Day One Hundred Eighty - Fourth of July

Last night the cruise director Leslie informed us that we would be passing Lady Liberty as of 06:30 on July 4.

About two dozen people are on deck as I arrive at 06:00 and we are sailing under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. New York's skyline is slowly coming into view.

The sunrise was exceptional.

The upper deck is now becoming crowded as more passengers venture out to see the sail in. The pool bar is open with the bar stewards offering FREE Mimosas, Bloody Mary's, and Champagne. Serving staff are walking around offering pastries as well. Everyone is hugging one another and taking photos together. It was a special time for our American friends.

Lady Liberty is now in full view, and everyone is trying to take their best picture of her. Over the speakers Frank Sinatra's New York New York is playing welcoming us to the city. Due to the early hour Janice was not on deck but got great pictures of the lady from our balcony.

Sadly today is the final day of the cruise and as Ray Carr the cruise director stated, we will get you to New York on July 4 no matter what! He was certainly right on with that statement although it was no where close to the cruise we had signed up for. But so grateful that we experienced this adventure - more on that in our final cruise summary that will follow in the next few weeks.

Leaving the cruise terminal, we are off with our friends, Manon and Jean Paul to visit Ground Zero and Times Square.

Heavy security still surrounds Ground Zero.

Janice wanted to stop in Wall Street to get a picture with The Bull however there was too many people in line ahead of her. We had to improvise so while another person was taking a picture with The Bull, Janice stood outside the fence, and I took a photo of her. I'm thinking most people in line do not know the importance of The Bull and right now we need to be very kind to the Bull!!!

Although very crowded in New York, we did not see as much as we would have thought in the way of patriotism. Maybe this is due to how big New York is. Probably if you went to the individual boroughs there would be July 4 celebrations. Lunch was a hotdog from a Wall Street vendor and then we had a $9.00 ice cream each while strolling in Central Park.

A deck party ended the cruise with a performance by the Broadway stars Uptown Boys and New York State of Mind - songs by Billy Joel.

Unfortunately, the huge firework event on the 4 of July was moved from the Hudson River to the East River so we were not able to see them. However, from far away we could see the fireworks at Battery Park as well as fireworks from other parts of New York and even New Jersey.

Well, we made it and what a wonderful 180-day journey it was!!! Certainly not the Around the World Cruise we had hoped for but grateful for making it All the Way. The new friends we met and adventures we shared and experienced will be forever in our memories. Thank you to everyone who read and commented on my blogs. It was a fun experience although at times very time consuming and challenging due to the slow internet.

Janice is working on a cruise summary with a lot of fun facts. Keep an eye out for it!