Holland Canada/ New England Trip Review - Day 6 - Friday - Bar Harbour

8 random facts on Bar Harbor:

1. Most restaurants are only open from spring to fall, and closed for the winter.
2. They had a catastrophic fire in 1947, that lasted for 10 days and burned down 5 hotels and 170 homes (nearly half of the eastern side of mount dessert island).
3. Prior to the fire, the town is a famous summer playground for the super elites, including the Rockefeller family and the Vanderbilts.
4. No need to rent a car- free shuttle buses are available with a variety of routes to choose from.
5. There are no Starbucks or MacDonalds near the port.
6. The mascot for Maine is… a lobster!!!  You can see lobster signs and souvenirs everywhere.  Yes, the are a bit obsessed. You can see lobster traps everywhere when you're tendering to the shore.  Not surprising, given that more than 90% of US's lobster supply is caught off the coast of Maine.
7. Lobster used to be cheap food.  Settlers could gather them at low tide along the rocky shores.  They used them as fertilizers, or food for prisoners.  Prisoners actually got sick of them and complained about having too much lobsters!
8. It takes 7 years for lobsters to reach their legal catch size.

8:00am

Everyone on board had to go through customs.  Luckily, the customs officers come to the ship and are stationed in the library.  You are assigned a time (based on your stateroom level), and when  you hear your deck number called, go to the library.  The whole process is simple and smooth.

9:00am

After going through customs, we had breakfast at Rotterdam dining room.  Not bad!  I ordered the "Japanese breakfast", which is rice & salmon with egg and miso soup.  Didn't realize Japanese people have salmon and rice for breakfast?  In any case, I enjoyed this meal over room service breakfast or the *shudder* Lido buffet.

10:00am

Unlike the other ports, tendering is required for Bar Harbor. What this means is that the ship is not docked at the pier, you have to take a tendering boat (in this case, the motorized life boat) to the shore.  There is a long 40 minutes wait.  We just sat in the musical hall and waited for our number to be called.

11:00am

Walked along Main Street.  Not much to do.  Family went on the free island express shuttle while I had a drink at Hound Coffee.  $10 for both drinks.  After drinks went to Gladyn's for lunch.

• Drinks @ Coffee Hound Cafe
• Lunch @ Galyn's

3:00pm
Back on board.

Lunch @ Galyn's, Bar Harbor

Had lunch at Gladyn's on our Bar Harbor port day.  

There is some strange policy that you're not allowed to sit in the main dining area if you're to use their wifi. Instead, we were hustled to the back of the restaurant, where there are no windows and minimal light.  It's dark and dingy.  

The server came, and apologized, saying that they have had bad experiences in the past where cruise passengers would sit there all day in the "nice area" and take up their table to use free internet.  I wasn't overly thrilled, but I suppose I understand why they would impose this rule.  And to their credit, the wifi connection was strong and stable.

For food, we ordered the large lobster bisque, the lobster enchilada, and a traditional lobster roll.  Dessert was their homemade blueberry apple crisp.  The meal was ok, although overpriced (i.e., tourist trap).  The blueberry apple crisp was delicious, and that I would recommend.

What we ordered:

• Homemade blueberry apple crisp (5/5) - recommended
• Lobster bisque (4/5) - overpriced but tasty
• Traditional Lobster Roll (3/5) 
• Lobster enchilada (2/5)

Summary:

• The Bottom Line: overpriced tourist trap, but the food is decent and their blueberry crisp is delightful.
• Score: 6.6/10
• 3.5/5 for food quality
• 3/5 for value
• 2/3 for ambience
• 2/3 for service
• Address: 17 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine

Traditional Lobster Roll

Lobster Enchilada

Blueberry apple crisp - recommended

Lobster Bisque - Large

Review: Drinks @ Coffee Hound, Bar Harbor

Coffee Hound has received some good reviews on TripAdvisor.  Conveniently located within steps from the cruise terminal, it is one of the few coffee spots within a walking distance from the port.  So in that regard, there isn't really much competition there.

We ordered the Cadillac Cooler and a mango flavoured Iced Tea.  Both were delicious and hits the spot on a warm sunny day.  Personally I like the Iced Tea more but the Cadillac Cooler was also delicious, better than Starbucks Frappacinos, which is a huge compliment seeing how I am a Starbucks fan.  What made the Cooler stand out was the addition of the lemon sorbet - it added a touch of "tanginess" to an otherwise sweet drink.

The only negative thing I can say is that the cafe is very very small, and that there are no washrooms there so you'll have to go across the street to the park for the washroom. It's not far, but still a minor inconvenience in my opinion.

Summary

• The Bottom Line: Good small cafe for take out cold drinks.  
• Score: 8.4/10
• 4.5/5 for drink quality
• 4/5 for value
• 2/3 for ambience
• 3/3 for service