Our itinerary for this trip

Our boarding photo.  Didn't realize these would be our clothes for the next day too. 

We were on a small 50 PAX CRJ Delta flight to Quebec City from Detroit.  When  we got to Quebec City, only our garment bags were there.  Luckily we had an overnight in Quebec so the airline delivered our other bags to the ship on Monday.

Looking at tracking, it looks like it took 3 flights out of DTW before the found enough space to get our bags to Quebec.  Delta really needs to have larger planes into Quebec City.

We were on Eurodam, cabin 5110.  Port side of course.

The DeeeeLux Accomodations

Here we are wandering in Quebec city.  This is the Fresque des Quebecois.  The side of the building is painted to show the story of Quebec.

Another view

Patty wanted to hit the shops so we climbed the hill along the back street next to the fresco above.  Guess what?  The we had to go down stairs to get to the shops.  Oh well, good exercise.

The Funicular heading from the old city up to the Chateau Frontenac.

Believe it or not this is the entrance to the funicular.  A little shop that you have to go thru.

All the little shops of old Quebec city

Love the addresses on some of these shops.

Onward to Saguenay.  This is a cheese factory we visited.  What you're looking at here is the milking room.  The sheepers line up on each side and put their heads thru the hoops with their heads in the blue buckets eating while their business ends face the pit where the men attaching the milking hoses.

The cheese they make was VERY good.  But it's unpasteurized so they can't ship.  They explained they can sell it in places all around them like Montreal, etc because it's aged.  Apparently as long as it ages 60+ days, the natural enzymes consume any bacteria effectively doing the same as pasteurization.

The milk makers

They also had a little horse.  Sorry about the blur.

Here we are at a soap making shop

And we saw a glass blowing shop

Downtown Saguenay

We had company in port

Sailboats tucked away for the winter.

Some of the homes near the pier

Here's the lovely Pier in Saguenay.  We received a VERY nice welcome including samples of blueberry pie and a small little flag.

A little color left as we headed down the Saguenay River toward the St Lawrence.

One lone red leafed tree holding out for us.

Here we are at a scenic lookout in Baie Comeau

This is Franquelin Village.  A Historical Lumberjack village west of Baie Comeau.

Examples of the office of the day

Cabins the lumberjacks uses to live in.

The Eurodam docked in Baie Comeau.  Tide was out as you can tell.

Big time Aluminum plant.

Ships waiting to load up

This is Canada's largest grain warehouse right in with the aluminum plant.

On to Prince Edward Island and the lovely area around the Green Gables in Cavendish

The Green Gables.  The site which inspired L.M. Montgomery to create her tale of Anne of Green Gables.

A fine looking tourist from Detroit sporting Tigers logo wear.

A display inside the barn at Green Gables

On our way back from Green Gables we stopped for a Lobster lunch at The Prince Edward Island Preserve Company.  Had Carrot Soup, Lobster and Raspberry Cream pie for dessert.  YUM.

The restaurant to the left and a small entertainment venue to the right.

The Gardens of Hope on site as well.

A view of the shoreline as we departed Charlottetown PEI.

Here we are in Sydney Nova Scotia.  This isn't a shot of town, it's just a nice marina across from our ship.

Some of the homes along the water

The pier at Sydney

And the World's largest fiddle at the harbor.

There was a rummage sale going on behind the church. 

St George's church is the oldest building in Sydney.

Now that was the way to build a bank way back when.

Just a view of the streets of Sydney near the pier.

Inside St George's church.

The Ferry docks of North Sydney

Here we are along the boardwalk in Halifax

Pilots at your service.

Hard to see but Eurodam was back to back with a Princess ship and then a Norwegian ship visible crosswise between the buildings.

A view of the Halifax boardwalk.  Very very nice place to stroll and shop.  And the Pier facility had a farmers market with all kinds of food and goodies.

Georges Island

And the Georges Island lighthouse.

Downtown Bar Harbor

Looking the other way

Carriage rides from very handsome horses.

A little fall color left in the town square

A wonderful old post office.  And inside felt like small town USA.

The harbor/marina area

Our only tender port as it turns out.

One of the locals

Quincy Market in Boston

Faneuil Hall

The Holocaust memorial.  The glass has 6 million numbers etched in it to represent the Jewish people murdered by the Nazi's.

One of the best smelling places on earth.  Hanover street in the North End.  Home to wonderful Italian restaurants and shops.   The smell of garlic is everywhere.

Patty's favorite Italian market

The popular Mike's Pastry.

(but we found Bova Bakery on the back street that was wonderful)

A nice little shop with all kinds of coffee, tea and spices.

What remained of Patty's cannoli from Modern Bakery on Hanover near Mike's.

Well Hello There!

A view you don't normally see of the Queen.

The Queen Mary 2 was docked right behind us.

Spare propeller blades on the bow.

In numerous trips to the Black Falcon cruise terminal in Boston, I have YET to figure out what this structure is on top of the building.  If you know, please let me know.

A classic looking design.

One of my favorite views as you enter or leave the port.  A look right down the runway at Logan Airport.

Bridge over the Charles river.

Downtown

One last view of the Queen.

Boston's finest escorting us out of the harbor.

Boston harbor has some windmills.

Just after leaving Boston the captain came on the PA and announced we were going to have to skip Newport RI, and head at full speed for Florida.  Hurricane Sandy was south of Cuba and headed our way.  We were going to hug the coast all the way down.

About noon on Wednesday I happened to be looking at my GPS and noticed we turned to 270 degrees (due west).  We were off the coast around southern NJ. 

The captain came on around 12:15 and announced we had a sick person on board and we were headed toward shore to perform an emergency evac.

A Coast Guard Dolphin Helo from station Atlantic City arrived about 3 pm when we were about 80 miles out.  It hovered over the bow for about 20 min or so while the ship was moving forward at about 12 knots.  They lifted a lady and a nurse off.

A Coast Guard C-130 from Air Station Elizabeth City in NC also showed to provide air cover.

Note the back loading ramp opened.  I'm guessing it was to take video.

People on board gathered to watch the evac.

The Coast Guard took video of the evac from the C-130.  Click here to see it.

The coast guard site reported it was a 75 YO lady having chest pains.

Off to the Hospital in Atlantic City

As we headed for Florida, the captain announced we were not going to be able to get Ft Lauderdale to disembark the ship.  Instead, we were going to arrive at 4 am Friday in Port Canaveral and spend the day in port then get bussed to Ft Lauderdale on Friday.

Buuuutttttt, when I woke at 6 am Friday morning we were still moving.  The captain announced at 7 am that we were not going to make it into Canaveral either.  Apparently, some ship(s) had issues earlier trying to get in/out of Port Canaveral.

So we wandered around the coast a while headed North while the captain tried to figure out the next option.

Right were tea conditions off the northern coast of Florida as Sandy approached us.  ~15 footers.  Nothing terrible but a little bumpy.

After lots of working with Holland America home office, the Coast Guard and others, we finally headed into Jacksonville FL. 

Here's Naval Station Mayport and the opening of the St Johns River.

The Air strip at Station Mayport

Jacksonville Coast Guard station.

Looking up the St Johns River.  We would end up docking at the cargo facility at the right.

Some really nice homes along the St Johns.

We had 3 Moran tug boats come to assist us.

The Cathleen Moran, the Dorthy Moran, and the Judy Moran.

We got put in the "hole" between the two ships at the right.

Security boat stood by as we were put into the dock.

Pushing us sideways into the dock.

We spent the night at the commercial dock and were not allowed off the ship.  They had super tight security.  The dock was blocked off at each end of the ship with security plus Customs and Border patrol on duty.  We kinda felt like prisoners.

The next day, disembarkation started at 5 am and was a bit of a zoo.  Could have used a little more organization getting off the ship.  Everyone had to get off thru one gangway on A deck, get on a bus.  The authorities would only allow 3 busses to be loaded at a time and the busses had to be escorted in and out of the cargo facility.  All disembarkation stopped as each new group of 3 busses arrived.

Once on a bus we went over to a small airport about 5 miles away to collect our luggage which was in a hanger.  Finding it in a sea of luggage was real fun.

Then back on a bus for a 5.5-6 hour ride to the Ft Lauderdale airport.  Fortunately, our flight wasn't til 1:45 and we arrived at the airport at 12:30 so just right for us.  But others missed flights and had to re-arrange.

But we made it safe and sound.

Our last Formal Night.  Note the last stop of Port Canaveral.  That's where the photo staff at least THOUGHT we were going to end up.