Saturday, 27 July 2013
New York City

My travel good fortune continues.  My cousin Helen says I always bring good weather to New York City and today is no exception.  The sky is clear, the humidity low, and the temperature in the mid 70s—nothing to sneeze at in New York in late July.  We even slept with windows open and no air conditioning during the night.

Last night (Friday) Helen made a lovely dinner of pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce, wild rice, and mixed green salad.  With cheese and crackers before and banana-chocolate chip gelato after, it was just what I needed—along with a bottle of Pinot Grigio—after a long day of travelling under not-the-best conditions.

At 9:30 this morning (Saturday) we meet our friend Kathi (I hope she’s ok with the label) for a full New York breakfast; I have challah French toast with fat sausage links and I think I don’t ever want to eat again—it was that good and that filling.  We enjoy a short walk to Union Square where the crowds have gathered for the Saturday Morning Farmer’s Market, one of the largest in the City.

Then it’s back to Helen’s where I spend the rest of the morning rearranging my suitcases, which stayed remarkably intact during Friday’s travels.  Willie, Helen’s cat, insists on leaving his fur on all my things and sitting on my lap whenever I change my clothes. We have a short visit with another friend, Josephine, who lives across the hall with her black lab service dog, Zion. Zion is a remarkable animal, able to deal with all the vicissitudes of guiding Josephine through the busy streets of NY, but when his service halter is removed, he is just a big, wild puppy who loves to play and loves to love—all 80 or so pounds of him.

Carmel Car Service picks me up as scheduled at 1:00pm and all is well as we head through the Hugh Carey Tunnel (more commonly known as the Brooklyn-Battery) to the Brooklyn Cruiseport where the QM2 docks since she is too large to maneuver in the piers on the Hudson River.  (When I arrived in New York from Amsterdam on Holland America’s Eurodam last September, we docked in the Hudson at 57^th Street, although it was too early and too dark to see much of the Manhattan skyline as we came in—but you can refer back to the blog archive on the right side of the screen.)

However, the driver tries to drop me several blocks from the port in what looks like a deserted residential street, claiming that this was the address listed on his GPS.  I had reconfirmed with the service earlier in the day what my destination was and although he is at a loss for a few minutes, he does finally look out the car window and notice that the ship is looming over us several blocks away.  The embarkation itself is very quick and efficient and I am on board and in my stateroom by 2pm, which gives me plenty of time to wander and find my bearings before the ship sails at 5:00pm.

Everything on the QM2 is larger and more luxurious than other ships I have sailed on.  The Grand Lobby and Hallways seem more like a large stately hotel in Las Vegas than a ship at sea.  All the corridors are wider than Holland America ships, but the stateroom, while very nice itself, is smaller than on Holland America.  It is very well-fitted-out however, even though the bathroom is small and has only a shower not a full bathtub.  The protected balcony is quite large; protected means it has metal sides rather than glass (which is used on the higher decks).  Since I will be sailing for a week, I will try to post pictures of the ship as we go along, since there are no ports to provide things to see.

 

 

Sail Away and Dinner

Shortly before 5:00pm I join other passengers standing on a raised platform on the top deck (#13) to watch as we pull away from the Brooklyn pier and enter Upper New York Bay.  There are wonderful views of Lower Manhattan, the skyline of New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty, and Governor’s Island.  Since it is a clear, bright day, there are lots of small ships sailing and motoring along as we quietly slip out into deeper waters.  Folks on the back deck are waving small American flags (they come free when you purchase a cocktail), and a band is serenading the large crowd with many reprises of “New York, New York.”  After 20 minutes I head back to my veranda as we pass under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and into Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  We are sailing a northeast heading passing south of Nantucket Island and east of Halifax at about 19 knots (the QM2 is capable of much higher speeds), which is just slightly faster than other cruise ships.

 

 

 

 

 

My dinner seating is at 8:30pm in the Britannia Dining Room; I have a private table on the second tier of the balcony (there are three tiers as well as the main floor, which is for passengers without specific dining times).  The food tonight is good, although the variety of selections is not terribly interesting—this is a British ship after all.  I enjoy chicken liver pate, rocket (arugula to Americans) salad with roasted tomatoes, fettuccine with smoked salmon in a cream sauce, and a dangerously rich chocolate marquise with orange coulis.  This is accompanied by Pellegrino Sparkling Water and a large glass of not-very-good Pinot Grigio (which I drank anyway).