Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

We arrived in Halifax about 9am, or so. We didn't plan any excursion at this stop because we were hoping to connect with my Uncle Carl (my Mom's brother) and his wife Roxanne, who live in Dartmouth, about 15 minutes away.

This little tugboat pictured here, named Theodore Too, rushed out to greet our ship as we pulled into the harbor and sort of escorted us to our pier. I learned later in the gift shop that there are children's books about this little tugboat.

We all ate our usual breakfast in the Garden Cafe. Back in the cabin, I showered first so I could quickly make my way off the gangway and down into the big gift shop/customer service area at the pier to find a phone from which I could call Uncle Carl.

We made arrangements for Carl and Roxanne to pick us up around noon and we all had lunch together. They had to get to the airport by 2pm to pick up Roxanne's parents, so we did some quick catching up while we ate. They drove us up to the highest point in Halifax, so we could enjoy the view and it was within walking distance back to the ship, so we could get back on our own.

We took about an hour to walk leisurely down the hill, through downtown Halifax, and along the boardwalk, down to pier 21 where our ship was docked. It was rather warm and Katie was fading so of course, an ice cream cone was necessary to refresh her enough to make it the rest of the way! It was a nice way to get our exercise for the day.

When we returned to the ship, we headed straight for the kiddie pool. This might not sound all that attractive for the parents, but on this day it wasn't crowded at all, so it was actually enjoyable!


After dinner, we took Katie to the playroom while we went to a game show hosted by Ross Mathews (aka Ross the Intern from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno). It was a family-friendly game show starring kids and parents who competed to see who knew their family the best. It was cute. All throughout the cruise, we saw Ross frequently, but never did introduce ourselves. Plenty of people did approach him though and he was friendly to everyone. Nice guy.

We then went to the late show which was more stand-up comedy from Julie Goldman. Funny, funny, funny.