Sailing From New Jersey

Up early (well, by 8:30) to get our bags packed, eat breakfast, and get some writing done. When we were ready, it was sit around our room until it was time to check out and meet our taxi to the Cruise Centre at noon.

We were downstairs early, and the driver came in to get us at about 11:45. We loaded our bags, and were getting in when the hotel manager came out and gave the driver some trouble because he had promised another couple a taxi at 11:45 and there wasn't another. We were in the car, so we got it.

World Trade Centre from our Balcony

The ride took about 15 minutes, and the driver was on his phone most of the way, speaking Spanish to someone. I think he was catching some flack, and was trying to get another taxi to the hotel to get the people who were waiting. At the ship, he didn't spend much time unloading our bags. I paid him and he quickly drove away.

Then we had to go inside and get signed in to the ship. It is useful having so many trips on this line (Princess) because we are now preferred customers, and get to go in the preferred lineup whichi is considerably shorter than the regular passengers.

Shortly after getting there, we were checked through, had our documents, got our ID photos taken, and were on our way to our cabin. Of course, I forgot about how they did things, and didn't have our floor and room number handy. I had to call to Guest Services to find it out so the fellow operating the elevator knew what floor to let us off. It took some time, but we finally made it.

Statue of Liberty

The room is considerably smaller than the hotel room we stayed the past few nights, but is the size we know of from our previous cruises. Our bags weren't there yet (we didn't expect they would be) so we went up on the upper decks and watched what was going on and took a bunch of pictures of the New York skyline across the bay. We had the same view from our balcony as from above, but could see both sides of the ship from the 15th and 16th levels.

New York Skyline

After a while, we went back to our room. Our bags had been delivered, so we unpacked, and got things organized. Then we went back up a level to have a light lunch. The Seahawks were playing on the big screen, so we sat in the shade on one of the lounge chairs and watched some of the game. I had a piece of pizza, and Dawn had some iced tea.

We wanted to be on deck to watch as we left, so decided not to go down to the dining room for our dinner. It was getting fairly dark when the ship pulled out, about 7:00. We had hoped to get better pictures of the Statue of Liberty, but by that time, it was too dark. We have to settle for the pictures we took from our balcony.

We watched for while and then headed up to the buffet for a light dinner (well, it would have been light if I had been more careful). We were just going to have salad, but there were too many things that looked real good. We didn't have a lot, but it likely wouldn't be considered light.

From there, we went down to the theatre to catch the late show which was sort of an overview of the entertainment while we were on the ship. A comedian was on for a lengthy part of the show; Tony Daro. We had been on another cruise where he was one of the comedians, but he was still pretty good.

After the show, we walked around a bit, got directions for signing up to the internet, and then went back to our room. I figured out how get online with the computer,and the iPad, so was able to look at my email.

We were heading for Newport, Rhode Island, and expected to be there when we woke up. We had a 2-hour bus tour scheduled, and we had to be ready to tender to shore at 9:15, so we had an early get up. Off to bed we went.

World Trade Centre at Dusk