12.09.2023 Disembarking, the final goodbye and Halifax, Nova Scotia
Very early breakfast today, 6.30 am at Lindstrom for the last time. We managed to be first there today. We had our regular Porridge, cooked breakfast and a large cup of tea. During breakfast the ship started sounding its horn about every 2 minutes. It was on the final approach to Halifax, it was also very foggy. Back to our suite and made sure everything was ready to go and we made our way up to Deck 11 to watch the ship dock. The RA swung out and reversed very neatly in to a side dock by the terminal. Coming up behind us was a huge cruise ship 'The Norwegian Pearle' it was big as the one in Corner Brook, Norwegian Joy.
The weather is deteriorating and it is now a fine rain, typical of Halifax, I don't think the sun ever shines there! We went back to our suite and collected our things and went and sat in the Explorer Lounge so that Ricky and the rest of the household team can start cleaning the Suites and Cabins. Eventually most of the other passengers came up to the lounge as well. THEN THERE WAS THE SCREAM. It came from way downstairs from where the ramp was being opened to let everybody disembark. We learnt later that one poor crew member had got their foot stuck in the ramp mechanism and when they tried to close it to release their foot that didn't work either. It was a paramedic job, the police came as well, and there was an ambulance to take the poor person to hospital. It was a very bad injury.
We had been told that because we were independent travellers we could disembark at any time. Others that were on different coaches for going to the Airport and/or a tour of Halifax, had to get off at allotted times. We made sure our pick up was there and went to get off, this was easier said than done. We were told to queue, then we said no we didn't need to. There were people who were getting off for the day then coming back again to continue their cruise. They were supposed to be scanned off as usual, but this didn't happen in the chaos. We said goodbye to Karen, Ulrich and hugged Melania. We did eventually manage to get off, collect our cases from the terminal and our pick up took us round to the Sutton Place Hotel. We hadn't been there long, when five other RA passengers came in. They too are staying the night but are flying to Philadelphia the next day to fly home to England. Our room wasn't ready, so we had to leave our cases in the Foyer on a trolly with a tag on it for us to pick up later.
We decided to go to the Citadel as it is just behind the hotel. We spent a few hours there, went on an English speaking tour with a Kilt clad guide. They depict the era of the 1800s. At the end of the tour we went up to watch the noon day gun being fired. This was a bit embarrassing as they had some new fuses and the gunpowder in them was refusing to light. The day before they had had 3 goes before it lit, the same thing happened today, 3 fuses and about 5mins late there was a big bang. Morgan and I had wondered what the big bang was, it was scary, Missus was able to calm us down with the explanation of the midday canon firing. They went off to find some lunch and Morgan and I settled down for a snooze. The bed was very comfortable and we all slept very well.
Our lovely Red waterproof Shell jackets given to us when we got on board and our two insulated jackets we wore underneath. We were always warm enough.
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