Coming Home In Style

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When planning this trip over a year ago we knew how we wanted to return home; a trans-Atlantic cruise sailing into New York Harbor. Luck was with us because the Queen Mary 2 was making the voyage at the beginning of June. We were coming home in style!

We set sail on Friday June 3rd and had six days at sea before arriving in New York on June 10th. During our days at sea we read and napped and I worked on the presentation of the trip that so many people have requested. The ship had many activities available as well including guest lecturers and trivia contests several times a day. We dressed for dinner every night and met lots of interesting people.

There is a five hour time change between Southampton and New York but we had seven days to accomplish it. On each of the first two nights and the last three nights the clocks were set back one hour making the time change a luxury of 25 hour days rather than a struggle with jet-lag.

On the morning we sailed into New York Harbor, John and I got up at 4:30am. When we got on deck the ship was passing under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which is 228 feet above the water. Interestingly, this bridge was the design parameter that decided the height of the ship and we sailed underneath the bridge with only 13 feet clearance between the top of the mast and the bottom of the bridge.

As the sun rose, the New York skyline came into view and while the buildings grew larger I was looking for one icon in particular. I finally spotted it off the port side…the Statue of Liberty, her torch shining brightly in the early morning light.

We bypassed Manhattan and headed for Brooklyn. The Captain did a hockey stop with the ship turning her 180 degrees then gently backing her into the dock. It took 30 minutes to very carefully cover the last 100 yards but finally ropes were thrown and walkways were lowered proving we had arrived.

With mixed emotions we packed our bags and disembarked the ship; after 322 days and 22 countries, we were home.

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Photos

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
The mast missed the bridge by only 13 feet.

John's Discovery
John pointing to where he discovered a piece of Americana.

What John Found
Homer Simpson in the formal decorations. I love artists with a sense of humor.

Stowaways
These two pigeons joined the ship in England and sailed all the way to New York. Does that make them illegal immigrants?

The Golden Lion Pub
The pub was on the 2nd deck and our room was on the twelfth. That means we had to climb 10 stories to get home.

Comments

[Ling Li]

Formal dress
Both of you look very very nice in your formal wear!!!! Oh yes, I remember you saying one time that when you take a cruise, you never use the lifts but that you walk up and down the stairs instead. So, was being on the 12th deck a good or bad thing???

[travelingfeet]

Stairmaster
Hi Ling, let's just say being on the 12th deck when most places we wanted to go to were on the 2nd never made us feel like we had to go to the gym. John thinks he actually lost weight on the voyage.

[Theresa]

welcome home...where is my call!
so you have been home for a week now and have not even called:( Welcome back and I can't wait for my hugs!

[Dottie Wood]

Coming Home
I have really enjoyed all your blogs and am excited to see you on the 18th. I became a great gramma on the 13th for the 7th time....all boys!