New York City, Characters in the Wild, and Canadians - Eh!

It’s time for another cruise trip report! I just finished my Disneyland trip report, and finally had time to work on this report! It was a great trip where we met some new friends, saw characters galore and some beautiful sights! Here’s a sneak peak of our view on the last morning:

And here’s my plug of the trip report! I’m going to plug the Unofficial Wdwmagic Girls Cruise! If you haven’t heard, we are planning a 4 night Bahamian Disney cruise on September 8, 2013. There are already almost 30 us signed up! We are going to have so much fun! If you've wanted to try cruising, or wanted to meet some of your Wdwmagic friends - here's your chance! It's not too late!

What:

A five night Canadian cruise on the Disney Magic.

A military rate for the New York to Canada cruises came out, it was too good to pass up! Not to mention we didn’t have to fly anywhere!

We live in DC right now and New York is a quick bus/train ride/drive away.

Who:

Adults only this time!

We decided against taking the kids for this one since school just started and DS is a senior (sniff), so we asked several friends. It was pretty last minute, but one other couple from church could get away so there were four of us.

Here we are - Dh (Stephen), Myself, Steve “Buddha” and Misty –

We had a Steve and a Stephen. Luckily the other Steve has gone by his old call sign from his military days for years. Yes, we call him Buddha.

 

[angieandtrevor]

Awe, you are so sweet but honestly I loved spending the day with the 4 of you, it was a great day. Your pictures from the day are perfect, these could be in a tourist magazine for Halifax.

And you know, I have been considering that girls cruise. We have only been home for less then 24 hours and I am dying to go back.....how will I ever survive !!

Oh and you can buy one of those lovely condos for the low low price of half a million dollars or half a lottery ticket

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Awe, you are so sweet but honestly I loved spending the day with the 4 of you, it was a great day. Your pictures from the day are perfect, these could be in a tourist magazine for Halifax.

And you know, I have been considering that girls cruise. We have only been home for less then 24 hours and I am dying to go back.....how will I ever survive !!

Oh and you can buy one of those lovely condos for the low low price of half a million dollars or half a lottery ticket

It was such a great day! We can't say thank you enough.

Ooh ooh!! Do it, do it!! Knowing when the next one is coming is the best cure for the post Disney blues! It would be so fun!!

Half a million? Well maybe I do not want to live there, lol! And I would never be lucky enough to win the lottery!

 

[LindsayLoves]

I love Halifax! You have some fantastic pictures of all the great sites making me wish I was there, especially on such a bright and sunny day.

I get stressed about getting on the ship late as well. One time we got back 10 minutes before the "all aboard" time all panicked and rushed and a crew member told us there were still 75+ people who needed to make it back.

 

[stillgoofy]

Tammy, I was just thinking about how your pictures around the ship never seem to have any people in them, as if the boat is empty. How do you get so lucky to take those? And then I saw the lighthouse pictures and realized that's where all the people were . Seriously, your pictures are spectacular! Loving the TR.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I love Halifax! You have some fantastic pictures of all the great sites making me wish I was there, especially on such a bright and sunny day.

I get stressed about getting on the ship late as well. One time we got back 10 minutes before the "all aboard" time all panicked and rushed and a crew member told us there were still 75+ people who needed to make it back.

Isn't it so pretty?

I am sure most days they are waiting on someone. I can't even imagine the stress I would feel if I really thought we would be late. I would be a basket case!!

Tammy, I was just thinking about how your pictures around the ship never seem to have any people in them, as if the boat is empty. How do you get so lucky to take those? And then I saw the lighthouse pictures and realized that's where all the people were . Seriously, your pictures are spectacular! Loving the TR.

Haha! The ship I can plan a little better. Early morning and strategic angles. There was no getting around all the people at the light house. Stephen said I should photoshop them out. While I think I could do that, oh my word the amount of work!

Thanks Kris!

 

[joanna71985]

Good camera, fast lens, and knowing the settings. Get to know your camera!

Well, I'll try. Fingers crossed I can get some good pictures this upcoming cruise

And while on the subject of pictures...the pictures from Halifax are beautiful! Makes me want to go there

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Well, I'll try. Fingers crossed I can get some good pictures this upcoming cruise

And while on the subject of pictures...the pictures from Halifax are beautiful! Makes me want to go there

All pictures are good on a cruise.

Thank you! It was such a beautiful city!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

The Halifax terminal was full of shops. We had been debating what to bring the kids for souvenirs. For ds 17, the Disney shops don’t hold a lot of interest anymore. Sadly, he would not be excited if I brought him home a Buzz Lighyear light up spinny toy. Well, maybe he would be, just a little bit. But not long enough to make it worth the money!

He does like vinylmations and that was one option, but we were still looking. He loves all sports everywhere, so I was kind of keeping an eye out for something Canada/sports related. So look what we found?

A Canada hockey jersey!! I don’t know if he will ever wear it, but it seemed like an appropriate souvenir.

When we checked out, the sales clerk also put this in our bag. How cute! This was the last Canadian sailing and she probably realized she didn’t have anything to do with the leftover magnets. Very nice of her though!

The boarding line was quite long. We weren’t the only ones cutting it close. A couple in front of us were struggling with a giant box that I think was a mirror? It was about 5 feet long and 4 feet high. I guess they found a really good deal? It better have been to make it worth the amount of work they were doing!

Gloria, another KK agent was onboard this cruise, and I saw her in line. Remarkably enough this was the only time I saw her on the whole cruise! Crazy!

See the line?

We went back to the room to get ready for dinner next. But look who we passed on the way? Mickey was kind of in the wild, although technically I think he was on his way to his set up in the lobby. This is Stephen’s pirate face if you’re not sure :

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Sailing out:

Tonight was dinner at Palo! Woo hoo!!

Sylvester was our server tonight, and he was excellent. I’m a picky enough eater that I am not a big fan of any of the appetizers at Palo, except the pizza, which sadly, they did away with several months ago.

First came our antipasti which I do not partake in:

I probably could have eaten bread all night long:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Sylvester was flabbergasted that I didn’t want an appetizer and I mentioned that I missed the pizza. Sylvester, of course, then brought me an appetizer he wanted me to try while the chef made me a pizza!!

How nice was that?

Here’s my appetizer. Sylvester kept trying to tell me it was chocolate.

I forgot to take a picture of the pizza for a few minutes, obviously:

My filet. If this doesn’t look good to you, you’d be wrong:

I don’t know what this was or who had it. I think it was an extra. Risotto maybe?:

Again ?

We all ordered chocolate soufflés because, well, we would have been crazy not to:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Sylvester brought us an extra dessert though. Orange cake I think. Personally, I don’t think orange flavor goes with desserts any more than carrots go with dessert. Everyone else said it was delicious though:

After a long but delicious dinner, it was Pirate Party time!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We got good spots on the railing for the fireworks. We could see the screen from where we were, and I was so impressed when Peter the cruise director came out for a song and got down! Seriously got down! He was a good dancer! Peter has really loosened up since my first cruise with him a few years ago.

Here’s a bad pirate crashing the party!

Don’t worry, Mickey is coming to save the day. In this picture, no one is supposed to notice him, and if you haven’t seen it before, you probably wouldn’t. He’s 3 stories or so up from the main deck, and behind all the action. This time enough people were causing a stir when he came out that Mickey shushed us!

Now he’s ready! Flying Mickey!

We watched the fireworks next. I just enjoyed, didn’t even try to take pictures.
We said goodbye to Buddha and Misty and I grabbed a coke. There was no way we could eat anything else from the pirate buffet, so we went back to the room for bed.
I know this one! Monkey!!

Our “automatic gratuity” letter was waiting for us.

And Minnie had taken up camp on the pillows.

Coming up next, a day at sea!

 

[tiaragirl]

Tammy, I'm so excited to see this report - and glad I got to read most of it at once!

Your pictures are GORGEOUS - seriously, the ones of Daisy are perfect and Peggy's Cove looks lovely. What a great place, hey? And much better to go with Angie than with a stinky old bus! (PS Angie, we should get together..).

It looks like it was a fabulous time, despite the foggy birthday (welcome to the east coast, unfortunately).

Om nom food pictures...

AND FINALLY: I wish I could take up that space in your stateroom

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm gonna catch up! I swear! Why??? Because I'd rather look at pretty pictures and read about your adventures than pay the bills. LOL!

I would totally want to climb all over the rocks, too!

Bagpiper:

Random-ish? Not knocking you for taking the pic because if he's there, why not? It just seemed so random...pretty lighthouse...scenery....rocks....wham! Bagpiper! Alrighty.... LOL!

William deGarth sculpted this as a lasting monument to Nova Scotia fisherman:

That's seriously cool! I like this type of stuff!

Angie drove us to a memorial to a Swissair flight that crashed there in 1988. It was beautiful and on a tiny road. The tour busses weren’t getting out there! But we were! You can see the tiny lighthouse where we just were at the top of the horizon.

I remember when that happened! I know it's awful but plane crashes are kinda a big deal around here. Tracey's ultimate dream job career woulda been FAA investigator/Aeronautical Engineer. I'm tellin you, the man has jet fuel runnin thru his veins. He's so knowledgeable abut planes and flying. Whenever a disaster happens he usually reads up on it, makes his guesstimations based on what he's read, then we wait for the FAA reports. Like with JFK Jr....he called that one the day it happened. Impressed the heck outta me. I'd never even heard of spatial disorientation before that day. Tracey, having experienced it himself with a scary lesson, was on-point. So, yeah, we'd have wanted to go straight to this memorial. Morbid as it may sound.

Angie had told us about a wonderful ice cream shop named Cow’s, and we made our way there after we left.

There it is!

There was a line out the door but it was worth it. Apparently Reader’s Digest named it the best ice cream in Canada, and a travel magazine that named it the best in the world! You don’t have to ask us twice!

Stephen waited in line while I took some pictures around Cows:

Cows! How witty! No seriously. I liiiiike it! Y'all got to remind me to tell y'all about the day Tracey convinced the boys that he spoke "cow". Priceless stuff! I would totally go to Cows and giggle myself silly the whole time I was eatin' my ice cream. Heehee!

Aaaaand, the big 1812. I see this and it brings up memories. The one time we went to Canada (Niagara Falls / Niagara-on-the-Lake) I bet I heard snarky "stupid Americans" comments in close combination with some reference to the War of 1812 at least twice a day from random strangers. After a week of it, I was pretty much ready to take up arms myself. So maybe if I go to COWS and eat world famous ice cream while I look at this giant 1812 I could desensitize myself to the feelings whenever I see that. Yes! It's psychology in motion!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sylvester brought us an extra dessert though. Orange cake I think. Personally, I don’t think orange flavor goes with desserts any more than carrots go with dessert. Everyone else said it was delicious though:

I had the orange almond cake at the Dream's Palo! LOL! I like the hints of flavor when you eat it. Warm & moist makes it all the better. My only argument is how can it qualify as cake when there's no frosting involved???

I dunno, Tammy. From this angle Mickey kinda looks like he's danglin' from a hangman's noose! Perhaps I should actually watch the show next time around. LOL!

Your pics are so good! I'm totally eatin' up all these details...as always...

 

[Billy6]

Sailing out:

Tonight was dinner at Palo! Woo hoo!!

Sylvester was our server tonight, and he was excellent. I’m a picky enough eater that I am not a big fan of any of the appetizers at Palo, except the pizza, which sadly, they did away with several months ago.

First came our antipasti which I do not partake in:

I probably could have eaten bread all night long:

You didn't like the anitpasti?

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Tammy, I'm so excited to see this report - and glad I got to read most of it at once!

Your pictures are GORGEOUS - seriously, the ones of Daisy are perfect and Peggy's Cove looks lovely. What a great place, hey? And much better to go with Angie than with a stinky old bus! (PS Angie, we should get together..).

It looks like it was a fabulous time, despite the foggy birthday (welcome to the east coast, unfortunately).

Om nom food pictures...

AND FINALLY: I wish I could take up that space in your stateroom

Thank you, Kenzie! Much much better than a stinky old bus!

It does seem like a waste to have two beds with no one using them!

I'm gonna catch up! I swear! Why??? Because I'd rather look at pretty pictures and read about your adventures than pay the bills. LOL!

I would totally want to climb all over the rocks, too!

Random-ish? Not knocking you for taking the pic because if he's there, why not? It just seemed so random...pretty lighthouse...scenery....rocks....wham! Bagpiper! Alrighty.... LOL!

Way better than bills!!

Yes! Random! Bag piper playing right there by the lighthouse! But we saw several bagpipers! It was cool!

That's seriously cool! I like this type of stuff!

I remember when that happened! I know it's awful but plane crashes are kinda a big deal around here. Tracey's ultimate dream job career woulda been FAA investigator/Aeronautical Engineer. I'm tellin you, the man has jet fuel runnin thru his veins. He's so knowledgeable abut planes and flying. Whenever a disaster happens he usually reads up on it, makes his guesstimations based on what he's read, then we wait for the FAA reports. Like with JFK Jr....he called that one the day it happened. Impressed the heck outta me. I'd never even heard of spatial disorientation before that day. Tracey, having experienced it himself with a scary lesson, was on-point. So, yeah, we'd have wanted to go straight to this memorial. Morbid as it may sound.

Tracey does have jet fuel in his veins. It sounds like he knows a lot about it.

Cows! How witty! No seriously. I liiiiike it! Y'all got to remind me to tell y'all about the day Tracey convinced the boys that he spoke "cow". Priceless stuff! I would totally go to Cows and giggle myself silly the whole time I was eatin' my ice cream. Heehee!

And he can speak cow? A man of many talents, lol.

, the big 1812. I see this and it brings up memories. The one time we went to Canada (Niagara Falls / Niagara-on-the-Lake) I bet I heard snarky "stupid Americans" comments in close combination with some reference to the War of 1812 at least twice a day from random strangers. After a week of it, I was pretty much ready to take up arms myself. So maybe if I go to COWS and eat world famous ice cream while I look at this giant 1812 I could desensitize myself to the feelings whenever I see that. Yes! It's psychology in motion!!!

Yes, eat yummy ice cream. It cures all things.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I had the orange almond cake at the Dream's Palo! LOL! I like the hints of flavor when you eat it. Warm & moist makes it all the better. My only argument is how can it qualify as cake when there's no frosting involved???

True. Frosting would help make it cake.

I dunno, Tammy. From this angle Mickey kinda looks like he's danglin' from a hangman's noose! Perhaps I should actually watch the show next time around. LOL!

Your pics are so good! I'm totally eatin' up all these details...as always...

He does kind of look odd up there, lol!
Thanks, Kelly!

You didn't like the anitpasti?

Not because it was Palo! I'm sure they have some of the best around. I just don't like any antipasti.

 

[Billy6]

Not because it was Palo! I'm sure they have some of the best around. I just don't like any antipasti.

Got ya! I enjoyed the real Parmesan cheese and the meats, Heather ate all of the olives. Every minute of Palo was fantastic! Who am I kidding, the entire cruise was, as is your trip report!!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Got ya! I enjoyed the real Parmesan cheese and the meats, Heather ate all of the olives. Every minute of Palo was fantastic! Who am I kidding, the entire cruise was, as is your trip report!!!

Thank you, Bill! I can't wait to see your trip report!

Stephen isn't a big olive eater, but I think even he loves them at Palo. I definitely try some things out of my comfort zone on cruises, but I didn't try this.