cgolf1

We ended up doing the Holland provided shuttle(Bus) for an 11:20 flight and it worked great last Saturday. Fee wasn't awful either. They had two groups, one for flights between 11 and 2 and the second for flights after 2.

To top that off going through security at the airport is hit and miss. The in-laws made it through quickly, while my wife and I got sent to another line to then be redirected back to the line the in-laws went through and with not a lot of people in the line it took us 20-30 minutes longer then them to get through. Who knows how bad it would be when busy. Also the clear or whatever the latest thing is, those passengers get taken right to the TSA agent that checks passports letting us normal people have a longer wait.

Here is the cost, got distracted catching up on the curse of oak island.

How I packed. when we first booked long term temps were running warm so in my excitement I packed right away. Knowing how WI can fluctuate this time of year I packed layers. 3 pairs of Columbia pants that can be converted to shorts. 1 Drees pant 4 T shirts 2 polos 1 long sleeve button down 2 long sleeve shirts 1 zip up hoodie Swim suit with shirt Shorts and shirt for spin bike use that never happened. The heavier weight water resistant coat pictured tennis shoes 1 pair of canvas dressy enough shoes that could back up the tennis shoes if they got soaked. sandals Once we got closer I did toss in a pair of comfy dress pants for the flight home. on the flight up there I wore shots and a zip up hoodie. Didn’t use the 2 long sleeve shirts, workout t shirt, dress pants and one of the Columbia convertible pants. I am ok with that, as that combo of clothes covered a lot of weather patterns. I never ended up getting cold.

Now the dreaded post a picture of me lol.

Daily activities. Supper, Show, and some complaints With going on shore twice we really didn't have a lot of time to do much during the day. One thing that we were starting to notice though is that they get really behind on keeping fresh food, or any food out in some cases. For example if you want a gluten free or sugar free desert, get there early, they fall behind quickly and the selection towards they middle of the lunch buffet time suffers. They often didn't have hot chocolate out, which on a colder weather cruise, my wife often looked for and had to ask for. The biggest miss was when we went to the Dive In at 3:30, 2 hours before it closed because my wife wanted nachos. The had some nachos and no cheese dip. Further inspection showed that many things were either almost out or empty. I don't think you could have made a basic taco. Today was also the day I had to start eating my gluten free burgers without a bun and my wife overheard a lady being told it would be a one hour delay to get gluten free bread in place of the bun. For those that like live music, there was one lady that played in one of the piano bars that had an amazing voice whenever we were in the area. For supper I had the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin and the New York Strip Loin. Both were excellent and the steak was 1000 times better than the one on the first night. My wife had the Crispy Thai Vegetable Spring roll and the Chicken Codon Bleu which she enjoyed both. The main dining room is putting out some really good food this trip. We of course played some cards and saw Kelly Macfarland's second show. She was again hilarious and the crowd was really into it. That's about it for Day 5. Thanks again for following along, this is enjoyable to do.

Day 5 Sydney Nova Scotia Today we again grabbed a map in port and walked around on our own in the morning. If you notice my hands in the upper part of the photo, that was to protect the lens for the precipitation. We also walked the boardwalk which was a nice walk before we go back on the ship. I did add a few pictures that showcased the snow:) The Muster Station signs on land crack me up. If you need to go to a muster station on land the stuff has really hit the fan:) There is a nice little shopping area right at the port and we bought a few things. We also stopped at Tracy's Rolling Yarn Shop and bought some yarn from Nova Scotia for our daughter. The owner was incredibly nice along with a customer that was also there and between the two of them they helped explain what my daughter could make with what we would ultimately buy. My daughter said the prices were decent too. Since the cider house didn't open till noon we went out after lunch and of course there was no precipitation then. Later tonight I will comment on what I packed to stay warm and not take a lot of clothes, my influencer moment;)

Yes the main dining room is perfect, the lido buffet needs to label the food and include the allergens too. Celebrity does this and its amazing. The labels on the food would help everyone tell what is available too. This would save those up us with food allergies from taking a chef away from doing their other work to walk us through the buffet. So its a win win.

Most of my important to me comments were the handling of food allergies and the dining room issue with the seating with a reservation and the general chaos. To me and many the food allergy could be a major issue, to those without it well its not even a thought.

I just finished up the post cruise survey on my iPad mini last night and just after I finished what I thought was the last question where I wrote a fair bit of comments, I saw the can we contact you question just as I hit finish. Since I missed that question, will they still potentially contact me? I gave some specific comments, but also included potential solutions with those comments and would have no issues talking with someone from HAL.

I am hopeful I will get to the end before you leave. This is going faster than expected, because everyone is engaged and it keeps me into it. On the Celebrity board my 11 day cruise review only went 3 pages.

Activities and dinner Other than walking around we played some cards and we went to the Musicology dance production. The dance production wasn't as good as the first and some parts were very different to the point I found them amusing. I am not sure that was what they were intending, but it was very different. For supper I had the Trio of Salmon and the lamb shank, both of which were very good. The lamb basically fell of the bone. My wife had the Caesar salad and the Carbonara which she enjoyed. One thing we have noticed is a lot of vibration in the ship and you can even feel it in the cabin, 2526 in the front of the ship. Not sure if it is from the rough weather and the the wind or it is just a quirk of the ship. Other than being noticeable it really didn't impact us all that much. Of course we did enjoy a drink at happy hour:)

So customs was very easy. It was 90% automated. They had a kiosk where you scan in your passport and you answer why your coming, your not carrying too much money, and your not carrying anything illegal. It prints out a slip and you show the agent the slip or passport when leaving the area. Then you grab your luggage and hand the skip to an agent on the way out and you are done. Very easy and fairly quick.

Thank you, I have even more pictures of the churches but held back from posting too many. If some are interested I can post more. I was also worried about board rules if that would be crossing a line.

Charlottetown Prince Edward Island On this stop we essentially did the historic walk from the map handed out in port. We did deviate to stop at All Souls Church. This along with the other church we stopped at were both amazingly beautiful in very different ways. The architecture here was also very pretty as well. My lovely wife also made it in one of the pictures, I will make an appearance in Sydney. It was a very nice walk and I was able to have my DSLR out the whole time.

This is probably my favorite picture of the ship, and maybe from an artistic perspective the whole cruise.

It only snowed/rained on us once in Sydney. We were very lucky to miss it the rest of the time, but the skies were very friendly to us. We went out both in the morning and afternoon in Sydney and the morning was the snow/rain, and the afternoon was nice:) Halifax the rain rolled in just as our excursion bus got back to the ship. It was a little crazy how lucky we got with the weather.

We only ate on the ship with the exception of Halifax when we had a 6+ hour excursion. We were so rushed that I ate the protein bar that I packed in my camera bag. In Montreal we were in so late I only ate breakfast in the hotel. Living up to the thrifty name my wife really doesn't like eating off the ship. Sorry that I can't help you there. I can see why one would do this sailing multiple times, it is an amazing itinerary, and we are thinking of doing it again in the future.

It is funny growing up in Wisconsin we are used to the 80s one week, snow the next, and then back into the 70s in the spring. I packed my clothes the instant we booked, was forecasted long term in the 60s and 70s as far out as we could see. I packed light too, but went with the convertible pants that can convert to shorts and look nice enough to wear to dinner. Where we vacation for fishing in the early summer I learned to layer effectively. Our weather here has been a roller coaster temperature wise this year too. It was cold but didn't really impact our enjoyment of the cruise at all, other than missing out on the promenade deck, which we haven't seen since the freedom of the seas. Not sure how it impacted others, but we did here a few say that they saw snow for the first time. The crew for sure wasn't a fan of the cold.

Day 3 at Sea This will be an easy one. While we had a routine that sounds kind of boring lol, the time went by fast and I didn't do as much reading or puzzle books as I normally do. Today we did the EXC talk on the Canadian icons and we learned some things in it that we didn't know. My father in laws family made their own maple syrup from trees on their land and we actually still have a few jars of it, so they know the process well. My wife was going to go to the flower arrangement presentation, but it was overflowing and we both ended up at the shopping show thinking they would talk about the upcoming ports, nope it was all about the onboard shops. Then they gave out a 200$ off coupon at the end, which after the raffle turned out that the coupon needed to be used in the next hour or it was no good. Very disappointing. We did buy a watch onboard because it was on the top of my list and at a lower price than it should have been so we did ok. Supper I did the Seafood Deviled eggs and the Chile Rellanos, both were excellent. My wife did the I forgot the app and Garlic herb roasted chicken which was excellent. Kelly Macfarland was the comedian for the night and she was probably the funniest comedian I have seen at sea. Very good show. We ended up playing cards in the Hudson room to close out the night. They seemed to keep this room nice and cool. Only pictures are for an idea of how gloomy it was this trip, weather wise, not the experience though.

We really don't like using the apps, this is the first cruise my wife actually used her phone for pictures and stuff. We generally lock the technology in the safe. I have now stopped bringing my iPad and catch up on reading books and doing puzzle books during the relax and chill times. I end up doing too many screens at home and for work so I need to unplug from them.

Yeh it was a bit frustrating, but the food made up for it:) Also in the moment it seems like a big deal but we have learned to roll with it. Also since I have been on the gluten free diet, I have learned to roll with the punches a lot more than I used to, or maybe I am finally growing up;)

When we setup a 5:45 reservation for each night, we were told we would have the same table and servers we had that night. We liked both. We never had the same table and servers again, it was weird. The dining seemed very chaotic and we even ended up with a buzzer to get a random table with the reservation, while watching people without a reservation get seated right away. At least on the Zaandam they need to work on this, we have never seen something this disorganized. This was complaint 2. We did find that the 2 times we got seated in that open area on 4 behind the host/hostess stand that the servers were a lot better than anywhere else we were seated including deck 5.

We got burned by Uber due to traffic and some other weird thing in Florida and it was more than it should have been. That was likely our one and only Uber experience. Also thanks for the answer. We would actually like to do this tour again, maybe in the fall or summer. Summer for the Gardens in Halifax and fall would be for the colors as the trees change.

Yup we are. That and the supper clubs we go to that imo make some of the fancier steak houses look bad and overpriced.