Canadian Princess Cruise 2025 - Day 5

Sydney today and a fun cider tour. First I went and walked around the boardwalk and made my way up to the public library. As usual, cool ideas to share and another community jigsaw puzzle. 

For the tour, the cider house owner, background, then went to a tavern and got sung to by our tour guide and his pilot friend. That still want officially of the tour. Last stop another tavern and say with a couple from Nebraska who will be in a ship for 4 months. Obviously, maybe, they're retired. We had a snack there. Got the Irish nachos, which are homemade potato chips, crisps, and bacon and cheese. Good thing we shared those! 

I'm the evening we did our usual routine of meeting at the crown bar, having drinks, and going to dinner. This night we tried Alfredo's, the pizza place. It was very good and the only specialty dining we had. The other options didn't seem worth it. After dinner I believe we went back to the bar but I could be mistaken. 

Trip Photo Album

Canadian Princess Cruise 2025 - Day 4

Another day where I didn't feel like getting up and moving. I really do enjoy just being alone and drinking my coffee and having nowhere to go, however we were at another port and were able to get off the ship that around 8:00 but I think I left closer to 10:00 maybe. I was just going to wander around by myself and I wanted to go to the gardens and to the cemetery which I did. I started going to the cemetery and then wandered my way up and was looking for some authentically ethnic food that sounded interesting for brunch and looked in Google maps and found this Iranian bakery. I stopped there and got a Majoon, which was a cup of ice cream mixed with dates and different nuts and some honey and it was delicious. I ate that while wandering around their beautiful public gardens. I spent quite a bit of time there and then I left of wandered around some side street so I could get a sense of the town/city and really enjoyed the walk. 

When I went back to the dock I had a Donair at the suggestion of a friend who's a native. It's similar to a gyro but meatier. It's sliced meat in a pita with a sweet sauce and some chopped onions and tomatoes. It was good and even better because I ate it on a park bench near the water. 

Then I went back to the ship, looked at a couple of souvenir things on the way, got back on, went to my room and relaxed for a while. I looked in the online app at the items offered through delivery anywhere on the ship and I looked at their drinks and found a couple that I thought were interesting in that I would try - Bourbon and blood, London lemonade, Brasilinha (cachaça, passion fruit, lime). I had the Brasilinha and it was good, not great. Before the end of the trip I had the others and the lemonade was my favorite. They also made a mean espresso martini, Indigo Bay Spritz (gin, elderflower, lemon, hibiscus, rosewater, tonic), and I had a sip of a baked alaska martini (vodka, raspberry, creme de cocoa), a sip of a Frothy Fango (espresso, rum, banana liquor, maple syrup...), the Bees Knees wasn't as good as Shara's, and more. This was over a period of 7 days and we were trying each others, so I didn't have all of these myself, but I did take advantage of the drink package and enjoyed all the fun mixes.

I took a little nap, checked if there was anything outstanding in the emails and then got dressed and did the usual; down to the bar to have a drink before going to dinner and then something which was not usual is I went to see this little water show with new friend Judy and then I went in search of the arcade because I was told that they had VR games but it was more the type of the claw hand things and driving game and it was really for little kids. It took me around the ship a time or two before I found it though!

Dinner was Italian night and we ate at the Allegro dining room with the people that I met on the cruise. It was a nice group; a couple from New Hampshire and then the crew from Connecticut. I had eggplant parm for an appetizer and a salad and Grilled Rockfish, Eggplant Caponata roasted fingerling potatoes, asparagus, so I was definitely going the eggplant route. And then for dessert I had a gianduja souffle, which was yummy.

Canadian Princess Cruise 2025 - Day 3

Today we stopped at St. John in New Brunswick and did not have to take a tender into town but were right at the dock. I had breakfast in the buffet and then went over to the town to see what was going on. I didn't have anything planned until around 4:00 when I was going on a pub crawl. I started walking toward the reversing rapids which is caused by the high tide here in the Bay of Fundy. The highest tide in the whole world and what it does is it comes up so high that the part of the bay that goes into this River goes up so high that it creates a Whirlpool effect and the water going up to the river changes direction and goes back down. I think that's what's happening. The explanations I read were not very detailed but I didn't look too closely into the phenomenon, before I went. 

Before I started out on the path to the lookout to view the rapids I went to the public library and I took a picture of their library of things which was very cool. They have them in display cases along with a three-ring binder containing all the LoT items. They also have them in the catalog. I got a library card from there. I thought it was a bookmark but then when I looked at it later I saw that she gave me the actual library card, which is fun. 

Public Library

Library of Things

Great community service idea

Continuing my walk to the rapids it turned out to be a few miles there and then back. Again with the time change I was all mixed up and was supposed to meet Paige and her mom for that pub tour and I wasn't sure if it was really 2:30 or 3:30 and I was still walking and it was raining but I got back in time to go run to the room change my shirt and get back in plenty of time. The tour was fun. We had a group of 17 and several were friendly enough with us that we're going on another tour in Sydney, which is on Thursday. 

Pub Crawl

For dinner we went to the Allegro dining room because we were able to get reservations so we sat in with a different way staff. This time we split a few different things to start with; an artichoke dip, salad of mixed greens, a hot smoked salmon spread, and something else. None of the specials interested me for the main course so I had one of their regular items. It was a really beautiful piece of grilled salmon with asparagus and Bok choy with a nice miso sauce and pine nuts, which I thought was interesting. For dessert I had a chocolate and nut torte. 

After dinner we went in and walked around a bit, had a drink at the Crown Bar which was one of the only bars open because when we're at Port. I believe they can only have one bar per floor open. Then we went and checked out the karaoke and got to hear a few songs. That was a lot of fun. 

Some drinks had:
Indigo Bay spritz
Melon ball-Appletini with melon instead of apple.
Elderflower, sapphire gin, splash pineapple.
Key lime pie martini, cream, pineapple, coconut rum

Canadian Princess Cruise 2025 - Day 2

Since I didn't get in until so late last night my room service order of coffee didn't get filled however I was able to order through the app coffee and a fruit platter and that came to the door in probably 10 minutes which was quite amazing and so here I am on the balcony having my coffee. It's a little chilly but it's beautiful and I am right in the back of the boat right at the wake and I will put in a picture because this is just awesome. 

I had an excursion scheduled for today so went to the meet up place, got on the tender and went to the port. From there we took a lobster boat to Campobello Island. When we got to the island we got on a bus and had to wait to get threw Immigration, which took some time. Then we went to a lighthouse on a hill and the wind was crazy. We learned a bit about it and I walked around the hill. It was pretty. Then back on the bus to the compound. The flowers there were beautiful. Nothing exotic. Basic annuals and a few perennials but there were several beds. We hadn't eaten so I looked for food. The cafe was sit down and it didn't sound like we'd have time to eat so I asked for a raspberry cobbler to go. They packed it up and I found a bench outside, looking at the water, to enjoy it.

The house tour was really interesting. And here's a link to see for yourself. Back on the bus and honestly, I wasn't sure if I was already supposed to be on the bus. No one on the tour looked familiar, but I figured we hadn't been there that long and someone would come looking before driving off. So all was fine and we ended up having to wait for others to get back. The people behind me really complained about everything including the lack of organization and things taking so long. They were right but at the same time I was thinking I'm just relaxing and I can listen to my book and it's just time away and I guess my needs were not the same as theirs. 

Evenings are a bit of a fog because I was clearly drinking too much. I met up with Paige and her mom Judy and we went to dinner. We sat at the Concerto dining room because that is freestyle, no reservations needed. They gave us the same table as we had the night before which also means the same wait staff and that was fun. I had the vegan option of Mediterranean eggplant and other assorted roasted vegetables with dumplings which they called meatballs. I think they were lentil and were very tasty. They also had gnocchi with a basil pesto oil and parmesan cheese in a creamy sauce as one of their pasta choices. Page asked if she could get a smaller portion of that and I did the same. To start, I had a crab cake with remoulade sauce. For dessert I had the caramel cheesecake. 

We then did the same as the night before and went to the casino and had a more drinks.

 

Canadian Princess Cruise 2025 - Day 1

It did take a bit to get onto the ship, but once there, I was able to meander to my room, which is all the way at the back (aft) of the ship and I love the location. Sail Away is an event and I went up to the Sun Deck to watch the festivities. I was entertained watching the bartenders while I waited for my Pantalones Tequila Sunrise, which I thought was appropriate while we moved out to sea. I had also grabbed something healthy to eat and relaxed for a little bit and then went for a walk to find the "Good Spirits At Sea" bar where I signed up to learn about some of the drinks they have on the menu and have a couple of tastings. Those tastings were actually full drinks. 

I had the Aperitivo Roma: A cocktail featuring Limoncello, Aperol, Canadian Whisky, Bitters, and Mint Leaves, designed to evoke the spirit of Rome and its piazzas. I really enjoyed it as well as the other drink, a Barbados Swizzler: A rum-based cocktail with Bacardi Superior and Dark Rum, Grapefruit, Agave, Velvet Falernum, and Bitters, celebrating the flavors of Barbados. I like that one too and then I moved to another bar where I was meeting up with singles and solos. It turned out to be women who are mostly a lot of fun and I met one who I really connected with and ended up spending the evening with her and having dinner with her and her mom and drinking a lot more and exploring the ship and ended up not getting to sleep until close to 2:00 in the morning. 

For dinner I had goat cheese with roasted vegetable antipasto, seafood stew and bananas foster. Keep in mind, the portions are not American size. It was all very good.

(Singles & Solos get together)

Oahu 2023 - Day 6

 Since I believed my official time of isolation was over, I took a bus to Pearl Harbor. There weren't any tours available, but I learned a lot going through the 2 parts of the museum and hearing, seeing, reading about what went on that Sunday morning. It was gruesome and the whole harbor was filled with ships of various sizes. I had no idea there were so many vessels there. The scale was not something I had known. The other side of the museum described the world and what led up to the war and the attack. That was very interesting and it also shared how the Japanese American civilians and servicemen were treated and how it affected their honor, which was incredibly important to them. I can see why people recommend going and I'm glad I did. I didn't make it to the Arizona memorial, which I'm told is very moving.

I caught the bus back and both ways I got to see downtown Honolulu, including the Iolani Palace and a bit of the Bishop Museum. I would like to go to at least the palace, if I go back. I got off the bus a little past my hotel so I could get some garlic shrimp, which the north shore is famous for, and I didn't want to miss. I went to Sam's Kitchen and got the shrimp w/ spicy garlic sauce and made it "da plate" to get a scoop of macaroni/potato salad, white rice, and a salad. It was all very good. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and were pretty big. The mac salad had plenty of salt and I liked the potato part better than the mac and don't have the desire to start mixing the two together and keep with w separate salads. It was also good they didn't give huge scoops and really. It was a good few bites and let me enjoy the shrimp with some contrasting tastes. I brought it back to the apartment and ate it on the deck and watched the sunset on the ocean.

Small Tent City in Downtown Honolulu

Oahu 2023 - Day 5

Since I'm here in the winter, I needed to take advantage of the humpback whale migration. I cancelled the original tour I had, that also gave time to snorkel with sea turtles. The thought of going underwater when being congested was completely unappealing. I booked a trip that was just whale watching and we didn't see much, as far as whales go, but it was still an amazing day to be on the water. 

We also had the unusual sighting of a submarine going out to sea. The captain said this is only the 2nd one he's ever seen. If you click to see the original photo, you can barely see it, but it's there.

Canoers

View of Diamond Head (Lē‘ahi)

Waikiki

I got summer rolls around the corner after the watch, to eat at the Ala Moana park, next to the harbor. The captain had said there was a sea turtle near the dock and I was able to walk near there and if you look very closely, you may be able to see the turtle. At first I thought it was wishful thinking, but then I saw the head come up and then go back down and after a few times, I was convinced it was actually a turtle. Mostly the picture was to remind myself of the sighting. 

Later that evening, back at the resort, I went to get some pizza and on the way, wanted to take a picture of these very pretty koi and other fish that were all in the ponds they have around the place.

Oahu 2023 - Day 4

Today I spent a couple hours laying on the beach. You can see the tasty passion fruit smoothie w/ boba i got for breakfast. It was relaxing and warm and relaxing.

I'm pretty sure I headed back to the room for a bit because the street fair - Honolulu Festival, started at 4pm. It was down on the street that runs parallel to the ocean (moana) and a big shopping district. They closed the street off and there were vendors on both sides of the street. I thought I try something local and had a fried noodle dish. It was ok. I also got poi mochi and banana butter mochi. Now those were wonderful. So good I'm glad there aren't places that I know of, to get it in MA. 

I went over to the beach to see if they were going to be having the luau that is usually on Saturdays and Tuesdays, but they weren't that night, I'm assuming because of the festival. I did get to enjoy the beach sunset!

 

Oahu 2023 - Day 3

I got up this morning, after another good night's sleep, and realized something was off with me. I'd been assuming since I got here that I was tired/dehydrated from the flight, tired/dehydrated from the hike/walking, but tired and feeling like I have a cold isn't the same. I tested positive for covid. I stopped and got a test on my way to the beach. Tried to find a discrete place to take the test and doubt I was invisible as I wished. Actually had to sit on a wall in front of the Valentino store. Oops. The line came up immediately and I looked at the instructions, because maybe I was remembering wrong about line/no line, but unfortunately no. I remembered correctly. I never had it and am humbled because I thought I never would. I can't figure out if I have a fever or not. I've had chills the past couple of days when I've been in the apartment, but I'm often cold and it's not that hot. The beach today was nice and warm.

I can't even think about all the people I've been around on this trip. I'm bummed that I can't do everything I planned but at least much is outdoors and I will be able to do those things. I'm still masking when I'm outside with people and trying to stay away from everyone inside. 

So the fun stuff - 

I brought my own snorkel and goggles. I didn't use the snorkel because I couldn't get it the goggles clipped on it and didn't want to ask anyone for help. That wasn't a problem though. It took me a while to get in the water - it is about 75 degrees, so not bath water and I'm a big wimp. Once I got in, I was actually surprised to taste the salt. I was so concerned about the temperature that I totally didn't think about it. I swam around a bit. I wanted to be careful and not touch the rocks and coral and I saw a yellow fish, a blue fish, and I think a sea urchin in the coral. I also saw a really beautiful Po¯haku puna (Lobe coral).

So far, that's it for today - came back here and wrote this up and chatted with a couple people and think I'm ready to take a little nap. 

Oahu 2023 - Day 2

I'm writing this half laying on the couch. According to Google Fit, I walked 8.5 miles - 18,770 steps. Part of it was my inputting the directions in Google Maps to Diamond Head State Monument, by bus. I first walked through a beautiful park right near the hotel that I will definitely go to again. I kept going thought I must have missed something and felt I should have gotten to the bus stop by now... Checked the phone and it had me walking to the volcano. It is only a 45 min. walk from the hotel, but I decided to find the closest bus to take instead. It seems as though many people were planning to go there today! The bus got packed and we got off and then walked up the hill to the entrance to the park. Then I got an audio tour and set out. There were lots of people, which I had been told about. You do have to have patience because there are people of all ages and speed. I'm not sure how many of them weren't breathing hard after the steps though!

When I was done with the hike, I had the tough decision of where I was going to eat. It was only 11:30 and I thought I'd go back towards Waikiki. There's one place called The Rainbow Drive-in that I saw on tv, but the food there is comfort food and after that walk, I wasn't in the mood. I decided to take the bus in that direction and go to Maguro Spot, another place I saw on tv. They have poke bowls and yes, it was great. It's very much like a deconstructed sushi roll. I had the Rainbow Bowl with white rice, tobiko, and sea asparagus. There was tuna, salmon, cooked shrimp, and I think that's it. I sat at a table outside and a bit later this nice young woman asked if she could sit and I learned she is an airline attendant and is on a layover. She came in at 10 pm and is leaving at 10pm, on Alaska Air, where she is from. She's only been flying for a year and is still on standby. She got the call to take the flight and Anchorage was in the middle of a blizzard, so she was happy to get out of there. Driving to the airport wasn't great though! She told me she went to a cat cafe today and spent an hour without even realizing it. She also said the beach was really crowded and lots of people surfing, so that's where I went next. 

It was crowded and there were lots of people surfing. They also have a walkway the runs the whole length of the beach. I went down to where I thought was good snorkeling and found the spot. It's called Queen's Beach and I walked out on a jetty (Waikiki Wall) and that's where I took the video of the water, shown below.  It was really windy and the wall is about 3 feet wide and I knew I wasn't going to blow over, but I did have to brace myself, as this little woman next to me couldn't have been bothered less! We watched the fish together. A couple were feeding them, which is why they were so feisty. I don't remember such big fish when snorkeling in the Caribbean. I'm not sure you can see in the video anything, but they were big blue ones, thin blue ones, that looked like pin-nose somethings, and yellow ones.

Ok - looked them up (https://www.honolulu.gov/rep/site/dpr/dpr_docs/hbep_fish_id_card.pdf) and it seems like the big blue ones are pualu, Yellowfin Surgeon fish. The thin, long ones must be Trumpetfish (blue morph). I have no idea what the yellow ones were. These were in the pond at the hotel - ´āwela - Christmas Wrasse (male) Thalassoma trilobatum

After looking at the beach I went in search of something sweet and refreshing sounded better than baked goods, so there may be 2 or 3 options on every block. One that sounded good to me was a place called "Ice Monster". It is shave ice and fresh fruit and sorbet and very good. I had mango. That was fun eating on the walk back to the hotel. I thought I'd be able to sit and eat it in that lovely park, but I was done before I got there. It also was spontaneously showering during the walk back and I'd seek shelter with others under an awning, give it 15 seconds, it would lighten to a mist, so move on the the next time it got heavier. It was also sunny, which made it nice.

Here are some photos of my journeys:

One of the lookouts on the way up

me in front of the lookout

An idea of the number of people that were there 

I went up the steps shown on the left and came down the steps to the right. There are 74 to go up and 99 going down. 

Maguro Spot

Banyan Tree

different view

me on the wall

Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach

Birds - Red Crested Cardinals

Oahu 2023 - Day 1

 I ended up not sleeping much and had assumed that would be the case, so I planned very little for today and that's what I've done so far. I went out around 8 AM and got doughnuts at this place around the corner called, "Kpop Donuts Hawaii" - https://goo.gl/maps/qYHKEPbw2Qp8h8T49. They were made with rice flour and were technically mochi doughnuts. I got a combo of these small balls with blueberry and strawberry filling. There was also a plain one and one dipped in chocolate. The chocolate was more like chocolate sauce, which isn't my favorite, but the fruit filled ones were very good. They were really chewy and tasted like real fruit. I took them to the beach to eat them. I would recommend people get 2 or 3. 4 was too much chewing, really.

After the beach, I meandered back to the apartment and relaxed until I had to go to my appointment with the Hilton sales people. I am proud of myself - I said no. I took the $150 in visa gift cards and got out of there. He did make me a great offer and I was thinking seriously about it, but then realized if I switch to being able to travel every year, I'd still have to pay for the airfare, food, maintenance on the condo, etc. So when he came back, he asked and I said, "no" and he said good because they weren't going to let him give me that deal anyway! lol

I then went to the ice cream place across the street and continued my meals of desserts and had a small (yay me!) passion fruit (lilikoi) sorbet and pineapple cake. Very, very good and lesson learned - get the ice cream on the bottom of the sorbet. As you can imagine, there wasn't enough resistance to easily scoop the ice cream. The place was Lappert's Hawaii - https://goo.gl/maps/GRXSrfSrACruvBMr8

I took it and walked towards the pool and after I finished, went in and fount a chaise lounge and was going to lay in the sun and take a nap but then it started raining and the sun went in and it was cold and I'm laughing at myself because this is sounding like a very sad story, and it's not, but I really did want to be warm and dry. So far it's been really windy here - 20 mph. I was worried the sand would blow, but it didn't at all, which is wonderful. It's really so windy walking around in some areas where there are passages that make wind tunnels, that it's just funny. 

I don't know what I'm doing tonight. I think I'll go now to this market and get some provisions for the next few days. Certainly something healthier for breakfast than doughnuts. I'll have to save those for my afternoon snack. 😀

-----

Later I did go to the market and got a few things for easy meals here. I ate then went to the Tiki's Bar & Grill, the big outdoor bar area and it was packed. I had a glass of wine, because it was really cold and I didn't want any tropical drinks with ice, and listened to a band. It was one for people my age - they took requests and then the male lead singer came out and did a neil diamond impersonation and sang sweet caroline for 10 min. with the crowd all doing the ba ba ba ba ba and all that. as well as some interesting dance moves! It always surprises me that people outside our area know about that song. 

Then had a very good nights sleep!

Oahu 2023 Travel Day

 I don't have much to day about the plane rides. They were long. I ate a bucket of snack mix w. nuts, dried peas, etc. I listened to my book (The girl with all the gifts), I bought the wifi and the first plane trip it was worth it because I played my game. The 2nd ride was not. Luckily I sat next to a nice young man from Portland, OR and we talked for a bit. It was a really good conversation, actually. As I've heard before, if these kids are our future, we'll be in good shape. I did watch a movie on the first trip - The Come Up, based on the book of the same name, which I read a while ago. The book was better. Much better, actually. I also enjoyed a very long sunset. Big advantage of being on the west coast.

I put on another movie for the last part of the trip but I was going to say, I'm not remembering what it was, but I DO! I finished watching "Everything, Everywhere, All At Once". I stopped watching it after about 30 min the first try and couldn't get into it. I finished watching it on this flight and honestly, I thought it was ok. I get why they had so much fighting, but it was a lot of fighting. However, it made the time went by quicker, no puns intended.

I checked the price of Uber to the hotel, while on the plane and it was about $20. I decided not to take the bus, which would have been $3, but a half hour vs. 15 min. and it would be right to the door. When I got my luggage I checked again and it was now $28, but I was already committed and did it anyway. I'm glad I did. The driver told me about how she got to be living in Honolulu and her brother, who's an artist, and the different places she's lived. And she ended up dropping me at the main entrance to the Hilton Resort and I ended up walking to my hotel, which was farther in the back. As I was walking through, I was very tempted to stop for a drink. The whole place looked like a party! I ended up going to the room and amazing myself at how many things I got into my suitcase. Then I tried to sleep and got a few hours.

Grilled Pizza Redemption

Last week i made a less than stellar grilled pizza with homemade dough. It didn't speak to my lack of skill with grilling pizza but more about my need to perfect homemade dough. I should have taken pictures of that failure. It was fairly funny. The dough just plopped on the grill and we tried to spread it out but it really looked a bit like a snake. We managed to get done cheese on it and it tasted OK, but certainly nothing to brag about.

Today, on the other hand, is bragging time. Oh yeah, this is good! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I pulled both sides of the stretched dough and folded it in 1/2 to lift onto the very hot grill. Was able to stretch it out a bit, then covered and let it get crispy on one side. Let it go for about a minute while I ran upstairs to get the garlic oil and cheese.

When i came back i flipped the dough over, turned down the heat, and spread the dough with the oil and then topped with the cheese. I used leftover herbed goat cheese broken off in pieces and coated with the shredded mozzarella. That made it easy to get onto the dough quickly. Once the toppings were on I covered it back to let the cheese melt. It took about another minute. Then off the grill, cut it up and yum! We're both loving it!

Rock the casbah

Last night we had our goods and services auction party, rock the casbah. Our Moroccan feast went well. Good company, food and entertainment. A lot of work but it didn't go unappreciated. We get to do a mini-version for two couples who couldn't attend, and that will be nice too.

Shara provided the after dinner entertainment with her belly dancing. We got her costume, adult-size, and she did a remarkable job pinning it up so it looked perfect. Nice that this will last several years.

Menu:

Fresh Tomato & Caper Salad
Grated Cucumber (Feggous) Salad w/ Orange Flower Water
Roasted Beet Salad w/ Cinnamon
Sweet & Spicy Moroccan Eggplant
Sweet Potato Salad (Arabesque Cookbook)
Cooked "Wild Greens" Salad
Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad
Marrakech Tagine Bread
Potato Tagine w/ Olives & Harissa
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Tagine of Baby Calamari & Shrimp w/ Red Pepper & Tomato
Chicken & Fennel Tagine
Couscous
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Mint Tea
Passover Baklava Cake