Sept 3. - Halifax

Another fantastic day. Low 70's, sunny, a few scattered clouds.

I have been to Halifax a number of times. The first was almost 70 years ago. Took the Blue Nose ferry from Bar Harbor. I remember a little of the ferry ride, nothing of Halifax. For my last visit it was cold and rainy but we did lots of touring..

We take a short walk off the ship and down the dock a bit. Lynn's daughter will be here in two days, arriving on a different ship. We took a picture so she can take one in the same place. The stupid little things tourists do.

Another sideline on Princess technology. I went to the front desk with several questions about disembarkation at the end of the cruise. She was almost clueless except to say I should get a flyer in my cabin tonight.

Separately I asked a staff member which direction to the gangway. She sent me the wrong way. Common sense and basic knowledge is lost when you become too reliant on technology.

A strange Canadian law restricts the number of bars that can be open while the ship is in port. The thought being that people will go ashore to get a beverage. What it really does is put a lot of extra work on the servers as they have to go further to serve guests.

A new experience for me. Midafternoon suddenly the ship lost all power. The captain immediately told everyone not to panic and just stay where you are and avoid walking in the darkened hallways and not to attempt to use the elevators.

I just happened to be in our cabin, only aware of the problem as the automatic lights blinked on an off several times as the power went down.

Within 5 minutes the captain informs everyone that we were connected to shore power, and it was the shore power that failed. Our engines have been started and they are in the process of restoring all services starting with the stalled elevators.

The automatic lights in the cabins is another well intentioned failure. The intent was if you get out if bed, a light comes on under your night stand. As you approach the bathroom another light comes on.  The only problem is that the lights are triggered by the slighest movement. Roll over in bed and the lights cime on and wake you. A pillow strategically placed on the floor helps in most cases.

And of course the slot by the door that turns everything off when you leave the room has been bypassed with the insertion of a pemanent card.

So I've digressed. Dinner is good again tonight. The only hitch, the carbonation has failed at the dining room beverage station used by the servers. Every drink they served was flat until I pointed out what the problem was. The staff didn't catch it and all the guests knew was that the drinks didn't taste right.  Replace many drinks and all fixed.

The seas remin calm. I risk saying this but the weather is much nicer than I expected. Tomorrow we will be in Sydney.