New York City

We arrived in the Big Apple to this magnificent sight:

I am humbled and grateful that I am an American and that I live in the greatest country in the world. When I see her standing in the harbor it just reinforces those feelings.

Our first chore after docking was to Uber to Costco. We went with another couple. Since the city is quite crowded and we suburbanites are used to lots of room to spread out with lots of parking, it was quite a shock to see a multi story Costco/Target/ PetCo/Old Navy shopping center with an adjacent multilevel parking garage. It was raining heavily as we made our way through the rain and traffic. Mileage wise it wasn’t very far, but traffic wise it takes forever to get anywhere in Manhattan.

We did our shopping and came home with six bags filled with all sorts of stuff we need for the next seven months on the ship, including potato chips, pretzels, shampoo, vitamins, deodorant – – you get the idea.

We had lunch at Applebee’s and then headed back to the ship to unpack and find homes for all the stuff we brought back.  We stayed on board and watched a movie in the evening. 

DAY 2: 

We planned on meeting our friend, Beverly Kostrinsky, for the day. She asked what we wanted to do and we suggested playing bridge 🙄🤩. Honors Bridge Club in Manhattan is the largest bridge club in the country and of course we wanted to check it out.  We Ubered from the west side to the east side of town, which should not have taken that long, but then again this is Manhattan and it took forever to get to the bridge club, and even at that we had to get out a couple of blocks early because the traffic was so bad and it was faster to walk. We finally found the building and there is a line in the lobby – – a line in the lobby to get into an elevator! I have never had to wait in line in a big building to use an elevator.  

We finally got up to the 14th floor and met Beverly and we were overwhelmed with so many people milling around. I don’t know exactly what we were expecting except that it was supposed to be fancy (in my mind) because after all this was Manhattan. It turned out to be pretty ratty looking with tables and chairs and small accessory tables everywhere – – hardly any room to move and maneuver. 

We paid our fee, which was an exorbitant $35 per person —– $35 to play bridge; well, they did throw in lunch for the price. For comparison, we only pay $7 a game at our home club. We then got in line for lunch and were quite surprised to find an extensive buffet of cold salads and hot dishes, which turned out to be pretty darn good. Michael and I were both pleasantly surprised that the people were nice and pleasant and not like the folks in Boston who weren’t quite rude, but weren’t very friendly. I had expected the ”New York mentality” of rudeness. 

You are only seeing one portion of the room. It takes up the entire 14th floor of the building plus another floor for the under 750 bunch

We played very well together today and actually came in the money with a 56% game! Both of us were very happy so that was the icing on the cake for us. Beverly K. decided that she was tired so she went home.  

We took a walk down Lexington Avenue to see what we could see before we hailed another Uber to take us back to the ship.  I wanted real pizza and Michael wanted a haircut. But both of us were quite tired and we were carrying some packages and really were not in the mood to continue walking.  My knee was hurting and Michael had already walked four miles this morning. We called for another Uber and made the slow trek back to the ship where we decided to crash for the night. Pizza tomorrow come hell or highwater!

DAY 3: 

The final day in New York City was a very busy one. We took a city tour and visited the 911 Memorial and went through many of the neighborhoods that you have heard of such as Soho, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village.

After returning to the pier, Wr walked to 10th Street and went to Sal‘s Pizza for a slice of New York style original pizza. Michael got a haircut and I got a haircut and Michael made a trip to the post office to mail a couple of packages and then back to the ship we went.

The final day in New York City was a very busy one. We took a city tour and visited the 911 Memorial and went through many of the neighborhoods that you have heard of such as Soho, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village.  

After returning to the pier, Wr walked to 10th Street and went to Sal‘s Pizza for a slice of New York style original pizza. Michael got a haircut and I got a haircut and Michael made a trip to the post office to mail a couple of packages and then back to the ship we went.

We were anxiously waiting confirmation that the four boxes we shipped to the port agent this summer actually showed up.  At 9 PM tonight we actually got the boxes, went through them and found everything was there. What a relief as on the last cruise one of the boxes took two months to catch up with us. 

We were anxiously waiting confirmation that the four boxes we shipped to the port agent this summer actually showed up.  At 9 PM tonight we actually got the boxes, went through them and found everything was there. What a relief as on the last cruise one of the boxes took two months to catch up with us. 

Not a very exciting day, but sometimes you have to do maintenance.