Boston to Montreal, Saturday, August 31, 2019

The morning broke beautifully clear, sunshine and quiet. Abigail and Mark walked around the block to the McDonald’s facing Boston Commons to secure breakfast and caffeine. We returned, ate and then began the big pack up. While working away, we noticed increasingly a loud and constant noise. We looked out the window to discover two helicopters hovering above the area, evidently over Boston Commons. Abigail, ever the techno-warrior, logged on to discover that there was a parade scheduled, beginning at Boston Commons. The street in front of our hotel was blocked off from traffic. To add insult to injury, it was an anti-Pride parade - Heteros are Upseteros! Really???

We checked out and dragged our bags a block and a half to meet our 12:45 Uber ride to the dock; lovely driver who got us to the pier in 20 minutes. There was heavy security all along the way where the parade was to occur, due to the possibility of anti-hetero activity. One can only hope. We made it easily through ship security, each of us with our allotted one bottle of wine in our carry on luggage. You are allowed more, but are then subject to an $18.00 per bottle corkage charge. Since most prices of the wine they were to be selling on board was $18.00 or more, it seemed foolish to bring additional. Deb was able to distract them with her re-built knee, so they forgot to check her carry-on for her extra bottles of soda. Ha!

We dutifully attended the mandatory life boat drill (attendance is taken) and then strolled the decks, acquainting ourselves with the amenities and areas to play, knit, gamble or look at the stars. We cast off shortly before 5:00 PM, and slowly made our way out of Boston harbor, bidding farewell to this clearly historic American city. We all promised one another that we would be back to really tour the city and not be distracted by visiting relatives, shopping or meetings.

First order of business was to stop at Guest Services to figure out how to access the Wi-Fi package we purchased, how to add the shipboard “navigator” to our cell phones, and other general information that somehow missed our grasp. The line was short (and filled with Baby-boomers.)

We returned to our “staterooms” for a quick refresher and then headed up to the Lido Deck for dinner, foregoing the dining room sit down this first night. As usually, for the novice among us, the food buffet was an eye-opener. We dined and learned how to take advantage of the wine or soda packages we had pre-purchased (not as easy as it seems,) and then headed out for more exploration. Abigail descended to her room for a little knitting, Deb, Deb, Tim and I found a bar to have a night cap in and we all returned for a sleep around 9:30. A tiring but fun first day on the water.