On board the Norwegian Dawn - Monday Nov 3, 2008 - Atlantic Ocean southbound to Samana Dominican Republic with arrival on Wednesday Nov 5, 2008

Embarkation was a breeze in NYC - within an hour of arriving at the pier I am on board the ship and meeting up with some of the other cruise critic members for an impromptu drink at Bimini’s Bar on Deck 13 - then to the Garden Café for lunch and then it’s time for muster drill and before long we are off and sailing down the Hudson river pass the Manhattan skyline and the Statute of Liberty and into the open waters of the Atlantic ocean - the weather while sunny is cold thanks to a brisk NE breeze - I stayed on deck to capture the sail away with many images of the skyline - then adjourned to Aqua restaurant for supper where I had a onion soup with rigatoni pieces - herb spiced chicken with mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies - like Brussels sprouts and zucchini neither of which I am a fan of. I pass on dessert - then tour the ship and take in some of the entertainment on board before returning to my cabin and a night’s sleep.

Speaking of my cabin - I have an outside obstructed view cabin which means that my view is obstructed by part of the tender boat but at least I can tell whether it is light out or what the weather is doing.

Today Monday I will attend the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet and Gift swap at 10:30AM in the Salsa restaurant where upwards of 80 people will attend.

I have brought a small memento of Vancouver - one of the Olympic mascots - should be a great gift for those with kids or grand kids.

The rest of the day, I intend to take easy, as I am still foot sore from all my walking in NYC.
I have booked the Salsa restaurant for dinner - it is a Tex-Mex sort of menu - had their ribs last year and even though there is now a $10.00 fee it is well worth it.

More later and Gord if you see this on Sunday say hi to Jim for me.

Cheers

D

It's Sunday morning here in NYC and almost time to vacate the hotel room and head for the ship - a picture of which is at the top of the page - it's the Norwegian Dawn - I am sure that I will meet up with some of the CC'ers in the lineup and once on board some of us were going to meet for a sail away drink at the Bimini Bar.

We should enjoy that sail away drink under sunny skies although by the time that we sail down the Hudson it will be getting dark - don't intend to worry too much about photos this year as I have a good supply from last year and got some much better shots of Lady Liberty yesterday from the Staten Island ferry. Might take some more video as last year my battery was dying as we sailed.

The only thing on my agenda that I didn't get to see was the United Nations complex which is only a couple of blocks from the Y - could still walk that way after breakfast and before grabbing a ride over to the ship. Will probably take a taxi rather than the bus that way I don't have too carry the weight of the suitcase too far when I get to the pier.

Cheers

D