Venezia Transatlantic: Halifax

By
Saint Greg

September 22, 2023

Good morning! We are pulling into Halifax after a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean. This is the first time I’ve seen land since Ponta Delgada five days ago. This is our last port day of the cruise. We have one more sea day prior to our arrival in New York.

Here is a look at today’s Fun Times.

I grabbed a mocha from the coffee shop as I watch our arrival.

We are now cruising by buildings in Halifax.

I’m going to grab a quick breakfast from Tomodoro.

This might be the only time I eat Tomodoro so I’m going to try several items.

I’m allowed five bags of free laundry on 14+ day cruises. I sent out my third bag this morning. Then I’ll send a fourth out tonight with just what I’m wearing today and one other t-shirt.

Not bad. These people dressed like they’re going snow skiing may regret it in a couple hours.

I went down to the atrium to grab a couple screwdrivers and check out the crowd leaving the ship.

Where the heck are they going with the rucksacks?

I guess they’re letting us off of the ship now since the atrium cleared out.

I got down to deck 2, saw this, and decided to head back to the bar.

I guess the reason for the backup was that they still weren’t letting us off. We were told not to go below deck 3 and I guess a bunch of people decided they didn’t want to wait any longer.

MarQ just came in with a verbal announcement we can get off on deck 1 now but I’m going to finish this first.

There was still quite a line to get off of the ship. Then someone came and said the mid gangway was open. I went for it and there was no line.

When you get off of the ship there’s a big retail area to the left. Tour sales are to the right. The Hop-on, hop-off bus still costs $67. I’m going to continue to pass on that and go out on my own.

I’m pretty sure I have internet included in my plan here. I have the ATT Elite plan. But I didn’t check so I’m playing it safe.

I’ve been using the maps.me offline map app for years. I used it in Barcelona, Malaga, Gibraltar, and Lisbon as well. You just have to download the maps for your location ahead of time.

These are the buses they want you to pay $67 to ride and count on to get you back to the port ? I don’t think so. It looks like you can actually book it as low as $50 on their website. That might be something to look into if you’re interested in the hop-on, hop-off bus.

Samuel Cunard.

The residence of the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. Construction began in 1800.

The Welsford Parker Monument.

St. Matthew’s Church was founded in 1749.

St. Mary’s Basilica

Halifax Memorial Library.

I have reached Citadel Hill.

Some views from Citadel Hill.

Harbour Hopper is another tour option in Halifax. It costs $54. That may be something I look into on a future visit.

Look who finally showed up.

For full coverage of my time at Citadel please check out Halifax Citadel. It was a great time. I spent several hours there and it cost me less than $10. For now I’m skipping ahead to after my tour of Citadel.

I’m going to take a different route to the ship. This time I’m going along their boardwalk.

This is how Cajuns ended up in Louisiana.

I had thought about getting back on the ship then getting back off to eat. But I think once I wait in that line I’m just going to stay on the ship.

I tried the Tomordoro sandwich I haven’t had yet. I wasn’t a big fan so I switched to a pizza burger.

The weather was perfect. I said I thought those people who went out in coats and hoodies would regret it later. I still believe that’s the case.

This is when I ran into a bit of a bar situation. I was finally going to get a spot at Amari but it was closed. Frizzante was mostly full but the people all went down to Carnivale to get drinks then carried them to Frizzante. I was told there is a Canadian law that only one bar on each deck of the ship can be opened at a time. I’m not sure if this is a Sunday law or an everyday law.

I got my first thirsty frog of the cruise in the atrium

One thing I’ve noticed this week I should mention. There are paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms. Some of them have paper towels which is great. I love paper towels. But most of them have tissue. I think it’s intended to replace the little dispensers that you would use to open the door. But a lot of people grab them thinking it’s a paper towel. Then they have to pick bits of tissue off of their hands.

We are beginning to sail away. I’ve heard bag pipers will usually be here to send us off. But I’m guessing they are off Sunday since the Citadel pipers were off on Sunday.

Apparently you can take boats out to this island. It might be something I look into on a future trip.

Cruise Director MarQ.

Tonight’s entertainment is Michael Kent. He’s doing two shows. There is no comedy tonight. He started off the show putting a bunch of colored life preservers on the screen. He gets everyone to end up on the same life preserver.

The best one is this one he did on the Penn & Teller “fool us” show. He starts out with two tubes, a bottle, and a cup, and he ends up with 10 bottles.

I requested a dinner table with 15 minutes left in the Michael Kent show so I could have a table when the show was over. That worked good.

Tennis is on in the Hero’s Bar.

Here is tonight’s menu.

Seafood Quiche.

Antipasti.

Caesar Salad.

Cheese Tortellini.

Napoleon Crema Alla Nocciolla E Nutella.

I wanted to figure out some of Michael Kent’s tricks so I took a balcony spot for the show.

Here’s how he gets everyone on the same life preserver. You pick one. Then he says move to the nearest black one. There are only two black life preservers and they’re both in the same area. So then when he has you move to the nearest red and then yellow and everyone ends up on the same yellow.

There’s a rubix cube trick where shows an audience member how to solve it behind their back. I tried to see if I could see anything nefarious but I couldn’t. I can only guess it’s a trick cube.