Diary 9|28, 29|2016: The Island Of Scallops. In The Zone.

Wednesday, September 28,2016. The Other Side Of Nova Scotia.

Overnight the Princess Caribbean followed the coastline of Nova Scotia counter-clockwise, and this morning it's at the dock in Sydney, where the clouds are still overcast and a little rain is falling. My sister Lynn needs a few things from a drugstore, so trot down the gangplank and take a walk through a suburban strip of shops and coffeehouses. I need to replenish my cash roll. The first bank I try has the kind of ATM that sucks your card into its bowels, out of sight or reach. When the ATM tells me it can't finish the transaction, I get rattled, even though the card did come back. There is no question that I have cash in the account, so I try again. And yet again, this time with a different ATM. Nothing. It is now that I make a discovery about ATMs that I wish I'd known long ago. In the ATMs I ordinarily employ, the funds come from either "Checking" or "Debit" accounts. But these ATMs lack the latter option, with "Checking" and "Credit Card" instead. The latter doesn't sound right to me, but on the fifth or sixth go I try it, hoping the machine doesn't swallow my card forever. Bingo. I write a little note to myself and stuff it into my wallet. What a lot of trouble knowing that would have saved! Like the time last year when a testy cab driver waited for me to pay him the $75 I didn't have in hand after we fetched up in Civitavecchia with no transfer from the ship to Rome. The rain steps up and we return to the ship, where I try to get some writing done. It is not going well. I can't seem to calm down. Should I get a drink to help that, or should I skip next two or three rounds? The only sure thing is that I am up to date with the characters on the Love Boat. On the other hand, the Eat Club dinners, with their regular pre- and post-dinner cocktail hours, continue to be delightful. Our travelers are happy, save for one issue I keep hearing about: the return airline schedule have most of our group needing to get to the airport at five in the morning, with little promise that cabs will be available. For answers, they turn to me. Tonight is the first rehearsal with the orchestra for the finalists in the ship's "The Voice Of The Ocean" contest. I am a finalist. We are to run through two songs of our choice, from which we will choose one for the finals. To help make that decision and to make suggestions, each of us gets a coach. My coach tells me something that I still find hard to credit. "I don't know what to tell you," he says. "Your song is so strong, with so much energy and connection with the music, that I don't know how you could do it better. You are in The Zone!" All this from "Come Fly With Me." Well! That sure brought my spirits up. [divider type=""]

Thursday, September 29, 2016. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Prince Edward Island is famous for two things: its fishery (starring scallops, mussels and lobsters), and Anne Of Green Gables, a series of novels from the early 1900s that so captivated reader that the place where the novels were set has become a tourist attraction. I have never read the books, but I did tour the sites. So I stay on the ship today and try to catch my writing. And get in line at the information desk on the ship to see what can be done about our group's precarious return travel arrangements. So far, nothing. I should have gone into town, if only to eat some scallops. These are, after all, the ones you read about on menus as having come from P.E.I. But I can't work up the energy. I should follow the lead of my sister Lynn, who has been sleeping until ten a.m. or later. On the other hand, it's fun to have lunch with her, then afternoon tea or cappuccino or whatever sounds good. At four, I meet with the ship's photographer to have an official photograph of me for "The Voice Of The Ocean." He also hands over the group photograph he took of the Eat Club a few days ago. It's the best we have ever had for the Eat Club, and even though I have many extra copies, we still run out before I can grab one. I do, however, get a shot of me that everybody likes, although I'm not sure, myself. Dinner tonight with the Gianconas at the Crown Grille, the steakhouse on the Princess Caribbean. Princess has not gone as far as most other recent cruises I've taken in diversifying their restaurants. While they do have a dine-anytime schedule, there's a sameness to the offerings--even when it's the main dining room and the buffet under consideration. The two extra-price restaurants--Sabatini's and the Crown Grill, are the only major exceptions, with menus entirely of their own. Of the two, we liked Sabatini's better. The steaks were steaks, with not much of not going on. I have a bone-in strip, my favorite cut of beef. But it's hard to chew, even at the upcharge of $29 for the entire dinner. I'd call it the greatest disappointment in an otherwise excellent cruise.