Dry Dock = Vacation in NY

October 1-3, 2012
Emergency Dry Dock in New Jersey
Or rather, Three Day Vacation in New York

Here's how it went down.  We were originally scheduled to have our last day of the previous cruise be in Newport, Rhode Island, but the ship had to do an emergency dry dock for repairs, so the last day of that cruise was cancelled, and the first day of the next cruise was cancelled.  So we traded two days of Newport, Rhode Island for three days of New York.  That's kind of a win in my book.

Here is our 6 in the morning sail in.

Only, we're not exactly in New York.  We're actually in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Video: Starting the Dry Dock process.

The view from beautiful? Bayonne, New Jersey

Okay, the ship is in.  Start the Dry Dock.

A Crane Craning

Water Level Starting to Go Down

The Lock Locked.

 Later that night...

The water is gone.

Totally Gone.

...and so is the air conditioning.

The thing they don't tell you about dry dock is that although you are welcome to stay on the ship, they're going to turn off the engine, and with that goes the air conditioning.  Alice in the spa demonstrates how hot and muggy it gets on the stopped ship by wearing nothing but her bra for the camera.  Thank you Alice.  Much appreciated.

So we packed a bag and headed to Manhattan, for the next two nights.

Even later that night...

I was walking through the financial district when I saw what I saw.  I don't even know how to explain it.  Hence, the video.

 Despite the wackiness of what was going on on the streets of New York, I found some street Shawarma before heading to the hotel and going to sleep.

The next morning, I met up with my producer, Suzanne Childers, who happened to be in town visiting some friends!

We met up on the Highline, an old rail line that has been converted to a long park/walkway.

It's amazing to me how they can stack cars like this in the city.

Walking with Soozi from Choozi along the Highline

 We went to breakfast together where I had my first Croque Madamme, and she had a Croque Monsieur.  Yes, we gender swapped our food.

So that day went well.  I'm going to fast forward a bunch now.  A bunch of us met up later that night and saw Warhorse.  It was incredible.  Go see it.  Not the movie, the play.  Life size horse puppetry is worth every penny.

The pictures pick up the next morning.  It turned out that Silversea was putting up it's now delayed passengers in the same hotel that I was staying in.  So, I had to point at the sign and laugh at the irony.

Of all the hotels, in all the cities, in all the world, they had to walk into mine.

 It's now day three and it's time to get back to the ship and work embarkation.  Fun!  (Not fun).

Because we take pictures in front of things that say Duke.

Nothing like some Subway Mariachis to make your morning commute a little more awesome.

Stopped by ground zero on my way out of the city.

The line was long and apparently you need tickets to see ground zero, so here I am in front of the sign.  Almost just as good.

So far, I've taken the subway all through New York, and then the PATH train to New Jersey.  After my brief photo shoot, I get on another train and take it to Bayonne, NJ.

After that last train, that is where I should have stopped and hired a cab.  Not doing so was probably a mistake.  It was over an hours jog along a long strip of nothing to get from the final train station to the ship.

That blue sign on the right displays a ship and an up arrow, but doesn't say how far.

Clues that I'm getting closer.

 By this point I'm about dead with exhaustion.

About 15 minutes later, there's the ship.

And who's waiting for me at the ship when I get there?  Soozi and friends!  How cool is that?

They were actually waiting to get onto the ship.  It took them over four hours because of bureaucracy bull@#$%. 

At this point, sadly I go back to work and the pictures stop.

This is the beginning of a voyage that will take me all they way up the North Easter side of Canada to Prince Edward Island and Quebec City, and then all the way down the St. Lawrence River to Montreal at which point we get a whole new set of guests and then do the whole thing in reverse!