May 16 NYC

A morning departure from BWI train station to Newark led to a serendipitous meeting with a fellow cruise member. She spotted our luggage and came over to talk to us, rightly guessing that we were on our way to the Holland America cruise. We learned about the Cruise Critic on line group, and we said we would find each other on the ship. The train left, and after a Whole Foods pre-purchased lunch aboard the train, we hopped aboard the airport train and met out HAL connection at the airport. We shared a van with two other couples – one from Ottawa Canada and the other from Ocala Florida. As the drive into Manhattan was thru heavy traffic we had time to do a lot of chatting with them. Hank, the FL man, turned out to be a USNA grad so there were some memories traded of Annapolis.


Upon arrival at the ship, we turned over our luggage and then went thru the security and health checks. Finally, we boarded the ship, and went to our cabin. My suitcase was already in there and dh’s arrived while we went out exploring the internet site. Then came the requisite lifeboat drill which always involves a lot of ‘stooging around’ but then we were done. Time to use the net a bit while we still had free access thru the WAN on dh’s Mac, then farewell to NYC, the Statue of Liberty and our first dinner.


We decided to stick to the casual Lido buffet which had the same menu as the main dining room for the first night especially as I was really feeling the movement of the ship. I was glad to have the Dramamine from a prior cruise and after a walk about outside – just one lap to be sure dh’s feet didn’t get blistered up again – we were ready for an early night. We did go back to the Lido for an ice cream cone tho – chocolate and cinnamon scoops for me and vanilla and orange sherbet for dh.



A Dramamine for me and about 5 pages of reading and I was out like a light while being rocked to sleep by the ship.

Counting Down Once Again

This week is the week to plan the suitcase. What does one take for 28 days with 18 different cities, and who knows how many changes of weather? That should be a clue that this trip involves a BIG ship but not the ship below.

At least I am going with a laptop of my own this time (well at least a hand-me-down from dh) and a chance to do some of my own computer work, and not have to share on line time with dh. DH's computer time makes $$ so it was always hard to compete with that!

Ok, I have to get back to some serious planning of the packing! See me back here on Saturday.