Thursday, May 7, 2015
We got checked out of the Holiday Inn Express and they
stored our luggage for the day for us. We walked all the way across Mid-town
Manhattan today! Well, nearly. We could see the Hudson River outside our window
before we set out and we didn’t stop until we saw the Roosevelt Island Tram and
the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge over the East River.
Our goal this morning was to join the free guided Southern
tour of Central Park at 11am. We were there in plenty of time and got to see a
lot along the way including Rockefeller Center. We found the spot where we were
to meet the guide at 61st and 5th right inside the park
and then wandered down to the Zoo and used the rest rooms and got Clay a
smashed penny before heading back to the meeting spot. The tour asked us to
arrive by 10:45am and we were there when the green-shirted volunteer arrived.
There wound up being about a dozen people in our guided group. It was a nice introduction
to Central Park. They do a free guided tour almost everyday and spend about an
hour focusing on different areas for each tour. We saw The Pond and Kinder Berg
and Wollman Rink where a big summer amusement park under a giant tent was being
set up. The tour ended at The Dairy Visitor Center. We went through Playmates
Arch and visited The Carousel on our own and then we left the park.
We had a 1pm lunch reservation at Serendipity III. It was
about 5 blocks away on 60th.
We stopped in at the giant candy store on the corner nearby but didn’t
buy anything, just gaped and marveled. Lunch was ok. I had a One-Eyed Jack
sandwich. It was open faced steak with a fried egg on it. I should have specified
well done and then I might have liked it. I think it had fried plantains on the
side, I don’t usually like these, but I did eat them and I don’t know what else
they could have been. Clay had chicken salad sandwich on Irish soda bread
(which has raisins) and he was having a gaggy kind of day so he chose not to
finish his either. We shared a frozen hot chocolate which was delish and we
finished it before our sandwiches arrived. So there is dessert first for ya!
We had phone-googled a grocery store near us while there and
came up with a Whole Foods in the same block on 57th. It was more or
less in the right direction so we headed there. We had search last night
without seeing a single carton of wine. I was certain I did not want to hand carry
bottles on Marina. I had asked Norma, our Central Park guide, and she had
assured me that she had seen cartons of wine in Trader Joes yesterday so it was
available in Manhattan. We had already checked and all the Trader Joes in
Manhattan were far from us or where we were going the rest of the day. So,
after lunch we headed to Whole Foods. They had a large beer selection, but no
wine. Clay asked and they told him to go to the wine shop across the street. Clay
decided not to buy any beer. We walked back to the corner we had just crossed
at and went back to mid-200 block of East 57th and went in the wine
store. I found 2 light French wines in cartons. They were bigger than I was
planning, each equaling 4 bottles! But, got a light crisp white and a light
refreshing rose, both from France. So, I haven’t tried either yet and only one
at a time will fit in the minifridge, but they should last the whole 41 days!
We spent about $60 for the equivalent of 8 bottles of wine and wine onboard is
$42.50 each in a bundled, limited choice pre-purchased package of 7 bottles.
So, I feel very fortunately frugal. The wines were Maison Cubi rose and La
Petit Frog white. I will have to come back later as I try them to report
whether I like them.
We walked about 1 block before we found a good spot from
which to start trying to hail a taxi. It seemed like a long time, but was
probably less than 15 minutes before we were in an SUV taxi. It was a challenge
to drive back across town. It seemed much more congested than when we walked
across. I guess since we were on foot then that we kept moving, while traffic
back was all stop and go. He waited for us at the Holiday Inn Express while we ran
in to retrieve our luggage and then quickly got us to the Manhattan Cruise
Terminal at 55th & 12th Avenue at the Hudson River.
Wow! Marina was much larger than we expected. It has larger cabins and holds a
few hundred more passengers than Insignia would have but we didn’t expect it to
be this large. We agreed we were both expecting something the size of Regent
Voyager and we both reckoned Oceania Marina looked closer in size to us to
Disney Wonder. The cruise terminal was nearly empty around 3pm or so when we
arrived. Our documents only said embarkation began at 1pm and the ship departed
at 8pm. It probably took us less than 15 minutes to get checked in. We heard
others say they had been told to be aboard by 4pm, but we did not get that
information. The good news was that we only had to wait about an hour to get in
the cabin and another hour to get our luggage delivered. Those who had boarded
at 1pm and were in regular cabins like us were laid out all over the ship and
most were complaining at dinner time that they had to be aboard by 4pm but
their bags didn’t. The mandatory muster drill was at 5:15pm. Again for a ship
sailing out of NYC at 8pm, they should have stated in the pre-cruise documents that
you had to be aboard for the drill. Well, luckily we were.
Our cabin 7055 is larger than we expected because we had
been prepared for the even smaller Insignia cabins. The bathroom is especially
roomier with both a shower over tub and a corner shower stall. I think we consider all the balcony views on
our deck (and I guess all those above) partially obstructed because you can’t
look straight down. I think it is bothering Clay, but I can see it is just the
way the ship is designed. Only those in the pricier cabins can go all the way
to the front of the ship on other that the tiny forward part of deck 15. But
even they have a big shaded glass wall in front, so that wouldn’t make us pay
more anyway. We had documents in our cabin acknowledging our prepaid gratuities
and free Internet but nothing about our free laundry. Henrietta, our cabin
stewardess, came not long after we did and introduced herself and was quick
about changing things we wanted done or telling us when they would be. She
quickly brought a gift card for her prepaid tips for Clay to sign. I wound up
going to Reception when we realized that we had found nothing and Henrietta had
not mentioned free laundry. Reception said it was on our cabin account and to
just use the laundry bag and inventory billing forms in the closet and it would
not be billed. We haven’t done it yet, so we’ll have to report later on that.
We wound up on the fitness track area of aft deck 15 for our
sailaway viewing. The sail out of NYC is spectacular. We went to the port side
to see Manhattan and the new WTC tower slide by. At some point, we started
wondering which side the Statue of Liberty would appear. It seems that would
have been worth an announcement, but we heard none. It was a very cold, stiff
breeze out there too. I walked around the front of the funnel and could see
Lady Liberty in the distance on the starboard side, so I went back and got
Clay. He stayed there, while I went down to 7 to watch from the protection of
our balcony. Clay came down after we had past and I made him go out with the
binoculars. Even at a distance, he said I had a better view on 7. Too bad the
ship did not relay that information prior to sailing since at least half the cabins
could have better enjoyed themselves. Anyway, in the distance we could see a
nicely lighted George Washington Bridge right where it looked as if fog was rolling
in. We were cold though so came in. At some point, I needed MotionEase and another
meclizine and I told Clay I thought we were in open ocean and we must have crossed
under the GW Bridge. I got up and opened the curtains again and it was just as
we started under the bridge. Once on the other side we were in heavy fog for
the rest of the evening as far as we could tell. The fog horn blew more or less
all night and every time either of us was up and looking out it was foggy. The
good news was that either the seas were very calm or the ship is very
stable. It was a pretty comfortable
night.
We had dinner reservations in Jacques at 6:30pm. The muster
drill at 5:15 ran about 45 minutes with most of that sitting in the theater in
our lifejackets while they searched for several dozen people who were missing.
It was not clear most of them had even boarded yet. If like us, they had not
been told that they were required to board before 4pm or that there was a
mandatory drill at 5:15 then they probably were not onboard. There was no
explanation when we were finally dismissed. Our Cruise Critic online roll call
had a meet and greet scheduled for 6pm. It started late and we were sorry to
mostly miss it. By the time our organizer Carol (Thanks!) had distributed name
tags several of us had to leave for our dinner reservations.
We did not really much enjoy Jacques. Clay really like his
night’s special of veal stew, but my chicken and mashed potatoes were between
disgusting and incomprehensible. I later learned all the mashed potatoes on the
ship must be like that. We saw them later listed as Franck’s mashed potatoes.
No one should want to take credit. A couple who ate a Polo and had them
described them as like grits. I had described them as like polenta so you have
some idea of the texture, taste and runniness.
There was evening entertainment but
we went straight back to the cabin after to dinner. I finished unpacking and
Clay worked on his photos. Somehow he and I are both doing our blog work on the
same machine instead of on different machines, so I guess we’ll be alternating
days. I am not sure if that was always the plan or whether it just didn't get
thought through.
