Wow, just wow. That’s a different way to arrive into NYC. All of our previous visits we’ve flown into JFK airport. Invariably late at night and exhausted after 24 hours of flying. This time we serenely sail in onboard the Insignia at dawn on a glorious autumn day. The ship leisurely cruises up the Hudson. We first saw the emerging and changing skyline of Brooklyn. Then the familiar base of Manhattan comes into view. It shimmers in dawn’s golden glow. The skyscrapers of the financial district dominate this part of the island. Then the towering number one world trade centre comes into view.
‘the skyscrapers give way to more modest buildings between 4th and 34th. Hudson yards then dominates the skyline, with the exquisite Empire State Building in the background.
we then pass the buildings in the 40s, Times Square peeping through. We see the aircraft carrier the Intrepid as we pass 42nd street. 12 blocks to go.
A couple of tug boats buzz up to us and start nosing us around as we swing into Pier 90 at 54th Street. They expertly nudge us this way and that as we squeeze neatly into our berth. Then we hear a throng of activity through our balcony door. Ropes are lashed and the ship is secured in quick time. No sooner that we dock, a series of doors open at dock level as forklifts start unloading and loading pallets of supplies.
Onboard announcements encourage us to vacate our room and prepare for our disembarkation slot. We finish the last of our packing and head to the buffet for a quick breakfast. It’s 7.30am and we’ve got about 90 minutes until our slot is called.
We enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Eggs, sausages, granola, juice, croissant. We then sit in the lounge and await our call. When I time comes, we effortlessly disembark and locate our luggage. We then head for the exit and call an Uber. He’s three minutes away. We then get a notification he’s arrived. We can’t see him. Looking at the map he should be right in front of us. Curious? I message him. He’s down a level and tells us we are in the wrong place. I ask him to wait and within 90 seconds we grab the lift downstairs. He’s nowhere to be seen! I then look at the app and he’s cancelled us. Not cool. Another car is on its way but pulling up somewhere else. As we try and get to him we are hassled by drivers offering Ubers, taxi’s and private cars. All dodgy. We then decide to cancel the uber and walk a couple of blocks. It’s crowded where we are and a bit manic. We then decide, stupidly yo walk to our hotel. It’s only 10 blocks down town. And 5 blocks over. We battle our three cases along the sidewalk. Avoiding rubbish and the odd dog poo where we can. We zig zag our way down. It’s hard work, but a great way to stretch our legs after the cruise. About 45 minutes later we trundle into the AKA. Our home away from home. We check in, sadly our room isn’t ready, so we enjoy the lounge for a while. It’s just gone 10.00am, so we decide to go out. It could be 4 hours until our room is ready.
We leave the hotel and wander to Times Square – 42nd Street subway. We travel up to 110th street and enter the park at Harlem Meer. It’s a glorious day, about 20 degrees, and we love walking through Central Park. We make our way to the Conservancy garden, but it’s closed. We explore the French garden, which is open and slowly make our way across the park. There is still some autumn colour around, but the leaves under our feet suggest much of the seasonal change has occurred. We then walk around the north meadow, which has a number of playing fields. People play baseball, soccer and throw footballs around. We continue with the Jackie Onassis reservoir on our left as we make our way too 96th Street.
We decide it’s time for lunch, we’ve been walking for a couple oh hours. We go back downtown from 96th to 42nd. We arrive near a shake Shack, our favourite burgers in NYC and sit in for a burger and rest.
After lunch I go to Grand Central Market to get some granola and Mardi heads to the hotel, hopefully our room is ready. Mardi texts me while I’m buying the granola, our room is ready. Cool. I walk back to the hotel and we get stuck into unpacking.
We chill out for a bit and decide to get some more supplies. Milk, snacks and some sandwiches for dinner. It’s been a long day, so we do some washing and stay in our room. Sandwiches for dinner and a quiet night.
