Day 4 - Bar Harbor, Maine

 We started our day with our coffee and pastry delivery again.  The balcony provided a view of a spectacular sunrise and a stunning Ponant ship.  Ponant is a French luxury line.  It looked like we would have another sunny day for our tour.  

The tour was originally supposed to be at eight but the new meeting time was 10:45 which gave us time for a breakfast in the main dining room.  We all ordered the Eggs Benedict which NCL has always done a great job.  The eggs were cooked perfectly and the hollandaise was as I remembered.  We went back to our cabins and I wrote for a bit before heading to our meeting spot for the tour.  

We chose a tour through NCL since Bar Harbor is a tender port and tours are escorted directly to the tender.  I had read bad reports that tendering was taking hours on the first cruise of the season to Bar Harbor so I wanted to avoid that.  Also, seeing Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park was on my dad’s must-do list.  The tender was a ferry style ship and not a lifeboat like in Newport.  It was much more comfortable for sure.   

The bus was a few steps away from the dock and after a short wait we were off on the tour.  Our guide was very entertaining and not only provided information but jokes as well.  It was a very scenic, winding ride to the summit of Cadillac Mountain.  We were given 25 minutes to take photos and just take in the majestic view.  After that, it was a short ride back to town.  It wasn’t the longest tour but it was worth it.    

We wanted to grab some lunch and I noticed the places on the drive back to port had some lines outside.  We made our way to the Thirsty Whale which looked great on Yelp.  Unfortunately, the wait was 30 minutes.  My parents decided to walk back and see if any other restaurants looked good.  They texted that all had people waiting outside as our ship definitely made this little area busy.  Chris and I waited it out and my parents returned to ship and had lunch on board.  The wait ended up being thirty minutes but I did go back to say it was for two and we would sit at the bar.  After a little more waiting, we were called and seated at the bar.  Chris ordered some clam chowder and we shared more fried whole belly clams.  These clams might have been the best but it was hard to judge as all have been delicious.  We each ordered a lobster roll and crowned this the winner so far.  It was loaded with sweet lobster and had the best roll as well.  We had a nice leisurely walk back to the tender spot and did not wait long at all for a ride back to the Breakaway.  

We met up with my parents at the Sail and Sustain bar to have the sustainable drink of the day.  We both started with Pulp Art which is made with pepper top cordial.  I would not recommend this one if you do not enjoy a bell pepper flavor.  My mom tasted mine and did not care for it so I suggested a Pineapple Surplus which was a hit.  I drank mine as I enjoy the pepper with the juices and Campari but I did switch to Pineapple Surplus for my second drink.  We sat outside enjoying this warm day we did not expect until it was time to get ready for the evening.  

Our usual routine of a pre-dinner drink as Shaker’s was the start of the night.  We were treated to an amazing sunset while we enjoyed our drinks.  Tonight, my parents had dinner in the main dining room and Chris and I went to the buffet.  We both wanted a big salad as we were missing greens.  It was steak and shrimp night so I added some shrimp to my salad as did Chris.  Shrimp Po Boys were available tonight in O’Sheehan’s and also on the buffet.  I tried one but it was really just fried shrimp and tartar sauce.  It needs remoulade as well as lettuce and tomato to be better.  My salad was decent although the Joy salad bar had a much bigger selection.  I did supplement my salad with some warm beets as well as humus from other stations.  

Tonight, we watched two different shows in the theater.  The first was a new show by the magicians, Brent and Sarah.  We both enjoyed this show as well.  I think they have a very cute act and do some decent standard tricks.  It is refreshing to see a woman do magic and not just be props in big illusions.  I liked that they did not use "big box" illusions in their act as well.  We walked around the ship and visited the casino until it was time for the late night comedy show.  The two comedians were JF Harris and Mike Burton.  The theater had a great crowd for this show.  Both were so very funny and Chris and I laughed a bunch.  

We ended our night at O’Sheehan since we had not had a late night wing stop.  I wasn’t too keen on the wings the first day but I figured it was worth another shot.  This time my wings were crazy spicy.  My mouth was on fire after two bites.  I was really confused as I ate all six the first day and thought the spice was a great level.  Chris, who can eat fire, thought they were way spicer than most people could handle.  I spoke to a waiter and asked if the sauce had been changed recently.  He confirmed it is an different sauce from summer and also the wings are baked instead of fried.  He also shared they used to dust with flour and now they are plain.  So sad as these were a classic NCL treat.  At least the fries are still awesome but with my luck, NCL will decide to use the coated ones and mess that up next.  We headed up to the cabin since we lose one hour of sleep tonight in order to be on St. John time.​