Day 6 - New York City - 07/04/2009

Last day . We were scheduled to disembark at 8:00 AM and we had already decided to self-assist, so we were all packed the night before. We woke up a little before 5:00 and could see land on the horizon. Couldn't tell what it was though, perhaps Long Island or possibly Connecticut. Finally had a clear enough sky that we could see a sunrise.

There's land out there on the horizon if you look really closely

Sunrise over some unidentifiable land

A sailboat welcomes us back to NYC

After some coffee from the Lido deck and showers it was light enough outside that we could make out landmarks, including the Manhattan skyline in the distance. We went outside on the forward Panorama deck to pass under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and I do have to say that it's much more impressive from the deck than from the balcony. Back down to the balcony to watch us pull into Pier 90. This time we were on the city side, so we saw the Intrepid and the Concorde, both of which are at the next pier.

Manhattan skyline

Approaching the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Phew! Just cleared it!

Concorde

A tall ship at Pier 92

Almost home

This gangway does not inspire confidence!

The ship was in on time and tied at the pier. They did VIP disembarkation and then started self-assist right around 8:00 I believe. They do this by deck and started with Riviera (Deck

1). We were Panorama (Deck 10), so we figured we had a little while to wait. 10 minutes later, they called Main (Deck 2) and another 10 minutes after that Upper (Deck 6). Then it stopped. Nothing for about 30 minutes.

We had been asked to vacate the staterooms by 8:30 so that they could start turning them over for the next cruise, so we had gathered all our bags and gone out to the area right outside the Panorama doors to the Lido deck (at the end of our hallway). We grabbed a couple seats by the forward pool and watched a couple minutes of CNN (still All Michael Jackson, All the Time). After 5 minutes or so, a couple of maintenance workers came up and started putting up caution tape and preparing power sanders to sand the benches surrounding the pool right in front of our seats. Knowing that this was going to create a bunch of dust we decided to head down to the lobby and find a place to wait.

We got off the elevators and the line for Deck 6 was still twisting through the Lobby. We saw the "special assistance" people still waiting in the Rome Lounge, so we just kind of hung out by the door to the lounge. One of the Fun Patrol members was in there with them and was asking how many of them had all their luggage and were doing self-assist. He told them that once the line started moving he would let them disembark. We decided that we would sneak off with them.

The line finally started moving again after about 15 minutes and we just jumped in line. Got to the gangway and walked right off. No one checking to make sure your deck had been cleared.

Headed to the customs area and got in line. A long line, but moving very quickly...never stood still, just kept walking through the que. A customs agent was yelling for people to make sure that they had their "decoration forms" completed and their passports out. The group of Asian people in front of us were resident aliens and when they got to the front of the line, the customs agent directing people to windows noticed that they had resident alien cards, not passports and had to move them to another line. They spoke very limited English it seems and had a hard time understanding why they had to move to another line after waiting in this one. Still, it only delayed us by about 90 seconds. Because the federal government doesn't recognize same sex couples as families, we had to go to separate agents as two distinct households. We were each asked if we were bringing any food or alcohol with us. Responded in the negative and received an official "Welcome Home" from the US Government.

Took the elevator up to the parking level on the roof, put the bags in the car and were home by noon.

All in all, it was a great vacation. I'm still waiting for someone to make my bed while I'm at breakfast in the morning, for someone to cook my meals and clean up after them, for someone to entertain me at night just a few hundred yards from my door and to wake up in a different city each morning, but I think I'll have to wait for the next cruise for this to happen.

I hear that Canadian cruises are a bit more quiet than Carribean cruises and I would agree, but sometimes quiet is what you want. For us it was relaxing. Neither of us are beach people and we enjoy traveling to cooler locations in the summer and warmer locations in the winter. I think Carnival met our expectations in all areas. The food was always at least good, sometimes great, the room was lovely and larger than expected, the entertainment was entertaining (if not Broadway), the crew was pleasant and helpful and the ship was in great shape for being 10 years old. Halifax was a great city. I'd book an excursion in Saint John for next year since it won't be Canada Day and it might be a little too quiet otherwise.

We'll be booking the same cruise next year in a few weeks for mom's 70th birthday with all her brothers and sisters and their spouses and a couple of her friends from the senior center.

The End.