After a leisurely sail from Boston, we arrived in beautiful sunshine, in Newport, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union. How small you ask? Don’t blink! The entire state is only 50 miles from bottom to top and it is not much wider!
Back in the 1920’s and ‘30’s, Newport was the “summer playground” of the ”Oh so rich” of New York City society and our tour was a photo excursion to some of the more grandiose “summer cottages”. We don’t know about anyone else, but these pictures are not exactly what comes to mind when we think of a “cottage”!
'The Breakers', summer home of the Vanderbilts
Sunset over Naragansett Bay
After leaving Newport, another leisurely overnight sail brought us to New York City and yet another sunny day. It’s actually kind of hard to believe it’s early November! We were docked at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, located, oddly enough, in midtown Manhattan at 50th Street & 11th Avenue. The first segment of the cruise ended Monday and the second segment started yesterday.
Monday’s tour was “Two views of New York”, a bus tour followed by a harbour boat cruise. Traffic in Manhattan on a Monday has to be seen to be believed. Take downtown Toronto in the middle of a blizzard and multiply it by four and you have some idea of how well the traffic moves. No one goes anywhere in a hurry and our bus was no exception. As this was a “sightseeing” ride, we zig-zagged back and forth across Manhattan, working our way to the south end of the island where we were to board the boat at 11:00AM. In a straight line we might have gone a mile. It took 90 minutes to get there. And then we missed the boat!!! After our guide had been assured that the boat would wait for us, we watched it pull away as we were half way down the pier! Our guide was not amused!! The free time we were supposed to have at the end of the tour shifted to the middle (although the hour and a half until the next boat sailing was probably more time than originally planned) and we did finally get the harbour cruise. We saw all of the major sites on and near the water: Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, and of course, the Statue of Liberty. All while being regaled with a non-stop monologue from the boat’s tour guide, who we are pretty sure is a member of the NYC Chamber of Commerce!! Man could he talk!
The Brooklyn Bridge
The Statue of Liberty
Monday being the “last day” of the first cruise, after our return from the tour we set about NOT packing and otherwise enjoying the fact it was NOT our last night on the ship and we didn’t have to get off the next morning. We were the source of much envy (and a certain amount of “abuse”) from our tablemates at dinner. We really had a great group at the table and were sorry that none of them were staying on with us. Not as sorry as they were, but………. As it turns out, we are staying at the same table for this cruise. Hopefully we will have another great group!
Tuesday was “turnaround day” for the ship, so we decided we would stay out of the way of those getting off and have breakfast “au cabin”. Promptly at 9:00, Victor, our Butler, wheeled in breakfast and as you can see from the picture, a hearty breakfast it was.
Once the shuttle for “in transit” passengers started running we went in to midtown Manhattan and made like tourists. We visited the observation level at the Rockefeller Centre, otherwise known as “The Top of the Rock”. It is not as high as the more famous top of the Empire State Building, but it does have one major advantage: you can see the Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock, something you can’t do from the Empire State Building!
As the ship was scheduled to sail at 7:00PM, we decided to have dinner at The Sushi Bar in Silk Road so we could be out on deck when we sailed past the Statue of Liberty. As you can see from the picture, we ate exotically and well. Since we also didn’t have to go to lifeboat drill, which was happening at the same time, we also ate alone. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves for most of dinner! The sail out from New York was spectacular and the Statue of Liberty is an impressive sight. Unfortunately the pictures didn’t turn out quite as impressively!
The Sushi Bar
Liberty by Night
Manhattan Skyline
Today, Wednesday, we are at sea on our way to Bermuda. It’s a bit overcast but it is at least warm enough that we actually sat out on our balcony for the first time! Good thing since we had just come back from the gym and really needed to cool off! As it happens, we are sailing along the northern edge of the infamous “Bermuda Triangle”, sooooo if you never hear from us again, you will know why!
More tomorrow. (They said optimistically!)
1 comment:
Anne Marie and I are thrilled that you are doing this back to back cruise. The pictures are beautiful, especially the Empire State Building in the background and the nightime pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City Skyline.
Enjoy every minute of the cruise.
Keith and Anne Marie
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