July 28 and 29, 2024 - Canadian Cruise Vacation Days 9 and10 - Disembarkation day and Boston

Getting off the ship wasn't too time consuming. If fact I think we were at our Seaport area hotel before 9 am that morning.  The main challenge is finding your luggage.  Our luggage was in Pink group 6 and Dad and step-mother's was in a different group.  These seem like pretty small sections of luggage but really all the pink luggage ended up together regardless of the number etc.  So it was a small ocean of bags in each color group.  Still, it took at most, 15 minutes to gather it all up and get a taxi with the aid of a baggage handler.  Just like on the embarkation, everybody working at the Boston Cruise port was super helpful and polite.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel then headed into Boston, hoping to find something to eat and something to do while we waited for a hopefully early notice that at least one room was ready.  My first place to try visiting was Charlestown navy yard.  Our wonderfully helpful Lyft driver, John, had a ton of information and suggested that the Bunker Hill monument that I planned to start at was neither very interesting nor as near to the Navy Yard as I imagined.  The Navy Yard is the home of the USS constitution, America's oldest surviving Naval vessel which got the enduring nickname 'old Ironsides' by surviving several fierce battles with the British in the War of 1812.  We visited the USS constitution museum which had a lot of good information about the ship's war campaigns, multiple periods of decay and eventual restorations as well as the day to day life of the sailors who served on it.  We then self-guided through the WW II era destroyer which was part of the same park before taking the ferry back to Boston.

My next thought was lunch and I had hoped to head up to Harvard for it.  Unfortunately, the Red Line was being 'bustituted' during track work over the weekend so getting there would have become a 2 train and 1 (I imagine) long tedious bus ride.  So we went a few stops farther on the Orange line train we had already transferred to and got off near Back Bay, one of Boston's 3 big train stations for Amtrak/commuter rail.  We had lunch at The Salty Pig directly across the street from the train station.  Brian didn't eat much because he still wasn't feeling well but my step-mother, who isn't always able to eat much at all due to often not feeling well, ate her entire large sandwich of Turkey, Cheese and potato chips which was great.  I enjoyed my Polpette sandwich (meatballs) very much.

We took yet another Lyft ride back to the hotel after lunch and everybody napped.  For dinner we walked the half mile between the hotel and Publico, the place I had reservations at for dinner.  The reviews on dinner were mixed for sure.  I enjoyed my basil pesto pasta dish, which was served piping hot, and the Oregon Pinot Noir was enjoyable.  My dad's Bolognese with Tagliatelle pasta was flavorful but quite salty.  Brian had half of a chicken roasted with fingerling potatoes and beans.  The chicken's texture was a little weird and rubbery or sponge-like in spots.  The  service was good and the place looks great with a lot of outdoor seating and a cool residential neighborhood location that gave off a relaxed vibe.  Since it was pretty warm and humid out, I don't think the open indoor/outdoor dining room was ideal since it made our indoor table kind of warm and clammy.  So, like I said, Publico was a mixed bag.  My Dad still felt poor and they opted to get a ride back to the hotel while Brian and I leisurely walked the very short half mile back.

Monday started with a mission.  Originally I reserved a car just for Tuesday to be returned early Wednesday at home.  The thinking was that we would spend our 2 days in Boston riding transit and walking around.  With the various maladies of 3 of the 4 people in our group, walking was slow and not enjoyed by my parents.  So we either had to suffer through another awkward Lyft filled day of trying to do things in urban Boston without walking or we needed a car for another day.  Enterprise's website said (even days ago when I first looked) that there just weren't any cars available today.  I hoped that my smiling face at the airport might help my case.  So my dad and I took the walk/2 Silver line bus to 1 Logan shuttle bus marathon and got to the rental center pretty early this morning.  Though they were friendly and polite, they determined that they didn't see a way they could help us since they seemed truly sold out of cars.  Not wanting the long shlep to the airport to be in vain (let along trying to fill the day without a car) I walked over to the Hertz counter and was able to acquire a reasonable car albeit not at a reasonable cost.

 

I headed back to the hotel (Dad in passenger seat) and we stopped at a drug store and a breakfast place in East Boston near the airport to restock with bottled water, NyQuil and DayQuil, etc. Brian still felt poor and didn't sleep well last night so he opted to stay at the hotel while we headed out.  I took my parents up to Portsmouth NH and Kittery ME because it's a small city area that I personally like and the hour drive each way helped fill the day.  My step-mother and I walked a bit around town and she enjoyed the obviously older and different but charming and mostly well cared for houses around town.  We later drove around a little more with a brief stop at a shoreline nature preserve where I went on a brief walk alone to get some photos of the small harbor.

Still having time to fill I pointed us farther up I-95 to Portland Maine hoping for some nice ocean views.  Seeing signs for the Maine Mall, I thought that would provide easy and approachable choices for a light lunch before our much planned dinner at Legal Sea Foods back in Boston.  The mall was completely packed with people  It was hard to believe it was mid-day on a non-holiday adjacent Monday.  There were about 40 people in line for Panda Express and about 30 in line for a pizza place that must be well liked. We ordered from Johnny Rockets because it had a smaller line AND had stuff all 3 of us could or would eat whereas my step-mother in particular needs to be careful with what she eats with her digestive issues.  The food was fine and it was so busy everything was fresh and the food court had a lot of people (and oddly, dog) watching opportunities.  The mall walk, while very uninspired, went over well especially since it was indoors and level/easy.

Given that both my Dad and Brian aren't feeling well and my step-mother's abilities are impaired right now, I think tomorrow will be a short day dropping the parents off at Logan airport well ahead of their flights. Ideally I would like to entertain them and enjoy ALL the time we have available but realistically there just aren't many things we can do when 3 of the 4 of us don't feel great.  Getting on the road early will pay dividends for Brian and I also since we both return to the normal work schedule Wednesday.

So, aside from tonight's dinner, this family vacation is probably basically complete.  Overall we had good weather, a wonderful first Cruise experience and some nice family game playing time etc.  The health issues are frustration for all involved but unavoidable.  Thankfully we had 10 days together not just 3 so only part of our trip was impacted.  Being away from home, eating different (more rich and spicy etc) and larger quantities of food etc all can be challenging on the body.

Maybe a wrap-up post in a few days but maybe not depending on how tomorrow goes.  I do have a few good photos from the cruise to post.