50 Days!

When we woke up on Thursday, the Glory had not pulled into port yet. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some sunrise pictures of NYC.

A tugboat came along to help us into port.

We met my grandmother and my uncle for breakfast in the MDR this morning. Because we were doing the relaxed debarkation we were in no hurry. The 5 of us enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Aside from the fact that our table didn’t have napkins to start with, it was a very good breakfast and a nice end to the cruise.

After breakfast we went back to our rooms to wait to be called. As VIPs we were zone 1. Self-assist and debarkation for those with early flights were first.

Self-assist debarkation goes by deck. I wish I had taken the debarkation information sheet so I could tell you the order of the decks and the approximate times they were called. Alas, I forgot to take it and I really regret that. I wanted to provide more information than this, but I can’t. I apologize for that.

US citizens disembarked on deck 3, and non-US citizens (or US citizens travelling with non-US citizens) got off on deck 2.

The good part about cruising out of NYC is trying to find your car from the ship.

It was also interesting watching the ship get loaded up with supplies for the next cruise.

There was also a guy who looked like he was either washing or painting the hull.

One last shot from our balcony before our number is called!

When #1 was called, we down to deck 3, heard the ding one more time as we swiped our S&S cards, and then we were off the Carnival Glory. It was sad to think that just 5 days before we had walked up these same gangways, knowing our cruise was just about to start. And now it was over. Now it was someone else’s turn to enjoy the experience. At least we already have another cruise booked to look forward to. That really does make it easier.

One last goodbye to the Carnival Glory.

At 2:30 I went to the Game of Love, formerly known as the Newlywed-Not so Newlywed Game. As always, this was a funny and entertaining event. This time around, they chose a newlywed couple married two days before, a couple married 25 years, and a couple married 70 years. In my opinion, the oldest couple is usually the funniest. This time the newlyweds were the funniest. The wife always put down answers that spoke highly of her new husband, but the husband always put himself down (and his wife too).

After the Game of Love was over I went back out on deck. Everyone was out soaking up the sun on our last day of the cruise.

The pools weren’t very crowded, but the slide was very busy today, as you can see by the wet tracks leading from the end of the slide back up to the slide entrance.

Without the fog, this one could pass for a Caribbean cruise picture!

4:00 rolled around quickly. I went back to the promenade to check out charades. I think I can safely safe I don’t like charades. The whole thing was boring to me. I was gone within 10 minutes. Part of the reason was probably because half the people didn’t understand charades entails not talking. The person would be performing in some way and would be saying out loud what he/she was doing. What’s the fun if you’re telling us the answer?

Thanks to CC (once again), I knew to check out the Fun Farewell party for some free booze. The Fun Farewell party was held in the Ebony Cabaret at 5:00. The drinks were flowing and the band was playing some good music.

Dinner tonight was very good. I ordered the penne mariscos, which is a dish I look forward to every cruise. It’s penne pasta in a red cream sauce, with shrimp, scallops, and calamari. My mouth is watering just typing this up! Next year I think I’ll order it as a starter and then again as an entrée.

After dinner we said our sad farewells to our waiter and assistant waiters. Goodbye Anil, Agus, and Gerald! All three were very good.

Tonight was spent, as usual, in the casino. I had a small bit of luck again tonight. My gambling money was mostly big bills. But I had one five left and I had to decide what to do with it. I hadn’t played roulette yet, maybe I’ll play that? Nah, my mother had zero luck with roulette this cruise. Pass. What else? As I’m walking around, I see the “high stakes” slot area. Just for fun, I decide to blow the $5 with one spin on a $5 slot machine. Wouldn’t you know it, I win 5 credits! Now I have $25 to cash out at the casino. Hooray for me! This last little win signaled the end of the casino for me. I went back to the room to put our suitcases out for the people to take. Because we didn’t have a plane to catch this year, we opted for the relaxed debarkation option instead of our usual self-assist.

This guy was waiting for us when I went back to the room:

We spent a little more time in the casino and up on deck. After a little while we decided to end our final night onboard. Off to bed we went for the last time this cruise.

Up next: debarkation

Wednesday was our final fun-filled day at sea. The last sea day is always bittersweet. The cruise still isn’t over but it’s time to start those not-fun, end-of-cruise chores like packing, debarkation paperwork, etc . To think you might never see some of the people you just spent the last 5 days with ever again is a strange feeling, at least for me. Here are people from all parts of the country (or the world) and different walks of life, who came together to enjoy the same cruise. People you’ve probably never seen before and will never see again.

Then out of the blue, you run into some people who live so close by you probably see them on a regular basis. Which leads me to breakfast. (Did you like that segue?) On the elevator ride down to the MDR we ran into a family of 3 middle-aged couples who live about 10 minutes from our town! We waited in line together at the MDR, and we learned that one couple knew our cousins. We were put at the same table for breakfast, where we discovered even more similarities. It’s a small world for sure!

Our breakfast extended longer than planned (in a good way though) and we missed TV theme song trivia, part 2. Oh well. There will be plenty more of them in future cruises. There was nothing going on for us between now and lunch time, so we went back to the room to pack. As much as it hurts to do it, it has to get done eventually.

At noon we went up to walk around the promenade a little bit before lunch. There was a guy there playing “cocktail piano music,” according to the “Fun Times.” He drew a pretty decent crowd too!

For lunch today I returned to the burrito bar. I just had to get one last burrito before this cruise was over. Once again they did not disappoint. I made sure to savor each and every bite, knowing this would be my last Carnival burrito for at least two years. (We’ll be travelling on the Legend again next year, which does not have a burrito bar.)

Today they had the chocolate buffet. I stood in line to get some so-so cakes and other treats. I really didn’t see the appeal in it. Maybe I was turned off because of the huge lines. They should have a platinum line for this thing! To be fair, I think I was disappointed because I’m not into overly-sweet food, and that’s what most of this was. It was just too much for my taste. I will try it again next year though. Maybe it’ll be better on the Legend.

At 1:30 we headed to the Ivory Bar (the non-smoking cigar bar in the twilight zone) for Super Trivia Round 2. Little did we know that this was a continuation from a trivia session earlier in the week using teams. The hostess let us and the other newcomers join the already-existing teams for the game though.

Super Trivia was a new kind of trivia game, at least for me. Instead of writing down answers to questions like traditional trivia, everyone gets in teams and the teams take turns answering their own questions. A team captain rolls a huge die to determine how many points the question will be worth (1 through 6 points). He then picks a smaller colored die out of a box to determine the question category. There are various categories, including sports, history, entertainment, wacky, etc. The team then discusses the question and comes up with an answer. Only this team gets to answer the question. If they get it right, they get the points. If not, they do not lose points. The points and the teams carried over from the first round earlier in the week.

It was a lot of fun. There’s a thread going around the boards right now about trivia, and how it’s unfair for singles to compete against people who work together. This trivia event eliminated that unfair factor. Now everyone works in a team.

After lunch I spent a lot of time on deck. Billy Joel was on the big screen again, so I watched the parts I missed the last time he was on. I also took some more pictures of Halifax from the ship. Here are some of them.

At the parking lot near the ship, it looked like you could rent old-style automobiles. They sure looked authentic. I couldn’t tell you if they were or not though.

How about a couple panoramic shots?

A paddleboat went by the ship. If the people on there weren’t from the Glory, I’m sure they were jealous of us on the ship!

A whale-watching boat also went by. Something tells me these people probably were from the Glory.

The rope lights were still up on the Glory!

I thought it would be neat to get a vertical panoramic picture. Tilt your heads!

There goes that tugboat with a face again. It’s actually starting to freak me out a little. He looks too happy.

Sailboat. This is probably the boat I took a picture of along the Harbourwalk. (The one I said is probably used for tours.)

Coming up: sailaway and game shows.

After we made our donation to the Canadian casino, we headed back to the ship. The exit we used out of the casino led us right to the Harbourwalk. I still don’t understand why the signs earlier directed us to the side entrance.

We originally intended to take FRED back to the ship. Before we headed to the bus stop, my mom wanted to look at some of the shops on the boardwalk. So we started walking in that direction. To make a long story short, we ended up walking all the way back to the ship, and we never made it on FRED.

On the way back, we encountered an amusing tugboat.

Then we made a stop in Cow’s to get some ice cream. They have a lot of flavors to choose from, and they even have a decent selection of cones available. I don’t remember the ice cream flavors, but the cone choices included regular waffle cone, chocolate dipped, and peanut or sprinkle covered (both chocolate dipped). I opted for a chocolate dipped cone and my dad got a regular waffle cone.

As for the ice cream. I wouldn’t get anything other than mint chocolate chip. Mmm…

One last goodbye to Cow’s and then we’re off.

Helpful hint: if you’re going to get some ice cream, be sure to get some extra napkins!

As we’re walking back, we stop in a food court along the boardwalk that had a Subway restaurant in it. Our hands were getting messy from the ice cream, so we wanted to grab some napkins. They didn’t have any out, and they wouldn’t give us any! Hence my comment about the napkins earlier. So I had to run back to Cow’s to grab some more napkins. Ugh. Thanks a lot Subway!

We passed another memorial on the way back; this one dedicated to those who lost their lives fighting for the Canadian navy.

This guy, Samuel Cunard, is apparently a big deal in this area. He had an impressive statue on the Harbourwalk.

If you want to read more about him, I got this picture just for you! The angle isn’t very good, so it’ll probably be difficult to read. The full-size version of the picture is very readable though.

We made it back on board in time for lunch. I think I had fish & chips again today. I got the calamari cake again. Who knows what else I ate today for lunch. I couldn’t remember to save my life! (Note to self: take pictures of the food next time!)

Toward the end of our trek we ran into another memorial.

There was also a long pier that stretched far out into the water. Looking back, I probably should’ve gone out and taken some pictures. It looks like you’d get some great shots out there. Another mental note made for our trip up to Halifax, whenever that may be.

We’re almost there! It’s like seeing the oasis out in the desert.

When we arrive at the casino building, signs guide us to the left to a small door on the side of the building. When we walk inside, we have to walk up two flights of steps to reach the casino. There are elevators if you need to use them instead of the steps. After we leave the casino we discover there’s a closer entrance (with no steps) if you go to the right instead of to the left like the sign said. Maybe the entrance to the right – which we used to exit the casino – is really only an exit? I guess this is question we won’t know the answer to for a little while now…

One last stop before we enter the casino. My mom has to get a picture taken with her idols.

After I get carded by the guard, we take an escalator back down two flights to the casino. (What was the point of making us walk up those two flights of steps if we were just going down two flights anyway?) My parents were disappointed with the casino because there wasn’t a craps table. The roulette dealer – who was very friendly and talkative – said they were getting their full-size craps table exchanged for a smaller one. They had to wait for some paperwork to go through before they could receive the new one, which is why there weren’t any craps tables at this time. They did have two roulette tables, card tables, virtual blackjack, a poker room, and lots of slots. Oh, and a high stakes slot room, complete with two $100 slot machines! (Canadian dollars, of course.)

Just a couple notes about the casino:

- They only accept Canadian dollars. The cashier will exchange your money for you at current exchange rates. You can change back until 4:00 am at the same rate, just bring back your receipt.

- The slot machines do not take coins. I got some coins in my exchange and wanted to put some quarters in a slot machine. Not possible at this casino.

- If you play cards, you can only hold your cards with one hand. The dealer informed me of this when I used two hands to fan out my cards once.

Up next: the walk back to the ship.

The Harbourwalk boardwalk is not straight by any means. There are a lot of turns and bends in the walk. Sometimes we just skipped by them and cut through a gravel road or parking lot. If we weren’t in some Caribbean heat, we might’ve followed the boards all around.

All along the boardwalk there are dolphin sculptures painted with different murals. Each dolphin is sponsored by a different person/organization, and each has its own artist. The dolphins were part of the Canadian Navy centennial celebration.

There was even a Family Guy dolphin!

In addition to the dolphins, there were other statues, plaques, and memorials along the walk. All together they made for a very nice walk. If you don’t mind walking and you’re looking to go somewhere along the water, I recommend walking over taking FRED. The walk is easy (very flat), and there’s a lot to see along the way.

The CSS Acadia is located along the Harbourwalk. The Acadia was part of the Canadian Navy, and is now a historic museum ship as part of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

There are also some places to eat along the Harbourwalk. One stall was selling half-pound sausages and other barbecue foods. There were a couple ice cream stalls too. Some restaurants, including Murphy’s, are close by.

Let’s not forget about Cow’s ice cream! According to my parents, we stopped here when we cruised here back in 2001 or 2002. I don’t remember that though.

On the way back we’d get some ice cream from Cow’s. More on that later.

But for now, our destination is in sight!

Halifax offers a free option for you to see some of the sights of the city. It’s a bus that takes you all around the downtown area. Look for FRED – Free Rides Everywhere Downtown.

FRED rides in a loop in the downtown area. Frequency is every 40 minutes. We had just missed the bus so we opted to walk to the casino. Had we decided to wait, FRED would’ve taken us right there.

If I can find the pamphlets the information desk gave us, I’ll post a picture of the map that includes FRED stops. Stay tuned for that.

Halifax also has a lot of photo ops. Here’s a train car parked outside the terminal.

And another sight that’s always a pleasure to look at.

There are lots of double-decker busses here. I doubt they’re free like FRED though.

And so we began the walk down the road to the boardwalk area.

After a few minutes, the Harbourwalk was in sight.

The Harbourwalk is the boardwalk area I’ve been mentioning. It’s actually a very nice walk. It took us about a half hour to get from the ship to the casino. Along the way there are some stalls selling souvenirs, restaurants, and great views. The boardwalk goes alongside the water.

As you can see, the boardwalk can get very wide:

There are some nice views during the walk. Here’s an island with a lighthouse.

Uh oh, a panoramic picture of the waterscape.

Here you can see the stalls are starting to show up. There are some nice sitting areas along the way as well. This picture was taken not too far after we first entered the Harbourwalk.

A sail boat, which is probably used for tours.

Oh look, there’s another boat in the distance. I wonder what kind of boat that is?