Voyage of the Vikings 2023

     It was a bright morning and already 20°C by 8 a.m. with a light wind at 11 km and a few small clouds. Zuiderdam moored at Sydney, Nova Scotia. Yesterday we arranged with Ellen and David to meet them at the dining room entrance for breakfast. We walked on the Promenade Deck a couple of laps before meeting them for breakfast.    By 9 a.m. the temperature had risen to 25°C. There was more than an hour to wander before our event. We walked along the harbour boardwalk passing the waterfront memorial to the Merchant Navy on the way to Wentworth Park and then back along George Street.    The group of 22 for Royal Canadian Yacht Club: Cape Breton Mussels & Music excursion met on the dock. The Jean Harris Cruise Pavilion is the terminal for cruise ships and on the second floor is the Royal Canadian Yacht Club auditorium. We enjoyed fresh steamed East Coast mussels with a flight of two local beers and two local ciders. The group was serenaded by a Cape ...

      Today is the first Sea Day. Zuiderdam is cruising from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Sydney, Nova Scotia. Clocks were advanced one hour overnight to Nova Scotia time.   There was thick fog again this morning which took a little longer than yesterday   to dissipate this morning. The ship’s course was northeast 60.56° having rounded the southern tip of Nova Scotia and travelling along its Atlantic coast at 14 knots. The 8 a.m. temperature was 15°C with a 16.5 km/hr wind. A jacket for walking on Deck 3’s Promenade Deck was not needed.   We went to the main dining room on Deck 2 for breakfast and timed it, coincidently, to share a table with Ellen and David and were joined by Elizabeth from Florida. The service was much better this morning. Our waiter was Supri, our dinner waiter on Deck 3. He brought a carafe of decaffinated coffee for us since the others were drinking regular coffee.   After breakfast we went to the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet on Deck 1...

    At 7 a.m. there was a thick fog, as the captain’s last evening’s weather forecast predicted. The temperature was 19°C and a light breeze NW 7 kmph.      We finally met the room stewards for this hallway. On previous cruises on Holland America ships and other ships, the stewards greet you on boarding day, give you their card so that you know their names and find out any special requests you may have, if any.   We walked seven times around the Promenade Deck before breakfast accumulating 3,500 steps (2 km). The ship’s fog horn was blowing every two minutes. The service in the dining room was slow, at our table, taking over 70 minutes for breakfast. During that time we saw the boat that delivered the harbour pilot at 8:30 a.m., as the captain had predicted. Shortly after the fog dissipated within 15 minutes revealing a blue sky with some puffy white clouds near the horizon. We could see the numerous islands we passed on our way to Bar Harbor, Maine.  ...

   It was a short walk, just two blocks, to Flour Bakery for breakfast. The temperature was 20.7°C, it was cloudy with a light breeze.   With over two hours before needing to check out of the Yotel Hotel, we decided to walk to the Raymond L. Flynn Black Falcon Cruise Terminal (Flynn Cruiseport Boston) along the Harbor Walk. This time we walked to the south of the hotel, roughly following the route taken yesterday on the harbor tour. This body of water is Boston Inner Harbor. The GPS tracker was a little off location. We were not walking on water. Near Pier 4, we saw the American Cruise Line 170 passenger ship American Constitution. Further south we came to the Boston Fish Pier buildings and boats, seeing them from the land side today. The Boston Fish Pier was built in 1914 and is still in operation today, handling fish and seafood. There was a small shelter with a brief history of old Boston and history of the pier on several posters. One poster showed the old islands in ...