Lobster Everyday

As most of you knew, I sailed on the Holland America Maasdam cruise ship on the May 17th voyage from Montreal to Boston. They call it the Canada / New England itinerary. When asked by my brother-in-law, why I chose that cruise, I answered that we were always curious about Eastern Canada and the Eastern seaboard. Now I can say that I have been to the Maritimes and visited Bar Harbor in Maine and Boston.

I did not want to spend a lot of money on shore excursions so I kept to a budget. I also did not fall for the marketing ploy that most shore excursion desks seem to do, hurry me to preorder before the cruise sails in case a particular tour sells out. I normally wait until I get onboard, attend the port talks then decide the best tour for the value.

Here are the shore excursions that I took:

1. City Tour of Old & New Quebec – If I knew what I know today, I would have skipped this tour and walk into Old Quebec myself. The main sight is the Chateau Frontenac which you see on top of the hill when you sail in. It’s a nice walk from the ship and if climbing stairs is not your thing, you can take a funicular up the hill for a small price. 

2. Panoramic Island Drive – Charlottetown is pretty bland for our taste so if we had skipped a tour, we would have been bored. The drive was ok with the highlight being the Confederation Bridge and the souvenir shops they take you to. My advice: skip buying the Paderno cookware and save yourself lugging it home. You can buy Paderno at Winner’s when you get home.

3. Titanic Tour: The Halifax Connection – After reading comments on the internet about this tour, I was prepared to be sombre when we began this tour. They drive you through residential streets to various houses owned by passengers who sailed the Titanic then they visit the Fairview cemetery where most of the victims are buried. The tour also includes admission to the Maritime Museum where they have a collection of recovered artifacts from Titanic. We spent the morning touring the Halifax port and the Citadel on our own and left the afternoon for the bus tour.

4. Sydney, Nova Scotia – We decided to skip the tours and walk into town ourselves. One of the best sights that we saw was the Jost Heritage house located at 54 Charlotte Street. The admission fee was $2 and it was well spent because volunteers greet you and tell you some history about the house, its inhabitants and how life was back in the 1800’s. Another house up the block called the Cossit House, was not worth the $2 admission that they charge. We also visited a local craft show at a church and talked to some of the locals. (Next time around, weather permitting – visit the Bird Islands of Cape Breton to see puffins, eagles and seals)

5. Acadia National Park – For $39, you don’t get a lobster out of it but you save yourself $60 and you still see the main sights of what Bar Harbor has to offer. The bus winds its way up from the port to the top of Cadillac Mountain where you have a 360 degree view of the area. It is spectacular up there but it will be more dramatic if you go in the fall.

6. Boston City Highlights & Airport Transfer – Considering a taxi would have cost just $20 from port to airport, this tour was not worth it. They charged $71 each and for $50, we had a drive-by of MIT, Boston Tea Party wharf, downtown Boston and where the Celtics play.

Aside from the shore excursions, I would highly recommend that you skip the tours that includes lobster on the menu and order it on the ship (at the Pinnacle Grill where you get 2 tails for a $10 fee). In Bar Harbor, go to the Westside Cafe on West street and tell them you want the special that the ship advertises on their newsletter. For $24.95 (a saving of $4), you get a whole lobster, a cup of New England chowder and a slice of their delicious blueberry pie.

And you ask…how did I gain my 2 extra pounds?

 

Save $15 with Alamo Car Rental

If you were the person that commented on my blog about how coupons can save you money and was wondering about other car rental codes then this blog is for you.

I just received some discount codes to use for Alamo car rentals. I used it tonight and rebooked my car rental in June, saving myself $15 off a weekend rental. Originally, I used a code listed on our website and got a daily rate of $15.75 per day for a compact car while all the other agencies were charging $17 to $38.75 per day. With the additional coupon code 15OFF08 entered in the coupon field, I received a discount of $15 off the total of my rental. Instead of paying $98, I’m going to pay $79 for a 3-day rental. You may want to keep this code in your pocket because it can be used up to June 30, 2008.

If you are renting in the US, try using the contract id: USA to save up to 10% off participating locations. Or if you renting in Europe, get a free upgrade when you use the contract id: EUROPE1. Both codes expire on June 30, 2008.

Transatlantic Tunnel? London to NYC

It looks like something from the past, however it uses state of the art technology to broadcast live images from one end to another. I’m talking about the Telectroscope that promises to connect people in London to New York via a transatlantic tunnel. Such an ambitious project was conceived in 1884 by Alexander Stanhope St. George who took a miserable 10-day voyage across the Atlantic on the SS Adriatic. Alexander explored the possibility of digging a tunnel from the shores of New York to the shores of London. But after many sleepless nights, he came to a conclusion that it was not a viable solution to transporting people and goods through the tunnel. He continued with his obsession and worked on a design that utilized mirrors. Digging began and a tunnel was starting to take shape. But in 1892, the ocean breached the tunnel roof, causing it to cave in and drown fifteen men. After that incident, Alexander had a hard time recruiting workers to continue the work on the tunnel. Eventually the project would fold and his obsession would lead to his insanity. Alexander died in 1917 in an asylum.

Many years later, an artist named Paul St. George was rummaging through his grandmother’s attic and found drawings and plans that Alexander drew. On May 22nd 2008, the Telectroscope was revealed to the public. If in New York, go down to the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge. In London, it is situated on the south side of the river near the Tower Bridge. More information can be found at our website including deals for New York and London.

Cruising with Holland America

Before we chose Holland America to sail on, we were warned by several travel agents to expect lots of old people. And yes, I have to admit that we did see a lot of old people on our Canada/ New England cruise last week but we also saw some young people onboard as well. The one thing I had noticed about Holland America is that there were fewer activities provided by the cruise director. No line dances, language classes, flower arranging, horse races, wine tasting nor napkin folding lessons. This was evident on the day at sea where we spent most of our day in the library playing Scrabble.

Unlike most of the Royal Caribbean ships, the Maasdam lacked a golf simulator, a par 3 putting green, basketball court and a rock climbing wall. I didn’t know whether the ship had a disco or not, but everyone seem to be in bed by 10pm. 

I had no regrets sailing with Holland America. The food was excellent and the service was top notched. Unlike our Mediterranean Cruise last September, we were served lobster on several occasions. The shore excursions were quite affordable and provided informational tour guides and sufficient bathroom breaks. If you’ve cruised with Princess or Royal Caribbean, I think you owe yourself a Holland America cruise. They seem to take service to a whole new level, rather than to allow you to pick up your own food at the buffet.

Bazooka for $10

I bought a Bazooka today for only $10. Originally marked for $60, Tour Edge’s Bazooka 5-wood sold for more than 80% off. I also picked up a Tiger Woods sweater originally marked for $400 for just $10. And I added 2 more Ashworth golf shirts to my closet for $15 each. Where did I get all these great deals? At Golf Town. But you have to hurry because these deals won’t last.

Also at Winner’s, I found a box of 12 Nike Power Distance Super Far balls for $14.99. If you like Slazenger Raw balls, you can pick up a box for $12.99. They also had Titleist Sunday bags and golf travel bags for $49.99. In the clothing section, they had PGA Tour gift packs that included a hat, socks and a t-shirt for $16.99 and Titleist caps for $7.99.

Outside of the golf department, Winner’s is selling iHomeAudio alarm clocks and speaker systems for iPods at internet prices. My favorite is still the Wireless Sound System Model Evolve by Griffin that allows you to move the speakers around once your iPod is connected. 

More Coupons, More Savings for You

Looking to rent a car but don’t have a coupon or promo code to use? If you are looking for codes, follow my blog or better yet, add it to your blogroll because I often write about it. That’s what this blog is all about – helping my fellow blog reader save money here and there.

I flew through Chicago on Sunday and visited the Brookstone kiosk at the airport. By the till, I found a coupon that will help save $15 off your $80+ purchase from June 29th to July 26th. Be sure to use 15JULY upon checkout. Or save $40 off your $160+ purchase using 40JULY. I have my eyes on one of those cool video eyewear devices that you connect to your iPod and lets you see a virtual 62″ movie screen through a pair of sunglasses.

Heading off to Palm Springs anytime soon? If so, I have a promo code for you to use if you plan to stay at Aqua Caliente. Use UNH0508 and save some money on your hotel stay. 

And talking about car rentals, get a single class upgrade free when you use the offer code UUPZ016 with Budget.

Visiting Montreal

When we arrived in Montreal, we were greeted by rain. From the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport, we took a cab to our hotel in downtown Montreal for about $30. We chose to stay at Le Square Phillips hotel because of three reasons: (1) it was close to the underground city and (2) it had great reviews in TripAdvisor and (3) it was one of the hotels in the Sweet Deal Package offered by Tourisme Montreal. We were worried when the cab driver did not know about the whereabouts of this hotel but after I gave him the street address, he found his way to the hotel without a hitch. It was truly a sweet deal because we paid $166 for the first night and $83 for the second night. With the package, we also received a gift bag containing a nice portfolio to keep our passports, air tickets and credit cards organized, a shopping discount card for various shops in the underground city and 2 privilege passport coupons for Casino de Montreal valued at $40. 

Before leaving for Montreal, I booked a city tour with Isango for $20 per person. After leaving our bags with the hotel bell desk, we walked up to rue Saint Catherine and headed toward Peel Street where the meeting point of the tour was. It was a nice walk, passing familiar names such as American Eagle, Old Navy, Guess and Hudson Bay. When we arrived at 1255 Peel Street, we noticed there was a visitor center on the ground floor of this federal looking building. Inside the tourist center was a Grayline bus tour office. There we traded in our Isango voucher for 2 tickets to a Grayline City Tour worth $72. Booking with Isango, I saved over $32 for the same tour.

It was an excellent bus tour, giving us a great overview to the sights of Montreal including the Biodome, McGill University, 1976 Summer Olympics Stadium, Veodrome, St Joseph’s Oratory, Parc Royal,  Biosphere, Old Montreal, Jacques Cartier bridge and downtown Montreal. 

After the tour, we chose to return to the Montreal Tower Observatory and tour the Biodome located next to it by subway. We took the funicular up to an observation deck of the highest inclined tower in the world and from there, we were treated to a wonderful 360 degree view of Montreal. It was a clear day and we could see the Laurentian mountains that were 50 miles away. Afterwards, we took the 45 degree inclined funicular down and toured the Biodome. The Biodome was formerly the site of the Velodrome which hosted cycling and judo events of the Summer Olympics. Now it is a replica of four ecosystems where visitors can walk through it and see birds and animals living in these ecosystems. 

On our last day in Montreal, we walked into the Bay and went downstairs to the basement where the pathways led us to the underground city. There, we found three floors of shops and boutiques that spanned across many city blocks. Similiar to Pacific Centre in Vancouver but alot larger, this was the place to shop in Montreal if you had all week. 

Back to Rain

I woke up to rain. Luckily my brother-in-law made a call yesterday to cancel our round on Mount Lorette in K-Country this morning. Otherwise, we would have been drenched.

Visiting Montreal, Quebec City, Charlottetown, Halifax, Sydney, Bar Harbor and Boston was nice. In the next few days, I’m hoping to blog about our experience and what we saw and missed. Overall, it was a nice cruise. We had our fair share of lobster and I managed to gain just 2 pounds from all that eating.

It’s good to be back.

In and Out of Boston

We arrive in Boston today and will disembark. Shortly afterwards, we will make our way to the airport to fly home. It turns out that my niece will not be meeting up with us because she left for Madrid, Spain on May 3rd. It’s unfortunate for us not to tour Boston like we thought we would. If the cruise line offered something like a city tour followed by a airport transfer, we would have bought it. But they don’t have anything. Strange. Everybody on board requiring to fly off from the airport will have to hail a cab or find a way themselves. Again, it’s strange that the cruise line did not offer anything as far as transfers to their passengers. I will think twice about sailing with Holland America again.

We will get back pretty late this evening. I plan to get in, shower and go to sleep because I have an early morning tee time on Mount Lorette in K-Country. There I’m meeting up with my old coworkers from Encana. I hope the weather there is as nice as in Boston today which is in the low 20’s (celsius).

I Hear a Symphony

I hear Diana Ross was in town last night. I think it must have been a good concert. Talking about Diana Ross’ song, ‘I Hear a Symphony’ – here’s a cool device from Sharper Image called the BEAMZ. It is a desktop device that utilizes laser beams. When you wave your hands over these beams, the device streams music through your PC. It doesn’t take any talent to make music with the BEAMZ so it’s perfect for me. I like to play a musical instrument but don’t have the patience to learn how to read musical notes. You might be the same. Check out the video on Sharper Image.

Anyways, the BEAMZ sells for $599.99, a little pricey but it sure looks like fun.