Portland Maine is walkable but distances farther than you think

 I walked from the cruise terminal to the Portland art museum. Google said it was a 15 minute walk. At a quick pace it took 30 minutes. The town is hilly and has lots of cobble stones. Shopping is all over, but go a couple of streets up from the harbour for better prices. I paid 8 usd for a t shirt that was 25 usd near the harbour.

The art museum is a gem. The Winslow Homer exhibit was the best I have experienced. It’s 4 floors and $18usd for seniors.  Well worth the fee.

The harbour was busy, but fun with lots of restaurants and shops.  The marina is very pretty.

Warning there are a lot of homeless people. They won’t hurt you but constantly ask for change.

Hope this helps

Marcia

Saint John New Brunswick a very walkable port if you like hills.

 If you’re coming to Saint John, you dock right at downtown. Get the walking map and follow it to see the highlights. This is a very hilly town and some of it has broken pavement.  It’s a very compact downtown so it doesn’t take long to get anywhere 

I enjoyed the following:

Loyalist house $5 cdn . It takes about 20 minutes to go through it. 

Two Anglican churches are open and trinity is quite beautiful inside. Both are free.

Old city market… small but the building is the draw

The architecture is quite old and photogenic.  Just walk a few residential streets, especially Germaine Street 

Shopping is plentiful but expensive . I found the street vendors to have better prices and more handcrafted souvenirs. But if your American use a credit card for a better exchange rate.

They take cdn or US dollars for purchases 

There is a great walking path along the harbour… you may see harbour seals. It goes all the way to the reversing rapids.

Overall a nice port for walking and browsing. The hills are everywhere but they are not steep.

Hope this helps

Marcia

St Martin and bay of fundy shore excursion excellent value in Saint John NB

 Rcl’s 6 hour St Matin and bay of fundy shore excursions was an excellent tour.  You will see the reversing rapids twice .. once at low tide ( first stop) and later in the day at high tide. 

They take you to Caves restaurant in Saint Martin and the cave and water views are spectacular. You are served a choice of seafood chowder(amazing) with a tea biscuit. Also baked cookies and pop.

You have time to walk on the beach

The third stop is in Saint Martin with a few shops and 2 covered bridges.

The fourth stop was Saint John city market where you are given time to shop.

Then you see the  reversing tide at high tide.

The guide Jane was funny and informative.

Overall I would highly recommend this tour

Hope this helps

Marcia

Independence of the seas - tales of woe overcome

Day 2::: For an older ship Independence of the seas looks to be in good shape.  The promenade outdoor deck is wide, freshly painted and lots of loungers. However one side of this deck is entirely devoted to smokers. So unusable to non smokers,  same with the pool deck.  It’s just wrong. The only good thing is if it’s cold or windy the smokers stay in the casino.

My first cabin had an infestation of Asian lady bugs on the couch. They  pince your skin. While sitting on the couch I saw them and called housekeeping. They came and tried to tell me it was a lady bug. They moved me to a lesser cabin.. adjoining ocean view that has very loud air conditioning at night.  

I didn’t notice that one of the bugs had pierced my ear lobe until it swelled. I took Benadryl and put the cream on.  It took a long time to heal.  

Maintenance said it was likely the work they do at night in Studio B above me that caused the air conditioner noise . It is fine during the day. I am told to call if I hear the loud noise tonight. Of course they are wrong as when I turn the knob to heat there is no noise. I have asked for compensation. Turns out they had to replace a motor to fix the air conditioner.  For the rest of the cruise the cabin was great. I was lucky that the neighbours were quiet. 

I had booked and was confirmed for early dining. But upon boarding, I was given open dining at 6:45 pm.

After waiting in a very long line, I was able to switch it for my friends and I. 

Tip do this as soon as you board the ship as early seating fills up quickly. 

The first dinner in  the dining room was good but took long for service. The food was hot but hot drinks lukewarm. Tip ask that your table be served first among their tables for faster service.  Service got better and the food continues to be good. I had a very friendly group of  people at the table. 

The ship is full of primarily retirees as it is a 9 day cruise to New England and kids are back in school. As always trivia is packed as they use one of the smallest venues on the ship. It’s an RCL thing. 

For the rest of the cruise service has been excellent. The food in the dining room at breakfast and dinner has been cooked well and served hot.  I think the dining room food and service for all meal times has been the best I have experienced on all of Rcl ships I have been on. 

Entertainment is typical cruise fare.. all repeat acts  from other Rcl ships. There are no broadway shows on this ship.

Overall one of the better Rcl ships. It’s the staff and responsiveness that makes the difference. I would take this ship again.

Hope this helps

Marcia

Why you should avoid booking WestJet flights to the United States

 I have just spent several hours on the phone with travel agencies because of WestJet unreliability in keeping the flight schedules to the United States.  Since I booked flights in the spring to the USA for a multi city , Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in October and just Fort Lauderdale next April, WestJet has changed the flight times for all 3 flights.  The flights which were supposed to leave in the morning were changed by more than 8 hours later.  The worst of this is they DO NOT send updates to you when they change the flight schedules. When I called my agency apologized but WestJet offered no help. 

For my flight next spring it was changed to 2 hours later. I will still get there in time for my cruise.

So below are tips

- do not book WestJet to the USA. There have been several news stories saying they are reducing flights to the USA. They do not send email updates when they change the flight times. You have to check their app daily.

- if you do book them, make sure it is fully refundable. I did this and was able to book on air Canada instead for my October trip

- book thru a travel agency. Expedia helped me for the October flights and yes it cost me more but I feel better about air Canada.  I used flights by RCL for next spring and the rep confirmed that the new flights were within their boarding parameters. Also Delta sent an update as soon as WestJet changed the flight times. the Rcl flights rep also said if they had changed the flight arrival outside of their 2 pm arrival they would rebook me on a different flight.

But overall, WestJet is too risky to use when you are taking a cruise . 

Hope this helps

Marcia

Lift Lock Cruise Peterborough on Little Lake... just ok

 I took the afternoon (3:30 pm) lift lock cruise in the downtown (small) harbour. It is listed as a 2 hour cruise and ours was less than 1.5 hours.  The length of the cruise depends on how many boats need to go thru the locks.  Its in downtown Peterborough which is quite shabby and uninteresting.

The cruise is $33 CDN for seniors and $35 for everyone else.  Unless you have never been thru a lock before or are interested in how Locks work I would give this cruise a pass.  You only go thru two locks.  The first one is small and takes 15 minutes for the water to fill.  The gem is the large lift lock which only takes 4 minutes to fill up and you rise more than 90 feet.  It was a bit scary to see how many cracks there are in the walls on either side of this lock.  And the old boat move backwards when the engine starts worrying me it might tip over.

The captain give an intelligible commentary thru out the cruise. You can only hear him if you are at the front of the boat as they only have a few speakers.  It's not really worth listening to him as it's a boring diatribe that I think is supposed to be funny. I didn't hear any laughter ... either they didn't hear him or ...

So if you take this cruise .. expect 40 minutes waiting to go thru the two locks and the rest going a short distance thru the locks and the lake.  In the lake they have a huge fountain of water which boaters like to go thru the mist. They say two hours because if there are a lot of boats the wait for the locks will be even longer. 

The best thing I saw was a river otter successfully crossing a road to get back into the river.  

Hope this helps

Marcia

Canoe Museum, Peterborough Ontario is worth seeing

 I just came back from Peterborough and really enjoyed the Canoe Museum in Peterborough.  I honestly have no real interest in canoes, but this museum  surprise me in that it was really interesting. It costs 18 CDN for seniors or $20 everyone else. The building itself has nice architecture. There is a small art collection and then a big exhibit of canoes from all over the world and many different cultures. They are displayed nicely in a large exhibit hall on the second floor.  Then you can look thru the glass at several hundred canoes stored in the warehouse.  There is a small gift shop and a tasty if slightly expensive coffee shop on the first level.  Lost of washrooms and an elevator if you need it on the second floor.

Another worthwhile thing to do is walk outside to the back of the building down to the lake (less than 5 minutes) to see people canoeing. You can rent canoes and the lake looked calm. There is also a playground and a small beach for swimming with a life guard.

This is a not to miss in Peterborough.

Hope this helps 

Marcia