Day 172: New York City, New York

Tuesday, 27 June 2017
O/N @ Berth 1, Pier 88 — Manhattan Cruise Terminal

Stats @ Ship’s Time 10:45p (EDT) … UTC 2:45a (28 June)
Temp: 69.6F (20.9C)
Position: 40.45.96N / 73.59.99W

These vagabond shoes are longing to stray,
right through the very heart of it …
~ From the Lyrics for New York, New York … Fred Ebb ~

With a mid-day arrival scheduled for our overnight in New York City, we started our day at sea.  So I am writing this post in bits and pieces.

On the way to NYC …

Woke up to sunshine around 6:15a, but by the time we went to breakfast an hour later, the bright orb in the sky was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.  Now, two hours later — still at sea — it is mostly overcast.  It would be a shame if conditions remain like this for our arrival in port.  Sunshine would make the sail-in so much better … but it will be what it will be.  CD Ray just announced that we should be going under the Verrazano Bridge around 11:00a.  That will be Mui’s cue to set up the GoPro if he’s going to do a time-lapse of our arrival in NYC.

Mui wants to resolve some transportation issues for upcoming Europe travels once our high-speed data plan kicks in again.  We might take care of business first and then decide what we want to do off the ship.  Whatever those plans turn out to be, they won’t include the New York Botanical Garden.  Wandering out in the open with rain in the forecast for this afternoon would not be ideal.  We exchanged texts with Alice and Tom who were going to join us there and they agreed, so we bagged the visit. 

Arriving in NYC …

So much for CD Ray’s announcement about the timing of when we would be going under the Verrazano Bridge.  Imagine my surprise when I raised my head from the book I was reading and noticed in my peripheral vision that the NavChannel bow-cam on the TV was showing the bridge just ahead of us.  Surely I had not been reading for two hours.  No, I hadn’t — it was just minutes away from 10:00a.  I grabbed my cameras and was ready to take a photo or two when the bridge slipped by overhead.

When it started sprinkling rain shortly after we crossed under the bridge, I went down to take photos from the deck 5 covered promenade.  First I stood on the starboard side to take photos of the Tear Drop Memorial that Sonia had said was a gift from the Russians to the Americans to commemorate 9/11.  The formal name of the memorial is “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism.”  It stands near the Bayonne Cruise Terminal on the New Jersey side of the Upper Bay.  I asked Boris for a copy of the photo he took with his ultra zoom lens … my 200mm lens fell a bit short.

My Tear Drop Memorial	Boris's Tear Drop Memorial

Lady Liberty followed shortly thereafter.  As many times as I’ve seen this monument, it never fails to thrill.  More so this time since it welcomed us as the end of our RTW voyage draws near. The sun was positioned just right to light up the statue as Insignia sailed by.  The island was crowded with visitors enjoying a pleasant day … especially now that the rain wasn’t sprinkling anymore.  We’ve taken the boat tour out to the monument and wandered around the grounds, but have not walked up the stairs inside the Statue of Liberty due to bad timing.  Perhaps another time we’ll get to do that.

Hello there … and welcome back!

Next I moved to the portside deck to photograph the Manhattan skyline.  The light was horrible, but I clicked the shutter anyway … a case of “the bird in the hand being better than two in the bush” … meaning, the light tomorrow as we leave NYC could be worse.

One World Trade Center — rebuilt on the site of the towers that fell on 9/11 — stood prominently amongst the high-rises lining the waterfront like so many sentinels.  Of course, other landmarks — such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building — were also easy to recognize.  What was surprising to me was all the new construction going up … certainly a lot of changes since we last saw the skyline in 2010.

The last time we saw this skyline, there was no One World Trade Center.

I have to say that I was disappointed in my view of the USS Intrepid — the carrier-turned-museum.  We visited the Intrepid in 2003 with my family … enjoyed it a lot.  Back then it looked like the aircraft carrier that it is … retired or not.  But the space shuttle pavilion — added to the flight deck to house and protect NASA’s prototype shuttle … the Enterprise — has changed the silhouette of the vessel.

Disappointing to see the silhouette of the USS Intrepid so changed.

On the other hand, it was nice to see the British Airways Concorde gleaming white on the grounds of the Intrepid Museum.  As well, the USS Growler — the only American guided missile submarine open to the public — tied up alongside the Intrepid pier.  What was intriguing about the sub was that a Regulus missile was sitting on a launcher forward of the conning tower.  We’ve toured subs before, but have never seen one with the missile hatch open like this.

Intrepid Museum Complex.  (Sorry about the panorama distortion.)
The Growler is tied up to the right; the Concorde is to the left.

The Concorde	USS Growler

Despite the early passage under the Verrazano, it was close to 11:30a when Insignia maneuvered into berth 1 at Pier 88 … nearly giving all who were watching the action a heart attack when the ship rounded the corner of the Intrepid pier at a distance that looked way too close for comfort to us.  Captain B was on the bridge wing and seemed unconcerned.  Whew!  Soon we were safely alongside.

A Reunion and a Broadway Show  …

The ship was cleared shortly after noon.  We weren’t amongst those rushing off to explore NYC.  With our internet whizzing, we sat down to resolve travel logistics that were on Mui’s mind. Thirty-six years of marriage means that I’ve learned to acquiesce when Mui digs in his heels and wants to take care of something … NOW!  An hour later, we had transport arranged to get us to the ship in Southampton before our cruise in August … and a car rented to get us around the Cotswolds afterwards.  Happy with our work, we headed up to the Terrace Café for a quick bite before heading off the ship shortly before 2:30p.

We stop for a photo op with the Gelmans who have family visiting them aboard the ship.

Mui had texted with a high school friend from Turkey to see if he was in town and free to grab a cup of coffee for an impromptu reunion.  Turns out that he was.  Sinan suggested meeting at the corner of West 48th Street and 7th Avenue.  Pier 88 is at the junction of 48th & 12th, so getting where we needed to go was a straight shot up 48th.  NYC blocks are fairly big, though, so it took us a good 30 minutes or so to reach the rendezvous point.  Sinan took us to a coffee shop where he and Mui reminisced for a while.

A friendship that was born 50+ years ago.

Eventually, before bidding us farewell, Sinan escorted us to the Times Square TKTS kiosk to see about picking up tickets for a Broadway show.  As luck would have it, there were several shows to choose from that had 40-50% discounts.  Recalling that Alice and Tom were going to War Paint we opted for that play.  Once we had the tickets, I texted Alice to let her know that we’d be going to the same show and made arrangements to meet at the door at 6:50p.

Since we had no idea where the Nederlander Theater is located, we decided to find it before returning to the ship to change clothes.  Turns out it was at West 41st … just off 7th Ave.  We then walked from there to Pier 88, thus making a great big rectangular loop on our first walk to/from the ship today.

Times Square ... busy as ever.	Where we will be coming tonight.

We didn’t dally long on the ship once we got back to the cabin.  I primarily wanted to change my shoes since my clunky hiking boots would not be comfortable at the theater … Broadway theaters seem to be notorious for their narrow seats and minimal legroom.

If one of Insignia’s dining venues had been open, we might have eaten on the ship.  We needed to be off by 6:00p to make it back to the theater in time, however.  Room service was our only option … no thanks.  So, we headed off to find a restaurant near Times Square … turned out to be a good decision … even if we did have to rush through our meal.

We ended up at La Masseria … and really enjoyed it.  We didn’t know anything about the place … except that it had good reviews on TripAdvisor and it was on our way to the theater.  Plus, they could accommodate us without a reservation!  We told the waiter that we needed to be out by 6:30p … which gave us 45 minutes to eat.  The restaurants in the area are used to people wanting a quick bite pre-show, so he said he could accommodate us if we ordered a single course.  Fine by us.  Since he said nothing about skipping dessert, we shared a tiramisu to wrap up with a sweet treat ;-)

Octopus and cuttlefish at La Masseria … Mui says, yummmm!

We were out the door by 6:30p and hoofing it to the Nederlander.  We arrived just minutes before A&T and had just enough time to say “hi, let’s meet in the lobby during intermission,” before we had to find our seats.

War Paint is a musical based on the story of the rivalry between two cosmetics giants — Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein.  The playbill mentioned that “… before their arrival on the American scene, ‘nice’ women didn’t dream of painting their faces.  That was for dance hall girls and streetwalkers.”  How times have changed!

The play was very entertaining and we enjoyed it very much.  The performances of Emmy-award-winning Patti LuPone (Rubinstein) and Christine Ebersole (Arden) were top-notch … the supporting actors were noteworthy, too.  The play is an adaptation by a book written by Doug Wright.  I might have to see if it’s available in a Kindle version.

An excellent performance gets four thumbs up from us and four thumbs up from A&T.

After the show, we met up with A&T and walked together through the zoo that is “Times Square at night” until we arrived at their hotel.  Bidding fond farewells, we promised to stay in touch.  We’ve made friends on previous travels, but somehow it feels like sharing a RTW adventure — or even a part of it — has led to deeper and more lasting bonds.

We were back on Insignia just after 10:00p … having added 17,620 steps to our weary feet.  I was tired, but it took a while to wind down … a good time to finish writing the story of our day.  We’re in NYC again tomorrow … our goal is to get out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

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