Newfoundlanders from around the world joined in a celebration aboard the Celebrity Apex ship, which hosted around 500 passengers from Canada’s Newfoundland province. The trip, which left from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 6, was a total of 3,000 guests, with around 250 couples hailing from Newfoundland or who were Newfoundlanders living in other parts of the world.
During the voyage, passengers wore t-shirts with the Newfoundland and Labrador flag and draped it over their deck chairs. One passenger, Pam Pardy, found it amusing to frequently hear the distinct Newfoundland accents and local phrases while walking around the ship.
Pardy had booked the trip more than a year in advance and was surprised to find out that a large group of Newfoundlanders had also booked on to the same cruise. Initially dreading the idea of vacationing with people from her home province, Pardy later found a sense of community that was special and unique among the guests.
On the last night of the voyage, Pardy and her fellow Newfoundlanders gathered on deck to take a group picture and sing Ode to Newfoundland, their province’s official anthem. Despite initial reservations about the idea, Pardy found it both familiar yet exotic compared to life back home.
