Greetings from sunny, but nippy, Quebec City! Our first few days onboard have been, to say the least, busy ones. So busy in fact that it took until lunch this afternoon for Larry to get his Double Caramel ice cream and Oatmeal-Raisin cookie fix! If that doesn’t qualify this as “hardship cruise” we don’t know what does!!!
Boarding a cruise without leaving the country is certainly a new and different experience. No time zone changes, no overnight flights, and even though we flew to Montreal, no Immigration/Passport/Customs clearance required! Actually, we left home at 7:15AM and arrived at the pier at 11:00AM. Unfortunately boarding didn’t start until 12:00 Noon, but we were, in fact, the first ones onboard when it did, had a nice “Champagne Lunch” (okay, Monica had the Champagne) and were in our cabin and unpacked by 2:30!
On Friday afternoon our friend Michael joined us for a visit and dinner on board. He has never been on a cruise ship before and was quite impressed by the ship and the staff. We hope he went home with some good memories of the evening - we certainly had a great time and it was nice to be able to see him again.
On Saturday we did an all day tour to Mont Tremblant in the Laurentians about a two hour drive north of Montreal. While the day started out with some sun, by the time we were about half way there the rain had started. Fortunately it only lasted until we got back to the ship at 4:30PM! This is advertised as a “Fall colours” tour and I suppose if one considers “grey” to be a “Fall colour”, it delivered what was advertised. Actually the area around Tremblant is quite beautiful and we will definitely come back again. On the positive side, parents from the local communities bring their children to the “ski village” area of the resort at Halloween for trick or treat at all of the shops and that was fun to watch. People all over Quebec certainly do put some thought and effort into Halloween - from a couple of small towns we stopped at, like Saint Saveur, to the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, the decorations and the costumes were much more imaginative than what we see at home.
Today we are in Quebec City where the day dawned sunny but windy with a temperature of about 8C. The ship is docked directly below the Chateau Frontenac, as you can see from the picture, and this morning we did a walking tour of the Old Town followed by a horse-drawn buggy ride through the Upper Town, which included a drive-by(?) of the Plains of Abraham. This too is a place we will return to. In much warmer weather!!! Actually the weather has been a source of some amusement. There are a LOT of people onboard who live in the Southern US states. They are very easy to identify; hats, gloves/mitts, heavy boots and winter coats. And of course, one lady in a full length (it sure looked like Mink) coat and another in a (it sure looked like Mink) stole!!! Of course for all I know about furs, it might also have been Squirrel!!!
Tomorrow we have the first of two sea days on this segment. This is Crystal’s annual “President’s Cruise” meaning, although we haven’t seen him yet, Greg Michel, the President of Crystal, is onboard and hosting the cruise. We have been told that tomorrow will be chock-a-block full of “presidential-type” events to look forward to - whatever that means. So, until tomorrow……………….
1 comment:
I was saying to Michael that it was strange to know that, even though you left Friday, you were still in Canada and feeling cold like the rest of us ! Enjoy your upcoming 'river' day !
Love Maureen..xx
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