne but missed most of the Captain's speech. Being formal night, chocolate journey was served for dessert. In all a good meal.

Halifax tour tomorrow.

Joining the Caribbean Princess

   We made it to the ship today. Breakfast and another stroll in Central park was enough to get us to our 11 am pick up time. Our drive was waiting for us – boy is having a working cell phone the berries! There was a bit of panic (me) when we tried to open the safe to get our passports, etc. Apparently when I punch in the code to lock it, my fat fingers hit the wrong numbers. So of course it stayed locked! This was about 20 minutes before our pick up. A quick call and hotel security showed up immediately and we were back in business! Stressed gone, ready for a ride to the terminal.

    Driver was great, luxury SUV was nice and cool. 30 minutes later we were in Brooklyn. Funny thing, nobody was in the check in terminal! We were early and expected a huge crowd. Nobody was here. We were among the first to get on the ship. The usual paperwork was there but we were surprised with a small shipboard credit added to our account and a 2^nd specialty dinner. Who knows where that came from!

NY Skyline

About 2 hours later the announced that the cabins were now ready. We had moved in right after getting aboard. Daisy our steward did not say anything then as our room was ready. On this ship they have what is called Medallion service. No more cruise cards, nothing but a tablet device to unlock doors, etc. Everyone carries a tablet and you scan your small Medallion to order, buy, etc. That was our check in. Of course you can sign up for the full service but I don't want to gamble in the room, order drinks to exotic locations in the ship, etc. All we want is internet which is the elite perk. When I tried to log in, error occurs. It will work out but it took the edge off a neat new gadget that they flog for $20 a day! I would rather order a Manhattan! Finally the fast internet was working. The ship was in refit recently and they have upgraded many areas of the ship. The food court and the food choices are looking very modern.

From The Ship

   The rest of the day was spent as usual. Tea in the International Cafe, safety demonstration and more wandering. Our fixed dining is the late sitting at 7:15. That is the earliest late dinning time we have ever had. Menu tonight included the welcome aboard prime roast dinner. We always look forward to that! We did not even come close to seeing the comedian as our server was slow as is usual for the first night.

   We went right back to our cabin as there was little going on around the ship. Our luggage had finally arrived. We were among the first to get aboard and the last to receive our luggage! Go figure. Sea routine tomorrow!

Big Bus Tour of New York

     Today was tour New York by Big Red bus day. We were out for over 12 hours which made for a long tiring day. We had a big breakfast in the hotel, then headed for the Rockerfeller Centre to go to the Top Of The Rock. It is an observatory about 70 stories up that is north of the Empire State Building. We had been up that one before. This one gave us views all the way back to lower Manhattan (World Trade Centre) as well as north to Central Park. Unfortunately it was not the best day for photos.

South From Top of the Rock

    From there we headed to Times Square to pick up the Big Red Bus hop on hop off tour. It takes about 2 hours to do the complete cycle. “Luckily” it was Sunday and we were told that the traffic was not that bad! We had decided to only get off at the site of the world trade centre. A new tower is up. We walked the grounds which is a total dedication to 9/11 except for a new structure holding many stores.

New World Trade Centre

    We toured the 9/11 dedicated memorial collection. If you want to see how deep the terrorist act has affected Americans go see this collection. One exhibit had a photograph of every single victim. It is extremely well done and by the time we were in the hall that recalled the events step by step (minute by minute?) we had seen enough. It was very sad. It was like going through the entire tragedy again. Perhaps it was because that day is deeply imprinted on us! The area was very crowded and it seemed a bit “cramped” so you had this feeling of being closed in! We spent a lot of time in there but we could have stayed another hour. Outside are the 2 reflecting pools where the towers stood. In the centre is a deep pit (can't see the bottom from the side). Again very well done. We have been to ground zero in Nagasaki, the site of then atomic bomb blast. The memorial was quite simple in comparison.

   From there we walked over to Wall Street to see the

On The Bus

famous bull which we had seen on an earlier tour. At Battery Park we caught the bus for the return to Times Square. We used our ticket to hop on another tour bus that took us north to the area of Central Park. That is when the skies opened up and we were drenched as sat on the upper open deck of the bus. They did give us rain ponchos. It did cool down the 95F heat index. Drenched, we got off that bus and decided to re ride the main bus. That was a mistake as the rain returned, so we moved to the lower area of the bus. Of course you can't see much from there especially since the rain continued.

   Finally finished touring, had a quick bite and then decided to go back to Times Square again. However not “much” was going on and being a bit tired we decided to end the day still wet from the downpours. We head to the ship tomorrow!

New York, Central Park, Jersey Boys and Times Square

    We were up early for our flight to the big city. A message on our phone said that the 8 am flight was delayed by 30 minutes. Not to worry as we had a 60 minute wait in Toronto anyway. We did get to the airport well in advance (6:30). Yesterday when I did the pre check in, I could not do it. Judy was fine. After 3 tries of not letting me do it, I called Porter and told that there was extra security required for me. Our luggage was opened (fortunately I was there) and the agent went through everything including the explosive swab. Fine. Then it was the security check point. Shoes, watch, belt, wallet, etc. All went into the scanner. After that I had the pat down. It was very through. Even the bottom of my feet. Then the baggage inspection. They checked the inside of my wallet! This was all due to a random check. It was my number that came up. Finally through. Then the wait!

      So our departure was delayed for an hour and when we arrived in Toronto, our plane had already left. So much for time to walk around in New York. The next flight was full and we put on the noon flight. Of course we still had to go through U.S. Customs in Newark. What a start to our New York days.

Central Park

   We had a good bit of humour on the NY flight. Somehow we ended up in seats 1A and 1B. “The front of the plane.” Now that was nice. Porter gave us our glass of wine shortly after take off. About 2 minute later we hit a bit of rough air. Judy and I were holding these full wine glasses away from our seats and the wine was splashing all over us and the floor. She started to laugh. Few things cause her to laugh for a long period of time. I guess that broke the ice about being delayed.

Times Square

Customs was slick. Scan the passport, click a picture and answer the on screen questions and go. Agent was very friendly! I wish crossing into Detroit was like that.       Airport transfer was quick as well. We were at the hotel by 3. We are only a few blocks from Central Park so we did a quick walk in the Park on a very hot sunny day. We did some sight seeing after that and then grabbed something to eat.

We walked to our Jersey Boys show which lasted about 2 1/2 hours with a short break. I found the first part a little slow as they filled in the back story. After that it rolled along nicely. Quite enjoyable. 

  After that we were only about a 20 minute walk from Times Square so we took that in as well. Talk about people. Jammed with people enjoying themselves. We stopped at the Hershey store for a bit of chocolate (samples were being given out) and finally headed back to the hotel. A very long day ended!