{"id":4434,"date":"2018-10-08T12:30:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T12:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=4434"},"modified":"2019-11-03T21:03:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T21:03:37","slug":"ahoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=4434","title":{"rendered":"Ahoy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once again, our rolling luggage is still and passports tucked away in a bank safe deposit box. The passports bear the stamp \u201cCanada Post,\u201d attesting to a visit to tiny Peggy\u2019s Cove near Halifax, Nova Scotia, the last port in our 14-day transatlantic cruise before returning to the United States. Here are some thoughts and photos to share about the adventure.<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: Please click a photo to enlarge it in a separate window.<\/p>\n

Savored<\/h4>\n

Peggy\u2019s Cove residents and tour guides are quick to point out Nova Scotia\u2019s place in grim nautical history, it being the location of the graves of victims of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. We savored our passage to Halifax on the good ship Regal Princess, sailing from Copenhagen to ports in Aarhus, Denmark, Christiansand, Norway, Greenock, Scotland, Dublin, Ireland, and Cobh, Ireland.<\/p>\n

We more than enjoyed five days crossing the Atlantic. On a course well north of prowling hurricanes, we met fellow passengers and crew from around the world, trading travel stories and playing cards between organized ship activities until our voyage ended in New York. (Having ancestors who sailed from England to Brooklyn in 1851, I felt honored to pass through its bustling port.)<\/p>\n

Rock Steady<\/h4>\n

Looking back on our voyage, we couldn\u2019t be the only people onboard who marveled at the rock steady 142,229-ton ship, the length of three football fields and width of one football field, as it muscled through decidedly rough waters. Shouldn\u2019t we have felt the jolts of the white caps and swells we could see? The high winds sweeping the decks? Apparently not as we queued to dining rooms for afternoon tea dainties or gourmet dinners and wine or listened to a classical trio in the three-story atrium or danced in a cozy lounge.<\/p>\n

We even felt \u201csteady as she goes,\u201d rehearsing and singing with 40 other passengers for a pop-choir concert, wrapping up the performance in the atrium with a brassy, \u201cNew York, New York!\u201d And, when drifting off to sleep in our midship cabin, the ship\u2019s gentle rocking seemed like a cradle. A wonder.<\/p>\n

Top Shelf<\/h4>\n

Having had the good fortune to board a half-dozen ships of various cruise lines over a decade, we concluded this was the best. We suspect the cabin steward ironed the bedspread whenever he entered our stateroom, so crisp it was at all hours. The entire crew outdid itself in attention to detail. The parameters of cruising rated checkmarks - from endless buffets and haute cuisine to Broadway-style shows and spiffy crew uniforms. Shipshape, indeed.<\/p>\n

Exquisite Moment<\/h4>\n

On September 22, standing on our stateroom balcony in the balmy pre-dawn \u2013 a moment so exquisite it could last a lifetime - we sailed passed the Statue of Liberty with the Regal Princess\u2019 5,600 passengers and crew. What the statue has symbolized to millions of people around the world is worth the price of admission. Like our stamped passports, it is prized.<\/p>\n

The crew would ready the ship for new passengers within three hours of our leaving our staterooms. Other crew members, like our dinner waiter Jade from the Philippines, would take a break from interminable twelve-hour work days, pass through the gauntlet of immigration inspectors and head for home. We will retain an image of Jade, refined in his service and goodwill, a savvy globe trotter like many plowing the oceans.<\/p>\n

What We Took Home<\/h4>\n

There's much to absorb. We\u2019ll remember Copenhagen\u2019s welcoming citizens, so fit that 50 percent of them bike to work and school. They seem to know good beer, and there is no end to their heady choices. We leave Norway with Twist chocolates<\/a> purchased in bulk. We picture our tour of Scotland\u2019s dramatic southern highlands and Argyll Forest Park<\/a> and its cheeky bag pipers gathered at the dock as we sailed away. We smile at the quick wit and songs of the Irish wherever we roamed, from Dublin Castle<\/a> to Cork\u2019s train station to a bus winding through rolling countryside to the village of Kinsale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You could say we\u2019re back where we started; but that is not the case. After encounters with the wider world, surely the 37.2 trillion cells in a body cannot be the same, if only for the steady diet of tea dainties, sconces and cream. After such indulgence, walking the length of three-football fields several times a day is mandatory.<\/p>\n

Before and After<\/h4>\n

Our travels did not begin and end with this voyage. We started out with a drive north that included a stop in hip Asheville, North Carolina, and spent the month of August in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island with beloved family and friends, including a stay at a New Paltz cottage. In early September., we flew to Copenhagen on Norwegian Air. The flight was remarkable, both in unexpected comfort and a ticket price so low we wondered if we\u2019d be required to stand. (We weren\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

After our days at sea, we circled back to bid goodbye to family and friends and spent three October days driving down the East Coast to Florida. Stays in pet-friendly hotels were unremarkable except for our cat\u2019s stubborn attempts to hide under the bed. With apologies to all housekeeping staff along I-95, we checked out of hotels after their herculean efforts to lift king-sized mattresses and retrieve said cat.<\/p>\n

It was a grand two-months full of people we  love and new friends we made. Far as we can tell, the cat, having luxuriated with cat lovers in New York while we sailed away, is blithely back where she started, yawning.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Entering New York Harbor before Dawn<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Ship's Reflection on Opera House, Norway<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Classical Music in the Ship's Atrium<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Balcony View of North Atlantic<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Afternoon Tea Dainties<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Copenhagen Canal<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Argyll Forest and Loch<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Dublin Castle Adornment<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Street in the Village of Kinsale<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Irish Countryside near Cork<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Peggy's Cove, Canada<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once again, our rolling luggage is still and passports tucked away in a bank safe deposit box. The passports bear the stamp \u201cCanada Post,\u201d attesting to a visit to tiny Peggy\u2019s Cove near Halifax, Nova Scotia, the last port in our 14-day transatlantic cruise before returning to the United States. Here are some thoughts and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4434"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6111,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434\/revisions\/6111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}