New England/Canada Cruise. Day 6. Halliefax.

We woke up this morning already late for the day.  We were supposed to be at the theater by 8:45 for our 9:30 tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, even though no one was even allowed off the ship until 9:30.  Tzvi went to the dining room to gather provisions for the morning, including Hallie’s breakfast.  While there, he stopped for a quick bagel, cream cheese and lox and a cup of coffee.  I stayed behind with Hallie.  Nice that he was well fed though.

We got off the ship and made our way to a group of four tour busses waiting for us.  We got on bus number 3 and settled in for the long journey, an hour from the port to Peggy’s Cove, a small fishing community that apparently everyone visits because something special blah blah blah.  Okay, let me just get this out of the way right now.  If you ever find yourself on a cruise that stops in Halifax (because honestly, no one is just coming here as a vacation destination), and you only have one day here, you don’t need to go to Peggy’s Cove.  I know that everyone says its beautiful and a landmark and you have to go, but take it from me, you don’t.

Basically, we got on the bus, drove an hour with a restless Hallie so that we could spend an hour walking around a cove where the three most exciting sights are (in order of excitement), a lighthouse, a bunch of rocks, and a parking lot.  Then we got back on the bus and drove another hour back to the port with an even more restless Hallie.

Oh, and did I mention today was deathly hot?

I welcome thee

Oh, did I mention the rocks?

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I’ll mention a couple of other things.  The way to Peggy’s cove was a bit windy and by the end of the ride Hallie said she didn’t feel good.  I think she actually got nauseous and we had to quickly find an empty bag in case she needed to throw up, which thankfully she didn’t.  I should also mention that there was a guide who wore a kilt and said some interesting stuff, but I remember none of it now.  At Peggy’s Cove Hallie gave a dollar to a bagpipe player.  We got an iced coffee at the one restaurant. We also made a stop at the Citadel, an 18th century fort built (I think) to defend against attack from the USA.  We didn’t actually go in, we just saw the outside, and the flags flying over the entrance.  In honor of July 4th they had an American flag flying higher than the Canadian flag; you would never see the inverse in the USA no matter what holiday it was.

Around 1:30 the bus dropped us off at the port and we started making our way back toward downtown.  Tzvi was very anxious about getting a Starbucks mug.  After failing to get a Maine mug, he had called three Starbucks in Halifax until he found one that had the Canada mug.  So we walked, about a mile, mostly uphill, until we found Starbucks and he got his mug.  Thank God.  We made a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, a store where almost everything was kosher, and then made a stop at Roots where we bought a ton of clothes because the only Roots in America are in Beverly Hills and Colorado (though they said they’re opening 20 stores in America next year, so hopefully we’ll get one in NYC).

After buying out the store at Roots we were all really hungry.  We walked a bit more but couldn’t find anything, until we found a street with a bunch of restaurants.  After figuring out what was wrong with the first three restaurants, we settled on the fourth, a place called Two Doors Down, though I don’t know what it was two doors down from.  All the other restaurants?  They only had one high chair and it was in use, so Hallie sat in a big girl chair.  I had a dish that had rice, broccoli and a really spicy sauce but was pretty good.  Tzvi had a really weird fish dish that had potato chip crusted fix over risotto that had smoked haddock mixed into it.  He said it was weird.  Hallie basically just ate carrots, which weren’t even cooked that much – they were pretty hard – but she loved them and ate a ton of them.  So lunch was fine, but it took forever.  After lunch we walked back to the ship, about a half-mile and mostly downhill for a change.

Once back on the ship we decided to take advantage of the hot weather and went to the pool.  Hallie splashed around for a while and then it was time to get ready for dinner, our second fancy night in the dining room.  Dinner was same as usual.  We got our usual table and wait staff and everything was good.  Mama was showing Muhamed the pictures from Avery’s wedding that we just got today.  Muhamed asked how long the wedding takes, which we thought was an odd question until he told us that Muslim weddings usually last for three days.

The view from our room.  So I guess we didn't need to drive an hour just to see a lighthouse.

with Muhamed

I think they were trying to race us

enjoying her "coffee" (milk)

After dinner we walked around the ship and went to the July 4th celebration on the promenade deck.  It was so late, but we were walking around the promenade and Pop Pop went to buy a watch.  He was having trouble closing the one he picked out and I think the salesman was getting irked, but whatever, he bought the watch. As they were finishing up in the store, the July 4th celebration began.  It consisted of the cruise director coming out and wishing us a Happy July 4th, someone singing the national anthem, and then balloons dropping.  It was very nice and ended around 1030.  We finally took Hallie upstairs and put her to sleep.

After that, Tzvi and I went out for a night on the town. By that, I mean we walked around the ship looking for something to do. First we went to the casino to use my free five dollars of slot machine play. We ended up making 6 dollars. When we cashed out they gave us 11 dollars cash, which makes sense, but when Austin did it he only got the cash value of the money OVER the 5 dollar credit. Good for us. Then we walked around some more. We stopped by the pub to hear the singer and drunk people singing along.  We stopped by the 80s party but it was kind of lame and then we went to find what was supposed to be the “white party” (whatever that means).  I think they cancelled it because it was too windy, and not because it sounded overtly racist.  Finally it was 12:30 and we decided to call it a night.  Good night.

it was windy on deck 4

New England/Canada Cruise. Day 5. Erev July 4th.

We woke up this morning in New Brunswick, Canada, which right off the bat was nicer than New Brunswick, New Jersey, just by virtue of the fact that it’s not in New Jersey.

We had a quick buffet breakfast and then got off the ship around 11 am for our trolley tour of Saint John.  The tour lasted about an hour and took us around downtown Saint John and out to the Bay of Fundy to see the reversing rapids.  We heard about the history of Saint John, and then saw where the rapids reverse, whatever that means.  As Pop Pop said, the tour was very good for what it was.

let me know if you can figure out where the reversing is happening

Hallie discovered that it's fun to play with rocks... and get dirty

We got off the trolley and then separated from my parents, who went to get back on the ship.  Me, Tzvi, Hallie and Austin set off walking into downtown where Tzvi had seen a coffee shop.  Me and Austin got iced coffees and Tzvi got a hot latte, which he then burnt his tongue on.  Hallie was chalishing so we started looking for food for her but couldn’t really find much.  Eventually we stumbled upon an indoor marketplace that had a lot of different vendors.  We found a stall selling sliced cheese and got four slices of orange cheese.  We told Hallie it was American cheese.

we blend in

We walked back to the ship and went straight for lunch at Johnny Rockets.  As usual, we ordered everything.  French fries, onion rings, a vanilla malt, a chocolate shake, grilled cheese for Hallie (she didn’t eat it), tuna melt without cheese for me (I like the buttered, toasted bread), tuna melt for Tzvi, and veggie burger for Tzvi.  All was delicious. We saw a bunch of crew hanging around eating there.

After lunch we walked around and tried to teach Hallie how to mini-golf, but she mostly ended up kicking and throwing the ball up in the air. She had a great time, and people liked watching her. The ship pulled out of port around 3, and we walked Hallie in the stroller until she fell asleep.  We left a sleeping Hallie in the room (my mother was in her room) and went to the solarium (adult) pool where we got a cocktail, sat in the hot tub and then swam in the pool.  The pool is salt water and really warm.

Hallie woke up just as we walked in the room, so we all changed and headed up to the top deck where I went rock climbing.  I made it all the way to the top and Hallie cried the whole time I climbed.  I don’t know where she thought I was going.  Austin tried to do it too but only made it about half way.  After that Tzvi took Hallie for a walk around the ship while I went to the gym for a solid twenty minutes.

is this not how you play shuffleboard?

free soda anyone?

Around 6 we changed and went to dinner in the dining room.  My parents were having an anniversary dinner alone at Chops Grill so it was just me, Tzvi, Hal and Austin.  Before my parents got to dinner we dropped off a bottle of kosher champagne for them to have for their anniversary. When they got to the table they were told that they had champagne. My parents thought they were giving them champagne so they kept saying thank you but they can’t drink it. Finally the waiter convinced them that the “son-in-law” came and my mom agreed to see the bottle. Then they realized.  Happy Anniversary.

Anyway, the four of us went to dinner in the dining room. I think I had pasta. I don’t even remember. The food just blends together now. We’re so fat.  Dinner took a while.  So long in fact that Hallie and I left for about 20 minutes in the middle to go to the Crown and Anchor reception, where Hallie got to meet the captain.  Before leaving dinner we stopped on deck 5 to say hi to Richè, who it turns out is the dining room manager, which I guess is pretty senior.  Richè asked if Hallie likes strawberries.  After dinner we walked around and ended up at the theater for the Elton John show that featured an Elton John imposter.  As soon as the music started, Hallie started crying, but then she started clapping and said she liked the music.  Then she got upset again and we left. 

When we got back to the room we found a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with Richè’s card taped to it.  Thanks Richè!  Hallie took her time with one strawberry and then got ready for bed.

We put Hallie to bed and then went into my parents room.  Then we heard Hallie yelling “Tzviiii.”  Tzvi had to go in five or six times to cuddle with Hallie, which is a lot easier to do when she’s laying in a bed instead of a crib.  Good day.

New England/Canada Cruise. Day 4. That's Why They Call It a Foghorn.

We woke up this morning in Bar Harbor, Maine.  We had a quick buffet breakfast and made it off the ship around 10:45.  Unlike the previous day, we had to tender to the shore (the ship anchors in the bay and you ride a small boat into the harbor).

​Once ashore we split up.  Me, my father and Austin were scheduled for a bike tour of Acadia National Park.  Tzvi, my mom and Hallie were scheduled for “An Intimate Look at Acadia National Park” (i.e., a bus ride through the park).

how Tzvi felt splitting up this morning

Tzvi: we boarded the bus and started making our way up into the park.  Our driver/guide gave us interesting pieces of information along the way, though who knows how much of it was correct, as she started out by telling us that Acadia National Park is the only National Park east of the Mississippi, which is completely false (there’s about a dozen of them).  She also said at least one person dies hiking here each year.  We made one stop for 15 minutes to look at some rocks, and then another stop at the top of Cadillac mountain to look at the ocean.  Cadillac mountain is apparently named for the same Cadillac who started the car company.  All we learned about was how much money there was in Bar Harbor.  Apparently one woman was so rich that at the end of her dinner parties she would have guests throw the china into the ocean.  We saw Dick Wolf’s house (creator of Law and Order) and she told us how he’s currently renovating (actually, he’s dead).  After a while we got back on the bus and headed back to the port.  Hallie was pretty good but she was starting to lose it and seriously needed a nap.  At one point she pulled out the mat from her diaper bag, lay down on it and said “change me grandma.”  So she did.  Then she started yelling her favorite big word – “flatulence.”  After that the driver told a story about Fred Savage – the architect, not The Wonder Years star – and we were done.  We got off the bus, put Hallie in the stroller, walked about 2 feet and she was sound asleep.

grandma change me

Steph: Our bike tour was pretty good. We all piled into a van that had no air and headed to the park. We got to a parking lot where there were 17 bikes set up. We each chose a bike and a helmet and did some practice riding. Then we were off. The first part of the ride was the hardest part – a steep hill that we all basically walked up.  From there we biked for about two hours, stopping frequently.  It was kind of annoying because we’d get into a good bike groove and then stop, but it was still nice. We saw some dams made by beavers and some bridges. That’s about it. We ended around 2:20, the same time as Tzvi and Hallie’s.

our luxurious van ride

We all met up and walked to a restaurant called West Street Café that both of our tour guides had recommended.  I ordered a salmon Caesar salad and Tzvi and my father both ordered fish and chips.  Tzvi also got a local Maine beer.  Tzvi said he had a nut and shellfish allergy (not just a kashrut thing, actually true).  After five minutes the waitress came back and said that the chef said he couldn’t have the fish and chips because it’s fried in the same oil as the shellfish.  The same is probably true of most restaurants, but once she said it, there was no ignoring it (either from a kashrut or an allergy standpoint).  So Tzvi changed his order and got a baked (instead of fried) haddock sandwich.  He wanted French fries, but again, same oil.  After hearing all of this my father was less than enthused about the prospect of his fish and chips so he asked to change his order.  He went over the menu again, but the only thing he could really eat (because he’s picky about fish) was the spaghetti with marinara sauce.  “All I wanted was my fish and chips.”  Sorry Pop Pop.

sorry pop pop

​Lunch was fine.  Tzvi enjoyed his sandwich, and the best part was probably the warm blueberry pie we had for dessert (blueberries are a local specialty in Maine).  Hallie woke up just as the pie arrived – she has excellent timing.  As we ate dessert we started talking about what time the all-aboard was.  We couldn’t remember whether it was 3:30 or 5:30.  Pop Pop started getting very worried that we were going to miss the ship.  “We don’t even have our passports, we couldn’t even meet the cruise at the next port [in Canada].  The trip would be over.”  Tzvi quickly googled the itinerary and saw it was a 5:30 all-aboard.  Crisis averted.

we ate the pie so quickly we almost didn’t get a picture

Bar Harbor is eco friendly (and cute)

thank God for corn on the cob 

​After finishing we walked a few blocks to an ice cream shop our tour guide had recommended called Mount Desert Island Ice Cream.  I had two scoops – one sweet cream and one “The Dude” (a white Russian flavor named for The Big Lebowski) and Tzvi had a cone with The Dude and coffee-oreo.  Hallie had a scoop of sweet cream.  All was delicious.  Really strong flavors – The Dude was almost like drinking a white Russian.

From there we walked back down the main street toward the dock.  We went in and out of some stores and I bought a cute sweatshirt.  We got on line for the tender, and had to wait about 15 minutes before actually boarding, then had to wait another 10-15 minutes before leaving.  Tzvi fell asleep on the ride.

what a quaint little town

our ship is out there, in the fog

We got back on the ship and got Hallie ready to go to dinner.  Tzvi and I were going out just the two of us and my parents and Austin were taking Hallie to dinner in the dining room.  They left for dinner around 6 and we took our time getting ready until 7ish when we went down to the promenade to talk to the shore excursion desk. 

ready for dinner

my parents found this in the dining room

Tomorrow is Saint John, New Brunswick.  The tour planning for Saint John has been a mess.  Originally we were booked into an 11:30 tour that was supposed to be basically a 2 and a half hour bus ride.  I guess they didn’t sell the minimum number of seats for that, because we got a notice on our second day that it had been cancelled and that we had been rebooked into an 8 am tour.  That seemed too early so we cancelled that and booked a different tour at 9:30.  Then they cancelled our 9:30 tour and Pop Pop rebooked our original 8 am tour.  Then Tzvi realized that since there’s a time change in Canada, 8 am is really 7 am, which means we would need to be off the ship by 6:45, which means we’d need to be up before 6 am.  That wasn’t happening – Hallie never would have made it through the day – so Tzvi went back to the desk and rebooked all of us into an 11:15 hour-long trolley tour, which was about as much sitting as Hallie would be able to do.  We’ll see how it works out.

At 8 pm we went to Chops Grille, one of the specialty restaurants on the ship.  Actually, it’s the specialty steakhouse that’s on every Royal Caribbean ship, but it’s really the only choice we had for our dinner alone.  We checked in and were taken to a massive table in the middle of the room that was set for 6.  When they told us this was our table we laughed and the man said “aren’t you six?”  Apparently the reservationist had screwed up the reservation and booked for the whole family. Luckily it wasn’t a problem and we got a nice table for two.  We started by ordering cocktails.  Tzvi got a new fashioned, which was an old fashioned except there was something different that made it new, and I ordered a Tom Collins, mostly because of the character from Rent and not because I knew what it was or thought I would like it.  We got our drinks, and about 23 minutes later they came to take our food orders.

​Well, we ate everything.  Actually, Tzvi ate everything.  I started with a salad and Tzvi had a mushroom soup and tuna tartar.  For the mains we both had salmon, which had a nice grain mustard sauce.  For side dishes, we ordered jumbo asparagus (they were normal sized), mashed potatoes (too cheesy for me), cheesy tater tots (there was cheese mixed in with the potato, Tzvi enjoyed), truffle French fries (solid) and mac and cheese (Tzvi ate the entire thing and then complained that it was missing an additional element, like truffles).  For dessert we ordered the chocolate cake (good), key lime pie that had a huge merengue (a little too sweet for my taste, but solid), apple pie (warm, solid, Tzvi ate the whole thing) and a cream cheese red velvet cake (Tzvi ate it, but interestingly it was a white cake died red rather than the standard coco cake died red).  We also got free cappuccinos for being platinum members.  Very nice meal.  At the end of the meal the manager came over and asked us if we had steak.  We told him no, that we don’t eat meat.  He asked, “is it diet, or religion?”  Nice how everyone here knows.

​After dinner we went looking for something to do, but there just wasn’t that much.  We sat a few minutes in the piano bar and sang along with some Billy Joel.  We took our free spins at a slot machine in the casino.  We took a walk outside around deck 4, which was really scary – it was super foggy, rainy, and felt like you could just fall overboard and no one would know.  Almost felt like a scene from a horror movie.  This whole day has been so foggy.  When Tzvi was in Bar Harbor standing at the top of Cadillac Mountain he could just barely see the top of the ship.  The whole night all we heard was the foghorn going off every 2 minutes. I finally understand why they call it a foghorn.

a gold coin!

​Eventually we found ourselves in the Imperial Lounge for adult karaoke for our last event of the evening before going back to the room and going to sleep.  Some of the people at karaoke were actually pretty good.  Some of the people were awful.  Some people chose songs with really long instrumentals.  The last singer of the night was an older white gentleman named George from St. Louis.  George got up and sang Proud to Be an American.  It was a touching moment.  As we cruise north into Canada a room full of mostly white people sang “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.” 

And you know what, I am proud to be an American, where at least you know you’re free. 

You know, unless you’re a child at the border. 

Or a woman.

New England/Canada Cruise. Day 3. Vacationland.

We woke up this morning around 8, already docked in Portland, Maine.

We had a quick buffet breakfast and then made it off the ship around 10:30, which was about 30 minutes later than we had planned.  Our first destination was to be the Portland Observatory, about .7 miles away from the cruise port.  Tzvi called an Uber, but mama said it was a nice day and we might as well walk.  So we did.  Uphill, in 90 degree heat, pushing a stroller, for almost a mile.  It was dreadful. It also seemed like we were walking through a seedy area.

they’re so into beer in Portland that they have taps on their cars

Doesn’t everyone look so happy? 

This man joined our walking group. We named him Glenn.  

The Portland Observatory

We finally made it to the Portland Observatory, a maritime signal tower built in 1807.  To be clear, it’s not a lighthouse – it’s a signal tower to communicate with ships coming into the port.  The tower is all wood, has no ac, and is 103 steps to the top.  We waited a few minutes and then got a guided tour from a fairly large man with a white mustache who looked like he would be from Maine.  It was so hot. It was a very informative tour and everyone else enjoyed, and Hallie was a little bit difficult during it.  We made our way to the top, stopped on each of six levels to hear about the tower.  At the top were very nice views of the whole city which I took in for a hole 30 seconds before having to go back downstairs with Hallie.

our tour guide. We named him Earle. He looked like an Earle. 

Portland is pretty

Taking a family photo before Hallie

Taking a family photo after Hallie

After the tower we were all beat already, so we abandoned Tzvi’s original plan to go to the Wadsworth Longfellow House, which was about a mile away and promised another (what we predicted to be poorly ventilated/air conditioned) walk-through.  Instead we walked around the Old Port area.  We got iced coffees at a place called Bard Coffee, then tried to buy Tzvi a Starbucks mug for his collection of city mugs, but they were sold out (as were all Starbucks in Portland). 

I’ll take 2 out of 3

Truth

We stopped at a famous donut shop called The Holy Donut, where we bought a dozen Maine potato donuts (one of each kind).  Then we went to a bakery called Standard Baking Company, where Tzvi bought an entire loaf of sourdough bread, a pear frangipane tart and a vanilla madeleine.  All was delicious.  The donuts were really great – kind of like a cake donut but less heavy, though still cakier than a fried donut, and the flavors were really powerful.

Alll the gluten

After the bakery people were hungry and tired.  We had a seen a fast casual place with vegetarian options a few blocks back, but my parents weren’t willing to walk back, so we split up and they went back to the ship.  The restaurant was called B Good.  I ordered a kale and tofu salad with avocado and Tzvi ordered a veggie burger with gouda cheese.  We ordered just a plate of cheese for Hallie.  When the food came, the salad was missing the avocado, the burger was missing the cheese, and we didn’t have Hallie’s plate of cheese.  The waitress apologized and they got us the missing items and all was delicious.  We also got fries with ketchup, which Hallie of course devoured.  After lunch we walked back to the ship, stopped to buy Hallie stickers at an overpriced paper store.  I think it was something like 20 cents a sticker.

Like mother like daughter

​Once we got back on the ship we ate a bunch of donuts and then changed into bathing suits.  We took Hallie to the splash pool, which she loved and played in for almost an hour.  The Croatia vs Denmark world cup game was on the big screen over the pool and people were very excited about it, especially once it went to penalty kicks.  We got a cocktail.  Nice afternoon.

​We went back to the room to shower and change for dinner around 5.  At 6:30 we went upstairs to Giovani’s Table, the specialty Italian restaurant.  When we walked in I saw a sign for a cupcake decorating class. I inquired and found out its at the same time as the galley tour we want to take! Why would they make two food related activities at the same time? I told the man my issue and he empathized. He then said he would show me the cupcake kit that everyone goes home with later in the meal. We sat at our table and started with bread. It was okay, all had some sort of olives. They gave us this great roasted garlic though, like what we like to make at home, except better. Maybe they poach it in oil or something.

“Don’t want to take a picture with Daddy!” 

you can see the observatory at the top of the frame, and see just how far uphill we walked

we finally saw a lighthouse

I started with an arugula salad that was drenched in salt.  Like they should’ve just called it a salt salad.  There was so much salt that it was actually crunchy.  Tzvi had a caprese salad and a tuna tartare, which he said were fine but a little bland.  For the mains, I had gnocchi with tomato sauce, which was eh.  Tzvi had eggplant parmesan with a “side” of tagliatelle and cream sauce (it was a full sized entrée, which he ate almost all of).  Tzvi also ordered the day’s special ravioloi “for the table” and then ate all of it himself.  Again, all a little bit bland but he enjoyed.  For dessert they brought around a cart and scooped tiramisu onto Tzvi’s plate and chocolate cake onto mine.  It was fine. Mid dinner I was shown the cupcake kit. Its cute. We’re going to have to check out the menu for the brunch that accompanies the galley tour and then decide.

After dinner we went down to deck 5 where they were having a $10 watch sale.  My father was very excited because he loves the Cruise Club $10 watches.  When we got to the table though the woman said, “sir, your watch is inside” and pointed to the expensive jewelry store.  Then he told her a story about how he tried to have the band replaced on his Cruise Club watch but it cost $18 to repair (more than the original cost of the watch). The woman didn’t really understand and just tried to sell him a different watch.

My parents went to see the comedy show and we went to the dining room to say hello to Mohamed and Ritchie (Hallie’s other friend, the dining room supervisor).   Ritchie was busy but we saw Mohamed, who told us it wasn’t a strong menu in the dining room so we didn’t miss much.  I said I wasn’t too happy about the desserts at the Italian restaurant so Mohamed said “you want to sit?  I’ll bring you something.”  Well of course we did.  We sat and enjoyed a grand marnier soufflé, which was better than any of the desserts we had at the Italian place.  He brought Hallie blueberries. We also chatted with Mohamed a bit and learned about Mauritius.

When we were done we went back to the room, put Hallie to bed, waited for my parents to get back, and then went back out to the 11 pm comedy.  It wasn’t great. Some jokes about how we were spending two days in Maine and how there isn’t that much to see. Something else about how sad being a Mets fan in, and something about how the holy land is Boca Raton. Eh. After comedy we went to the 70s party on the promenade which was fun. Good day.

Bedtime story

It’s fun to stay at the Y       M        C       A

New England/Canada Cruise. Day 2. Actually, it’s a ship.

We woke up this morning around 715.  Hallie got out of her bed and climbed into ours.  When we asked Hallie why she woke up so early she told us, “because, I’m on a boat,” which has been the answer to all questions on this trip. Then she added, “actually, it’s a ship.”

She actually did really well in the bed and didn’t move around very much.  Tzvi went back to bed but I was up.  Eventually we got up, got dressed and made it down to the dining room for breakfast by 925.  Breakfast was supposed to close by 930 but there was a long line and we didn’t make it for at least 10 minutes.  Breakfast was good – there was buffet and a’la cart.  We had eggs, French toast, waffles, fruit, yogurt, cereal.  Hallie discovered maple syrup and just started dipping everything in it.  All was good.

After breakfast we went back to the room and found my parents were just getting up.  We hung out a little bit, then walked around and found a quiet place at the very front of the ship up top where we laid for a few minutes.  Tzvi fell asleep.  Then we explored a bit more, and after a while it was time to eat again.  At 1230 we met my parents at the dining room and sat down for Shabbos lunch.  Again we stood for kiddush, but unfortunately no one came over to talk about it.  Lunch was also buffet and a’la carte.  There was a nice salad bar and lots of bread.  I had salmon and Tzvi had gnocchi with cream sauce.  Hallie had some chicken.

After lunch we went back to the room and changed for the pool.  We walked Hallie for a few minutes first and she fell asleep in the stroller.  Tzvi and I went in the hot tub, and laid out for a bit.  I think the one thing I’ve noticed about this ship is that it’s more cruisey than some of the newer ships we’ve been on.  It’s a little bit more crowded, I think partly because people are always out doing things – going to the pools, the dance parties, the $10 watch events on the promenade.  It’s not bad, just a little different from the newer more upscale ships we went on for the last couple of cruises.

Around 3 o’clock we went inside to the spa where we had booked a couples massage.  Unlike most spas we visit, there was no locker room and we weren’t given robes to wear.  Instead we were taken to a “relaxation room” where we had water and were told we could change in the massage room.  We waited about 10 minutes until two women came to get us.  Tzvi’s masseuse was from India and was named Indira.  My masseuse was from South Africa and was named Matapello.  While the facility wasn’t the nicest we’ve even been to, the massages were actually really good.  They did try to sell us something at the end (you know, so I could “cleanse my muscles”) but it wasn’t too bad.

After the massage we found my parents and Hallie who were just coming back from the kiddy pool.  Apparently she had fun.  Hallie wanted “something,” so Tzvi took her to look for food.  They came back ten minutes later with a plate of pizza, a tuna sandwich and some fruit.  Then Tzvi got two ice cream cones, one for us and one for Hallie.  Once we were done with that it was time to go inside to get ready for dinner.

We had dinner in the dining room again.  Again there was a pretty long line, so I decided to go ahead inside to find Mohamed, the headwaiter for the dining room, who was the person who dealt with the kosher food last night.  I wanted to tell him to start heating up the kosher food, but he told us to just come right in and took us past the line and straight to the same table we had the night before.  I expected this. Thanks Mohamed.

Its no surprise that our tables are generally too small for the amount of food we order. Tonight they brought us vegetarian French onion soups that they made special for us. Then they brought the kosher food for Austin and Hallie. I don’t even remember what we had but I definitely had salmon, which I enjoyed. Pop Pop had almond crusted cod, which he loved and totally finished. Big surprise there (actually). Tzvi ordered one of every dessert on the menu except the sugar free one. Then the waiter said as long as you’re going for it, you might as well throw in the sugar free to, which ended up being a good thing since that was actually the best one. Not a strong dessert showing in the dining room tonight.

After dinner we took some pictures and then came back to the room and put Hallie to bed. Tzvi and I went out for 10 minutes to walk around the ship, see the bars, take more pictures, and then got a Kahlua and cream. Then we came back and my parents and Austin went out to some show. It’s sad missing all the shows, but such is life.

Unfortunately only a few photos and all from tonight. 

when bedtime turns into coloring time

fancy pop pop

getting the bed ready

Not the most creative towel animal

Last drink before bedtime

first drink after bedtime

New England/Canada Cruise. Day 1. I like culture.

Well, here we are, on another adventure. A cruise, which is an adventure of the seas, which is also the name of our cruise ship.  Yup, it’s gonna be one of those blogs.

Hallie woke us up way too early Friday morning.  We stayed in bed for a little bit, then got up, finished doing some packing, and then went out to do some last minute errands, which of course included a stop at Toddy’s where we had coffee, a muffin for Hallie, and a chat with Jay.

ready to go!

having her “coffee” (just milk)

Our driver was supposed to arrive at 1030, but he was 12 minutes early.  Somehow we managed to leave 20 minutes late.  Our cruise was set to leave out of Bayonne, NJ, which was about an hour and a half drive.  Hallie fell asleep 10 minutes in, so she got in a great nap.  Tzvi also got in a nap.  I did not.  I think the worst traffic we hit was actually once we made it into the cruise port – it took at least 15 minutes to get from the entrance to the port to the curb where we unloaded.

​My parents were in another car.  They got to the cruise before us, and had checked in online, printed their bag tags ahead of time, and made it onto the ship real quick.  Tzvi’s been too busy to deal with anything, so when we unloaded and they asked us for our bag tags or stateroom number, we just had nothing.  Tzvi went searching through emails and found the cabin number and they wrote us bag tags.  No big deal.  Then we went inside, went through security, check in, took our obligatory cruise photo and then headed onto the ship.  Hallie was very excited.  She’s been talking all week about how she’s going on a ship, and how they have pizza and ice cream and fruit and salmon every day on the ship.

no, I cannot stop eating Cheerios every time you want to take a selfie

We got on the ship and headed to our room on deck 6 near the rear of the ship.  We have a connecting room with my parents and Austin is across the hall in an inside cabin (though Pop Pop says he thought Austin had a balcony too).  Our room is nice, but small and old.  This whole ship is small and old.  It’s not a bad thing, it just shows its age. This ship is roughly 20 years old, and although it’s been recently renovated, it still feels old.

We left the room and went for our first buffet at Windjammer (the buffet).  First thing we did was get Hallie a plate of pizza, French fries and corn.  She enjoyed the French fries and corn but wasn’t crazy about the pizza.  Tzvi got off to a good start – a taco, some vegetable ragout dish and some cream sauce pasta.  I had a salad and found tuna. Pop pop didn’t get tuna because it said “contains seafood.” I was pretty sure that just meant it was fish. I was right.

After lunch we had our muster drill.  Our muster station is outside right underneath a lifeboat (as opposed to in the dining room or something), so if anything happens we’re in good shape.  From there we checked out the boat a bit, saw the pools and the kids club.  Unfortunately Hallie is too young to be dropped off and left at the kids club.  At some point during our walking around the ship left port.  They didn’t even make an announcement.  We just looked out the window and saw that we were moving.  So much for a nice photo under the Verrazano.

she knows what to do

Around 4 o’clock we went back to the room to unpack, shower and change for dinner.  Unfortunately, our luggage still had not arrived.  Tzvi called the operator and they said that was normal, luggage can arrive up until 8 pm.  Oy.  We waited a bit longer, until eventually (around an hour later) Tzvi found some stewards out in the hall and had them take him to the service area where they keep bags until they’re delivered.  He pointed out the bags and made them bring them out.

can I come back inside now?

where are we supposed to put all of this stuff?

We started unpacking and then moved on to the next challenge.  We had requested a crib for Hallie, but it hadn’t arrived yet, so again, we found a steward and had them bring one.  Except they brought a pack n play, which would have been fine, except it was a travel pack n play for small children. Like babies.  Like tiny babies.  Like Hallie would’ve done well in this thing when she was still too young to go on a cruise.  Hallie tried to lay down but in order to fit she had to have her legs sticking up against the side of the pack n play.  She actually loved playing in it, though I’m sure she would’ve woken up very cramped if she tried to sleep in it.  We told Joseph our cabin attendant that it was too small.  He smiled, said sorry, and then said there was nothing he could do.  We asked if they could bring a larger crib.  No, they don’t have larger cribs.  We asked if he could make up the couch into a bed.  No, it doesn’t open into a bed. 

So we went to guest services.  Guest services wasn’t much more helpful.  The woman actually didn’t even apologize – she just said the crib is not for a two year old.  It actually doesn’t make a lot of sense – kids stay in cribs until two, so what are they thinking?  I was like give me someone who can help me brainstorm a solution here. I can’t believe they were just going to say ‘too bad.’ I said what, should I stick her on the floor with a blanket? They ended up getting the deck attendant on the phone, who said they would bring a mattress to put on the floor.  Awesome.

Around 7:15 we went into the dining room for dinner, with still about an hour to go until Shabbos. 

We were seated at a nice table near a window.  We started by quietly singing shalom alechem and eishet chayil.  We had them open our bottle of Jeunesse and we all stood for kiddush.  Then we dipped our hands in our water glasses and made motzi over zomicks challah rolls we brought in.  After that we ate the bread basket with butter.  Before ordering the kosher food we ordered two dairy desserts off the regular menu – a sugar free plum crumble (not great) and a chocolate hazelnut cake (not great).

We ordered a bunch of food off the kosher menu, which for Tzvi would be dinner number 2.  While we waited for the kosher food to come, Tzvi ordered a cream of mushroom soup (he really liked it), a Caesar salad (standard cruise Caesar salad, we’ll probably have at least one a day here), a couple of fruit plates (why is there a fruit plate on the appetizer menu) and a polenta entrée with grilled vegetables and cheese (a very interesting dish).  Dinner was very pleasant, Tzvi enjoyed his food and we waited for the kosher food to come. 

Eventually food started coming.  We started with a completely frozen humus appetizer (frozen, taste of ice), lukewarm chicken soup (kind of what you’d imagine if someone took tepid water and dipped a live chicken in for a few seconds), and then wine braised beef (just think of braised meat – soft, tender, falling apart – and then think of the exact opposite thing).  Tzvi had ordered a wine braised beef, but he took one bite and had to spit it out into a napkin, then five minutes later he grabbed the same napkin to wipe Hallie and chewed up meat fell all over the floor.

When we were just about finished eating, a man came over to our table.  He had white hair that stood up and was flat on the top.  He just sort of stood there for about ten seconds before he said, “hello.”  We said hello, and then he said with a southern drawl, “I like culture.”  That’s when we knew we were in for a good one.  He started asking Pop Pop about the book he was reading from.  “Now, is that different from the Torah?”  Then he wanted to know about standing to drink the wine.  I don’t know what they said after that but it was something about Christians not knowing when the real Sabbath is.  He was a Christian.  We didn’t get his name, but we’ll call him Gene.

Hallie had fun at dinner but it was getting pretty late so it was time to take her back and put her to bed.  She cozied into her twin bed laying in the middle of our floor.  We laid in the dark trying not to make noise.  Good, slightly rough first day.  Let’s hope things only get better from here.

The Retreat. Day 4. The Longest Day.

Today is June 6th, D-Day, the Longest Day.

Today actually was a LONG day. People are exhausted and today was just session after session after session. Breakfast was the same. We’re dying here. I mean, we aren’t, but we are. Today was heavy on the subject of the high school in Israel. It’s amazing, and I will happily tell you more about it at a later time, but it was just LONG. I don’t remember what the snacks were today, but they were good. The snacks here are so much better than the food.

Today’s program demo was really great, it was a version of ‘cash cab’ themed to Jerusalem. The IPAD from Arizona ran it (we are called IPADS – Israel Programs Admissions Directors) and he was really great at it.

A few sessions later we broke to get ready for dinner! Real dinner! Tonight we got FANCY, and by fancy, I mean Baltimore fancy, and by that I mean restaurant part of an ourdoor strip mall. We teamed up and got into cars to drive there, about a half hour. I guess I’ve gravitated towards those around my age because our car was the 28-31 bunch.

We arrived at the restaurant first so we got to scout the best table. It was so exciting to see real food. They started us off with wine, bread and olive oil. I don’t even know if it was good, but it tasted amazing. For appetizers they gave us fried green tomatoes, pulled beef eggrolls, and ‘crab’ cakes. I had some of the egg rolls and they were great. For the main I got a 12 oz steak with string beans and a mushroom rice. They had fries but I was fried out. It was SO good. The steak was heaven. For dessert I had some lemon tart that wasn’t great, but it was better than any other dessert we had had (aside from the ice cream, but apples and oranges). Debbie, the Chief of HR, sat at our table, which made for fun discussions. I have to say, everyone here is super nice. I mean, just the fact that the head of HR for the entire organization came to hang out at our little retreat says a lot. I

We got back to camp around 1030 and packed up. Last day tomorrow!

The Retreat. Day 3. The Cow.

Today was a long day. I feel like a cow.  We went to The Cow. Not much else to say but Moo.

I woke up this morning and headed to breakfast. I had a dream that I had acne all over my face. Weird. Not sure what that means.  Breakfast was the same as yesterday, and I felt super gross from last night. Actually I just feel super gross in general here. Sessions today started at 8:30, so it was a longggg day. The sessions were good, but it’s just long. We took an online personality tests.  Apparently I'm a "consul," which seems totally accurate but is arguably the least exciting name of a personality type. Some of the others were "Logician," "Commander," and "Virtuoso."  But no, I get the guy who has an umbrella stuck into his back.  At I get the birthday cake though.  This is from their website:

“CONSUL”

ESFJ (-A/-T)

Extraordinarily caring, social and popular people, always eager to help.

(You can take the same test at 16personalities.com.)

Lunch today was something. The main dish was quinoa and beans, and there was also a carrot ginger soup. I asked for tuna. There's enough food here, and I'm too full all of the time, but I'm never satisfied, and I'm super bloated.  My salad plate actually looks kind of healthy, but I do not feel good.

We had more sessions in the afternoon and finally ended around 5:15.  I had an hour to do nothing so I fit in a 20 minute workout at the gym.  This time I wasn’t alone, so Jeff, a colleague, got to listen to my Peloton app workout video.  Lucky him.

Tonight we went bowling! Even better, we got other food! Not healthy food, and not even good food, but it was different and that's enough for me.  There was pizza and sushi and tuna and fries. Actually it was all pretty gross, but so good to have something new.  In case you're thinking this is just picky Steph, everyone here is complaining about the food. I think they complained last year and the retreat center said it would be better. Apparently its not.

Bowling was fun.  I did not bowl well.  I video chatted with Hallie who was being super cute.

After bowling some of us went for ice cream at this hole in the wall place called The Cow.  We got 6 soft serves for 16 dollars! Crazy. I had chocolate and vanilla with hot fudge, heath bar, whipped cream, and sprinkles. It was great. Then we had a Disney singalong in the car on the way home, and got back around 10:15.

Good day, but so bloated. I’ll probably just explode before Thursday. Two more days!