Our
arrival into Halifax, Nova Scotia was not until 1:00 p.m. so the morning was
spent exploring the ship and then supervising the sail into Halifax Harbour (in
the hot tub, of course) while spotting some whales and dolphins with a
brilliant blue sky and warm temperatures.
It was all so beautiful until we arrived in the harbour. We were greeted by the Queen Elizabeth and
Emerald Princess and Silver Whisper.
With four ships in port things were a bit chaotic, but we are here
overnight, so there is no rush and a quiet morning tomorrow (hopefully) to look
forward to.
Fortunately,
this afternoon was the complimentary Ensemble Experience; hosted by yours truly. Those who chose the Experience (rather than a
$150 per person onboard credit) were first given an overview of Halifax and
then visited the Fairview Cemetery to see some of the graves of some of the
lives lost in the Titanic tragedy.
(There are actually four cemeteries where people are buried.) What I found to be a tragedy was the
disrespect the masses of passengers from the other ships had for the graves. I
had thought visiting the site was to respect those that lost their lives; not
to trample upon their graves. (The one
obnoxious tour guide with her headset and loudspeaker didn’t exactly add anything
positive to my experience as we waited for them to move on.)
It
was then off to The Citadel for a tour and high tea. I was a bit disappointed that the original
venue for tea, The Halifax Club, was not available as it is now closed for
renovations. Our first stop was, I
though curiously, for tea. It was
enjoyable and my guests from Shanghai were a bit baffled by the cucumber
sandwiches, scones and sweets all together, but once I showed them to add a bit
of butter and strawberry jam to the scones it was all smiles…and then onto
tasting some Western sweets.
But
then the real dessert: The tour. Sometimes it is not necessarily what you are
seeing, but who you are seeing it with.
Our guide is one of the honor guards used when Queen Elizabeth visits
Halifax and he was fantastic. Dressed in
full Highlander regalia, our guide was full of passion and information along
with a great sense of people. He brought
the history of Halifax, military, royalty and armory to life. It was a treat.
After
a short ride back down to the ship, it was off to find a place to watch the New
York Jets. My local sources (the tour
guide, the Highlander guide and the security guard all said that Bubba Ray’s
was the place to go. While I was a bit
leery of a place sounding like it was from the Deep South of America in
Halifax, it was apparently my best (and only) shot at watching the game. So off we walked across town and up the hill,
with the sun in our eyes and unusually warm (80 degree) weather we finally
arrived, hot and sweaty, at Bubby Ray’s and its multitude of varieties of chicken wings.
Fortunately there was one television showing the Jets game. (There were about six showing the Green Bay game.) Unfortunately, watching the game was
difficult as the Jets lost.
Oh,
but there was more. Just after my English
friend asked me how there can be a holding call when the Jets player hadn’t
touched the Oakland Raider player, his wife says, “Look! The Seabourn shuttle is dropping people off
right across the street.” And we walked
up hill in the heat because????
With
the game over and the other cruise ships gone, we walked down the hill, with
the sun having, set right toward the far end of the boardwalk that runs along
the waterfront. As it was Sunday night
with little activity we were looking at more closed restaurants than open ones.
However, one crossed my eyes that seemed interesting…because its name was so
confused: Hamachi Steakhouse Bar and
Grill which, of course, had teppanyaki. Usually
when I see such confusion I think, “Master of None”. Hamachi Steakhouse however mastered
teppanyaki nicely.
Being
in Halifax I thought lobster would be in order and, with the Asian flavoring, a
nice Riesling would be appropriate. Not
only was the chef’s show top notch, so was the food. It was not your typical overcooked hibachi
fare, but expertly prepared seafood and steaks that were done perfectly. With clean, upscale, furnishings and a
friendly staff, I can easily recommend it, but with a warning that it isn’t
inexpensive.
We were back to the ship in time for the latter part of the Rock the Boat party which was enjoyed by a good portion of the guests. With this having a decidedly older demographic I was surprised by how many guests were on deck for this…having experienced a very, very, very quiet experience in The Club, The Patio Bar and The Observation Lounge after dinner virtually every evening.
We were back to the ship in time for the latter part of the Rock the Boat party which was enjoyed by a good portion of the guests. With this having a decidedly older demographic I was surprised by how many guests were on deck for this…having experienced a very, very, very quiet experience in The Club, The Patio Bar and The Observation Lounge after dinner virtually every evening.