by Bob Sparrow
EMERALD PRINCESS
Emerald Princess – before we jump on a shore boat and head into Bar Harbor, I should probably tell you a little about the ship we’re on. As I mentioned previously, the food on previous Princess cruises, in my opinion, was average at best. Perhaps I was a bit harsh, as we had dinner at the ship’s steakhouse, the Crown Grill, and it was excellent. So, I’d probably move the food a grade up, from a C to a B+. The entertainment, which has been pretty good on previous Princess cruises, has dropped down a notch and in some cases more than a notch; like the big musical production, Magic To Do, a combination of a magic show and a Broadway musical, which failed at both. There was a comedian who wasn’t very funny and a big soul music production with only one person of color. Fortunately, there are plenty of bars on board and they do make great cocktails! I will say that the staff of 1,200 was very efficient and friendly. There were just under 3,000 passengers on board and as you might suspect, at this time of year, no kids and mostly older couples; the men’s hair is either gray or gone. Going by ourselves afforded us the opportunity to meet other people at dinner at a ‘shared table’, so we would typically eat dinner with three other couples. A few we wish we had never met, so we eat rather quickly and excuse ourselves, but most, who came mostly from the Eastern seaboard, were fun and interesting to talk with.
Bar Harbor, Maine – Bahh Hahhbahh, as it is affectionately called, is a cute little tourist town with lots of t-shirt shops and lots of bars and restaurants featuring lots of lobstahhs. Let me get this out of my head and then we can move on. I saw this on a tee shirt in one of the shops: “Khakis in the rest of the country are brown pants, in New England they are what you use to stahht your cahh”.
Ivy Manor Inn, Bar Harbor
We have a bus tour scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon, so we had time to shuttle in from the boat, poke around in some shops, wander past the picturesque and golden leaf-covered Ivy Manor Inn, but mostly have some lobster for lunch. I figured I had plenty of future opportunities to have a full lobster, so when I saw a lobster roll, which I had never had, I order one. Our server said they made some of the best lobster rolls on the planet (of course they said that, but did they really?) Having never had one, I obviously couldn’t compare it, but I can tell you it was heavenly! I was really delighted with my choice, until I saw the couple next to us who each ordered a full lobster – which were about a foot long and looked delicious! Our lobster roll cost $30, the full lobster that each of the couple next to us was feasting on cost $32!!!! Back home that lobster would have cost over $100!! I was certain I would be eating a lobster just like that one, in one of our next two stops.
View of islands and our boat from Cadillac Mt.
Our afternoon bus tour was to Acadia National Park; where the trees were not all resplendent in their fall colors yet, but some of them were. This park, as is Bar Habor, surprisingly, is on an island, Mount Desert Island, and has everything from heavy woodlands to rocky beaches to glacier-scoured granite peaks, such as Cadillac Mountain, which our tour took us to the top of. It is the highest point on the U.S.’s East Coast at 1,527 feet – a mole hill in California terms! We were told that moose and bear run the woodlands and whales abound in the ocean, but the only thing we saw was a squirrel. The park would have been beautiful if the plants and flowers that were now brown and dead were in full bloom. Making things worse was our bus driver/guide. As I’ve said before, the guide can make or break a trip – this one broke it! It would have been fine if he just pointed out the points of interest, but he tried to be funny . . . and wasn’t – he could never get a job as a Boston Hop-On, Hop-Off driver! But, it’s still a beautiful park which afforded us some spectacular views of the oceans and surrounding islands.
Off the bus back in Bar Harbor, we happened to pass Paddy’s Irish Pub on our way back to where we caught the shuttle boat, so, of course, we had to stop. We had a bowl of clam chowder soup and a local beer and were told that we were in the Irish pub in the U.S. that was the closest, geographically, to Ireland. It made everything taste just a wee bit better!
Lobster Update: OK, I didn’t have a full lobster here, but I checked the lobster roll box, and there’s still time, as they have excellent lobster in our next two ports.
Next Post – Thursday: Oh Canada! – St. John, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia