Rhodes and Coffe Milk

---

I awoke at 6:30 to the stillness of the boat. We were no longer moving; the vibrations of the ship had stopped. I went to the balcony curtains, opened them, and went out on to the balcony. We were anchored off Newport, Rhode Island, the port side (our side) of the ship was facing toward a bridge with a small lighthouse on the rocks below the bridge. The sun was just coming up and the morning fog was starting to burn off. It was cool to see the sailboats anchored in the harbor near the stern of the ship. Soon there was a knock at the door and I let in room service that we had ordered the night before. We ate breakfast on the balcony, and watched as the tender boats (the Crown Princess lifeboats) were lowered into the water and began circling the ship waiting for passengers to be ferried to shore. This was called tendering, and Newport will be one of two places that don’t have a terminal to dock at, so the passengers load the boats (about 50 at a time) and head to the docks on shore. We were quite a ways out, about a mile and there were about 4 tenders taking people to shore so it took a while to get everyone ashore. We had arranged to sail on an Americas Cup sailboat and we went down to the lounge and waited for our excursion number to be called. Soon we boarded our tender (lifeboat) and headed to the boat dock. We were met at the docks by an excursion rep, then we all walked several blocks to our sailboat. The sailboat, Weatherly, was the 1962 Americas Cup winner. She was 65 feet long and built of wood instead of fiberglass. She was the last wooden sailboat built for the Americas Cup. We loaded aboard and our skipper, Eli told us her history. Eli motored us out of the harbor and asked if anyone would like to steer the sailboat. I waited for someone to speak up, then volunteered. We motored out into the harbor and raised the sails to take advantage of the light wind. I got to sail her for about 30 minutes, then Glenda took the helm and sailed. No one else wanted to sail so Glenda and I took turns sailing while our skipper Eli answered questions and showed us the sights around the bay. We sailed past our cruise ship for a photo op, then struck the sails and motored back to the docks. We asked and Eli told us where to get the best lobster in town. Glenda and I headed to the Lobster Shack and ordered our lunch. Glenda ordered a lobster dinner and I ordered a lobster roll. You could also buy live lobster to take home for $9.00 per pound. We had a great meal then headed back to town for some shopping. I found a store that sold Autocrat, a Rhode Island favorite. It is coffee syrup that you add to milk to make coffee milk. Apparently this is what the locals drink with their lobster. I bought a bottle to take back and try. Soon it was time to get back to the cruise ship so we headed back to the docks. Apparently 500 other people were trying to get to the ship at the same time. We all waited in line and after about an hour we were back on board. When we got back on board we had an invitation for a pre-dinner welcome for past cruisers and a chance to win a cruising upgrade for a future cruise. We got to the theater, entered our invitation and listened to a brief welcome and invitation to future cruising. Our name was not drawn, but two more names were drawn for a bottle of champagne of course we won. We had dinner then back to the main three story Piazza for the champagne waterfall. Glenda took a turn pouring champagne into the glass waterfall. We watched the newlywed game show, and were glad we decided not to participate. We stayed for the next show, a comedian, then headed back to our cabin for the night. Next stop, Boston.

---

Photos

View from our cabin this morning
Suspension bridge with small lighthouse