Travel File: New England Cruise

I've been lacking in updates lately! Lots has happened in the last month and half, and as usual, I have a lot of catching up to do with my posts. This time around, we'll talk about the cruise I went on last month with my family and friends!

It was a trip I suggested on a whim to my friends because I had seen that it was on sale in a brochure my parents had received in the mail. The cruise consisted of going to New York, cruising between Canada and the US to visit "New England". The itinerary consisted of a round trip starting and ending in NYC, Halifax - Nova Scotia, St. John - New Brunswick, Bar Harbour - Maine, Boston - Massachusetts, and Newport - Rhode Island. I've gone cruising before, but it's been a couple years since I've gone since I had to miss out on the last cruise my family went on. So here we go!

We sailed with Princess Cruises, on board the Caribbean Princess. My first cruise was on this ship! However, it was before they renovated it. But all the bigger ships seem to all have similar layouts.

Day of sailing on our ship, Caribbean Princess

Appetizers!

We went a day early to explore a bit of New York, and I'll have to go back eventually since there's always unfinished business in New York and things to see!

One of the best things I like about cruising is the food. My friends and family know that my stomach is like a bottomless pit, and I can eat a lot. Since Bosu and Yumi also came along for this trip, initially I was a bit wary of how they would react to our eating...but I think they started to match us on the food intake towards the end of the cruise! (^o^)*!!

I'll just do a short rundown of all the places we went to and some of the interesting things we ate and saw!

Peggy's Cove, Halifax

The five of us went to Peggy's Cove to see the rock formations and the light house. My parents opted to not go since they have already seen it before...and apparently, so have I...when I was 2. (>_>);;

We were fortunate enough to have lovely weather that day, not a cloud in sight and it was not foggy! Our excursion was at 7:30am, so there was a huge chance that it would have been foggy.

Rock formations at Peggy's Cove, Halifax

The ocean view and the atmosphere is just breathtaking. If I could have sat there for a couple hours, I would have, but I decided to walk around the rocks and see what else was around. I found some inukshuks and just had a good time climbing the rocks. Afterwards, we went to walk around the city and eat some lobster rolls. (*o*@!!)

Reversing Falls, St. John, New Brunswick

In St. John, we decided to walk from the port to the Reversing Falls. It was a bit of a walk, but it was only about an hour, it was fun to see all the houses and neighborhoods in the area. In the picture above, you can see the ships in the background. There were 3 ships docked that day! (Ours is the one on the top right).

Panorama of the Reversing Falls

We arrived a bit early for the tides to reverse, but we managed to kill a lot of time to see the tides fall and for the current to reverse and create vortexes/whirlpools. There are two look out points on either side of the gorge to view the rapids.

Bar Harbor, Maine

Lobster Ice Cream

While we were in Bar Harbor, Maine, our cruise agent recommended that we try lobster ice cream. The idea was a bit odd, but apparently it was very good! Our crew went to find it (@ Ben and Bill's) and Bosu even got a super lucky ice cream, as he got the lobster claw meat on his! *Jealous*

I really liked it. It had lobster meat mixed in with Vanilla ice cream, so you would get salty and sweet tastes. Either you love it or you hate it. (^__^;)

LOBSTAH!

Since it's a New England cruise, and this area is famous for it's fresh seafood, of course, we have to eat some of it! Above is a picture of my sister's twin lobsters we got at one of the restaurants at Bar Harbor. I opted to get Lobster Bisque since I know my mom can't make that. (Looking at the lobster again is making me hungry... >_<;;!)

You can see our ship from the Sand Bar

We had an excursion to go up to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, but the weather was dreary that day and when we got to the top, it was very foggy and misty. You could not see anything. That's one thing about the weather, you can't control it. . .

However, since our excursion ended early, Bosu, Yumi and I speed walked to the sand bar to check it out. When the harbor has low tides, there is a sand bar that appears that links the main part of the island to another. You can drive and walk across it, which is really neat! The sand is made up of small pebbles and broken shells, so I went to hunt for some sea shells.

Freedom Trail marker, Boston

The weather cleared up for Boston, and we had nothing planned for the day. I had suggested to do the Freedom Trail walk since it would bring us to the historical buildings and parts of the town and lead us to Quincy market. I had seen on TV that a series of markers mark the important parts of the trail and it is all linked together by a red brick/line along the road.
I'm not very sure of the historical significance of the trail because I'm not familiar with American history. (>o<;;)

Boston Chowda!

And of course, while we're in Boston, I have to try the Boston Chowda! I actually really like seafood and clam chowder, so I was really looking forward to this. I got it in a bread bowl since I've never had one before, and it took a lot of effort to finish it by myself! The bread bowl was almost as big as my head, but it was super yummy. Lots of chunks of clams, fish and mussels.

Out in Rhode Island, the crew went to tackle the famous Cliff Walk. It's a walkway that is about 2.5 miles long and runs along the backyards of some of the most famous mansions in the area. You can catch a glimpse of some of them, however you're only looking at the back door. Sadly, we didn't get to explore or tour any of the mansions there, as it would have been great to see the interior of the Marble House, but our time was running out. 

The Cliff Walk

The Breakers

The weather had once again turned overcast and along the cliffs, it was very windy and chilly. I woke up that morning with a runny nose, so I dressed warmly for the day and even wore a rain poncho to keep me warm. 

The walk was nice but you could only see some of the houses. I'm sure if it was a sunny day the view and the ocean would have looked a lot better. Around the halfway point, we stopped the walk to go back to town.

Sadly, as the day progressed, I got progressively sick, but since it was the last day of the cruise, I was really thankful that I got sick right at the end. I blame my dad since he got sick earlier on the trip and was spreading his germs around. When we returned home, I felt bad since I had to call in sick for work because I had become very ill and needed to see my doctor. I bet they thought I was bullsh*ting since I had just come back from my trip and probably needed a day off. (>o<;) (But I went into work later in the week, and they all saw how horrible I looked..LOL)

So that was my trip is a super fast post! I came back with some small souvenirs. My sister gave me a funny crab plush and a lobster plush finger puppet. Seafood themed items! 

 Overall, I had a great time on the cruise. Everyone on the ship is so inviting and nice. I love the food and it was fun having a large group on the cruise! I'm sad Keiko could not come on the trip with us, but there will always be future cruises! 

So until next time Princess!

♥