Cruise to Canada
O Canada, our home and native land! Sarah and I went on a five day Carnival Cruise to Canada last week and O did we have a good time. Here’s the run down:
The Fog
I’m going to start this off by stating that there was fog. Lots of fog. 4 our of the 5 days we were at sea there was a dense fog around the ship. Fog so dense that standing on the deck, you couldn’t see the water. The ship was sounding its fog horn ever few minutes round the clock. I know there is nothing to really see while at sea but once we pulled into Saint John you really saw how dense it was.
The Ship
The Carnival Victory is a one of the Triumph class ships. The thing is huge, almost 3 football fields long and 13 decks to roam around. We got a work out running up and down the stairs. Most of the good stuff was on deck 5, or the Promenade deck. 
There are 5 different bars on this deck, we only went to 2 of them. The Irish Sea Bar had this weird rotating piano where people would sing along. Er, no thanks. We mostly hung out at the two bars you could smoke at, both by the casino.
There is a bar in the Lobby level of the ship called the Seventh Sea Bar This is the first thing we saw when we walked onboard and, obviously, the first place we drank. The bar sits at the bottom of a huge atrium. On the wall behind the bar hangs 4 glass elevators servicing the 2nd through 10th floors.
The Food
We really lucked out with the sit down dinner. The travel agent must have hooked us up with a private room, either that or we’re damn lucky. As expected, the sit down dinner was awesome. I ate lots of fish, Sarah ate lots of steak. She can french dip anything. Our waiter, Metra, was the hardest working man in the room. All the other waiters had their own busboys to clear the tables and such. Our waiter had a 70 year old busboy who would drop off a few rolls and disappear till desert time. Poor bastard, we gave him a tip. 
The rest of the food was good too. It was all located on Deck 9, Lido. There was a BBQ station during lunch serving burgers and hot dogs. A pizza stand that was open 24 hours. They had plain and pepperoni pies ready all the time, speciality pies, like the anchovy, were made to order. I didn’t have the patience to wait 10 minutes for food so that never happened. There was a deli station where I had a turkey sandwich, Sarah had a Reuben. Made me miss NY delis.
We hit the breakfast buffet mostly. Scooping piles of bacon and eggs into a plate is the way to go. The sit down breakfast we went to had us at a table with, people. There was a family of five next to us and a older couple across from us. I think I had lox and cream cheese on a bagel. Who knows, the people were trying to talk to us. Asking us questions and making small talk. What do you do when somebody asks where you’re from, ask back?
The Room
We opted for booking a room class, not a specific room. That way they give you any free room they have in that class of room. I do not recommend doing this. They put us in the back of the ship. The room was nice enough but the engine noise was crazy. This was especially noticeable as the ship docked. The thrusters would cavitate and the bits and pieces of the room would start to purr.
All the TV was piped in from a Direct TV feed. For some reason all of the local network channels were from Denver, CO. By the end of the cruise we were very up on all things Denver.
Saint John
We docked in Saint john on Monday July 30th. The fog wrapped around us like a cold, wet blanket. After walking down the plank we were greeted by smiling Canadians. They handed us a little Saint John militia man pin and gave Sarah a rose. Be weary of Canadians bearing gifts. We signed up for the Moosehead Brewery tour. Our tour guide explained to us that because of terrorism concerns, we were not allowed to actually visit the brewery. They did take us to a very nice pub though.
Getting ahead of myself here. First the bus took us around Saint Johns. It was foggy out and tough to see out the windows. The major site we visited was a pretty cool freak of nature, the Reversing Falls. There is a quirk in the geography of Saint Johns. When the tide moves in and out, the sea is actually forced up the river. The guide said they see the tides rise and fall as far as 80 miles up river. Crazy stuff.
After the bus tour we wound up at the pub. (Seems like that’s always where we end up) We had a few Moosehead Alpine Lagers. Not bad stuff. After the bar we still had some time to kill before needing to be back on the ship. It was about lunch time so we walked over to the happing part of the dock area, Market Square. They were setting up for the Canada Day celebrations the next day. We at at the Saint John Ale House. A pretty nice place full of office workers and tourists. I had a Rickards Red and a Guinness Cheese Burger. It was delicious. We then searched through the fog for the ship and ended the day early.
Halifax
The next morning we were awoken by the ship docking in Halifax. Having a ships engine as an alarm clock wasn’t the shocking part of the morning though, there was no fog. A miracle had occurred, brilliant daylight was everywhere. Too bad it was 85 and muggy. And the whole city is built on a steep hill. And it was Canada Day.
We got off the ship and a shockingly small amount of people gave us presents, 0 is the amount. This dock was toward the end of waterfront full of shops, apartments and south street seaport type stuff. Since it was a national holiday, the place was packed with locals. Slow moving locals dressed in hockey jerseys. Its tough to be mad at a Canadian, they are too nice. That’s how they get you. Anyway, we walked up the hill/city/main street towards Citadel Hill. This is where everybody was gathering for the celebrations. Unfortunately by the time we crawled our way to the top of the street the festivities were over and hundreds of people were walking down the hill. That was fine, we were done with hills. While walking downhill we passed Maxwell’s Plum. The sign outside said 60 taps so we went there. It was around noon so we took it easy.
We had a lot of time to kill. After walking by the water front for a bit and getting annoyed at all the slow moving tourists we went to get lunch. Ended up at Peddlers Pub. It was a decent place with an outdoor area. I had some unmemorable food and a Molson. Sarah had a Bud, but even those were Canadian.
On the way back to the ship we passed by the Garrison Brewing Co. They are a small place with the brewing done on premises. There was a bar that was selling samples of beer. $5 would get you 6 little cups. It was the kind of place that couldn’t sell you a pint so had to give out samples instead. Their Imperial Pale Ale is award winning. I thought it was too hoppy and unbalanced. Then again, it was served out of a 2 ounce plastic cup, who knows. I bought a tshirt and it was back to the ship for us.
Summary
Good times are to be had aboard Carnival Cruises. We both had a great time. This was Sarahs first time on a cruise and she managed well. Might say she even had some fun. We’ll hit up a cruise again some day. Hopefully next time someplace less foggy.
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