15 July 2018
New York City

Sunday in New York continues at the matinee performance of the revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel, the first of three shows we are seeing over the next few days.  I ordered the tickets on telecharge a couple of months ago, and although I knew we had very good seats, I hadn't realized (or had forgotten) that we were in front row center orchestra seats, directly behind the conductor (who didn't block our view).  I was even able to chat with the conductor, Andy Einhorn, during the intermission.

Carousel is the second collaboration of the R&H team and opened in 1945 to excellent reviews.  It played for over two years and 800 performances at the Majestic Theatre on 44th Street, one of Broadway's largest.  Although it didn't match the popular success of their first musical, Oklahoma! (1943), which played for over five years and 2,000 performances, it was by all measures quite successful.

The music is stunning and the libretto and structure created several milestones in the development of musical theatre.  Today's viewers and reviewers, however, have a problem with the fact that the central male character, Billy Bigelow, is an itinerant thief and wife beater, who often substitutes violence for the expression of emotion.  This is problematic because the female characters, and the point of view of the text, make excuses for his behavior that are unacceptable in our contemporary world--this was even commented upon when the show premiered in 1943.  But, perhaps, a way to reconcile this aspect of the material, is to see that Carousel was actually far ahead of its time in recognizing the presence of this kind of male behavior and addressing it directly, even if we come to different evaluations today.

Purely by chance, our cousin Helen, whom we had come to New York to see, already had tickets for the same performance, with two of her friends, Judy and Kathi (Will and I had met Kathi several times on earlier visits to New York).  After the theatre, the five of us adjourned to Bocca di Bacco, a lively Italian restaurant on Ninth Avenue and 45th Street, a neighborhood only a few blocks from the the theatre, formerly known as Hell's Kitchen, but now politely called Clinton.

It has been a long and busy day since our ship docked at 8:30 this morning, so after dinner Will and I head back to our hotel for a good night's rest.  You have probably noticed by now that there are no photos in this blog--and there won't be any in the remaining blogs about New York City.  I was much too busy to take pictures of the city I grew up in and have visited too many times to count since I left for graduate school in Indiana in 1967.

But I will be writing about the rest of our adventures, seeing family and friends, going to the theatre, and enjoying the good food that New York always offers.

I am continuing the final days of the recent cruise and trip to New York City.

           
13-15 July 2018
St George, Bermuda to New York City

The last days of the cruise, unfortunately, are the most unpleasant, with heavy winds and rough seas.  Over my years of cruising (24 cruises since 2007), I have been lucky not to have experienced many rough sea days.  On many cruises, especially the five transatlantic ones, there has been smooth sailing all the way.  But occasionally I have experienced some moderate bouncing around (the worst was the first two days of the cruise from Seattle to Alaska in 2008).  If the captain predicts particularly rough weather for the following day(s), I will put an Rx patch behind my ear and everything will be fine.  But after we leave Bermuda at 3:30pm on Friday, 13 July, the winds and sea are rough enough to require me to wear a patch, especially after a rather shaky dinner in the Terrace Cafe.

We spend most of Friday packing and going through all the junk we have collected over the past two weeks, discarding all the stuff we don't need to keep.  We don't have to worry about the weight of our luggage at this time since we will be spending four days in New York before flying home.  Our bags have to be outside our stateroom door by 10pm tonight, so we enjoy a last night dinner in the Polo Grill, one of the specialty restaurants.  You have probably noticed that I haven't spent much blog time describing the food, which is quite good and plentiful on Oceania ships, because I have written about most of these meals on previous cruises.

Just before bedtime we receive our final financial statement ("the bill") under our stateroom door.  Most everything, except alcohol, is included in the basic cruise fare, so the bill is quite small, especially since I receive a $200. credit honoring my fifth cruise on Oceania; even the many hours I spent on wifi were free.

15 July 2018
Arriving New York City

We are scheduled to dock on New York's west side at 53rd Street and the Hudson River at 7am, but because of the heavy opposing winds all day yesterday (they did abate during the night), we pass under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge about 90 minutes late.  This is actually good, because we sail into Upper New York Bay and the Hudson River in the daylight, with views of the Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the skyscrapers along the New Jersey shore and lower Manhattan.  The only negative is that we dock right next to a Norwegian Cruise Lines mega-ship with over 3,000 passengers who will be passing through customs and looking for taxis at the same time as the 625 passengers from our ship.

As it happens, the process of leaving the ship, passing through immigration, and getting our luggage (with the help of a porter), goes pretty smoothly.  Waiting on line for a taxi, however, takes about 30 minutes (actually much less time than when I arrived in New York on Holland America's 2,100-passenger ms Eurodam in September 2012). 

We arrive at our hotel, the Hyatt Place Midtown South on 36th Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway--just three blocks from Macy's--much too early for the official check-in time of 3pm.  However, I emailed the hotel yesterday that we would be arriving early and that we had 3pm matinee theatre tickets, and would like to check in as early as possible.  The hotel staff was very accommodating (no pun), and we were in our room about 30 minutes later at 11:30, with enough time to unpack, change our clothes, have quick, but delicious, pizza slices for lunch, walk to 45th Street, and still arrive early enough to pick up our tickets for the revival of Carousel at the Imperial Theatre.

The hotel is a purpose-built 26-story structure, wedged in between other older buildings (there are actually four hotels built like this on this particular block).  There are only eight rooms per floor, but the room is very nice with good space, a comfortable king-size bed, and floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows.  We are on the 25th floor, facing north, with a view over the tops of older, shorter buildings.  I would certainly stay here again; the room charge includes a buffet breakfast and free unlimited wifi.  It is within walking distance of all the important places in midtown.  The best part is the price is just $250 per night, including taxes, which is a rare find in this part of Manhattan.  The hotel staff is exceedingly friendly and helpful.  Even when they had to break through the room door as we were checking out, since I stupidly pulled the door closed with the "door open" metal latch still pulled out, and couldn't get back in to pick up the last piece of luggage (but more about that adventure when I get to 19 July on the blog in a few more days!).

Taken with my iPhone

I'll be back in the next blog entry to talk about the rest of our Sunday in New York:  seeing Carousel and having dinner with friends.

Will and I are back in Tucson, but LFLatSea is still in Bermuda.  I have much to report about our final cruise days and our four very busy days in New York City--much too busy to spend writing the blog.  Now, at home and at leisure, I can start to catch up.  So watch for new blog entries over the next several days.

           
13 July 2018
St George, Bermuda

Our ship stayed in port overnight, so today we have another chance to explore a different part of this chain of islands, until we sail at 3pm.  Our early morning excursion takes us on a small bus to the geographic and political center of Bermuda, the capital city of Hamilton.  

The 45-minute drive from St George to Hamilton takes us along the south coast of Bermuda.  We pass the women's prison (lightly populated), but then move on to more colorful hotels and residences that line the shore and extend up the hills.

Women's Prison (Green Building) Outside St George

Deluxe Waterfront Hotel

Colorful Hillside Home

All-white Waterfront Mansion

The southern shore is where the ocean is deepest and the color the darkest blue.  We make a short stop at a quiet and beautiful beach about halfway between the two towns.

































Hamilton is a waterfront city filled with two- and three-story pastel-colored buildings housing expensive shops and the offices of banks and insurance companies.  The most interesting buildings are government offices, including the City Hall, the Parliament Building, and several memorials.  There is also an outlet of London's Marks & Spencer Department Store, as well as a local one, Brown's.  Prices are high, even without tariffs and taxes--this is an island in the ocean after all, and most everything has to be imported.   Interestingly, there are no US franchise operations; all fast food--including Starbucks--is forbidden by law.

Traffic Direction Cage in the Center of Hamilton

Hamilton is a City of Many Independent Bookstores--Good for Them!

City Hall and Arts Centre 

Parliament Building

Hamilton is also a city of many beautiful churches:

The Cathedral Looks Especially Imposing from This Angle

Another View of City Hall and Arts Center
(with our tour bus on the right)

Prime Minister's House and Grounds

Will Examining Memorial to Female Slave Burned at the Stake
(on the grounds of Prime Minister's house)

Although everything looks neat and lovely in these pictures, and we have enjoyed our time in Hamilton, the high heat and heavy humidity are difficult to bear, and we are happy to re-board our bus and head back to St George and the Insignia. Our return route takes us along the north coast road, winding through a number of seaside villages and passing small but beautiful beaches. Before reaching St George we stop at one more beach to watch kids on water bicycles.

We are back on board shortly before our scheduled 3pm departure, which is delayed a little because of very heavy cross-ship winds.  The tug assisting us first tries to pull us away from the dock, but it just doesn't have the strength to fight against the winds.  She pulls around to the other side of the Insignia and manages to push us out far enough for the ship's engines to take over.

We then head through the very narrow "cut," that leads from the harbor into the ocean, which I described in an earlier blog entry.  So we head out to sea for our final day as we head to New York City for an early morning landing the day after tomorrow.

The "Cut"

The next blog will take us on our final not very pleasant day at sea and our arrival in NYC.

Here we are in New York City, where the sun is shining and the humidity is relatively low.  We had an exciting Sunday, seeing Carousel on Broadway, and having dinner with family and friends.  But before describing the joys of NYC, I will return to early last week to remind ourselves of . . .

9-11 July 2018

. . . sailing at sea for three days as we head toward our final port in Bermuda.  The sea has been a little rough due to the remnants of Beryl as she batters the East Coast,  but the ship sails on without making us feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, Oceania has provided very little in the way of shipboard activities to fill in for the days we were supposed to be in port.   In fact, while we have been enjoying ourselves and have met some very nice people, this has been the least interesting of all the cruises I have been on.  The "enrichment" speaker has not provided much commentary of interest, and so we are left with the usual bingo, spa, and food events.

In addition, although the Insignia is an identical sister ship to the Nautica, on which I sailed for 18 days from Hong Kong to Mumbai in 2016, it is clear that the Nautica had been significantly updated before my sailing.  In comparison, the Insignia seems a little dowdy.  The guest rooms and bathrooms are especially in need of some TLC.  We have been told that she is going in for a lengthy refit in November.

12-13 July 2018:
St George, Bermuda

We arrive early morning in the small, sheltered harbor of St George, Bermuda.  Because the "Cut," the only navigable entrance to the harbor is very narrow, large ships cannot dock here (pictures of the "Cut" in the next blog); those ships must dock at the western end of Bermuda.  While Bermuda looks like one long island on the map, it is actually comprised of about 100 islands, some very large, some so small you can't blink or you will miss them.  The series of islands rests atop an isolated rocky outcrop of a now dormant volcano.  Although the waters are shallow, lovely and serene (in a gorgeous shade of green) on the north side of the islands, the south side is much rougher and deeper and at a short distance off the coast, falls off into a deep ocean gorge.

St George is a lovely, small village at the eastern end of the islands, built up on a small hill, with many colorful residences and historic buildings. When I visited Bermuda in 2016-- as I sailed transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona on Oceania's ms Riviera (a larger ship than the Insignia)--we docked at the eastern end of the country, at what had been the British Docklands settlement of the 18th and 19th centuries.  (Readers can view the pictures from that trip by linking to the dates below.)

Today we have a morning excursion in an 8-seater taxi that takes us around all of St George's Parish, well beyond the walking limits of the village itself.  Our tour begins with a drive eastward from the village to visit the St David Lighthouse, no longer in use.

Our Touring Taxi

St David's Lighthouse

From here we are given multiple drive-by views of the old and new airports (scheduled for completion in 2020), and then have a brief stop at Clearwater Beach, one of the most popular on this side of Bermuda.  

Before returning to the village, we visit St Catherine's Fort, part of a series of fortifications designed by the British to protect the islands from pirates and, especially, the invading Spanish.  Although the Spanish had visited Bermuda before the British, they decided the land was not worth keeping since there was no gold to be found.  Much of the fort is open to visitors for exploration above and below ground; there is also a fine small museum that traces its historical development.

We return to the village to visit St Peter's Church, one of the oldest in the western hemisphere.  The inside of the church is a small forest of beautiful woodwork and stained glass windows.  Surrounding the church is an ancient cemetery shared by white governors and black slaves.

St Peter's Church

The Black Cemetery:

Above and Below:  Church Interior

The final stop of the tour, before returning to the ship, is at the King's Square, the waterfront center of life in old Bermuda.  We watch a recreation of a ceremonial "dunking" of a "wicked" woman, before deciding we had seen enough.  Rather than going back to the ship with the tour group we decide to stay in town for lunch and window shopping.

The King's Square

We are lucky enough to get a waterside table for two at the "Wahoo" restaurant, recommended by our tour guide.  The food is very good, but the prices are very high.  But we thoroughly enjoy our one off-the-ship meal of the cruise.  We have another day in Bermuda tomorrow (until our 3 o'clock sailing), so we head back to the  Insignia for some rest and relaxation.

 A Short Walk Through St George Village: