American Cruise Lines - Day 8 - Charleston, SC (Part 2)

We ended up arriving at the dining salon just in time to join our new friends and shuttle mates for lunch. By now, most if not all of the new cruisers had boarded so we got to meet some new friends as well. Our shuttle mates, Evan and Linda, told us that they'd reminded the driver to make sure he came back and got us. Thanks for looking out guys!

Feeling a little dejavu seeing that it's not only our second boarding day but our second experience with this menu. Running around a grocery store works up an appetite so I added back the old standby of Mixed Green Salad.

I had forgotten what the Poached Atlantic Seafood Salad was and wished that I'd gotten the Muffuletta Style Roast Beef Po Boy like Dad.

I've never been a fan of apple pie in general and it rarely looks all that great when I've settled for it on a cruise's dessert menu. Today's offering didn't look appetizing but it was one of the best I've ever had on a cruise.

Another first was being comfortably seated at lunch during muster drill. Everyone did quiet down respectfully to listen to the Captain's safety announcement but that was the full extent of it. 

Round 2 of our meeting with everyone in the Chesapeake Lounge for an Excursion Overview and Officer Introduction. For this sailing, we had a different dining room manager and the brand new appearance of a housekeeping manager. I would be hard pressed to believe that our mid cruise suverys and my email brought about the extra help more so for the fact that this was the first of their many repeated Historic South/Golden Isles runs. Wasn't a fan of the new dining room manager as his response later to my reporting being late for an activity due to slow breakfast service was "Yeah, so?" I was quite impressed though with the new housekeeping manager. She ran around non stop it seemed checking to make sure things were done, helping get things done, and filling in wherever needed even if it was out of her job description. When it came to talk of the excursions, it was pretty much same as last week with Ali trying her best to talk on ports she'd never visited and Rachel offering her first hand knowledge as much as possible. At least this time they thought ahead and gave us two copies of the excursion list. Everyone seemed to turn in their form right after the talk.

Heading back down the hall I noticed that my fellow cruisers had been hard at work while we were out exploring and nicely left the finished puzzle out on the table for me to see the finished product. 

While I was admiring the puzzle, Robert and Stephanie (our singers on board) brought over some crew members into the lounge and started pointing out areas of the carpet and wall that seemed wet. They questioned whether the deck 3 lounge above us could be leaking from somewhere. The crew members seemed concerned and rushed off. A short while later when I came back out of our cabin to try and use the internet in the deck 3 lounge, I discovered that the large fire door to the lounge was closed for the first time all trip and signs had been put up claiming maintenance in progress.

I say claiming because I soon learned the real reason for the closed door. In favor of selling a cabin to a cruiser at the last minute (Or to move a company rep named John to a new cabin. I heard differing reports on how long this rep had been sailing with us but did overhear one of the officers today on the phone saying "John, good news, we have a cabin for you"), they sold Robert and Stephanie's cabin out from under them. They had initially been booked to be onboard for the entire two weeks but found out today that their cabin was sold and they'd have to get off the ship when we arrived in Beaufort, SC late tonight. With still one more show to perform tonight, they had moved all of their stuff into the lounge. I heard them warming up their voices in there as well shortly before the show.

By now, we were a little Cocktail Hour burned out and opted for an earlier dinner time.

I've only really met one lobster bisque on a cruise I didn't like and despite the skin visible on top of this one, it was still tasty.

I asked our waiter Kevin how spicy the Cajun Spiced Jumbo Sea Scallops was and he didn't think it was very spicy. I decided to give it a try as well. Verdict - slightly spicy but not very good at all. One good note however is it was the biggest sea scallop I'd ever been served. So much so, I kept trying to figure out if this picture was from Dad's Pork Tenderloin entrée.

This is actually Dad's Pork Tenderloin:

My entrée was the Crab Stuffed Shrimp. The shrimp was butterflied and nestled on top was the equivalent of a mini crab cake. Once you touched a fork to them, it may have well been two separate dishes. The risotto was fine, thankfully not too lemony. The broccolini however was tough and not really edible. 

And by now hopefully my readers know my main weakness when it shows up on the dessert menu, cheesecake! As long as it's not buried in berry based sauces, of course. It's a good thing the Cheesecake Factory is a bit of a drive from home or I'd be the first restaurant dessert menu's season pass holder. This New York Style Chocolate Cheesecake, while tasty, seemed more like a chocolate mousse cake to me.

With a theme of hits from Broadway and a promise that tonight's show wouldn't be a repeat of the first night, we decided to attend Robert and Stephanie's performance. They did repeat a couple songs from the first night but it was otherwise a new set. They revealed during the show, as now we wouldn't be getting in to Beaufort until midnight, that they had a car booked to take them on the multi hour drive to the bigger city of Savannah, GA so they could catch a plane back to New York in the morning. By the time we got up again the next morning, Robert and Stephanie had left and the deck 3 lounge was no longer "under maintenance."

American Cruise Lines - Day 8 - Charleston, SC (Part 1)

Welcome to the turnaround day we didn't know we'd be having until we got on board in Baltimore! Today 40 of the 78 other cruisers we'd spent the week getting to know will leave us and 62 will come onboard bringing our new sailing total up to 92. It's funny to look back at today's Ship to Shore schedule because it lists a 6:30AM "Early Risers" (juice, coffee, and pastries in the Chesapeake Lounge) then jumps to the 10AM "Warm Cookies." Apparently, regular breakfast in the dining room this morning was all just a mirage. For those cruisers leaving, as far as I know, the time to get off the ship is up to you at least until our new all aboard time of 2PM. Except of course if you chose to take advantage of the 8AM Charleston Airport Transfer. There was a smaller crowd than usual at breakfast this morning so it looks like the bulk of our departing guests left with the transfer.

I did notice that the dining staff during breakfast seemed to be a little bit extra off their game this morning. I learned later that they all pull double and sometimes triple duty splitting up parts of the passenger cabins for each 1-2 crew members to clean. It's not just your steward and maybe an assistant like the big ships. At least on turnaround day. Here's the rundown we found taped to our door on our final morning in Jacksonville:

This morning I finally got around to trying the french toast. I rarely enjoy this breakfast choice at home so I was looking forward to indulging today. Unfortunately, it was a big let down. The toast itself had so much egg flavor, it tasted like I was eating mushy eggs. The little cup of syrup I was given had a gross film over the syrup so I elected not to use it at all.

The night before, we spent a good bit of time after returning to the cabin using the internet and the provided city brochures to seek out some sort of tour to do today. Not finding much that was either available on a Saturday or wasn't sold out already, we decided to use the shuttle into town and then seek out something once there. As it turns out, the shuttle for heading into town was the same shuttle buses and drivers as took the group to Fort Sumter the day before. As luck would have it, we ended up in the shuttle driven by Mr. Cranky that had given the other cruisers a wild ride yesterday. We missed the fact that the excursion list only shows the shuttle running from 9AM till 12PM. When this driver stopped the shuttle in front of the United States Custom House around 10AM, he announced that we had to be back by 11:30AM because he was only contracted to drive the shuttle until noon. Dad asked if he could then make noon his last pickup but the driver refused. We asked him if there was a grocery or pharmacy nearby and he insisted that there was none except for miles away from here. This guy could have really benefited from either some happy pills or the Raisin Bran from our breakfast buffet table.

Resigned to not having enough time for any sort of tour without having to rely on our own way back to the ship, we opted to walk around this downtown area and check out the craft market. Why when the ship doesn't leave until 3PM did they not contract these shuttle drivers until at least 1PM?

This market is somewhat open air but covered spanning several blocks in a straight walk through and back fashion. We passed by table after table of handicrafts, homemade goodies, and local items like cookbooks and coffee. I say passed by because I had "Mr. Hurry Up, we don't need any of this stuff, quit taking the time to stop and look at things like you're interested attitude" pushing me along past the tables. About halfway through was a small café space that had long lines of people trying to buy snacks and coffee. 

We did browse a couple candy and souvenir stores after leaving the market and Dad finally got to try a real praline. After I of course reminded him that he's mentioned multiple times about wanting to try one. If you're a praline lover, Charleston is definitely the city to get your fill as every shop was offering free samples. One such employee even apologized in pity to me like I had just revealed a horrible disease when I politely turned down her sample offer with the excuse of not eating nuts. Dad decided he liked the samples he tried so by the time we stumbled upon this landmark, we both were ready to break out the credit card.

It seems that they are now a franchise owned under the parent company "Savannah's Candy Kitchen" as the Savannah company name was on their front awning.

There was a small stand just outside the entrance to this shop selling tickets for horse drawn carriage rides so if you are interested, that's also something that probably could have been done in the short time we had to explore. 

In addition to a bottle of water to split (see we got something healthy too), we picked up a small box of pralines and gophers for Dad along with a couple single serve packs of Chuckles candy. Chuckles is Dad's favorite candy but it's tough to find in stores here anymore. I was like an 80s kid in a candy store browsing the shelves full of candy I hadn't seen since I was a kid. Eventually I settled on filling a small plastic bag from their Jelly Belly dispensers along the wall. They also have barrels of individually wrapped candies that you can make your own baggie full and pay by the weight of your bag. I first went for the sour Jelly Belly dispenser but alas, it only gave out one little spurt of a few pieces. I then went to the 40 flavor mixed dispenser expecting the same but instead got a whole avalanche of jelly beans dumped into my bag. Oops but yay screamed my inner child. It was like playing my own personal mystery game throughout the week snacking on that bag randomly stumbling upon one of the few sour jelly beans mixed throughout. Dad's chocolate treats (I told him he should come home and tell everyone he ate "gopher" just to shock them.) weighed in each at 0.360lb so together the few pralines and gophers he bought cost $16.52. A pound of either item alone would have cost $22.95. The Chuckles candy cost $1.95 each and the 20 oz bottle of water rang up at $2. My Jelly Belly avalanche ended up weighing in at 1.43lb for a total cost of $22.81. Grand total = $49.11 after tax. One of these days I'm going to have a talk with that inner child and start making them pay half the bill.

As we made our way back to the Customs House, we noticed that it's right across the street from Charleston's cruise terminal. While our ship was not docked here, it was fun for the cruise nerd in me to arrive at just the right time to see a Silversea ship pull in. 

This time, the shuttle that came to pick us up was driven by the kind driver that took us to Fort Sumter yesterday. He started making conversation with the group and Dad complained about not having the chance to take a tour as well as get what he needed at a pharmacy. This dear man took it all in stride and informed us that in actuality, there's a Harris Teeter just a few blocks away. He even offered to detour there and drop us off if we promised to be done in the 15 minutes it would take him to drop off the other passengers back at the ship. We agreed and took off running as soon as he stopped the shuttle in front of the store entrance. Thankfully the pharmacy section was right by the checkout and we didn't have to wander the whole store looking for it. A quick query of an employee who pointed out we'd actually walked right past the eyedrops and a moment at an empty self checkout register later, we had a bag of eyedrops and large Band-Aids in our hands and $21.23 less in our wallets. Unfortunately due to a parade in town closing streets and causing lots of traffic, the shuttle driver couldn't get back to pick us up until around 40 minutes later. Dad was pushing to give up on him and call an Uber but I hated the thought of bailing on someone who was being so nice. As it turned out, once he did come back to pick us up he took advantage of being off the clock and having no one but us onboard to give us a personal tour of the city on the drive back to the ship. We saw historic mansions, personal sailboats along the waterfront, and the famous pig statues adorning the front steps of the owner of Piggly Wiggly. We loved hearing about how they were named Piggly and Wiggly and the owner dresses them up for each holiday. What started out as a rough morning ended with us finally accomplishing our shopping needs, enjoying a nice impromptu private tour of the city, and plenty of a sugar rush to come. This gentleman definitely received our thanks both in words and in monetary form as he dropped us off back at the ship right around lunchtime.

American Cruise Lines - Day 7 - Charleston, SC (Part 2)

One of the unique things about this sort of small ship cruising is the ability to view the pilot house (or the bridge as it's known on the big ships). When it comes to the big ships, there is a ton more security and you only get the chance to tour the bridge if you get invited or in our case, sail in a suite on a line that allows that sort of thing as a perk. You have to be on an approved list and sign next to your name so they have a log of who has been on the bridge. Then you get wanded by security before going in. Here, the only criteria was waiting for a time when the ship was in port, and the Captain approved it being put on the schedule. The ship information literature left in our cabin on day 1 refers to simply checking a list posted by the pilot house for times and days of when it is open for touring. We checked it out and never saw any list. Today, it appeared as a scheduled activity on the Ship to Shore but it was scheduled for 5PM. Our Fort Sumter tour did not return until at least 5:30PM if not closer to 6PM.

There seemed to be a theme built around the pilot house tour because right after was a scheduled appearance by Captain Gillian in the Chesapeake Lounge during cocktail hour. Since we got back as cocktail hour was in full swing, we opted to head straight to the cabin and get ready for dinner instead. The final part of this theme tonight was that Captain Gillian would join passengers for dinner tonight. Some of the big ships will feature what they call Captain's Table which is solely by invitation (and usually reserved for those with the highest loyalty levels) and is usually a more secluded private table. In this case, it was more the Captain just followed whomever had been talking his ear off at the cocktail party down to the dining room and sat at their table.

Since it was the last night before half of our passengers would be disembarking, one of our go to tables was full of nametags draped over the chairs. A group had decided to ensure they got to dine all together one more time before several of them left the ship the next day. We simply moved over to the next table. During dinner, Cheree came by our table to help with refilling glasses so we asked her if there was plans to do the Pilot House tour again. She offered to talk to the Captain about scheduling a tour for us.

What kind of Marylander would I be if I didn't try the Crab Cake tonight? However, that's either a lemon on steroids or a super small crab cake.

And sometimes you need a little extra warmth in your bones so I also tried the Chicken Corn Chowder.

One of the things every cruise line seems to do to some degree is fancy molded butter. Here's ACL's version:

And for the entrée, Dad and I both went for the Braised Short Rib. We both rate this as one of the best dishes we had on board as the meat was tender and juicy.

Polished it all off with a dish of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The chocolate syrup was upon my tablemates insistence that I try it this way.

Since we were staying in Charleston through tomorrow afternoon, Ali's evening port talk was instead Cheree going over disembarkation details for those leaving us. The entertainment listed on today's schedule says the low country guitar playing of David Archer. The name sounded familiar so we decided to check out the show. What we saw being set up was a man sitting behind the small piano housed in the Chesapeake Lounge so we thought maybe he was going to play both? Then when Ali came on to introduce the entertainment, it turns out that our performance tonight was actually a local woman named Star who would be singing accompanied by this gentleman who wasn't David Archer on the piano. No mention of why the change in act. After the first song we decided this show wasn't for us and headed back to the cabin to relax.

American Cruise Lines - Day 7 - Charleston, SC (Part 1)

We have a retirement community here called Charlestown and I found myself mistakenly saying that instead of Charleston on this trip. Then we met four lovely people from Charlestown also on this trip and I probably referred to them as being from Charleston at some point so I guess it balances out.

This is our last port for week 1 and in a way, our first port for week 2. Those who aren't staying on for week 2 had the option of choosing a complimentary Charleston Airport Transfer at 8AM or asking for them to arrange a taxi for you when filling out the excursion choices on day 1. We had originally been told by Ali on that first day that if you're staying onboard, just leave the "tour" choices for day 2 blank unless you really want the shuttle option which runs from 9AM to 12PM and is also complimentary. We did just that and got the excursion paper left in our cabin mid week with a note insisting that we "turn in your transportation to the office!" We asked Ali about it and she said it's more of a count issue and to just put down the shuttle choice even if you don't use it.

Since either way, the ship is in Charleston overnight, everyone had a full day onboard still to enjoy. We didn't arrive in Charleston until noon so no one was in a rush this morning. From 7:30AM until 8:30AM, Hotel Manager Cheree set up a small table in the 2nd deck lounge to meet with people who needed to settle their bills. There was one final art session with Mary giving cruisers a chance to finish any previous projects or start a new one before the art show during cocktail hour. During one of the art sessions, Mary spotted how a cruiser's cookie had the perfect chocolate chip placement to look like a smiley face so she declared that it was too pretty to eat and begged to take it from the gentleman. She ended up shellacking it and it became the star of the art show. Not sure whether I was in the puzzle zone or off in my own world but I completely forgot to bring my completed art projects back down to put in the show.

Tried out a cheese and mushroom omelet today:

Rachel gave a talk about Charleston just before we arrived in port. I'm guessing we opted out of having lunch today because I don't have a picture of it! Here's the menu for it at least:

There were 3 options for tours today and they all overlapped each other. The first is the complimentary Charleston Shop 'N Stroll Shuttle which ran from 1:30PM to 5:30PM with a promise of running every 15-20 minutes from the center of town. As expected, this was listed as a 4 hour excursion, a level 1 in activity, and cameras permitted. No mention of whether it was wheelchair/scooter friendly.

The second tour option, called Fort Sumter Exploration, ran for the same time frame and costs $35 per person. This tour is scooter/wheelchair friendly, level 2 in activity, restrooms available, cameras permitted, and shows a 1 hour in the tour length icon. I'm assuming that pertains to 1 hour of time actually at the site because it required a shuttle bus ride to the visitor center followed by a ferry ride to get to the fort only to have to do both in opposite order to return to the ship. The tour description mentions a narrated ferry cruise to Fort Sumter followed by information from National Park Service Rangers on the history of Fort Sumter and its pivotal role in the American Civil War.

The third option which ran from 2PM-5PM, the Charleston Experience, cost $50 per person. It is wheelchair and scooter accessible, 1 1/2 hours, activity level 2, cameras permitted, and restrooms available. This seems to be more of a basic bus tour. It is described as "Travel through narrow streets lined with townhouses of colonial planters. See where generations of patriots lived, worked and worshipped in some of America's oldest religious buildings" according to today's schedule. The initial tour description also mentioned a stop at the Battery Waterfront and a tour of the interior of the Joseph Manigault House. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that those passengers who booked this tour never got to go inside the house.

The dock at Charleston is windy and long as there is about 20 rows of personal watercraft docks between where Independence docks and the parking lot. The crew borrowed the use of a golf cart to shuttle passengers back and forth as well as personally pushing individuals in the wheelchairs kept on board for this purpose. We chose to go on the Fort Sumter tour and there were two shuttle buses for us plus the shuttle taking passengers into town waiting at the end of the dock. We did have to wait a bit sitting in the bus as it took a while to run passengers needing assistance in shifts and then watched Ali run back and forth between the buses making sure everyone was where they should be. The other shuttle driver for our tour got very impatient and came over to complain to our driver about the route and the time it was taking. Our driver told him to just follow him on the road, the guy agreed and headed back to his shuttle. Next thing we see is the other shuttle driver peels around our shuttle and drives off. We later learned from passengers on that shuttle that he drove very aggressively and recklessly scaring them.

We had a much calmer drive to Fort Sumter and our driver dropped us off right in front of the visitor center before driving off to park.

Rachel was the representative with our group so she informed everyone that if bathrooms were needed, they had a little bit of time now to use them or to look around the visitor center. Otherwise, we should wait right by the stairs leading up to the visitor center (there is elevators around the corner).

She headed into the visitor center to pick up everyone's ferry tickets. It was windy and chilly so the bulk of us headed around the corner to sit on the benches under the covered pavilion space. The vantage point gave us an unexpected glimpse of the USS Yorktown. This battleship is also available to tour but wasn't part of our tour today.

As we sat, we watched the ferry come back, unload its current passengers, and watched as the line for our ferry grew.

I kept peeking back around at the stairs wondering why Rachel wasn't back yet. Several of our group decided to get in line anyway and I was concerned when the ferry started to load with still no sign of Rachel. Finally we decided to just get in line prepared to tell the ticket taker that we were part of the group and see what happens. Once we got close enough to see the ramp to board the ferry, we were able to spot Rachel standing there having come down from the back side of the building. We were the last in line and she laughed as she told the ticket takers that we were with her. At this point I was not in a laughing mood and called her out for telling us to wait back by the stairs when she was here. Her response was that she also gave the option for going into the visitor center. How that negates what I was saying still has me scratching my head. So it's our fault for choosing option B instead of option A? When I still tried to make my point, she replied "Well you're here now, you made it on the ferry." Made me think back to the old retort "Well yeah but you didn't die right?"

It really put a sour start to our ferry ride but we tried to put it out of our minds. We started out the ferry ride sitting on the top open deck but it soon became too cold and windy to stay up there. There are a few tables with chairs and several rows of chairs lined up on the enclosed bottom level. There is an elevator and bathrooms on the ferry. There is a snack bar on the ferry and Dad got us a bottle of water to share and some M&Ms. Remember his philosophy - chocolate candy cures all. A ranger on board started out the ferry ride introducing himself and then ran through a safety briefing and timeline about how this was the last run of the day and what time we needed to be back on board. That was the extent of our "narrated" ferry tour.

While there was several park rangers on site when we walked into the actual fort, we were just directed to wander around with the option of observing the flag lowering ceremony around 3:30PM. There are several cannons and tools and remnants to observe on the grounds with plaques full of information.
 

The original Angry Birds? It made me wonder how many cannonballs just rolled back down this hill.

Adopt a Road? Adopt a Family? Introducing Adopt a Cannon! For the ultimate souvenir from your trip:

Note the only female name on this list of soldiers guarding the fort during the bombardment.

I found it not only interesting that back then, this fort had an electrically operated minefield but also that someone actually let a typo get printed on this plaque. 

We wound our way around the bottom of the fort reading each plaque before climbing the stairs to the very small gift shop. It was mostly full of toys, books, magnets, pins, and ornaments so we chose not to bother purchasing anything. Especially since it was crowded with only a few people and we were close to having to return to the ferry. We stepped out of the gift shop to find that most of the crowd was on the top level watching the flag lowering ceremony.

While on that 2nd level, we noticed the small group of limited mobility visitors who were waiting on benches by the entrance. I later heard that the rangers had given them the informational talk since they couldn't walk around. 

As we finished the loop on the lower level back to the entrance, I noticed the low opening in the wall below each cannon and wondered whether it was for a soldier to lie on his belly and shoot out. We asked a ranger standing nearby and it turns out that they were simply openings for drainage when it rained. Makes total sense when we thought back to our shuttle bus ride over here and passed a couple spots of standing water. Rachel asked our driver if they had just gotten a lot of rain and he said "Nope, this is low country and we get flooding every time it rains."

It had been cloudy for most of the day and it made for some pretty views as the sun started to set.

We were able to get seats at a table by the window for the ferry ride back and I desperately scanned the water the whole ride in hopes of seeing the dolphins the ranger said they routinely see. No such luck. Back with our kind shuttle driver and a nice drive back to the ship where he pointed out things as we went along.