Home is where the heart is...

January 11, 2009
Another Greatly-Delayed Post

Greetings from somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Queen Victoria is currently making her way from New York to Fort Lauderdale where she will be docked on January 13. This post is going to be about one of the least exotic places I have visited; nevertheless, I wanted to write something about my experiences yesterday.
The ship crossed under the Verrazano Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, and by about 7:30, she was safely tied in alongside Pier 88 in Manhattan. Though many other crewmembers elected to either pull all-nighters or wake up extra early to see the city from the ship as we sailed in, I elected not to, but the first thing I did when I woke up was run up to the staff mess to catch my first glimpse of the Big Apple through a porthole. A feeling of elation quickly overtook me, for it was then that I knew that after spending 114 days exploring Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the high seas, I was home.

After eating a small breakfast, I headed up to the ship’s spa to get a better view of the city since there is a crew-only open deck outside the fitness center, and the spa itself is located on Deck 9 (one deck above the bridge, and the tenth deck that is situated above the water). My first stop was actually the men’s changing room where the large exterior window provided me with a nice southern exposure. Though it took me a moment to register what I was seeing, I noticed that one of Manhattan’s mainstays, the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, had returned from her 2006 trip to a dry dock and then a wet dock for extensive renovations. Despite the big electronic sign at the pier counting down the days until Intrepid would be making her triumphant return, I forgot that I would be getting the chance to dock right next to her one more time.

I then left the changing room and proceeded out onto the open deck to breath some New York air for the first time in nearly four months, and took a minute to take everything in. The next step at this point was to get off the ship and set foot on American soil once again. Sadly, I was going to have to wait a while.

Before crew shore leave could be granted, two things needed to happen, and unfortunately, neither task was a speedy one at all. First off, American immigration officials had to do a full crew immigration check, which essentially meant that one thousand crew members had to wait in lines to get passports and visas stamped. There were only two immigration officials stamping passports and visas, so this process took over three hours. Following the immigration check, the United States Coast Guard decided that they would be doing their inspection of the ship’s safety procedures in the event of an emergency. For me, the Coast Guard Inspection resulted in me having to stand around in one spot for around a half hour before going to another place and standing there for another half hour.

In the end, it was already 12:15pm before I was able to get off the ship, and as soon as they said crew shore leave was granted, I ran to my cabin, grabbed my things, and ran to the gangway. Fifteen minutes later, I exited a taxi in front of my apartment building in the Upper West Side, where my father and uncle greeted me. As soon as I finished saying my hellos, I placed a delivery order for some sushi and relaxed while everyone opened up Christmas gifts we had bought for each other. I went up to my apartment (my aunt and uncle live downstairs) shortly thereafter and began stocking up on warm clothing because the ship visits northern Europe quite a bit after the world cruise concludes and I do not want to freeze upon my arrival there. I also dropped off some things I knew I could do without between now and July, grabbed my essential mail, and headed out to run a couple of errands and see a friend before heading back to the ship.

It is a weird feeling to be able to take a ship all the way from England to your home city, get in a taxi cab, go home for four hours, and then get back on board to continue circumnavigating the globe. Upon arriving in my uncle’s apartment, it took me a little bit of time to hit me that I was in New York, and I was sad to go when the time came. Nonetheless, once I reminded myself what the future holds, I was convinced that everything would be just fine and I could once again look forward to returning to Manhattan in early July.

As far as my itinerary goes, I will only be visiting six more ports, and additionally will spend one day transiting the Panama Canal (not exactly a sea day). I will be in Fort Lauderdale on January 13 (where I will get a chance to see my mother and grandmother), Willemstad, Curaçao on January 16, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on January 21, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on January 24, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on January 25, and in Los Angeles, California on January 27. Plenty of sea days await, which is an interesting change after spending ten out of twelve days (sometimes eleven out of twelve) in port during October and November. Stay tuned for more updates, and Happy [Belated] New Year!