The problem with cruising from Brooklyn is that when one arrives back in port, one has a better view of Jersey City than one does of New York City. Yes, Governor's Island is also in this picture, but Jersey City predominates the view. But it could be worse. It could be Akron, Ohio from the rails.
- - - - - -
We got home earlier than expected, but not because anything went according to plan. Our ordeal started at 6 am, both of us getting up early, so we could vacate our cabin by 7:30 am. We were out the door by 7:15 am and in one of the ship's restaurants by 7:30 am. That was our first defining issue for the day, as the restaurant, Razzle Dazzle, was vegetarian.
Razzle Dazzle may serve good food, but none of its breakfast offerings appealed to me. So I ordered something close to what I'd get in an omnivore breakfast - scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tiny potatoes, and "Impossible" sausage patties. Luckily, they had a "Naughty" item on the menu - Maple Bacon, which I ordered. As expected, this meal didn't satisfy. The Impossible sausage patty had absolutely no flavor and not satisfaction quotient. So the eggs, bacon and the mushrooms were the only things that kept my stomach from growling for the next few hours. Heck, I couldn't even get a glass of orange juice without paying a premium for fresh squeezed juice. And to make things worse, the restaurant was way too warm, considering it was a chilly day outside.
Leaving this forgettable joint (and I hope to do so soon), we proceed to the 6th floor to exit the ship. And this is when the real problem began. We had booked a 9 am disembarkation, knowing that many of the early birds would be off the ship before then. Well, we went upstairs at 8:45 am and found ourselves at the end of a line that stretched from mid-ship to the rear of the ship and back because they weren't letting anyone off the ship. Since I can walk forever, but not stand in one place for long, I had RQS stand on line while I waited in the casino for the line to move. The line started moving 15 minutes later, and we were out of the cruise terminal at 9:15 am. From what one crew member told me as I was finally exiting the ship, the delay was caused by issues related to a CBP contraband sniffing dog and the luggage transfer process. In order to prevent passengers from arriving at the pier before their luggage made it to the pier, they held up disembarkation to accommodate a complete restart of the luggage transfer process. AARGH!
Next, we decided to take the ferry. Walking past taxi drivers that were hungry for a fare, we barely made it to ferry dock for a 9:22 ferry. And then, we had trouble with the ferry app (mostly caused by being in a rush and still having our phones in airplane mode). We held up the ferry while personnel tried to help us. And then the ferry screwed up, heading towards Pier 13 in Manhattan instead of Pier 6 / Atlantic Avenue. So we arrived at the stop where we'd summon an Uber as it started to rain a bit. Luckily, it was a short walk to shelter with our bags.
Here is where we had our miracle. Our Uber was there in 2 minutes, and then there was NO traffic on the BQE (in our direction). We were back at RQS's place by 10:30 am - a new record from the terminal! Finally, we could rest and catch up on sleep....
