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A 9-day adventure by Laura Read more
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  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 1

    Baltimore, and On Our Way

    October 6, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The sun is shining, and it's a beautiful Day- quite a welcome change after a week of grey, Hurricane Ian rainy stuff. We got here about an hour before check-in thanks to very light (relatively) traffic. The last time we departed from Baltimore, it took the better part of an hour to get from the gate to the parking gate, and 2 hours in line to check in. We were warned NOT to try to check in early- texts every 20 minutes at one point. So we hung out in the car for awhile after parking.

    Check-in was fairly uneventful. Still longer than Norwegian, don't know why.

    We had a bit of lunch at the Solarium Cafe. Calm, quiet. I couldn't face the "push'n'shove"
    (Windjammer Café) that early. It was the primary dining option for lunch, and we later heard reports that it was crazy nuts.

    Our stateroom is cozy- very cozy, and we knew it would be. I did not expect that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed without crawling to the foot. Asked the steward to separate the beds to get enough room that I won't kill myself in the middle of the night.

    A strange thing- and one that I don't like, is that I have to use a credit card to open and lock the safe. It doesn't cost anything, but the point of the safe is to lock up valuables you don't need on the ship. Like passports. And cash. And credit cards.

    We went to the Spotlight aft lounge for sailaway, and saw Ft. McHenry, then to the pool deck until after we went under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We got to experience a minor standoff, with our ship honking at a Maersk container ship that wasn't quite in its lane. We're tired, and the earliest dinner reservation was at 8:15, so we opted for the Windjammer, which wasn't too crazy.

    Returning to our stateroom, we met our steward, who had separated the beds, giving us a lot more usable room. The only problem now was that our door wouldn't close. It had been very hard to open, but now, would not close🙄. So the steward called the Ghostbusters who came and replaced the door mechanism.

    I was planning to go watch the newest Jurassic Park movie, but realized I already saw it--- so sleep wins out.    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 2

    Sea Day

    October 7, 2022, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Had a nice typical sea Day- slept late and caught some breakfast in the Windjammer.

    I spent a little time in the casino, and ran into Sharvan and Brandon- "Parkers On the Go"-- a YouTube vlog I watch. They were pleased to meet a follower, and I was excited to meet them. So bummed I didn't get a picture!

    It was a pretty laid-back day. Did a little needle work, talked with some folks, and enjoyed looking at the ocean. Not too many pictures, though.

    Dinner was in the Main Dining room. When I tried to schedule, I could only get 8 pm for the whole cruise (My Time dining.) We were really hungry, despite a cookie snack saved from the day before. We went at 7:30 to see if they could take us, and they arranged for us to come at 7:30 each night.

    I ordered calimari (a bit rubbery- will not order again), the roast beef tenderloin, medium rare- PERFECT! It was served with asparagus, whipped potatoes, and what tasted like a wine reduction gravy. This was the best dish I've had on Royal. Dessert was "carrot cake." It bore no resemblance to any carrot cake I've ever experienced. Rather, it was like a very dense, very dry vanilla pound cake with a sparse amount of shredded carrots between the layers. The cream cheese frosting did not taste like cream cheese. I ate a few bites, and deemed it NWTC (not worth the calories- and really not good despite any alternate description they could have given it.)

    A little walkabout- and to bed.    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 3

    Bar Harbor

    October 8, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Ugh- I wrote a large entry- and it got lost in space🙄. So here I go again.

    We went to get tender tickets, and ended up with group 40. After breakfast in Windjammer, we waited in the Spotlight lounge for our group to be called
    We had a nice, large ferry which was much easier for those whose mobility was challenged. (Thankfully, not us).

    The other ships anchored on the harbor was Silver Sea Silver Whisper. It carries 440 passengers compared with our 2700+.

    We walked around Bar Harbor- a lovely town- lots of gift shops, cafés and ice cream stores. We ran into Parker's on the Go outside Walgreens, where I stopped to get a bottle of water.

    Our excursion took us to a lobster feast- major yum! And I was able to assist my table mates in the fine art of getting to the inside of the lobster. That was followed by a trip through Acadia National Park-- beautiful, and I would love to go back.

    We were too tired, and not hungry enough to go to the dining room, so headed to the Windjammer to see what the Royal Caribbean test kitchen had to offer. We saw the "beef stroganoff" (bearing no resemblance to any similarly named fish I've ever experienced. There were "dumplings" that had some cinnamon flavor, and clunked when dropped on the plate. There were several other "winners.". I had a couple of chunks of curried lamb which were pretty good.

    And then to bed    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 4

    Portland, Maine

    October 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Portland is another charming town- intermixed with a fairly large city. We walked around for awhile before joining the tour bus to the "Mother Ship,"- LL Bean in Freeport.

    Freeport village has several Ll Bean stores- the flagship store, Home Store, Outlet, and Outdoor Store. There are loads of other outlet stores. The only one we hit was Lindt. Yum.

    Wayne had a lobster roll from Linda Bean's--, across from the Main store.

    The leaves are beautiful. So happy we are here now.

    Dinner in the MDR was ok
    Spent some casino time- I was lucky.    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 5

    St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

    October 10, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C

    Today is Canada's Thanksgiving Day!

    Reversing Falls- St John River flows to the sea. We saw this at the beginning of our tour. The river reverses when the tide comes in, because tide is stronger. We returned to the river as the tide was coming in, and saw that amazing phenomenon- the river was running inland from the Bay of Fundy.

    The Irving pulp & paper mill is on the river, and uses chips and sawdust from other production to make construction grade paper and tissues. The Irving empire includes petroleum, forestry, paper, and many other industrial interests.

    We saw the Carrollton Martello tower. Built for War of 1812. Never saw battle.

    There was a lovely drive to the fishing village of St. Martin, where we had really marvelous seafood chowder. We took a little walk on the rocky beach.

    Next was the return to the river, followed by a visit to the Market (I stayed on the bus.). Then to O'Leary's pub for some Moosehead beer. I had a couple of sips, and Wayne got the rest. It was really good. The owner shared his story of life as a pub owner.

    Then back to the ship, and a game of trivia. Why is it that when I'm not actually playing, I know all the answers??

    Dinner in the MDR- I had braised short rib. It was pretty good. And the cheesecake was quite good.    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    11111
    Day 6

    Boston

    October 11, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We arrived a bit before 9, but need to clear US Customs. At 11:20 our group was called, and we got in line. All aboard will be 4:30. Glad we've been here before🙄.

    Taxi to Faneuil Hall. We revisited Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Old State House, site of Boston Massacre, Freedom Trail, and Boston Common. We returned to Quincy Market. I had Lobster Bisque, and Wayne had Chowdah!!!

    Caught an Uber back to the ship. We had dinner (steak Diane was pretty good.) We ran into the Parkers and had a nice chat for awhile. I hit the casino- and quit while I was ahead.

    Came back to my stateroom to be greeted by a cute gobbler🦃    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 7

    Newport, Rhode Island

    October 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We arrived at anchor at 9 am, and our number in Tender Roulette was 42. At noon they were up to 19🙄. A very nice man who had been sitting in the lounge with us had a relative who had fallen ill, and he gave us his "22s.". We boarded our ship's tender at 12:15😁.

    We had a walkabout- first going to the house I lived in - 35 Elm Street. Then to Trinity Church where I was a parishioner. We headed toward Banister's Wharf, and had clam chowder at The Black Pearl. Wayne had a Narragansett beer. (When in Newport, gotta have a 'Gansett)

    Of course, there were other things we could have done, but these were top on my list, and things we could easily accomplish on foot during the time we had before needing to head back to the ship.

    We went back on a boat that had a nice upper deck. I was able to see Fort Adams, and the harbor houses where one of my friends lived on Goat Island.

    Back aboard, I took a quick nap. It was lobster night, and we sat at a table with a lot of very nice people. I spent a little time in the casino-- didn't do great, but I didn't lose it all.    Read more

  • TravelerNew England & Canada
    Day 8

    Sea Day

    October 13, 2022, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Have I mentioned that I love sea days? No pressure to be anywhere. No feeling that I need to experience, learn, or accomplish anything.

    We slept in and had a late breakfast in Windjammer. Our waiter assistant, Amarjeet from India, recognized me when I came in, and took me to the table where Wayne was sitting. I didn't recognize Amarjeet at first, because I've always seen him with a mask on.

    There was a very nice Tribute to Veterans including Taps, all the service songs, and the National Anthem- followed by cake. One of the statements was, "If you don't like the military, you don't have to stand behind us. But you are more than welcome to stand in front of us."

    There was a Parade of Flags representing the 50 different nations represented in the officers and crew of the ship. We watched for awhile- then needed to get to dinner.

    Dinner was good- prime rib. We bid adieu to our servers, Viraj and Amarjeet.

    The pack-out went pretty smoothly, thanks to bringing an extra foldable duffel for laundry and bulky stuff.

    And so to bed for our last night on this adventure.    Read more

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