Heading Home

Good-bye to our nice neighborhood! Up and out with our Uber to take us to the airport. We had uneventful flights to Denver together and then on to our perspective homes. It was a great trip. My desires to see Greenland have been met!

Boston, Massachusetts

Today we have our "North End Politically Incorrect Food Tour." We got an Uber to take us from South Boston to North Boston. The tour started at the library. There was an interesting mosaic in front of the library, reminded us of Muro a bit. Our guide did not arrive. Several of us were waiting. I finally texted the guide and he said the tour would start at 12, not 11 as previously stated. Stuart and I decided we would walk to a nearby coffee shop to wait. I did not have time for coffee earlier. After coffee and further waiting, the guide Anthony (Flash) showed up. What a surly guy! There was a bit of concern on my part about the tour but it ended up actually being very good. The different foods we had were amazing. Anthony did tell us a lot of old stories about the mob, FBI, different families, and much more. We were stuffed by the end of the tour and headed back to our Airbnb to pack for our departure tomorrow. We saved a half sandwich to eat later in the evening. We played games and went to bed. 

Disembark, Boston, Massachusetts

We were up and out of our cabin by 7:45a. We went to the Windjammer where they were serving breakfast until 8:30a. I had a few bites to take pills with. Stuart had most of an omelet that looked pretty good. They did have an omelet station. Disembarking went very smooth and fairly fast. At last something was well organized! We were off and awaiting our Uber even before our allotted time. It was a quick drive to the Airbnb. However, we cannot check in until 1p. The hosts gave us information about the area. We decided to walk to Deja Brew for coffee and waiting. At least it is not raining! The sandwiches look good so we split one. I ate mine but Stuart wasn’t very hungry after the omelet. We got on our laptops to kill the time and catch up on things.

After Deja Brew we walked back to the Airbnb and entered. We had self-check in. It is small but nice. The bed is comfortable and we have everything we need. We did have a brief rest after unpacking just a few things. We got ready and called an Uber to take us to the Union Oyster House for dinner. We were very excited to eat at this iconic restaurant. John F. Kennedy ate here, it was one of this favorite places to eat. We were sadly disappointed. Service was slow and confusing since they brought appetizers along with the dinner. We did have a cup of clam chowder first, but it was barely warm. The Boston Baked Beans were actually room temperature at best. None of the food was hot. At least Stuart's oysters were cold like they were supposed to be. Overall, it was very disappointing. After dinner we walked around a little bit but it was cold and not much going on around us that we were interested in. Besides it has been a long day and we are tired. Uber back to the Airbnb. We hope our tour tomorrow is more successful!

 

At Sea

Our last day is here. We packed, had special coffee, went to the casino, dinner in Tides, drinks, and then off to bed. We need to be up at 7a and out of our cabin by 8a. Pretty challenging because we have been staying up late and sleeping in every day!

Post Script: I found so many things on this ship to be unorganized. Our cabin was fine, now one has cabin service only once a day on Royal Caribbean, which is fine. I will say, our bathroom towels are so thin and frayed, one needs both your small bath towel and hand towel to dry if you wash your hair! There are some stains on our cabin carpeting, but nothing too bad. Some areas seem quite clean, others are not. The Lido deck is downright dirty at times. Our shoes were sticking to the floor where a drink had been spilled… we thought to check back to see if it was mopped up? Three days later, still counting (never mopped up). Some of the public area bathrooms have overflowing trash. Even if the ship is older and a bit worn, they could keep it clean. The lines to get on and off the ship are ridiculous, even in docked ports. Very poor organization and they don’t seem to change it. Finally in the last port, St. John, they figured out one line getting on, one line getting off. Food has been mediocre for the most part. I have had a few tasty dishes; Tikka Marsala has been a hit both with chicken and fish. Some of the sauces are flavorful but with so many things there is no depth of flavor, just bland.

In the Windjammer buffet, 90% of the staff looks miserable. No smiles, though they occasionally stop to wait on you for a drink or something. Most times we went to get our drinks from the bar for ourselves. 

Diamond status doesn’t mean much anymore. I do get the 4 free drinks a day, plus a specialty coffee but one gets that anyway with the deluxe drink package. Diamond is no longer included in the special room from 5-8p for drinks. 

At Sea

Highlight of the day was dinner at Giovanni’s. It was delicious. The photos explain more than I can say. Stuart and I agree that the filet here was better than Chops Steakhouse. We indulged in another bottle of Belle Glos with our meal. Games and some chatting with some cruise friends Miles and Alex was part of our day. We went to the casino for some play time.

St. John, Newfoundland, Canada

St. John, Newfoundland, Canada. It is a very rainy day but we ventured out to Quidi Vidi Brewery. This was a fun place and the food was pretty good. Stuart scoffed at the idea my beer was actually brewed with 20,000 glacier water. I want to believe it really was! In addition, we had a beer flight that was pretty tasty. Uber back to the ship to dry out. We played games until dinner. We were supposed to go to Giovanni’s but neither of us are very hungry so we postponed that until tomorrow. We opted for appetizers in the dining room. Tonight she show is Alley Cats. An acapella group that was really very good at the singing, not so much at the humor they tried to interject into the show. Looking forward to a sea day tomorrow!

At Sea

What a drippy, cold day we woke up to! It is raining with a bitter wind. I think this will follow us tomorrow to St. John, Newfoundland. It is in the mid 70’s by afternoon here today but will drop to the mid 50’s tomorrow. I guess we will need to go home to get warm! Today I have a manicure. Stuart spent the morning outlining some talks for futures speaking engagements. The manicure was very nice and after that Stuart and I went to Izumi for an ala carte lunch. It was delicious. The food is served hot and the flavors are tantalizing. After lunch we went to the crew talent show. It is good that someone wants to get up and sing and do other things because there were at least, some entertaining moments. After that it was Phase 10 until we took a break from that, had a café latte with Kahlua and spent time on the computers until dinner. Stuart enjoyed the Hot and Sour soup and I liked the sweet and sour pork the most. There were some entertaining moments in the Centrum, then off to bed.