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Sonya, Georgia Bruce, Peggy Faulk and I flew out of DFW to Newark, NJ, on Saturday, September 27, 2014. We barely made it to the ship, Carnival Splendor, in time to board. The published latest time to arrive at the ship was 3:30 PM for the 4 PM sailing and we arrived there at 3:29 PM. However, there were five or six travelers who arrived after us and they made it too.
The first thing that happened was a fire drill and we boarded too late to participate with most of the passengers. They were taking their life jackets and reporting to their assigned muster stations. The crew put those of us who arrived late in a separate small room and showed us a video after the others were done with their drill. Then we were released and we took some pictures as we departed New York.

New York Skyline

Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

The second day was a "Fun day at Sea". No port of call that day, just sailing along, eating, playing games, watching movies, etc. Did I mention eating? <grin> 

Day three, we spent the day docked at Boston. Georgia and Peggy went on an excursion that took in part of historic Boston and Cambridge. Sonya and I had seen most of the things offered on the excursions, so we stayed on the ship.

Day four was at Portland, Maine and there were several excursions available. Sonya and I went on a drive over to Kennebunkport and walked around the town. I got some clam chowder at a small place and Sonya and I also got some ice cream right next door. We looked this small town over for about an hour and then got back on our bus and rode around looking at the highlights of the area. This included a drive by the seaside summer home of George HW and Barbara Bush.

Entering Kennebunkport from Kennebunk	Entering Kennebunk from Kennebunkport
Click Here for more pictures of Kennebunkport

Day five. We went all the way to Saint John's, New Brunswick and Sonya, Peggy and I took an excursion around this small city.  We saw a few men in kilts and some interesting scenery, and visited the city's central market where lots of shops were set up under one roof. Sonya stayed on the bus, but I went in, looked the place over and picked out a nice print suitable for framing. There were six different scenes availble, and they had a package of six note cards (pen and ink sketches with envelopes) of these same six scenes, so I purchased one of these also. They can be sent, or framed. After the market visit, we got back on the bus for a short drive around the city and then back to the ship. Georgia took a different excursion, that visited covered bridges. She said she was given a lot of detailed information on how to build one of these and felt like she was qualified to design and build her own.

Carnival Splendor docked at St. John's	Saint John's Central Market
Click Here for more pictures of Saint John's

Day six found us at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we went to a small fishing village (permanent population just 39) named Peggy's Cove. There were several tour buses there so the town population more than quadrupled while we were there! There was some pretty picturesque scenes there, including an old lighthouse. There was also a nice restaurant co-located with a nice gift shop. Sonya and I got something for lunch there, took some pictures and got back on the bus. Our tour guide informed us that Nova Scotia meant New Scotland, something I did not know. We were taken by a cemetery where our guide told us over 150 protestant victims of the Titanic disaster were buried. There were Jewish, protestant and Catholic victims and they buried each group in the appropriate cemetery for their faith. This was our final excursion before returning to the home port at New York.

Excursion bus driver in kilt	Peggy's Cove from bus door
Click Here for more pictures of Halifax

New World Trade Center Tower Disappears Into Clouds	Ground Zero Reflection Pool
The World Trade Center was not completely accessible due to construction.

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