ONE WEEK TO GO! ISLAND PRINCESS AND THE MEDITERRANEAN, HERE WE COME!

Erie, Pennsylvania
Monday, September 28, 2026
Cloudy, 63F

Island Princess, we will be on our way in one week!  TK decided about a year ago that 2026 would be the year that we outdo ourselves. This cruise is 50 days long, fifty days!  I will be the first to say that we are blessed to be able to enjoy such travels and we certainly adhere to the idea that we need travel while we can!!

We are almost packed, although we still have a lot to do and projects to wrap up. We do have our tours lined up, some with Princess Cruise Lines and some are private. 

This cruise leaves from Fort Lauderdale and returns to Fort Lauderdale---two Atlantic crossings.  Come along with us!!

ISLAND PRINCESS ITINERARY: October 6, 2026 to November 25, 2026

Tue, 10/06/26	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Wed, 10/07/26	At Sea
Thu, 10/08/26	At Sea
Fri, 10/09/26	Bermuda (West End)
Sat-Tue, 10/10-13/26	At Sea
Wed, 10/14/26	Azores Islands (Ponta Delgada), Portugal
Thu-Fri, 10/15-16/26	At Sea
Sat, 10/17/26	Seville (Cadiz), Spain
Sun, 10/18/26	At Sea
Mon, 10/19/26	Cartagena, Spain
Tue, 10/20/26	Mallorca (Palma), Spain
Wed, 10/21/26	Barcelona, Spain
Thu, 10/22/26	At Sea
Fri, 10/23/26	Corsica (Ajaccio), France
Sat, 10/24/26	Elba (Portoferraio), Italy
Sun, 10/25/26	Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy
Mon, 10/26/26	Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii)
Tue, 10/27/26	At Sea
Wed, 10/28/26	Crete (Chania), Greece
Thu, 10/29/26	Santorini, Greece
Fri, 10/30/26	Mykonos, Greece
Sat, 10/31/26	Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Sun, 11/01/26	Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus)
Mon, 11/02/26	Rhodes, Greece
Tue, 11/03/26	At Sea
Wed, 11/04/26	Corfu, Greece
Thu, 11/05/26	Kotor, Montenegro
Fri, 11/06/26	Split, Croatia
Sat, 11/07/26	Dubrovnik, Croatia
Sun, 11/08/26	At Sea
Mon, 11/09/26	Siracusa. Italy
Tue, 11/10/26	Valletta, Malta
Wed-Thu, 11/11-12/26	At Sea
Fri, 11/13/26	Gibraltar
Sat, 11/14/26	Casablanca, Morocco (for Marrakech)
Sun, 11/15/26	At Sea
Mon, 11/16/26	Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), Canary Islands
Tue-Tue, 11/17-24/26	At Sea
Wed, 11/25/26	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

WRAP UP THE NORTH, BALTIC SEAS AND THE ATLANTIC--GOODBYE SAPPHIRE PRINCESS!

Erie, Pennsylvania
Thursday, September 28, 2026
Cloudy, 63F

It is about time that we wrapped up the Sapphire Princess cruise! We left Halifax, Canada, and arrived in Boston on September 3, 2026. We loaded our luggage on a Princess bus for ease of getting it to the airport. The Customs check was done very easily on board the ship. 

The bus took us on a tour of Boston with only one stop. I thought we could have lunch at Faneuil Hall where we could buy one of the best lobster rolls, but that was not in the picture.   

One highlight was seeing the Family Heritage Experience (FHE) building. The newly renovated building was named in honor of philanthropist Thomas Bailey Hagen, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Harvard professor and host of the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It is located at 97 Newbury Street, Boston. Mr. Hagen bought the building and had it renovated for American Ancestors, the country’s oldest nonprofit genealogical organization.

The brown building in the middle is the one 

Tom Hagen bought and renovated

Airports are so much fun when one spends lots of time there. And our plane was delayed because of the big, devastating storm in Erie on Wednesday.  Since I was still hungry for a lobster roll, we spotted Legal Sea Foods. Their lobster rolls are terrific, so full of delicate treat, and we specified butter!

photo from the Internet, but the petite was stuffed 

with lobster just like this!

Finally, we were on our way to Chicago to catch our flight to Erie. That flight was delayed even more, and we did not arrive in Erie until 2 a.m. Denise was so sweet to pick us up at that time in the morning

Home at last, with so much to do to prepare for our next adventure, aboard the Island Princess starting October 6, and leaving from Fort Lauderdale!

 

 

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA: VIBRANT WATERFRONT BOARDWALK, AND MEETING AN OLD FRIEND!

Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Halifax, Nova Scotia
73F and sunny!

The schooner, Silva

To say that Halifax is the vibrant coastal capital of Nova Scotia, Canada, is an understatement. Its rich maritime history and beauty make the port spectacular.  I wish everyone in Erie could see the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk—all public, one of the longest continuous downtown boardwalks in the world.  Shops, hotels, upscale restaurants, cafes, chocolate shops, ice cream, food trucks, tall ships, ferries, public art, museums all along the way, obviously well-planned, totally accessible, and with parking nearby.   As I said when we first visited Halifax in 2022, how we wish Erie's bayfront on Presque Isle Bay could be so well-planned.

The population of Halifax is approximately 440,000. It is one of Canada's most historic Atlantic cities. 

Many immigrants were 

welcomed in Canada 

at the Port of Halifax

Boardwalk

The wave

We did not have an agenda today, so we strolled leisurely along the boardwalk, admiring the various sculptures, the 3 masted schooner in the process of docking, stopping in some of the shops.  We did intend to find the Bluenose II restaurant (https://bluenoseii.ca/) where we knew the lobster roll was good (2022), but one of the shop vendors told us The Canteen, a short ferry ride away, was voted the best lobster roll in Halifax by its residents.

From the Coast Community newsletter: “In the 2026 “Best Lobster Roll” category, The Canteen in Dartmouth was voted Gold Winner by The Coast Halifax community poll, beating out other top contenders like Evan’s Seafood and Tom’s Lobster Shack.”  TK and I were intrigued, and today the ferry was free for seniors (usually $3).  So, we hopped on the ferry for a 10 minute “sail” to Dartmouth, another part of Halifax.

Not too many people on the

ferry at 11:30 a.m.

On the ferry

What we did not know was that the Canteen’s signature “Crobster Roll” is a creative twist on the classic: a generous mix of Nova Scotia snow crab and lobster served on a toasted bun with truffle aioli, grainy mustard, and fresh dill.  I was having none of that—mustard on lobster???  TK, the Brave, said it was OK, I opted for a cheeseburger.  https://www.thecanteen.ca/

The Canteen on Portland

Lesson learned. Back to the ferry and the exquisite boardwalk.  TK purchased a Halifax Fire Department T-shirt, a fire department since 1784.  I was reading about the Halifax explosion that happened in 1917, and the response of the fire department and lost lives.  It was one of the worst maritime disasters ever.  The Halifax explosion of 1917 occurred when a munitions ship blew up in the harbor of Halifax and nearly 2000 people died and some 9000 were injured. It flattened more than one square mile of the city. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time, packing the equivalent of more than 3000 tons of TNT.  https://www.hfxfirehistory.ca/historical-events/the-halifax-explosion

Great ice cream here!

As we were returning to the ship, we just happened to see someone we know! In 2009, we met Vicki and Bernie Bowne, who now live in Nova Scotia, while on a Princess ship in the Caribbean, the same time that we met our partners in crime, Donna and Lawrence of Wisconsin and Nancy and Brian of California.  There was Vicki sitting on the Halifax Boardwalk!!! Such a sweet reunion.  Vicki and Bernie traveled to Halifax to meet two friends who were on our same ship, to spend the day together. We missed seeing Bernie—but it was special seeing Vicki. After retiring from their jobs in Vancouver, they relocated to Nova Scotia. Vicki now works fairly often as a Guest Lecturer on several cruise lines, including Princess and Holland America. 

Janie, TK, and Vicki!

That was our sparkling day! I kept thinking we would be in Boston tomorrow and that I had to pack today—to my surprise, I found out we still have another sea day! We fly out of Boston on Thursday!

TK’s Takes:  He enjoyed the sun today, even on the balcony.