Going Home

 Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Yep, I'm up before three, but everyone is up by four!  It's really cold out on the balcony but we can see New York and we pass under the Verrazano Bridge (I think?) and there's a full moon and we can see the Statue of Liberty.  It's still pretty dark and the ship is moving, of course, so the photo ops are limited.

Giggles and grins!

Tommy the Tugboat!  and the refueling barge

This is the same airport that had the forest in each bathroom stall!

We can have breakfast at 5:30, our last "free" meal, and we take advantage of that.  And we run into Christine!  A lovely surprise!

We are finally allowed to disembark with the first group of passengers, other than the "self-assists" and we  again meet up with Christine as we are searching for our luggage.  All present and accounted for!  We move through customs with no difficulty and go looking for out shuttle to the Newark Airport.  A quick question to one of the guys in yellow and we are directed right to our bus.

It's really a short bus ride and goes through the Lincoln Tunnel.  Christine tells me they have a Kennedy Tunnel is Canada!

We get lucky and the lady at the Delta desk is willing to let us check in and give her our luggage, even though our flight isn't for another seven or eight hours!! And my suitcase weights about forty-six and a half pounds!!  Whew!  Glad I moved some of the heavy stuff into my backpack!

Now to security with TSA pre-check.  Should be smooth buy my tray gets pulled.  Turns out they just didn't get an image and when it's put through again it's cleared.  There's a ton of time to kill - shopping, computing, eating...we'll use the time somehow!!  At any rate, I've gotten this close to finishing the blog and I'm pretty happy!  Now it's off to find Ginger and Nick for lunch.  Or not!!

Oh! Lunch is a crispy chicken sandwich and I’d quite good! But I can’t bring myself to spend $4.50 for a bottle of water!

Nick and Ginger are thinking of taking an earlier flight! I’m hesitant because of needing my connecting flight; but I give in. Getting to Atlanta should be easy but I won’t know about Tampa until I get to the gate agent in Atlanta. And we’ll see what happens to the luggage! At least it’s tagged to Tampa! Gulp! It would sure be great to get home earlier!!

So…we got on the earlier flight and it had a maintenance issue! We returned to the gate for repairs and finally took off an hour and a half late. But it’s nice to know the plane was repaired!!

In Atlanta Ginger and Nick go with me to the Delta Hello desk where a great young man made short work of putting me on standby for a 8:10 flight and thinks my bag will make it, too! I’ve been tracking its curious adventures on and off various planes as we change our plans! It has just moved to Concourse A which is where I am!!

We all ride the plane train and say goodbye in the car!!  I’m waiting to see if I make it on the plane. Nine-thirty sure beats midnight!! The other good news is that Stu has turned on the heat at home and Tiara has brought Floofen inside, out of the cold. Life is good!

Well,  that didn’t work and I’ve trudged to Concourse E for my original flight. At least I know I’ll get home tonight, unlike a couple of other people who will be standby on some other flight - or maybe even on mine!

“Find my luggage” says my bag is moving to Concourse E, so I think it might actually make it home with me! Bless that little AirTag!! It’s better than Delta’s app at tracking my bag. Right now I just want to cuddle the cats and sleep for a week.

Finally back in Tampa! Betsy’s smiling face meet me in the terminal and we were able to locate my westward suitcase with little trouble. I got to sleep in my own bed with a cat on either side of me. Travel is great! Home is better!!

See you next time!!

Last Sea day before New York (with photos)

 Monday, November 27, 2023

Always up before time should really count!  But there's a great moon and no competition for the internet. Today we'll have to have everything packed and our suitcases out in the hall before we leave for dinner.  We have another 8:45 reservation but tonight it is at Le Bistro.  In the meantime, we have one more day to pretend that the real world doesn't exist!!

At night you see the ocean in black and white.

There’s no particular reason to rush to breakfast, but we head to O’Sheehans anyway and settle in for the thirty minute wait.  When we are shown to our table is it for six, so we ask if two friends can join us.  It’s okay so we invite Fay and Warren, one of the Canadian couples we’ve made friends with.

The ship is running low on everything, so the hot chocolate was made with water.  Adding cream only makes it worse.  All the cold orders are served first, so it’s quite a while before those are finished and our hot meals can be served.  It’s a strange system.  They are also out of pastries, but they do have mini croissants, so Nick and I get something, at least, to munch on. I think everyone is ready to go home.

There’s nothing that needs to be done, or appeals, until one o’clock when Nick and Christine finish up their trivial competition. We go back up to the room to finish packing and I think I need some ginger ale after that. Also there is a sale at noon, so we check that out.  There’s nothing there of interest except a lovely gold and opal bracelet.  And it’s only about forty-five hundred dollars!! 

Ginger and I go looking for a bar and a place to sit. We do a lot of wandering and final find a table near the atrium where the competition will take place.  And there’s a nice barman who gives me my drink and doesn’t even ask for my card!

Just before one we spot Christine and a few minutes later we see Nick across the atrium.  And our third member shows up, too.  We’ve long ago lost the fourth person and Ginger and I have been acting as fill-ins, sort of!  Today’s topic is Sports and Christine spent the entire morning studying trivia sites!  There are twenty questions in each round and after exchanging answer sheets with another team we have 18 correct! 

It’s the last day of the competition and the scores are tallied right away.  We come in fourth out of at least twenty teams!  The best of the losers, as Christine says. Nick is hungry so we go back to O’Sheehans since they are the only 24 hour restaurant. Nick tries to get Caesars but the close bar is out of Clamato juice.  We keep the beeper and he goes in search of a better-provisioned bar. Meanwhile the beeper goes off and we are shown to a table.

Nick comes back with our drinks, mine is a virgin Caesar, and has trouble finding us.  But he does and we order.  I get the chicken-salad sandwich again.  We know the menu by heart and it’s the least likely to upset my tummy.  There’s a soccer game on the TVs and Nick stays to finish the game while Ginger and I go back upstairs.

There's a movie trivia game going on;  but the audience has to name the movie
title from performances that appear to have been prepared in about ten minutes with
limited props and costumes.  Hilarious!!!

Pan-seared bay scallops with cauliflower velouté and truffle oil

Mushroom soup.  The mushrooms were in the bowl and the soup was poured over them!

Goat cheese croquettes, beets, Granny Smith apples, arugula, and rosemary infused honey (Ginger's)

Sautéed Dover sole with lemon-butter sauce, croutons, chateau potatoes

Envice salad with roquefort cheese and toasted walnuts (Nick's)

And all the silver domes were raised at once to reveal our entrees!

Chestnut Bavarian cream with citrus filling and sablés crunch (Christine's)

Strawberries with diplomat cream and pistachio-almond sponge cake (Ginger's)

And my Marquise au Chocolat - 70% dark chocolate, rice crunch, and Chambered raspberry sauce!

I climb into bed and catch another nap until about 5:30.  We are to meet Christine at 8:15 for a drink before out 8:45 reservations at Le Bistro. We spend the time on our devices and discussing the plan for disembarking in the morning.  I think we’re supposed to get off the ship at 7:15!! Oh joy!  But we’re scheduled to pass the Statue of Liberty at 4:20, so I guess I’ll be up anyway!!

Bermuda, with photos

 Sunday, November 26, 2023

We plan to disembark at 8:30, so, breakfast at 7:30 or so.  Of course I've been awake since three and up since four thirty, so I think I'll make it to breakfast.  There is a tentative plan to call Christine who has been here before and offered to act as guide.  You used to be able to scoop up sea glass;  but she says the vendors have put a stop to that.  I should be able to bag up a bit of the pink sand everyone talks about.  I've got one of ice bags that the infirmary gave me, so that should work.

We pass one of the islands of Bermuda before the sun comes up and keep moving, so I guess that's not the one we're heading for! Then Mother Nature gives me a present for being an early bird!

Everyone has cabin fever after six consecutive sea days! O'Sheehans is slammed, so we go up to the buffet and find a table, finally, and some sustenance and head down to deck 4 to disembark. We find Christine already in line to board NCL's tender to St. George, at the far end of the island.  The ferry ride is an hour, but it's quicker than driving and way easier! We sit outside on the upper deck with rainwear/windbreakers on and people watch.

We finally get to see the whole Peter Max ship from the upper deck of the tender.

When we've disembarked we discuss possible directions to go.  Many people are heading into the town; but Christine knows how to get to the beach.  It's about a kilometer and uphill; but the view is quite lovely and the color of the water is that unbelievable Caribbean blue!  After a short walk along the shore there is a little bar/cafe and a man, Alice, offering taxi rides.  He knows the way to the pink-sand beach with the sea glass and we all squeeze into his little Isuzu.  It's a good thing I'm short because he is quite sizable and no one else would have fit behind him! 

The water is sooo clear!

So many historical buildings

And each with its own story

So much color!

The town hall, where New Year's Eve celebrations are held.

We stopped into the local super market where nearly all the brands are familiar
although the prices aren't!  And our old friend 19 Crimes makes an appearance!

The unfinished church has its own story.

There's a beautifully maintained golf course.

And that water!!

All along the drive he points out interesting sights including the new St. Regis hotel that is being built.  When we ask how he feels about that, he is carefully noncommittal.  More money - good, more tourists - hmmm. He tells us that all the roofs are made of limestone!  They are very strong are not damaged by the hurricanes that often come visiting.  Also, they have small holes in them to allow the water to pass through.  I have to think about how this works;  but he assures us that it protects from hurricanes.  He give Ginger and Christine his "card" which turns out to be half of a green index card with his contact information on it! apparently he has a YouTube channel where he talks about St. George but the data isn't on the card and I'm not sure that "Alice, St. George, Bermuda" will be enough to find it!

We arrive at Alexandra Battery and go to explore the beach which is adjacent.  Christine is quite disappointed because they beach is much smaller than it was ten years ago the there is now very little sea glass.  But there is enough to get the idea and Ginger needs to wade in the water.  It's colder than she expected!  

Serenity

See the tiny ships on the horizon?

Taking a commemorative photo!

Scattered sea glass

Some "sea glass" is actually old pottery.

Christine says you used to be able to scoop it up by the handfuls.

We've agreed to meet Alick in half an hour and that gives the three of us girls time to play with our cameras. Christine turns us on to close-ups of the rusting cannons and it's amazing!  One of the highlights of the day for sure!

Alick is right on time and drives us back to town.  He has recommended a restaurant, Wahoo, and he drops us off right there. He also points out the dunking chair which he says is still in use.  I have to believe that it is part of some annual celebration.

The girls have the local cocktail, a Dark and Stormy, made with dark Bermuda rum and ginger beer and we order assorted goodies.  I have the mushroom tapenade, Christine has fish chowder and Ginger has scallops wrapped in back in a buttery sauce.  Nick has the conch fritters and the latter two are so good that we share them and order another round of scallops!  So good!  So expensive! It's an island, of course, and everything has to be imported.

These are at the entrance to Wahoo's.  You're welcome, Jan!

View from the restaurant

See that bright pink sail?  That denotes a student sailor!

Mushroom tapenade, with conch fritters in the background

Scallops, served like escargot

There is just a little time for shopping before we have to get back to the tender.  It's the only way back to the ship and only runs once!

Sorting at the sea-glass studio

We're back before our 3:00 all aboard and Ginger suggests a drink and some snacky thing since our dinner reservations are for 8:45!  After a bit on the outdoor deck, with our goodies from the buffet and assorted beverages (read that Bushwacker for me!) I really need to take a nap.  Between Nick's cough which I now fully claim as my own, the the extra challenges from my wind adventure, I run out of steam pretty quickly.  I fall so deeply asleep that I don't even hear my alarm which is right by my ear!

Ginger wakes me and there is just time to get downstairs to meet Christine at the bar adjacent to Cagney's, our specialty restaurant for tonight.  I just have ginger ale and by the time we've settled into some comfy chairs with bar snacks (which is a first on this cruise!) our table is ready. 

The NCL tender, Spirit of St. George

Alick's "card"

Crab cake with radish salad and lemon mustard cream

Lobster Bisque with roasted lobster morsels

That's a lot of prime rib! (16 ounces!)

Petite filet mignon with béarnaise sauce

grilled zucchini and sautéed garlic mushrooms

She did such a good job!

It's a lovely restaurant and is definitely fine dining.  Our waiter is from Bali and quite intent on giving us the full fine-dining experience.  I start with a crab cake and lobster bisque, with the petite filet mignon as my entree.  I choose salted mushrooms and grilled zucchini as my sides and a raspberry creme brûlée for dessert.  I can't finish any of it; but it's all tasty.  I even pass on sharing the bottle of Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon! As a result I sleep very well!  There isn't even a discussion of finding entertainment after dinner - just sleep for all!!