One of the places we have yet to visit in New York is the Statue of Liberty. It sits, as the ultimate symbol of freedom, on an island called Ellis, from which she watches over the harbor between New York and New Jersey. She has seen the Manhattan seared and changed, and has welcomed millions of Americans-to-be.
As we boarded Explorer of the Seas last week, we hoped the trip to the sea would bring us close to this iconic tourist attraction, currently closed for repairs.
Alas, a mile or so was as close as we came, and that was before the ship departed from Cape Liberty (no relation) in Bayonne, N.J. Cape Liberty looks like a shipyard that allows the odd cruise ship to in, to spend the day. It's desolate, barren, industrial, avoided except by necessity…some might say even ugly.
All the things the Statue of Liberty is not.
As the Explorer leaves for open water, it pulls away from the Statue, swinging around to aim its bow for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. The lady disappears and melds into landscape that is Manhattan. On a gray and windy day like this one, the highlight for passengers on ships is the double-decker bridge, a shutterbug's delight from the deck.
There are ships that would have trouble clearing this bridge deck, depending on tides. Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas did it with 15 feet to spare.
So we had a close-up of the Verrazano. We're still waiting for one of the Statue of Liberty.
Carnival Imagination
4 nights
November 4, 2013
Miami (return): Key West, Cozumel
Inside: $169
Cost per day: $42
www.carnival.com