twangster

The walk back to the ship was very pleasant. The rental drop off is within the old city which is elevated above the riverfront, part of what makes the old city a natural fort. I didn't need to walk uphill to reach the ship but it looked inviting so I did. Cannons everywhere! With my detour complete I started down towards the river using a cobblestone street. Along the way I came across this interesting water feature laid into the sidewalk. It is excavated slightly so it slopes from the front and water ripples over the pavers with an embedded channel or mini-stream through the middle left to right. Not exactly a waterfall but very nicely done. Not long before I was at the cruise terminal. Typical security check upstairs followed by check in area. The terminal is aft of the ship so it's a bit of a walk through a covered walkway that runs nearly the length of the ship. This leads to the gangway ramp and eventually to a briefly uncovered section connecting to the ship. With that I was on board at 11:15am.

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! I awoke... because I left the drapes open and it was beginning to become daylight. In the daylight I could really see the old city walls that were hidden last night. I immediately spotted a familiar shape in the distance. It's Adventure of the Seas!!! Soon after I spotted a small ship coming up the river. It came closer, then a tug provided a water cannon salute to the pier. That's the Silversea Silver Wind. I wonder if this is her inaugural call at this port? Silversea is now part of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line family. Today she would berth behind Adventure while she stopped here in Quebec City on her way to Montreal tomorrow. I consumed more Montreal bagels for breakfast and gathered my things to pack and get ready. Tick tock, tick tock. Did the clock just slow down? I had a rental car in valet so I figured that would take some time to deal with so I headed down early. I needed to fill up my rental car with gas so shortly after 9am I headed down. In the hotel elevator on the way down I met folks who saw my RC tags and commented that they had just got off the ship, nothing but good things to say. The hotel lobby was packed with guests just arriving from ships. My GPS took me to a gas station on the way to the terminal so away I went. That complete, my plan was to drop off my checked bag and head to Hertz to drop off the car and walk to the ship. Typical cruise ship drop off experience although the local taxi drivers didn't seem to understand the concept. Since I was just dropping bags and not parking I was directed to follow the taxis. I guess with fewer ships compared to Florida these were rookie cab drivers and they had no idea what to do. I dropped off my luggage and started towards Hertz just 1/2 mile away. How did we do these things before GPS? The rental car agency represents three companies and they were packed. That complete I followed my GPS back to the cruise terminal but this time on foot.

Compared to a lot of places such as Chile, Montreal is no different than any big city, Chile is anything goes. I distinctly noticed they actually moved to right on the highway. In the U.S. that is a long lost art of driving technique.

Growing up I encountered some of that. This trip, both cities have been great although my time in Montreal was brief.

North Atlantic out of Greenland on an 8,000 GT cargo ship converted to carry passengers. Cabins were all the way forward. Smooth as glass down a fjord but once we hit open water it was rough. My head was lifted off the pillow and then slammed back down. People who are green with sea sickness really hate you if your are not. If looks could kill... We'll see if my Adventure repo cruise turns into an Adventure. Loaded with Diamonds and Pinnacles. High degree of whining already, SeaPass cards outside of room means no access to Diamond lounge until 1pm. Who knew a cruise could be 'ruined' 5 minutes after boarding? (No lounge access). Wait until we hit Michael in the North Atlantic. Maybe the Diamond lounge will be empty finally.

From my commanding hotel view of the area (which the picture don't do justice) I had observed a fountain lit up at night and several gates to the old city. I din't have a specific route in mind, I just headed in the direction of the fountain. They are placed directly in front of the Parliament buildings. One of many gates to the fort and old Quebec City. That street I saw looked really inviting so I headed that way. They have heaters setup along the sidewalk to warm folks as they walk along. Time to contribute to the local economy. I always like to try to a local beer. St Ambroise IPA. Perfect. It was getting late to time to find my way back to my hotel.

Day turned to dark but I did enjoy much of the drive in daylight, enough to see the trees beginning to turn into their fall colors. Not nearly at peak, but it must be getting close. My GPS safely guided me to the Hilton in downtown Quebec City. Like many hotels in major cities you have to pay for parking and valet tends to be the way to go. I was ready to get out of the car after a day of flying and a 3 hour drive. I had used a corporate rate to get a pretty good deal because like many downtown hotels rates can get up there. Not only that it was the Thanksgiving weekend for Canada so rates were already up. I had thought about staying in a hotel out of the city and driving in the next day but I'm glad I stayed downtown. I was upgraded to a corner room with 270° views. My room on the 16th floor: The Brice building on the left has an apartment for the Premier of Quebec on the highest floor. The Chateaux Frontenac is also a dominant structure on the right. They both tower over the rest of the old city below them. Quebec City is the seat of the Provincial Capitol and I had a great view of Parliament buildings. Great history in Quebec City which was established in 1608 by the French. Britain would later win the area in a famous battle in the 1700s. In 1867 the Country of Canada was born and Quebec City has remained Canadian since. Time to hit the streets and walk around a bit.

Day 0 - Pre-cruise travel to embarkation port Landing in Montreal (YUL airport) after connecting in New York (JFK airport) and I was on the ground at 4pm. YUL airport is a major international gateway airport for Canada and we arrived on our little regional jet from JFK in the shadow of some much bigger planes from around the world. That meant Canadian customs would be busy, and it was. However they have rows and rows of kiosks where you enter you details, swipe your passport and it went pretty quickly. By 4:30pm I had my luggage and was walking through the parking. I have a confession to make. My decision to fly into Montreal was somewhat influenced by a desire to get my hands on a favorite of mine - Montreal wood fired sesame seed bagels. After getting my rental car I punched the address into the GPS and within 20 minutes I was spilling sesame seeds all over my rental car. Three down and I hadn't even left the bagel store parking yet. Day 0 dinner complete and enough left over for breakfast in the morning, I began the nearly 3 hour drive to Quebec City. Word of warning - in the province of Quebec turning right on a red light was illegal for a long time. They have relaxed that but on the island of Montreal it remains illegal to turn right on a red light.

I'll be on a ship, enjoying a cruise. They'll keep us safe, not worried about it at all.

I came across this cruise by accident and saw a decent fare for 13 nights on a recently refreshed ship so I had a YOLO moment and booked it. This is a repositioning cruise, part of Adventure's migration from Bayonne, NJ (her summer home port) to Ft. Lauderdale (her winter home port). Day 1 - Quebec City Day 2 - Quebec City Day 3 - Sea Day 4 - Charlottetown, PEI Day 5 - Sydney, Nova Scotia Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Day 7 - Saint John, New Brunswick Day 8 - Bar Harbor, Maine Day 9 - Portland, Maine Day 10 - Boston, MA Day 11 - Sea Day 12 - Sea Day 13 - Canaveral, FL Day 14 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL I had a hard time finding decently price flights with decent times directly into Quebec City so I looked at Montreal and found a much cheaper flight. Adding a car rental and it was still cheaper plus I could fly first class less than coach to Quebec City so I jumped at it. No excursions booked, just going to wing it and work some days. This cruise starts with an overnight in place at Quebec City. That is actually a really great way to start because Quebec City is a wonderful old city with great history. While you could fly in days earlier you would have hotel and meals to cover so this way the ship is my hotel and meals are included. Cruising solo the fact I'll get 26 points in the C&A loyalty program wasn't lost on me. For some folks that takes 3 or 4 cruises to achieve. That also propels me to the point I'll get a glass block on Symphony on my next cruise. YOLO!

If points are important then $200 for what amounts to a whole other cruise is very compelling. My last two Alaska sailing were in interior cabins. I think those live blogs and my photos should prove you don't have to have a balcony in Alaska. The deck 6 balconies are blocked by the lifeboats and davits that hold them. Yes you can look straight out but every wide picture you take will include them. For that reason I'm not a huge fan of those cabins unless the price was close to a studio interior. If you are even talking points $200 for twice as many would be impossible for me to resist. If you decide OV try to find one convenient to stairs so you can quickly make it outside if you see something.

Affectionate nickname for Grandeur of the Seas.

Sorry for your difficulty. For what it's worth I've yet to have Royal cancel an excursion while on board unless we skipped a stop all together. Frustrating I'm sure. I've seen others report Royal has been caught canceling an excursion that was sold on sale in advance to offer the same excursion at a higher price in advance but so far that hasn't happened to me.

I agree with @CGTLH on room service. Not a WJ burger, much better. It's called the Royal Burger. Had several on other Oasis class. $7.95 per order isn't bad, better than JR if two or more are ordered, or if anything else is ordered. Sometimes the wings are good too.

Giovanni's usually has a pretty good steak on the menu so it covers all parties in case someone had steak in mind.

Planned maintenance. Read that on RoyalCaribbeanblog.com https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/10/05/royal-caribbean-website-maintenance-window-scheduled-october-7

Indeed. I suspect Labadee will be fine. Strong concrete buildings. I'm more concerned with local residents whose housing isn't always built very well.

The other factor is the amount of time to market the cruise. Transatlantic sailings are often cheaper cruises to begin with, few people can take 2 weeks off and pay for a flight to Europe for mostly sea day after sea day after sea day - hardly a compelling itinerary. Normally they want to market any given sailing for as long as they can. Selling an early November transatlantic is tough enough, doing it with 9 months until final payment is due is making their job of filling the ship that much tougher and that's assuming they announce it within a month.

Anthem does a B2B lunch. Pretty nice too.

Woot! For a 5 night cruise with the C&A discount it should have been pretty reasonable. Royal does have a pretty good loyalty program, especially as you advance up the ladder.

Calling @Matt - it's his site...

I used a free $5 offer loaded on my card on Anthem in December. Now I'm "Choice" in the program and it's been printed on my SeaPass cards recently.

That's odd. The facilities used for this purpose are booked out for years. They know the date they must be out of there. Maybe they are hoping to finish early. Given the logistics of ordering and having material arrive on site just before it's needed and coordinating the labor resources required these projects are usually timed to the hour.

No, they are sold like an excursion. With the drink package I wouldn't worry about not liking a drink. Take a sip and if you don't like it, just leave it or tell the bartender and she/he will make you something else. That is one advantage of the DP - get to try new things.

Francis seems like a permanent lock for the Concierge. In the case of lost luggage on Liberty, how was that handled? Enjoy your cruise!