Here's the information related to the two tours:
Wilmington Historic Mansions Excursion - 3 hours long, activity level 2, and restrooms available. For some reason the little camera icon was left off both of these tours but I'm sure it was fine. This excursion was $55 per person. On the excursion information page, it's listed as a trolley tour that ends with a tour of "a local historic mansion." On Ali's schedule, it says a scenic tour of Wilmington via motor coach with a "closer look at the Bellamy mansion." We learned from new friends later who went on this tour that they were supposed to be able to go into the mansion and now couldn't. We also learned later from Robert and Stephanie that Ali had been calling corporate ACL repeatedly to secure confirmation that the tour could go inside the mansion. They finally told her the night before that they couldn't reserve it.
Wilmington Free Time Trolley - 3 hours long (or until you choose to come back), and activity level 1. This tour was complimentary. Looking back on these two tour descriptions now, it's obvious how this is really just a trolley shaped shuttle into town but when described during the first day's presentation, it was explained as a narrated loop through town that you could then get off as desired to shop etc. If that's what you're hoping for too on your trip, I'd stay away from anything billed as "complimentary" unless you already know what's in town to go to.
With no real rush in the morning, we took our time heading to breakfast. Last night's crab stuffed beef tenderloin - meet today's Poached Eggs Seafood Hash with lobster, crab, shrimp, and hollandaise.
I continued to work my way through the Pancakes & More section instead with an order of waffles, bacon, and sausage. I'm not normally a fan of bacon at breakfast because it's usually super crispy but I figured I had to see how they made it once. Verdict? Still not a fan but the waffles were good.
With time to kill and no other activity scheduled for the morning, I decided to wander the port area and see what I could discover. The first thing I discovered once off the ship was that we were docked at a pier that was at sea level and everything else in this marina was up on a higher level. I learned later by watching the morning tour people head to the bus that if you exit the ship and turn right, you can walk the short way around the raised level which leads to a ramp up to the top. At this time though I turned left being only able to see the stairs at the far end of the dock and figuring that was the only way up. The whole time I'm picturing all of my fellow passengers with mobility issues having to walk this far. On the plus side, it gave me tons of extra exercise, a much quieter solo walk, and I got to enjoy walking around both our ship and the yachts parked along the same level.
Here's what the "aunch" looks like from the side. In this picture you can also get a better view of the platform used when boarding the tender.
I climbed the stairs to the main level and walked over to look back down with a wave at the deckhand manning the gangway. The main level is a great vantage point for checking out the many small personal boats and rentable boats the marina has to offer. Do you ever look at a warning label and wonder who thought to do that very thing causing the label? I passed a two story boat that advertised being able to rent for parties and weddings but no overnight stays. Sounds like that would have been an interesting backstory.
I walked next past some parking garages to get up to true street level in hopes that there would be a nearby store. Alas, all I saw was highways in multiple directions. Back to the ship I headed in time to see the bus show up for the morning tour. I think I might have some reservations about boarding a bus named after Cape Fear:
We decided to grab lunch on the ship today before heading out on the trolley.
I went with the shrimp wrap and it was mighty tasty. I also appreciated the regular potato chips versus kettle chips.
Unfortunately, the service was slow and we opted to leave before dessert. Our new friends told us that the peanut butter pie was heavenly. I asked if they had anymore at dinnertime tonight and unfortunately the answer was no. We noticed several menu items repeat during the second week but my hopes for a peanut butter pie reappearance never came to be.
When we reached the main deck to pick up the trolley, a good sized crowd gathered and it was getting well past the 1:30PM start time. Ali walked past us and up to the street level where the trolley must have been waiting because she soon came back down to us by riding on the trolley. The trolley did have a wheelchair lift but there was no management of how many people got on so by the time the passenger in her walker (with a seat) got up on the lift, there was no seats left for her and her husband on the regular benches. Her husband spent the ride holding one side of her walker in place on the wheelchair tracks and I held the other side. Thinking there was more to come after the first stop at some bookstore, I offered to move to the back couple seats where the legroom is hindered by wheel covers so they could have a proper seat but they declined to continue with the trolley ride.
When the trolley driver came to the back to operate the wheelchair lift, they informed him they weren't getting off. We told him we'd be staying on as well intending to simply enjoy the visits to the other stops. This is when he informed us that there was no other stops, he would only be taking people here and back to the ship. Though annoyed, we tried to make the best of it by getting off and wandering among the shops and restaurants. I tried seeking out a pharmacy on my phone but after a couple blocks the area went from quaint small town to homeless camps and we were approached a couple times asking for money. Dad wasn't interested in repeating our attempts to see the town the hard way and we turned to go back toward the bookstore. On one of the street corners, I noticed a sign indicating it to be a stop for the city's free Hop On/Hop Off trolley and suggested we stop to wait for it. Dad was only willing to wait if it was soon to arrive so I used my phone to look up the schedule and found that the next scheduled visit to this stop was within 25 minutes. That scheduled time came and went. We gave it about 10-15 more minutes and when nothing came I gave up and agreed to head all the way back to the bookstore. We ended up waiting another 40-50 minutes before the ship's contracted trolley returned (so much for running every 15 minutes). As if it had heard me when I said moments earlier, if this trolley doesn't show in the next 5 minutes, I'm calling Ali.
Ali had tried adding some new activities to today's schedule with a 2:30PM session of Bingo and a 3:15PM session of self-host blackjack. Unfortunately, our delays with the trolley made us miss the Bingo session and I heard later that no one had showed up to play. Another change to the schedule was replacing what used to be called "Office Hours" is now called "Rebooking Hours." To us, that just came off as "we only want to talk to you if you're ready to book another cruise with us." Ali also added a specific time this afternoon to meet her in the office, dubbed "Cruise Couch," for "finalizing your next cruise."
Dad headed down to the Chesapeake Lounge to listen to Rachel's talk about South Carolina. I knew I needed some time to be by myself and cool down from the frustrations of the afternoon and the multiple little annoying moments that had all reached their boiling point. I used the time to share my issues on social media and in an email to ACL. I realized later that I should have sent it to the specific person noted in our mid cruise survey instead of the main customer service email. To this day, I'm still waiting on any response to my report from ACL on any forum. They however, have already sent us a "Welcome to Eagle Society" booklet with several referral cards and a 2020 wall calendar featuring their ships.
It was also at this point that I found solace in the simple focused task of working on the latest puzzle someone got out to start putting together in the 2nd deck lounge. Others would come and go working on the puzzle and I loved coming back from tours the next few days to see the progress they'd made. There was often times when I had the lounge to myself and would sit there working on the puzzle so long, people would walk by once and then again a couple hours later to find me still there. I did take breaks as my joints would protest or my eyes begin to cross but would soon relish the chance to return. I enjoy the logic of all puzzle style activities and every trip I kick myself for not picking up some of those puzzle books to enjoy on the trip. My form bent over the puzzle trying to match the red yarn in this corner versus the slightly different patterned red yarn in this other corner of the cat themed puzzle got to be such a familiar sight that other passengers dubbed me "the puzzle girl." I'd be on a tour days later and in greeting, fellow passengers would simply ask "Did you finish the puzzle yet?"
No worries, I took a break to reunite with Dad for dinner.
Who doesn't want a bowl of warm tomato soup when they're needing some comfort food?
Not seeing anything that really screamed "Wow, pick me!" on the entrée list, we opted to order off menu tonight. Frankly, if anything on the list did scream, I'd definitely be ordering off menu! Tonight's meal was a winner with a bacon cheeseburger and the good chips.
Kevin asked each of us if we wanted ketchup, mustard, and/or mayo and they came as their own plate of three little cups. It's the little things like that that I adore about cruising. You could order something as commonplace or mundane as a hot dog and fries and get your ketchup in a little fancy dish or serving bowl. We also learned from Kevin (after he accidentally misspoke and offered us fries instead of chips with our burgers) that they don't have the capabilities onboard to make fries with any regularity like you might find on a big ship's buffet or poolside grill. The one time it was offered early in the cruise as a side to some dish had to have been pre-planned and prepared in some limited special way.
While I can polish off a cheesecake with ease, I rarely go for more than a couple bites of a cake or pastry style dessert. I've recently been into trying Bread Pudding, soufflés, and similar desserts so I was curious to try tonight's offering of Bread and Butter Pudding with Dried Cranberries. Or as Dad called every tiny shriveled up fruit invader in his food, raisins. Not a fan of the raspberry syrup but the bread underneath for the most part was good.
Dad returned to the cabin to relax and I went back to the lounge for puzzle time. He soon came back down venting that during turndown, we'd been left a bill for this first week in our cabin. While this was one of the few indications we'd had that this trip was to be billed as two separate bookings, Dad was actually mad about getting a bill that charged us both for excursions. Not only was Dad supposed to be comped for his excursions but we were both charged for the excursions we let Ali know that we wanted to cancel. He was able to catch Cheree in the office and she cleared the incorrect charges. We talked to some new friends who also planned to stay for both weeks and they never got a bill at all for this first week. One of them had planned to request a discount for the morning tour not visiting Bellamy mansion but opted not to bother since they never saw a bill.
Neither of us were interested in attending tonight's entertainment of another performance by Robert and Stephanie, this time with the theme of Divas and Crooners. Dad headed up to bed while I worked on the puzzle. It was also fun to hear all the little things that go on while it's quiet and no one realizes you're within earshot. First Ali paced the hall calling several dry cleaning places in hopes of getting uniforms cleaned while we were docked overnight in Charleston. Then while she out pacing, one of the female crew was looking for her so they went to her cabin knocking on the door and calling out "Cruise Director Ali!" Knock knock, "Cruise Director Ali!" over and over. All I could picture was Sheldon's door knock from The Big Bang Theory. Then when it was time for the show, no one could find the second microphone so Ali paced back and forth all over again between the office and the Chesapeake Lounge trying to find it. The show went on without it as I could still hear the performance from down the hall. Dad noticed during the second week that our new housekeeping manager was taking inventory in the cabinets by the ice machine and had a microphone in her hands when she finished counting up the drinks. Seems like someone was doing two things at once while cleaning up the lounge and put the microphone down while dealing with something else in the cabinet.
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