The Happy Couple are Back in Halifax

We pulled into Halifax with me having to tell everyone on board that I didn't know if Bob Brown and finance Betsy would be coming back on the ship for the rest of the cruise. Bob wanted it to be a surprise.  They did get on board but, not without more problems getting past Port Security, Canadian Immigration and the Ship's security.

Monday, Bob's doctor gave him the okay to return.  He and Betsy caught a flight from New York and friends that live here in Halifax drove them over to the cruise terminal. That would normally be all there was to it but, Insignia had to dock at the industrial pier because the Queen Mary and another mega-cruise ship had the normal pier spots held for passenger ships.

This led to a shuttle through the working container port back to the cruise terminal.  I had Bob and Betsy's ship's security key-cards.  They couldn't get past the security gate without the ID and I couldn't get the half-mile to the gate from the ship because passengers weren't allowed in the work area. I'm talking to port security and ship's security, which insisted that Bob and Betsy were on the wrong list, like I should have known their internal bureaucracy.  

Finally, we talked an incoming shuttle to let them on to get to the ship without a ship's ID. Then the Canadians, although helpful and sympathetic, pulled them aside, requiring, unlike all other passengers, their passports and personal ID in addition to the ship's ID, which I'd just handed them. They didn't look at it but, gave it to ship's security on board, who only scanned their key-cards.

Dag nab it! (Not what I actually said at the time.)

I went on a boat tour of Halifax's light houses and pulled up some lobster traps.  We ended up at Murphy's Restaurant and had fresh lobster.  Very nice, It is always a good day when you are out on the water.

We all had dinner at the Grand Dining Room that evening to the applause of passengers on seeing the couple back on board after over two weeks off ship. I used some of my on board credit to buy a bottle of champagne for our group to toast the couple and their return. 

Betsy had met Bob's family in Queens.  One of his cousins even offered him a house for the couple in Washington, near Seattle.  They are looking hard at moving.  There may even be a wedding on the ship before we get to Miami.

First order of business was to put rubber bands on the lobster pinchers. 

Canadian National Railroad donated car for museum.

Murphy's as our boat approaches.

Shuttle bus.

Glass blower shaping glass.

Glass blowing.

Canadian corvette from WWII.

Our tour boat.

Female lobster.

Three cruise ships in port.

Art ship's figureheads.

Queen Mary. We had to wait to port while she had a difficult porting maneuvering.

Canada Day in Sydney

The relentlessly friendly Canadians were in full force ashore in Sydney. It was Canada Day so the Canadians were being even more nice and friendly.

The was rainy and foggy but the friendly Canadians had their little shops open and their smiles in play. I bought some pretty "glass pods" and ate some "beaver tails" under a giant fiddle. They gave me some small Canadians flags and a nice bowl of chicken noddle soup..

A nice day despite the wet weather.

Once on board the ship served beaver cupcakes, which matched well with my Black Russian.

Back to North America

St. John, Newfoundland is the first place we hit land after four days at sea, mostly in fog and with us still  thinking about how close our our ships route was to the Titanic's.

Courthouse.

I always wondered where Mustang Sally's was.  It was right next to Nautical Nellie's.

nope

Great little restaurant with a fish, potatoes and cheese casserole.

Ship hiding around the corner.

Bob Brown got this photo from harbor video-cam as we left port in a fog.

Hard Knock Life at Sea

WARNING: some of these images my be difficult to look at and are intended for adult and mature readers only.

We are at sea for four days headed for Canada so I decided to put a window on the hard life here aboard ship. Insignia is a floating self-propelled high-end luxury hotel with fine restaurants, 7 bars, a pool and hot tubs, There are boutiques and jewelry stores. There is top entertainment all the time with music and comedians and magicians. There is a string quartet every evening and live piano everyday day in one of the bars.  You can gamble your money in the casino with slots, blackjack or roulette. High Tea is everyday at 4:00 pm.

The bottom line to all this that when I get home to Fairfield Bay, Arkansas I will be totally helpless.  I won't be able to make my bed or clean my toilet.  I won't know how to cook or clean. I will starve while watching my house slowly deteriorate around me. I will want for live entertainment: the TV won't cut it anymore. The washer and dryer will stand unused because I've lost how to clean and press my clothes. I will stand around all day because there is no one to pull out a chair and seat me. I will become a recovering cruiser.

There will be some advantages to going home that will help me back to a normal life.  I will reacquaint myself to family and friends, from which my cruising addiction took me. I will get an emotional support dog, if she remembers me after 6 months, or three and a half dog years. 

As much as I love my view of the sea and all the ports outside my window and when I walk outside, I will get to wake to the mountains and lake outside my door. These will provide for my peaceful place and quiet solitude for my recovery. 

I will have to learn to drive on the right side of the road. I will no longer endure searches by police and border agents looking for drugs. I will begin to actually understand what people say instead all kinds of gibberish that sound like an unknown language in my brain. I hope to get the emotional support  I will need from my friends and family from whom I literally distanced myself. 

It will be a long difficult road to recovery but, I know I will get better day by day. I realize I will always be in recovery and should I relapse and take another cruise , say in 2020 around the Baltic Sea, that friends and family will be understanding and supportive. You know, just one more hit to boost me before I let it all go. It is a habit that gives me a temporary high but, takes all my money.

I hope to find a CA meeting somewhere close by so I can start attending before it's to late. Meanwhile here are some hard-to-look-at photos of my dire situation.

WARNING: some of these images my be difficult to look at and are intended for adult and mature readers only. Emotionally sensitive people should avoid viewing and crawl back into their sanctimonious shells and continue their contempt for those of us who let our weaknesses for just having a good time overtake us. Cruisers are still people and our addictions are very real. They still pull at us every day and inhabit our dreams at night. If you think you might have a cruising addition please contact our website at: www.cruisersanonomous.com or www.oceaniccruises.com

Jewelry store.

Ray, our Cruise Director

Martini's Bar

Boutique

Entry to Horizons

Grand Dining Room

Lirary

Friends Linda and Judy

Strings on brake

Vincent, at Jewelry Store

Entry to Insignia Lounge

Getting ready for show in Insignia Lounge

Three side view in Horizons.

Polo Grill

Nurses

Invitations

Phillis from the Philippines 

Savio to his employer through mix up.  His real name is Sammy from Goa, India. He has a beautiful wife and two gorgeous kids, whom I met while in India.  Nice family.

Surrounded by fog.

Daily strings on 5th Deck,

The food! It is so good but, so pretty you hate to put a fork in in it because it's presented so artfully. There is always a waiter, in this case Sanjay, a secondary waiter, a water pourer, a head waiter would come by and there was always a sommorlier with a little silver cup hanging around his neck. Oh, there is the pepper-grinder guy. Lots of people around the table all the time.

So fancy, The big plate is the one they put the plate with the food on.
The little plate is the bread plate with its own butter knife.

Water glass, white wine glass and red wine glass.  It gets crowded on the table.

Always a bread basket

Pepper mill.

Cocoa Sorbet, the absolute zenith of chocolate on the planet!  The best thing ever.