Friday, 30 June 2017
A morning at sea — especially towards the end of a long voyage … and even more so when the port of call is a familiar one. Nothing could be better IMHO. And when you wake up early — as I did at 6:45a — time for reminiscing a bit on the veranda is an added bonus.
Immediately following 9/11, Celebrity Cruises moved Zenith from where it was home-ported in NYC to Baltimore, Maryland. From there, for a while at least, the ship continued it’s week-long cruises to Bermuda. We were living just west of Washington, DC at the time. We weren’t about to let no stinkin’ terrorists scare us from traveling abroad. That Baltimore was just an hour’s drive away had something to do with our decision as well. So, barely a month after that not-to-be-forgotten day we were on our way to Bermuda.
The itinerary called for Zenith to dock a few nights in downtown Hamilton and then move to St George for an overnight stay. Perfect … use the ship as a hotel while exploring the island in a more in-depth manner than the usual port call allows.
Not all went as planned. The remnants of a hurricane passing Bermuda in reasonable proximity brought high winds and strong swells — conditions unsuitable for entering The Cut to get to St George by ship. Zenith remained docked in the heart of Hamilton and we used public transportation to get us to and from St George instead. Despite the storm clouds, we had a terrific time. Even the 40-foot (12m) swells we encountered on the way back to Baltimore could not detract from the pleasure of this first visit to Bermuda.
Clockwise from top left: Typical moon gate in Hamilton; Warwick Shore Beach; Fort
St Catherine’s; Warwick Shore Beach; Tobacco Beach (when there were no facilities).
[Scanned photos … sorry for the bad quality.]
In 2008, we had another chance to go to Bermuda. This time from NYC. We were still living in Washington, DC … a reasonable driving distance away. To our way of thinking, when you have a chance to drive to a port of departure, you should take advantage of the opportunity. So we did.
This visit was a more typical cruise port of call … just one day on an itinerary that mostly focused on the Caribbean. The ship — Caribbean Princess — was considerably bigger than Zenith and unable to dock in the heart of Hamilton as we did the first time around. Instead, the ship tied up to a berth at the Naval Dockyard.
Panorama of The Naval Dockyard … from the top deck of Caribbean Princess.
The weather was much nicer this time … perfect for chilling at a resort. Using public transportation, we headed to a property not frequented by cruise ship tour groups. Another pleasurable visit … and no storms on the way back to the US.
Panorama of the beach at Dark ‘n Stormy.
What does our third visit to Bermuda have in store for us? The weather certainly looks like it will be conducive for Insignia to enter through The Cut to dock in St George. Keeping fingers crossed! I’m heading to breakfast now … will be back later to tell the story of how our day unfolds.
© 2004-2018 All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
Oh fun, can't wait to see the comparison from your current visit. Nice to see the memories, and scanning is a lot better than no photos at all from that earlier time. Isn't wonderful that we can keep all our photos digitally, once we get through the scanning job?
ReplyDeleteI'm remembering your words about Bermuda, Erin. One of these days!
ReplyDelete