The flight to New York had a tail wind so we arrived a bit
earlier than expected. At CLE we had been dropped off in front of the outside
baggage check so we didn’t have to schlep bags through the airport. In New
York, we opted to get a wheeled cart to help with the luggage. Bob was shocked
to find the price was $6 to use one. We remember when it was only twenty-five
cents or half a dollar and you could return it to get your money back. But,
this was NYC or rather Newark, NJ.
Our luggage was quickly retrieved and we headed for the taxi stand. The attendant entered our destination, printed a ticket, handed it to Bob and pointed to an SUV (five bags of luggage). The driver loaded it up and drove a little ways from the departure stand to be sure we understood what the cost was to get to Brooklyn and our hotel. It was then Bob looked at the paper the attendant had handed us and saw the $90 plus the $43 dollars in tolls. He shook his head. “Well, guess it’s our only choice.” We drove on.
The drive was about 45 minutes through some traffic that
obviously wasn’t being reduced all that much by the recent increase in tolls. Outside
the door of the Hampton Inn, the driver began to unload our suitcases while Bob
ducked inside to get a luggage cart. Before we could begin stacking the luggage
on it, a gentleman from the hotel was there and loaded it all for us. I’m not
sure what his position was in the hotel but he turned out to be extremely
helpful and especially with luggage.
Craig (we learned his name later) took the cart up to the
room while we checked in and got a regular key. Bob always likes to use the key
on the app but they said it didn’t always work properly. By the time we were up
to the room, Craig had almost all of it unloaded. He apologized for the room
being so small and we laughed. “It’s going to be a lot smaller than this on the
ship,” we told him. He offered to put some of the bags in storage but we
assured him we could manage for one night.
The suggestion Craig gave us for our late lunch was perfect. It was about a four block walk to Juniors restaurant, in the cold I might add, but was well worth it. The onion soup and the matzo ball soup were delicious as well as the pastrami and corn beef sandwiches. The “famous” cheesecake was too tempting to pass up so we got a piece to go and took it back with us.
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| Got to see the new pickleball courts in Key Largo |
On our way back to the hotel, we found a Target in an indoor
mall and I purchased a pair of sunglasses and endured the teasing of “you
always forget your sunglasses.”
Our evening and the next morning were spent indoors. While
it wasn’t quite as freezing as back home it was still cold. When it was time to
go to the ship, we again had lots of help from Craig and a great Uber driver
(the price wasn’t a sticker shock). Luggage was handled at the drop off for the
ship much to the Uber driver’s surprise and I assume relief. We were ready to
board and begin our three and a half month journey.
The Queen Anne is large. We haven’t been on a ship quite
this size in a while. Just for instance—most times we have to walk 4-6 times
around the promenade deck to get a mile walk in. This ship was only 2.5 laps. Lunch
was had in the Golden Lion although we passed on fish and chips, the specialty,
and settled for sausages with gravy and potatoes. Thankfully not a big helping.
We then began our exploration of the ship as we usually do our first day. It
would not be completed before dinner. There was just too much to see and the
parts that were outside we skipped. We had a bigger chore awaiting us—unpacking.
While the QA is large, the storage space in the rooms is
not. I had planned ahead and brought several plastic baskets that we could
store some things in on the top shelf above the desk area. We organized closets
with “gala” clothes (the formal nights) and regular clothes and managed to get
most everything in a place hoping to remember each place later. Bags were a bit
tricky to store under the bed but eventually we worked it out with our room
steward and he removed some of the storage units he used under the bed so ours
would fit. We can slid two open suitcases out like an extra drawer.
Meals have been wonderful. We have an assigned table for two
between two others that have some lovely couples we’ve grown fond of from
Scotland and the UK. Lectures have been interesting. Weather finally warmed up
as we neared Miami and the sun came out!
Our personal excursion in Miami was to rent a car and drive to Key Largo to meet some friends for lunch. Bob wanted to try out a Tesla. So, of course it was to be an adventure starting with the fact that the returned Tesla had not been cleaned yet and only had a 60% charge on it with no place to charge it at the rental place. We took it anyway and knew of a place in Key Largo where we could charge it. When it came time though, we discovered that the car did not have the adaptor needed to fit the charging station. We went on and met our friends, had a great time catching up and eating at one of our favorite places in Key Largo and then started back north to the Tesla Charging Station on the map that was 24 miles away. By the time we got there we were at 6% battery power.
There were a few other problems with the car along the way.
To begin, just trying to figure out how to get the doors open. We never did figure
out the passenger side. Bob had to stretch across to open my door. We called
his brother who had a Tesla and asked how to set the cruise control. All in all
it was quite an experience and we decided against a Tesla in our future.
From Miami, our next port is Cartegena in two days. The sun
is shining. It’s getting warmer and we have finally finished our tour of the
ship—well most of it. I suspect there are places we still haven’t discovered.
