SAILING OUT OF NEW YORK HARBOR
Greetings from The Big Apple!
If you’ve been following along lately, you’ll know that we have recently returned from a cruise to Bermuda on NCL’s ship the Breakaway. We had selected an Aft-Facing Penthouse Suite which gave us all of the perks associated with what they refer to as “The Haven”.
One of the perks included being whisked through the long lines of nearly 4,000 passengers trying to board this mega ship to a dedicated check-in area for Haven passengers only. I admit it did make one feel special, and it sure did expedite boarding in ship-shape fashion.
The Breakaway is docked across from Pier 86, the location of the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum. From our ship we got a bird’s-eye-view of the guided missile submarine Growler and…
a British Airways Concorde jet.
To set a festive mood, there was a good band with a really talented singer playing next to the main pool. As I was to learn later, the Breakaway employs a lot of great talent and all of the entertainment onboard was superb.
We anxiously made our way to our stateroom, Haven Aft-Facing Penthouse Suite #10312. Click here for a comprehensive tour of our suite.
As Haven passengers, we also had the privilege of boarding the ship as early as 9:30am. After checking out of our room at The City Club Hotel, we boarded the ship around noon and, after a quick tour of our suite, headed to The Haven Dining Room where we enjoyed a light lunch. This is the private restaurant that is dedicated to Haven passengers only. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
As we were to learn the hard way as our cruise progressed, the food served in the Haven is, short of the Ocean Blue Restaurant which I will review in another post, the best food on the ship. We had as part of our package what Norwegian calls the “Ultimate Dining Package” which allowed us to eat in any one of their specialty dining rooms without having to pay a surcharge that ranged from $20 to $30 dollars per person. Thinking that we would enjoy the food at the various restaurants including French, Italian & Teppanyaki restaurants, a Steakhouse, a Brazilian BBQ, and a Seafood restaurant, I booked us in a different specialty restaurant every night. By the 4th night of very, very mediocre food and seriously disappointing service, we realized a much better bet was to have our meals in the private Haven Dining Room, where both the food and service far-and-away outshined the other restaurants.
After lunch, we headed back to our huge Aft-Facing veranda which provided us a magnificent view from every vantage point.
We began our voyage by sailing out of New York Harbor, where the Breakaway’s home port is located. Departure time was 4:30pm on Sunday afternoon.
I imagine that our view of the New York skyline was one few people, short of those sailing on cruise ships, ever get to see.
While there was a beavie of boats sailing down the Hudson, none of them had the view we did from our ship that dwarfed all others.
Tour, taxi and pleasure boats alike seemed to come perilously close, with their passengers gawking and waving at our mega vessel going by.
As we sailed along the Hudson river we had a magnificent view of both the Empire State Building…
and the new 1 World Trade Center building that soared above all others. You can read about our visit to the 9/11 Memorial by clicking here.
We also got an up-close and personal view of how Manhattanites practice their golf swing.
As a first generation American and daughter of a European immigrant, one scene that was particularly touching for me was our sail past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Soon we would bid farewell to New York as we journied out into the Atlantic Ocean for our slow, 3 day sail to the island of Bermuda. Stay tuned and I will be sharing with you my adventures on that beautiful island.
So there you have it: SAILING OUT OF NEW YORK HARBOR
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