Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

NYC Breakaway 9-15-2013 w/ pics

Medtech2

By Medtech2,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
  • Author
Posted

September 11 2013

 

Again we walked all over, visiting Times Square, the iconic New York Public Library, Macy's (ate lunch at the Cellar in Macy's--good but a bit pricey--nothing beats the street food stands). Walked to see the Flatiron Building and FAO Schwartz. Had frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 then headed back to LIC. Dinner was kabobs from a small shop right next to the entrance of Queensbridge Plaza. The guy cooks a decent kabob and then ruined it with bottled Barbeque Sauce so be mindful of that if you go there...

 

"The Ball"

 

ry%3D480

 

You never know who you may meet in a restroom at Times Square

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

A wooden escalator--now that was cool!

 

ry%3D480

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
  • Author
Posted

September 12 2013

 

Rain was forecast so we went to the Museum of Natural History. Afterwards we ate hotdogs at Gray's Papaya. The papaya drink reminded me of a liquid yogurt drink. Dinner that night was brick oven pizza from Bella in Queen's. They deliver to the hotel and have eggplant as a topping--what could be better?

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
  • Author
Posted

September 13 2013

 

We saw the Trump Tower and used the restroom in Bergdorf Goodman. That was one nice thing in NYC. Restrooms were easy to find in fast food places and department stores. We walked past St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center and St. Thomas Church.

 

We had met an Irish Pedi cab driver on Wednesday who assured us he took credit cards so we had called him to arrange a 12 noon pick up time. He brought beer to drink in coffee cups during our ride all around Central Park. It was a 2 1/2 hour ride and he was quite entertaining but at the end he said his credit card machine had busted in the rain the day before and would need cash. Well, we knew we needed that cash for Bermuda so came to an impasse. He had to find a buddy with an Iphone credit card reader but then we had to pay tax on top of the fee we had agreed to. I'm not sure if that is correct or not, to tell you the truth. I suppose if we had paid cash he would have dropped the tax part but again not sure. I liked him enough though and I don't feel we wasted our money on this excursion. It was fun and the beer was good!

 

We went back to Little Italy for the Feast of San Gennaro. The festival seemed to go on forever. We tried Torrone candy from a booth and that was most excellent. It is like a white glossy fudge or nougat with almonds. We ate at Lombardi's Pizza (est. 1905) but both agreed the pizza from Bella's was better. We were heading to MOMA because it was free on Friday evening and somehow ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was not free but the man at the ticket counter said we could donate any amount we wanted so that was good. That place is huge and there was no way we could see it all. We ended the evening catching a bus right outside the Museum and seeing Times Square at night.

 

Didn't I just see this on a new show?

 

ry%3D400

 

ry%3D400

 

I love the juxtaposition of old and new all over the city!

 

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

September 14 2013

 

We did laundry at the very conveniently located Laundromat down the street in preparation for the cruise the next day. We walked to Queensborough Park and ate lunch at The Burger Garage in LIC. I highly recommend this place. The fried pickles were great, as were the fries and onion straws. And of course so were the burgers. Not healthy but oh so good!

 

 

The view from Queensbridge Park:

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

 

ry%3D480

Edited by Medtech2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ibcnusoon

ibcnusoon

Posted
Posted

Wow, you certainly got around! I was impressed that you were able to see lower Manhattan, now you're on the roof of the Met! I've lived in Jersey all my life, been to Manhattan many times, I even work a day or two in the city during the week ... but I haven't done half of what you both accomplished!

___

 

The view from the Roof Garden at the Met--a must do!

 

ry%3D480

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
  • Author
Posted

September 15 2013

 

Finally the day of the cruise! We walked 2 blocks from the hotel to the bus stop and took the Q32 bus to 49th Street & 5th Avenue, then walked all of 10 feet to another bus stop to catch the M50 bus to 49th Street and 12th Avenue half a block from the terminal. From hotel to porter took all of 30 minutes and required no stairs with luggage as boarding the buses is very easy.

 

At 10:35am there was no line at all and did not even have time to fill out the "sick form" before checking in at a counter. We were in Boarding Group 7 and boarded at 11:20am. We were wearing Mardi Gras beads and were approached by various members of our Roll Call so chatted quite a bit. I believe we saw Sundiego, Baffy, anyman, IrishKT and lellie.

 

The photographer we had for the boarding picture in front of the ship rushed us and had us standing so that the Peter Max hull art was not even showing. That was a huge disappointment as I had wanted to buy that picture. I saw many unclaimed pictures in the photo gallery with the same problem so I made a point to fill out a "Dear Sean" note on the ship so that more care would be taken in the future. We were given an 8 X 10 picture of the ship underway in the harbor as a consolation.

 

We ate lunch in Savor and it was not crowded at all. DH got the New York Strip and I have to say it was the best steak he had in a MDR all trip, and I do NOT mean that in a positive way. The steaks we had in the 3 MDR's were pretty bad, the worst being a grey flacid piece of meat they were calling a ribeye. I had been reading that the food had gone downhill if you didn't pay extra. While we always found food we liked the quality of the included steaks was really a huge disappointment.

 

We went by the Spa but decided not to get passes. It was nice but it did not seem as nice as the Epic to me, which had the aft balcony area attached and what seemed like a larger hydrotherapy pool.

 

We went to the Box Office to see if we could add the Cirque Dinner as I did not want to pre-book and then have to prepay. I wanted to use OBC. It is also a bonus that it is 25% off the first night, so $29.99.

 

Then we went to Guest Services so I could make sure we would have a photographer and a prize at our M & G. I am glad I did because there was some confusion about that, even though I had an e-mail confirming. As an aside, Guest Services does not give out lanyards but they do provide extension cords for CPAP machines, so you do not have to bring one of your own. We had brought a power strip but found we did not need it. There were two outlets right by the coffee maker in the room.

 

I also talked to a very irate woman who was furious that her mother's walker would not fit through their cabin door. There were no handicapped rooms available so they had to leave the walker in the hall. Frankly, if you have limitations and/or equipment you really need to do your due diligence when booking.

 

We were supposed to be wearing the Mardi Gras beads and informally meet up in Spice H2O for sail away but we did not see anybody so went to the putt putt area to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge.

 

After we went to unpack. I had called Tuesday to see about an upgrade and we had moved from a regular BD balcony portside to a midship MA mini-suite starboard. I tried out the shower and it took a while to figure out the controls. OMG when those jets started it was like needles on my skin--I wonder if the folks next door heard me? The top lever controls the temperature--once you find the temp you like you never have to touch this knob again. The bottom lever rotates to pick showerhead vs. body sprays, etc. You pull it toward you to actually turn the water on. I felt like I needed an engineering degree. There was no footrest to shave your legs but there was room to take the little table from the balcony and use that.

 

They listed in the Daily that prime rib would be in the Garden Café, and since we had the Cirque Dinner late at 9pm we decided to share a piece plus have a crepe for a snack. The crepe station is open normally from 5:30pm to 9:30pm and is absolutely the best dessert Norwegian has. Oddly it was located right with the pizza station and not near the ice cream or desserts. We also ate a Sabrett Hotdog and watched football in the Atrium. Those hotdogs were wonderful, and I don't even like hotdogs. I think I ate 5 during the week(!)

 

At 8:30pm there was already a line to enter the Spiegel Tent. Not to worry: First, it was relatively easy to change reservations all week, which we did for various reasons, including the fact that Norwegian had changed some times due to new performers starting that week. Second, as the week progressed reserved attendance at shows dropped so that there was ALWAYS standby seating available.

 

We ended up 3 tables back in the show. The food was okay, not the best, not the worst, but the coffee was downright strange tasting, almost with a cooked almond flavor. At one point the "beetle" character came up behind me, stuck his antennae in my ear and let loose with a psychotic yell. If I would have had my coffee in my hand it would have gone airborne.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...