Live from the Caribbean Princess, Oct 14 - Nov 5, 22-day Canadian and Atlantic Coast Land and Sea Adventure

[Ken the cruiser]

The 2-hour PCL excursion we’ll be on tomorrow.

  

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re getting close, but the weather and wave action when we woke up this morning was a pleasant sight. 
 

 

  
Although it looks like it’s going to be a little chilly when we arrive. At least we’ll be in a tour bus today driving around seeing the sights after we clear immigration. 😁

 

[TAW1963]

33 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We’re getting close, but the weather and wave action when we woke up this morning was a pleasant sight. 
 

 

  
Although it looks like it’s going to be a little chilly when we arrive. At least we’ll be in a tour bus today driving around seeing the sights after we clear immigration. 😁

 

How envious I am of your great aft-facing view.  It is so much better than my computer screen.  Thanks for taking us along; I have really enjoyed it.

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Speaking of US immigration, here’s the “general” instructions we received in our cabin this evening. We also received some “special” instructions the other day since we are on an excursion that leaves at 11:30 am. It will be interesting to see how PCL handles getting both the excursion folks with a 11 am show time through Customs, like we have, without them having to stand in the line with all of the other US citizens not going on an excursion, since we all have to meet in the Fusion Lounge starting at 11 am. I’m sure they have a plan. 
 

We checked the immigration excursion rules guidelines they gave us, and it looks like there will be a “fast pass” line for us to line up in. 😁

 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, TAW1963 said:

How envious I am of your great aft-facing view.  It is so much better than my computer screen.  Thanks for taking us along; I have really enjoyed it.

I have to say, we do love aft-facing cabins! My DW used to tell me not to tell anybody about how cool they were. But now that we usually book a cruise as soon as they’re released, it’s ok. 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Portland! We cruised a little ways inland up the Fore River estuary to get to the pier.
  

 

 
It looks like the water level has risen a tad since this structure was first built many moons ago. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[PMGS247]

Just out of curiosity how's the internet connectivity on board?

 

I'll be joining for the 5 day leg on Halloween.

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

Just out of curiosity how's the internet connectivity on board?

 

I'll be joining for the 5 day leg on Halloween.

Good! If you’ll look back on my thread under the Patters I post each day, I post the results of a speed test. But the download speeds are consistently running a little of 2 mbps, which is pretty good.

[Ken the cruiser]

We had a fun, easy going 2-hour excursion today, with just one stop at the Fort Williams Head Light Park. The rest of the time we drove around different parts of Portland while our tour guide pointed out various restaurants, churches, mansions, and other scenic points of interest.

 

As far as the immigration process went, the excursion “fast pass” line was very short, as anybody in it would be merged into the front of the main line right before entering Club Fusion. For us, it took a total of about 10 minutes to get our passports checked. OTOH the main line at 10:55 am was clear back to Crooner’s, and possibly beyond that. I’m not sure how long it took for those in the back to clear the main line, but I do know there were only 2 Customs agents checking passports when we went through it. We then hung out in the Island dining room until 11:30 am when our group was called to head to the bus.

 

Here’s what Portland looked like from the port side of the ship as we were heading to our tour bus.

 

 
Our 56-passenger bus had maybe 40 passengers on it. So it was quite comfortable once again sitting in the back. 😁

 

 
These first 3 pictures were taken as we drove by what used to be where Betty Davis lived; although it’s hard to see any of the buildings. But the foliage around the estate was quite beautiful.

 

 

 

 

We then drove by a bunch of homes, some of which were quite decorated in the Halloween spirit.

 

 

We spent about 35 minutes walking around the area surrounding the first US lighthouse which became operational in 1791.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We then headed back to downtown Portland to tour around the city for about an hour. 
 

Statue of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

 

 

 

Victoria Mansion

 

 
Statue of John Ford

 

 
Then is was time to head back to the ship. Since it was docked right in town, it was an easy walk for those that just wanted to meander around and maybe dine at one of the local restaurants.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Senga]

LOVED the picture of the lighthouse with the flowers in the foreground.

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Senga said:

LOVED the picture of the lighthouse with the flowers in the foreground.

Thanks! On our transpacific cruise this past spring on the Eclipse, we took a “selfie” tour in Tahiti where you just go around to different vista viewpoints and the guide gives you suggestions on how to take pictures. One of the suggestions when taking a long range shot was to include a plant in the foreground, such as a flowering bush or maybe an overhanging tree branch, to give the picture a little depth. In this case I must admit, it did turn out quite well. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after a very tasty dinner, we headed to the theater to get a good seat to watch the first production show, Bravo, which is always enjoyable. BTW the theater was packed 30 minutes before show time! 

 

 

 

But since we’ve seen Bravo quite a few times, we left after the James Bond medley and headed to Club Fusion to get a good seat to watch the comedian Gary Delena, who once again put on a great show! 

 

 

 
Unfortunately, sail away at 9 pm was in the middle of his presentation, so we were a little late getting to our balcony to watch it. But in any case, we’re off and now heading for an early morning arrival in Boston tomorrow morning. 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 12 - Oct 25 - Boston, Massachusetts  

  

 

 

The internet continues to provide good service.

 

 
The weather for Boston is looking pretty good!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Our excursion scheduled for tomorrow morning. Thankfully the weather is looking a little better than when we did the Duck Boat tour in Halifax! 

 

[abbydancer2003]

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our excursion scheduled for tomorrow morning. Thankfully the weather is looking a little better than when we did the Duck Boat tour in Halifax! 

 

When I did the Duck tour (not from a cruise), they let passengers drive it in the water.  I did.

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

When I did the Duck tour (not from a cruise), they let passengers drive it in the water.  I did.

Cool!

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Cool!

I just noticed you're from Alabama.  Just curious, where do you live there? My sister and I will be in Birmingham (also Selma and Montgomery) before a cruise in February. 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, abbydancer said:

I just noticed you're from Alabama.  Just curious, where do you live there? My sister and I will be in Birmingham (also Selma and Montgomery) before a cruise in February. 

We live in the Montgomery area. However, we’ll probably be on our Antarctica cruise when you’re visiting the area.

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Boston! 
 

[snow bunny]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived in Boston! 
 

Enjoy the day, looks like a beautiful and sunny one!  Better than the cold and snow we are expecting today.

 

snow bunny

[Ken the cruiser]

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our excursion scheduled for tomorrow morning. Thankfully the weather is looking a little better than when we did the Duck Boat tour in Halifax! 

 

For just a little under 2 hours, we saw a lot of downtown Boston as well as going for a ride on the Charles River under sunny skies and temps in the high 50s! All in all a nice fall day. 😁

 

A different view from our balcony before we headed to our Duck Boat excursion, which by chance also includes a lone sea gull flying by. What can I say other than I’m easily squirreled when I see birds either flying by or walking around. 😂

 

 
Here’s our ride for the day. Luckily we were able to sit in the back where we could each have a window view for taking pictures. 😁

  

 

 
First we toured downtown Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then it was time to take the plunge!
 

 

 

 

 

Definitely a better picture of the pillars on the sunny side. 😁

 

 
Then all of the sudden two Canadian geese came flying out from under the bridge definitely focused on getting somewhere! 😅

 

 

 

Then it was time to leave the river and head back to the ship.

  

 

 
And then, finally, I was able to take a couple photos of the elusive Boston pigeons! We haven’t seen any since we walked to the Barbie show back in Montréal! I guess it’s just too chilly for them this time of year up in the north country! 😅

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

15 hours ago, abbydancer said:

When I did the Duck tour (not from a cruise), they let passengers drive it in the water.  I did.

On our Duck tour today, everyone that wanted to steer the boat while it was in the water got to for a minute or two while they got their picture taken. Since we were way in the back, we passed.

[abbydancer2003]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We live in the Montgomery area. However, we’ll probably be on our Antarctica cruise when you’re visiting the area.

 

Would you mind emailing me if you have a chance?  I might like some suggestions for restaurants, etc.

abby at glenandabby dot com

 

Thanks

[Ken the cruiser]

50 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Would you mind emailing me if you have a chance?  I might like some suggestions for restaurants, etc.

abby at glenandabby dot com

 

Thanks

Unfortunately, the only place we eat out is when we’re on a cruise, which as you might notice in my below expanded signature is quite often. So I’m pretty useless when it comes to recommending restaurants in the area. Sorry for not having better news.

[cr8tiv1]

Cultured and educated historians

 

 

at Quincy Hall.