Tom Stieghorst
They say the best things in life are free. It is true for cruises too.
One of my favorite things about a cruise is rarely advertised or discussed by cruise executives. It is the satisfying thrill we feel when departing on our journey or arriving back from whence we came.
Some of the best moments I’ve had on a ship have been sailing from or into port. My most recent cruise, on the Norwegian Breakaway, cemented my feelings about this.
The Breakaway is part of a revival of cruising from New York. Leaving its home at Pier 88 means backing out into the Hudson River and heading south along the West Side of Manhattan to reach the sea.
Departing on a long-anticipated trip is enough in itself to bring a little surge of excitement. Departing from New York’s storied piers evokes the notion of bon voyage parties of yesteryear, when swells and dames packed steamer trunks for their nonstop party across the Atlantic..jpg "*TomStieghorst")
When a ship progresses down the Hudson, passengers can see the Palisades of New Jersey off the starboard side; to port, the urban grandeur of Manhattan (and what’s left of the piers along the water; some in ruins, some rehabilitated, all a reminder of the days when shipping was a 24/7 activity in New York City.)
Times being what they are, departing New York also means a phalanx of security from New York Police Department police boats and helicopters, an escort that was more reassuring than unnerving.
But it was the return into New York harbor on this cruise that really made it special. I arose before dawn to catch the Breakaway’s passage under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a graceful span of cables and small lights. The ship is so tall it seems you could reach out and touch the under deck of the bridge as you pass beneath.
Ships seem to move so slowly as they approach a harbor, and yet their smooth path is inevitably forward.
Before long, we were in New York harbor. It was a warm spring day, and the pink light of sunrise bathed the Statue of Liberty and the main building on Ellis Island in a healthy glow. It glinted off the nearly completed One World Trade Center rising adjacent to the site of the former Twin Towers.
Anyone even slightly familiar with the patriotic symbolism of these three structures can’t help but be a little moved. The Financial District skyline silhouetted in the early hours of a May morning is one of the great collaborations between God and man.
And then we were past it, gliding along the West Side, so much more attractive than when I lived there 30 years ago. It’s enough to give developers a good name.
Docking at the end of a cruise can be bittersweet. There are good memories, but also the return to reality.
I don’t know if what I’m describing here can be sold. But there’s real value in it, especially in a port as visually rich as New York. You could do worse for a vacation than a stately trip down the Hudson as a prelude to your adventure at sea. I’m eager to do it again.