This would be our last morning on the ship. Not having a balcony cabin, we weren't tempted to go outside and get pictures of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty as we cruised upriver to pier 88. The ship was a little late clearing customs, we were a little early clearing out our room, and we were finishing breakfast by 7:30 am.
Most people on the ship for a last breakfast gravitate to the buffet. We gravitate to the main dining rooms, where fewer people go and where we're allowed to linger after breakfast is finished. Our scheduled exit time was 8:30 am, so we killed an hour on the ship before walking to the exit for our last card scan, And then, we were finally off the ship.
Our next step was to pick up our luggage at the pier. This part of the trip is slightly less chaotic than on embarkation day, as our luggage is placed in areas on the pier based on luggage tag color. We were able to find our bags relatively quickly, and then were able to walk outside. In the past, this would require a stop where a customs official would check the cruiser's paperwork before the cruiser was allowed to leave the pier. Now, with facial recognition, one walks to a scanner where one's image is matched to one on file, and upon a match, one is free to leave.
Now that both of us had cleared customs, it was time to catch a cab. One hustler tried to get us to take his car for $65 - a ripoff, when the metered fare would be between $20 and $25 plus tip. Of course, as native New Yorkers, we went to the official cab stand and got a nice driver who shared serious talk and jokes on the way to Grand Central.
Roughly 90 minutes after our arrival at Grand Central, we were back in Croton, and finally able to rest.
