Highlights from Tuesday and Wednesday: 1) Tuesday was a nice, quiet day. I spent time writing my travelogue, which always brings me joy. And my salad at dinner with butternut squash and goat cheese was a highlight. Any meal that includes those two ingredients makes me happy. 2) On Wednesday, the very best part was the transit under the Confederation Bridge. As I’ve read various accounts on blogs since that day, I realized it was the very first time the Zaandam had taken that route under the bridge. That’s special.
You can skip all the ‘blah blah’ and go right to the photos.
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Aug. 30, 2022
The shore day we didn’t go ashore.
Shore excursions are not inexpensive, and sometimes there’s just nothing you’re really longing to see, or else the excursion you’d love to take sold out four weeks ago. That was our situation as we anticipated a day in Sydney. To be honest, what we were reading about Sydney—old steel mill, rapid growth of population at the beginning of the 20th century, population decreased in the 1970s because of the slowdown of steel production—sounded strikingly similar to the story of Youngstown, Ohio, where we live. (I’m not “from” here, as most people are. I followed my grandchildren here and have lived here now since March of 2008.)
As Jas and I looked at the available excursions and talked to our concierge about possibilities, we decided to just stay on board. I was happy to spend times working on my travelogue for my blog and to take some time to work on a jigsaw puzzle in the Explorations Cafe.
We had breakfast in the main dining room. I thought the banana bread French toast sounded delicious. But a simple slice of banana bread would have been so much better. The rest of the morning, I felt like I had a brick lying in the bottom of my stomach. I won’t order that again!
After spending the morning reading and writing and playing pickleball (Jas, not me), we decided to go to the Lido Market for lunch. The Lido Market restaurant is what used to be the buffet, before Covid changed the way we think about people sneezing near food. There’s something for everyone at the Lido Market: several pre-made sandwiches each day; ready-to-eat pizza; made-to-order salads; a carving station; an Italian section; Asian cuisine; breads; ice cream, cookies, and other desserts. Really, anything you might have your mouth set for. And outside, on the other side of the Lido pool, there’s a Dive-In restaurant where you can get hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, and so on. First I found a table near the Lido bar, and held that spot while Jas went to get his lunch. Then we lost each other, so I got a salad and sat quietly with my iPad at a table by the window portside. The day was beautiful, the view was beautiful. It was an enjoyable lunch.
The rest of the day passed quickly, and we met our friends for dinner. Drinks in the Ocean Bar, then dinner at Table 33. I had a lovely salad with butternut squash and goat cheese, and pictures I took tell me Jas had chicken and I had beef of some sort. So many fabulous meals, so few details! I had made a mental note before the cruise to remember to photograph all the menus so I could remember for this exact purpose. But I didn’t remember that mental note until, oh, the last night of the cruise!
After dinner there was more music and more drinks and more laughs. We have a great group of friends with whom we always have a great time.
Charlottetown, PEI, Aug. 31, 2022
I have two Charlottetown stories to tell you. The first concerns the excursion we took.
[But, before I tell you that, I have to tell you about the photo above of Jas and Mike. Evidently it’s a thing in Canada to have two red Adirondack chairs at tourist locations. People evidently love taking their selfies in the two red chairs, so they have become prominent throughout the country. I didn’t realize that when I took this photo. But these guys have been friends for so very many years, it’s just natural to see them like this. When I googled it to make sure I had stated it correctly, I found this piece: The Most Beautiful “Red Chair” Destinations in Canada’s Parks.]
Now back to the story: There are different packages of benefits one can purchase on a trip like this. You can dole out your gratuities to your steward and your server and your favorite bartenders and bar waiters, or you can prepay the gratuities. You can buy laundry and ironing as two separate packages and send laundry whenever you’re short on something, or you can pay for it each time you send something. I bought the Have It All Package a few weeks before the cruise, which gave each of us (Jas and myself) $100 towards an excursion; a free upgrade at either of the upscale restaurants, Canaletto and Pinnacle Grill; prepaid wifi; and prepaid drinks, which included beer, wine, cocktails, along with non-alcoholic beverages such as sodas and bottled water. The beverages are limited to 15 per day per person. If you don’t drink your 15 beverages in a day, they’re gone. You get no refund for what you didn’t drink. And if you don’t take advantage of the upgraded dinner or the excursion, the money is gone. It’s use it or lose it.
All that is to say we had to take an excursion in Charlottetown or lose the $200. Kerry and Marilyn and I had already purchased an excursion for the day we would be in Quebec, so Jas and I had to make a quick decision, with our concierge’s help.
If you read the Anne of Green Gables books as a child, you likely remember that the fictional Anne grew up on Prince Edward Island. Several of the excursions were centered around the places the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, had lived and gone to school when she was the age that the fictional Anne was in Montgomery’s writings. I had only read the first book about three weeks before the cruise. I had never been exposed to them as a child. So I wasn’t really tied to the character or the location. And Jas is not a reader. I’m pretty sure he had never heard of the character before we started planning the vacation. There is also a musical that is staged on the island—maybe just on days cruise ships are in town. Jas is wonderful about coming to my musicals when I’m playing, but it’s not his favorite form of entertainment.
But when I saw an excursion that included two lighthouses and a winery with a wine tasting, I knew I had found the perfect excursion. The ship would dock in Charlottetown around 8:00 a.m., and our excursion would go at 11:30, with our arriving at the line for the bus at 11:15. We would return to the pier at 3:30, the exact time the ship was to cast off. The first problem with this is lunch service begins at 11:30. The only way we would have been able to eat some lunch before we left was to have ordered room service to be delivered at 10:45. And we hadn’t thought that far ahead. Jas, however, had thought ahead and found a food vendor in the cruise terminal. He bought two apple turnovers, and we each tucked one into our backpacks along with the bottles of water the server had given us at breakfast. So that’s the scene setting for the excursion: hungry people who were on a tight timeline lest the captain have to hold the ship for us.
Let me jump in here with the second story, which is really chronologically the first story.
When we got back to our suite after breakfast, we sat at the table on our verandah, reading and doing the NYTimes crossword and Wordle. I glanced down and noticed a sailing vessel moored across the dock from us. A little later I looked down again and saw people on the boat and then saw several photographers and lots of photo-ops happening. After a while, they all cleared off the dock, went over in front of the marina building where we would gather for our excursion, and speeches were made. It appeared medals were being handed out. There was a big to-do happening, but I couldn’t really tell what it was, even with the binoculars that were in our cabin.
But today, while writing this, I started googling, and found the results very interesting.
An experience like no other: sailing with HMCS Oriole
Follow HMCS Oriole on its Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway journey
Weren’t those stories special? Now I understood all the hooplah on the dock.
Now, back to the excursion story:
From the cruise terminal (red X), the bus took two rights to turn onto the Trans-Canada Highway.
We boarded the bus and took off. Our first stop would be Point Prim Lighthouse. We joined the Trans-Canada Highway (Route 1) and drove to Point Prim Rd. A couple of miles after we turned, there was road construction. We sat for 15 or 20 minutes while we waited for the road construction to stop so we could pass. Hours later, when the guide learned that none of us had had lunch, she said, “Oh, there was a chowderhouse at Point Prim. We could have gotten something to eat there if I had known.” Oh, well.
We exited the bus at the lighthouse. Some people climbed the lighthouse, others walked around and enjoyed the views onto Northumberland Strait, and others explored in the gift shop or used the restrooms. Then it was time for us to leave, but the 12-or-so-year-old boy who was on the excursion with his parents and grandparents was nowhere to be found. Then the parents realized he had climbed to the top of the lighthouse and was just daydreaming up there. They ran to get him, but by the time he was back on the bus, 15 minutes had passed. ⏰ And the clock was ticking.
Our next stop was Wood Islands Lighthouse. By this time, I had to stop and eat my apple turnover and drink my bottle of water, or I was going to end up with a migraine. And by the time I had eaten and used the restroom facilities, it was time to get back on the bus. I didn’t have time to explore the lighthouse museum. I told Jas I would be able to find pictures of the interior to add to my account of the excursion. And now, ten or so days later, I can find no pictures.
Next to the Wood Islands Lighthouse property is the terminal for the Northumberland Ferries. This ferry route is part of the Trans-Canada Highway. You and your car board the ferry at Wood Islands, and soon you’re in Nova Scotia. (Or the other way around.) Like magic.
As we were approaching the lighthouse property, we noticed a ferry that looked like it wasn’t in great condition. We learned that the ferry had caught fire and was burned so badly that it was unfixable. I thought that had happened years ago. But as I was writing today and started searching for more information, I learned that the fire happened on July 22, 2022, just over four weeks from the day we were visiting. Here are a couple of accounts you might find interesting. Investigation into the fire; and Response of P.E.I. residents in offering help to victims.
Now we were off to drink some local wine at the Rossignol Winery. I liked their white wine, and I especially liked their Cranberry Delight Wine. They also had some fine crafts from local craftspeople—lovely baby quilts and some beaded jewelry that was delightful. I could have been happy spending more time there, ⏰ but that clock was still ticking.
We boarded the bus and knew we were very close to missing the 3:30 All Aboard call. But our guide told us we had a very good driver and he knew all the back roads. We pulled into the cruise port at 3:31. And the captain didn’t leave without us.
It started raining shortly after we arrived. The sky just opened and poured down on us. Because of the condition of the seas, we were taking a different, more sheltered route from the port at Charlottetown to the Saint Lawrence River. And this route would take us under a bridge that can be iffy, depending on winds and tides and water levels. So the Crow’s Nest was packed with passengers wanting to make sure the captain got us through safely, or just wanting to see this never-before crossed-under bridge.
Another issue with the passage from PEI into the St. Lawrence is the existence in that area of the Atlantic Ocean of North Atlantic Right Whales. They are endangered, and ships passing through that area are speed-restricted. Cruise ships may not exceed 10 knots in speed, (11½ mph) when passing through this area. We were restricted to this speed until we were a ways into the St. Lawrence. The captain notified us when we reached the end of the restriction, and the immediate increase in speed was easily felt. NOAA Fisheries Species Directory for North Atlantic Right Whales
The activity in the Crow’s Nest as we approach the bridge.
At 7:00, we had reservations for dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. Tonight would be the very special “Rudi’s Sel de Mer,” or Salt of the Sea. Rudolf Sodamin is a Master Chef and the best of the best seafood is served at his Sel de Mer dinner. Even the dinnerware was designed by Rudi. (See my pictures below—I’ve tried to identify all the menu choices in the photo comments.)
Holland America 2022, Day 3—Sydney, NS; Day 4—Charlottetown, PEI
