Queen Mary 2: Halifax Port

NYC/Queen Mary 2/Oxford/Paris 2015 Travel Highlight Blog
Queen Mary 2: Halifax Port
July 16, 2015

The Queen Mary 2 cruise only ports at one location on the journey from New York City to Southampton, England -- in sunny Halifax, Nova Scotia! This was quite perfect as I'd always wanted to go visit Halifax, and as a Canadian it's a bit odd I'd never been there before. This was a fun short visit to Halifax and we went "out and about" to go explore and stretch our legs :)

Another cruiseliner in the bay

Oh, Canada!

Arret!!

This random funny boat

Halifax downtown was surprisingly small -- I wasn't sure how much time we'd have to truly explore it all, but soon realize it was only a few short streets long. It was easy to see all of the downtown quickly and we took some photos and enjoyed the wandering. Tim Hortons was necessary, of course, but much funnier was how suuuper into the McLobster this place seemed to be -- we walked past a McDonald's and there were multiple advertisements for it. Lobster and seafood must be big here, but the McLobster!? That was surprising.

Thank goodness it's not Pacific Lobster?!

It's McLobster season!

Up the hill we went to the fancy public library, where we went up to the roof for a great view of the city and of our HUGE boat in the harbour.

Check out our Queen Mary 2 in the harbour!

We went to a nice park and sat on a good bench there, just enjoying the sunshine.

We went for a nice hike allll the way to the other side of downtown, checking out a street with some massive houses on it and a fun little park with a pond on the other end. Was nice to get lots of fresh air and a nice long walk in.

Now that's "Off-Colour" with a "u", please

We stopped at a coffee shop on the way back and were reading a local activity newspaper called "The Coast", looking for a special event. It turned out they had a special Halifax Food Truck Party run by the magazine -- it just so turned out that this Food Truck event was happening RIGHT in the afternoon on the only day we were in town. What a lucky break! We walked back to the other side of town to the Museum of Natural History parking lot and waited for the food truck area to open, and then managed to get a whole bunch of great local food. So amazing.

A little grassy area where we relaxed in the shade while waiting for the Food Truck Party to start

Got a pretty solid Fish Taco here

"Halifax Press" is a grilled cheese food truck, this was great. I got the "Classic Press": "A perfect blend of three Nova Scotia cheeses melted between two slices of garlic toasted sourdough from Julieo's Bakery. Comes with a zesty dill pickle." It was glorious!!! Also you had me at "three Nova Scotia cheeses".

This doughnut place was crazy, you get a few small doughnuts with crazy complicated toppings.

These doughnuts were very messy.

Here's my Halifax Press grilled cheese

Our final stop was Garrison Brewing, where we got to try some specials like the Raspberry Wheat and the Trop Yard Radler which was a perfect shandy-style beverage for a warm day.

We wandered by a wine shop and grabbed a few local things to take onto the boat to share over the next few days.

After lots of tasty local food, some Tim Hortons, and several hours of walking, we were tired and very much ready to board the boar again, toast our wine together, and head off towards England.

This was a great stop and also a fun way to experience Halifax in a concise and easy way. The food truck party was SUCH a win and prime local experience, I was so pleased we were able to go to that. And sitting in the park on such a nice warm day was awesome, too.

Next stop... many nights later in England! So we bid farewell to the land and the next time we'd see any land at all, it would be the coast of England!

Queen Mary 2: New York City to Halifax

NYC/Queen Mary 2/Oxford/Paris 2015 Travel Highlight Blog
Queen Mary 2: New York City to Halifax
July 14-15, 2015

And off we went! We left NYC and headed to the Brooklyn Ferry Terminal to board the Queen Mary 2 -- the first cruise any of the Jutans had ever been on, and quite a fancy affair! The Queen Mary 2 is part of the Cunard Line, a series of elegant cruise lines run from Southhampton, England. As per Wikipedia: "Queen Mary 2 was intended for routine crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, and was therefore designed differently from many other passenger ships." Cunard's vibe as compared to other cruises is formal evenings, British tea every day, ballroom dancing, and so on. As you may suspect, the clientele edges towards the older side :) You might think that a bit odd, but this added so much charm and it was SUPER AWESOME. Tea and Scones EVERY DAY?!? YEP. Now we're talkin'.

The big event of course on the boat would be my sister's wedding ceremony -- it would be after the first stop in Halifax. So, first, some initial impressions and images from our first couple of nights on the boat: leaving New York harbour and en-route to Halifax.

We arrived to our cabin to find some champagne (fanced!!!) and got settled and wandered the decks looking out at the harbour. The CRAZIEST THING about a cruise like this is THERE IS 24-HOUR FREE ROOM SERVICE INCLUDED. Yes that was insane. We went absolutely nuts. To start, we ordered 2 caesar salads and, obv, I had to try the cheesecake.

So yeah, that was freakin' insane that the room service is just always available. This turned out to be a verrrrryy widely used button on our telephone. Haha.

Soon they honked the horns and told us it was time for the boat to leave the dock. Folks went on the top of the boat to watch it leave the harbour, and enjoy the view.

We then sat down in the main dining room for our first formal dinner. It was like a classy restaurant where you've already paid for dinner, and you can order multiple entrees, if you like! We ate dinner all-together all of the evenings, and after the first dinner we all went up to the top deck again to see the boat passing under the bridge -- this is a very tight fit but it always makes it under!

Dinner with the Statue of Liberty in the background!

Enjoying the company and the nightlife views of New York City!

Watching as we go right underneath the bridge!

Very close!

We're clear!

Mom and Dad enjoying

Michal and Me looking very classy

Fancy Norm and Glenn

Dad being very "Larry David"

We explored the ship, and Mom & Dad took a moment to have an adorable dance moment in the ballroom :) Michal and I later wandered by the on-ship "club", which was expectedly empty!

The crazy thing about a cruise is, there is ALWAYS free food somewhere. Such as, late at night in this spot called King's Court, we scored some tea and random snacks.

Let's eat something again!

The next day we wandered the ship, explored further, had afternoon tea, tried out some Bingo (yes!!) and had another nice sitdown dinner all together. After dinner, we all sat down to give gifts and for my Mom to present some special stuff like a scrapbook she'd put together.

I did not win. But it was fun anyway.

The very popular afternoon tea

Mom looking very interested in Dad's dinner

Gift time!

The soon-to-be-married couple!

A great first two nights on the boat was following by a stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia (see next post!)

Featured on ABC News Nightline: 'Rogue One' Cast, Filmmakers on Movie's Epic Battles, Special Effects

Exciting ABC News Nightline tonight, featuring a peek into our ILM R&D Virtual Production tools! My buddy John Levin and I make a quick appearance :)

Check it out!

'Rogue One' Cast, Filmmakers on Movie's Epic Battles, Special Effects
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/rogue-cast-filmmakers-movies-epic-battles-special-effects-44157286