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Mike on the catamaran tender

We woke up to very thick fog the next day, Wednesday October 12th. The captain said it was unsafe to tender to Bar Harbor. We had a 9:15 An Intimate look at Arcadia National Park tour through NCL. Many people filled up the Manhattan room for hours. We just got breakfast and waited in our room. Some of the early morning excursions were canceled. Finally the Captain gave the all clear. It was kind of madness at the Manhattan room. But the NCL staff tried to keep it light and tried to answer peoples questions as best they could. Our tour got called and we lined up. This time they had large catamaran type tour boats for tenders and they were very comfortable.

Mike won big in the casino that night! Whoo Hoo! On Ultimate X double double bonus video poker.

That night was Velvet dinner show. We enjoyed it but food wasn’t great. I liked the salad the best. Show was fun and entertaining. The venue was maybe 1/2 full. IMG_1008.MOV IMG_1009.MOV

Walking back to ship, Mike went back to ship to take a nap. Glenna and I took our time. There were little artists and craft booths set up along the way.

Time for lunch. It was late for lunch and we got a good table with the tail end of live music in the courtyard of the restaurant. We had lobster rolls and Glenna had clam chowder and a really great “Shipyard” IPA beer. It was all delicious.

Here are some from Mike’s phone: IMG_0996.MOV

For Portland, Maine, Mike chose to do a trip advisor tour. The vintage fire truck tour. It was fairly short, a beautiful day and fairly cheap (about $40 each) and a good value. We were pleased with Mike’s choice. We walked about a mile to the kiosk.Got checked in and loaded up in our seats. Good guide, funny stories and jokes. A couple of kids as passengers were funny too. Good overview of Portland and it’s history.

You know that feeling when you have the right amount of wine and good classic rock and you just feel like dancing? It was to the “Bliss” lounge for dancing next. Not too many people in there at that time so I kinda made a fool of myself that night; luckily I didn’t stay too long. No pics. Mike went to casino. I joined him for awhile.

Bartender “Jackson” told us about Syd Norman’s pour house band playing that night; we are so glad he did because we were hooked on this band all cruise. We were like groupies waiting in longer and longer lines as word of mouth popularity grew for this band. First night was 60s, 70s and 80’s. Awesome!

But first, raspberry martinis at. Shakers bar: We were the first group to be seated at Cagney’s. We got a great table near aft window. This was a latitudes dinner with a bottle of wine. Really great food and service.

Some shots from the aft. Getting ready for Cagney’s Monday Oct. 10.

We were aware that the lines for the free trolley bus we’re getting a little long and hopped on the bus going further on the route (the wrong direction). But we took this bus to the end point and just stayed on it until we were close to tender dock and hopped off. The line was long but not too long. We heard that this line was really long later in the afternoon. We had a nice lunch at O”Sheehans. I had the croissant chicken salad sandwich, Glenna had fish and chips. I forgot what Mike had but it was all great!

Music room, kitchen, billard room etc. Library was spectacular, I don’t think I got any pics there. Also the bathrooms and closets were very interesting.

Marvelous interior of the Breakers seaside “cottage”.

Here are a couple of pics of drive through Newport.

Here is bus map

Debenson0723 Thanks for following geneologyfan: if you are sapphire latitudes I think there is a designated concierge service. Otherwise just get in line at box office near theater. They will set you up. We tried at touch screens but had conflicting dinner reservations etc. book your six, burn the floor, levity for the whole week. We only ate at one free dinner Shanghai noodle bar. It was great. Did not do Taste, Manhattan or Savor. Mike had 2 free specialty restaurants for sapphire and 2 from free at sea and 1 from casino. Then we ate at velvet one night. We also ate some lunches at O’sheeans. Yummy comfort food.

We weren’t in any real hurry and got on the 2nd tender. Walk to Avenue of Americas. Turn left, walk 3 or 4 blocks to the transportation center. Find line for free trolley to mansions. Bus #67. Get off at 3rd stop “the Breakers” mansion. Get in line to buy ticket about $29 per person. We just decided to do one mansion since Mike and Glenna have slight mobility problems. Download the app for free audio tour. I forgot my Bluetooth headphones. I held speaker to my ear, it was fine. I’ve been reading “Vanderbilt: the rise and fall of an American dynasty” about the gilded age, just for this cruise. Cornelius Vanderbilt made his fortune in transport and the railroads.

Don’t forget to pick up a priority tender ticket while at box office. Newport, Rhode Island day. I was looking forward to seeing the Vanderbilt mansion, “the Breakers” and Marble house and doing the cliff walk. When researching this excursion I came across a great alternative to the expensive NCL shore excursion Mansions and cliff walk tour at about $85 per person. Yes you don’t get the commentary or priority visit. You get freedom and flexibility while saving $.

Oh I forgot to tell you about the hassle of setting up entertainment around our specialty dinner times that we had reserved. I had researched previous dailies from other sailings and had made my choices for entertainment based on that. Well the entertainment was all different for our sailing. So much for pre planning. Anyway, I had to make an executive decision to keep the dinners the same time but book levity, velvet, six and burn the floor. I tried to do this on touch screen or room phone, but Glenna and I ended up at box office in a long line but we were able to book everything. Boy it really helps to talk to a living person when booking reservations for shows. I think Mike was sleeping while we were doing this chore, before the casino action. The next morning was Newport Rhode Island. I was looking forward to seeing the mansions of the gilded age, and the cliff walk.

Well that was the best sail away of any cruise (about 18 or so) I’ve ever been on! NYC was spectacular. Miami is beautiful, Vancouver is stunning and magnificent. But this sail away is the most memorable for me. Next was teppanyaki. Fun dinner, great chef. Fun show. Negatives:Soup wasn’t hot enough, salad was fair. Entree food was fantastic and plentiful. Other than the mountain of garlic and butter in fried rice, which was really yummy but kind of bothered my stomach later. Filet was perfect, shrimp was great. No pics of food, we were having too much fun! We played the night away in the casino. The odds on video poker was really pretty decent on this ship. Same odds for quarters, dollars. I went to bed early after a long day of travel. Mike likes to play until very late. He plays all kinds of games. I know, I know: “the house always wins”. “There are 2 types of gamblers: losers and liars”.

Sorry for delay...had to work to pay for these cruises. We were all excited to see the Statue of Liberty and views of the City at sail away. We got a few drinks and a good place on the rail. It did not disappoint! We were so lucky with sunset, then the moon rise. (We missed the moon rise, though, had to get to Teppanyaki).

TSUmom: Thanks JamieLogical: Thanks for following smccarthy: Yes we found it crowded, difficult to find a seat at breakfast, elevators were sometimes crowded, heard long lines to tender back, (we didn’t have this problem, went back at little early); casino crowded. Long wait for Syd Normans, but totally worth it. Other than that no problems. classy_cruiser: agree Sand and Sea: Thanks for following

Then our rooms were ready!