After an evening of dinner, a show, and some dancing, we returned to our cabin for the final night …
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… only to rise early for the special treat from the deck to the east …
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… but the show we came to see was to the west …
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… as we approached the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge …
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… which the ship cleared with a little to spare …
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… to eventually dock on the New Jersey of the river with a wonderful view of Lady Liberty and the Manhattan skyline featuring One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, and the morning clouds getting ready to make a break.
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From the dock, our return home started as we went directly to the airport, so we couldn’t connect with NYC area bloggers as Lame, Guapo, Kay, and Weebs. But if you are late joining this trip, click here to get you to the start, plus each post will end with the next stop.
Cruise
On an Explorer
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Vasco da Gama are a few of the early European explorers. but this post is not about any of them because the day after arriving in Quebec City, we joined another explorer – Royal Caribbean’s (RCCL) Explorer of the Seas.
This 1025 ft (312.4 m) explorer is part of RCCL Voyager Class capable of carrying 3,114 passengers and almost 1,200 crew. Our trip was about 96% capacity.
When in port, we spend much time seeing sites and walking. Our evenings following a pattern of dinner, theater entertainment, then dancing – but the dance floors on this ship were a negative. Enjoy some pics of the ship.
Explorer of the Seas
Beautiful main dining room named after famous explorers
1,350-seat capacity theater
900-seat ice rink
4-story Main Street Promenade for shopping, eating, drinking, and gathering
Some rooms overlook Main Street
A not-for-me climbing wall
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The top deck (from ship-technology.com)
Find out where this trip went.
For additional information about Explorer of the Seas
On Cruising the Southern Caribbean
Nothing serious today … just a few images of our recent cruise. After all, they have been requested.
From a Fort at San Juan Point (El Morro) Looking Back
I could avoided taking this picture of a store near the port
Our Ship: Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas
St. Thomas from the Ship
From St. Kitts Looking at the Island of Nevis
St Kitts: Where the Atlantic Meets the Gulf
Iguana in Aruba (Cactus everywhere in Aruba)
Willemstad, Curacao from the Ship
Willemstad’s Floating Bridge that Swings to Let Boats/Ships Pass
On those Special Vacation Moments
What was your one favorite moment? What was the one moment that captured the trip? When a friend returns from a vacation, those are the questions I like to know.
T
here’s no question, our 2007 cruise of Italy and Croatia was our best vacation ever. Not long ago we were talking vacations with friends and my wife got a little choked up when describing what happened to her in Florence.
While walking from the train station down Via dei Banchi toward the Duomo, the street was bending, and then … POW! Towering over the 4-story buildings and looming ahead, the Duomo suddenly and majestically appeared. She was stunned, and to stop to catch her breath, and then take this picture.
For me, there was nothing better than being on deck at 7 am with Venice straight ahead. The approaching sight wonderful and full of anticipation, but then topped by the 900 ft. ship going right down the main canal, passing St. Marks Square, then swinging around to dock along a sidewalk – a 5-minute walk from the square.
So remember those quesitons the next time a friend or colleague returns from a vacation. Please share any of your single, special vacation moments that captured the trip.
Cruising for Wine
My wife and I just completed a Wine Cruise on the Celebrity Mercury. Besides onboard wine events, the 9-day itinerary featured wine regions at each port as we journeyed from Vancouver to San Diego. For wine lovers, I’m providing some tasting room notes for each stop.
Victoria, BC
Located in the heart of downtown Victoria, the Artisan Wine Shop features wines from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. This tasty wine bar offers 6 free offerings that change daily. This was a pleasant surprise.
Seattle, WA
Found on Post Alley in the Pike Market District, The Tasting Room: Wines of Washington features many wines from Washington’s smaller producers. Wine lovers may select from thematic flights (for a very reasonable fee) or by individual wines. A must stop for wine lovers.
Astoria, OR
Located at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, Astoria is a quaint stop for cruise ships. A short walk from the docks along the river walk, the Flying Dutchman tasting room was a pleasant surprise as the $5 tasting fee got us a full range of wines. Note that this tasting room wasn’t well marked. In town (near the Maritime Museum), we found another winery, but it was closed.
San Francisco, CA
Porting in beautiful San Francisco for two days gave us a chance to rent a car for heading north to our favorite wine region – Sonoma County. Since we’ve been to Sonoma before, we followed the recommendations of our cruise-dinner-table friends and drove to Healdsburg whose downtown is dominated with shops, restaurants, and tasting rooms around a quaint town square.
Downtown Healdsburg houses 22 tasting rooms! With many charging a tasting fee, here are a few tips and a link to a map.
- Stop by the Visitors Information Center as it provides some free tasting cards.
- When visiting a tasting room, ask for recommendations for your next stop because it may lead to a complimentary tasting.
- Williamson and Selby were pleasant surprises!
Monterey, CA
Cannery Row is home to five fee-based tasting rooms. The Taste of Monterey provides the largest variety, plus the tasting fee is applied to a purchases.
San Diego, CA
Our time beautiful San Diego was limited, so we didn’t travel to the Temecula wine region. Within San Diego’s Old Town is a fee-based tasting room, which I didn’t try nor remember its name; but it’s located within Plaza del Pasado near the Temecula Olive Oil Company.
- Thanks to a comment, here’s the link to Hacienda de las Rosas.
FYI: While on the ship, Peter Lehmann Shiraz was our dinner favorite.
A Frank Angle 