Day 8 - Farewell to Symphony - NYC

We ordered coffee to the cabin for 6:30 to enjoy before breakfast.  We decided to try Waterside for breakfast today since my mom wanted to try the eggs Benedict.  I ordered some fruit, English muffin, and breakfast potatoes.  An announcement was made that we would be arriving later because their was no available tugboat.  My mom thought it was a good breakfast but my muffin was barely toasted and I had nothing to put on it.  By the time condiments arrived, it was stone cold.  My potatoes were also a miss as they were hard and undercooked.  I switched to hash browns but then after waiting and my mom finishing I decided to just go up to the buffet since there I could also get a hot English muffin.  As I stood from the table, the waiter called from a distance to say my order was coming.   I told the waiter to cancel them and that I’d get some upstairs.  I saw Gustav and chatted with him at the entrance before heading up to deck 11.  I had some hot hash browns, English muffin and also roasted vegetables which satisfied me for a last breakfast.  An extra bonus was saying good bye to the delightful Alan.  

I did two chilly laps around the promenade as we pulled into the pier.  It was too cold to do more with my light jacket so I went back to the cabin to await the announcement to leave.  It came very quickly after they announced that those who carried their own bags off could leave.  We headed downstairs and was off the ship in no time.  We were trying to time our departure so my husband would not have to circle the streets.  It ended up being perfect.

(Chris had left very early in the morning and stopped at the New Jersey Turnpike rest area in New Brunswick to charge the car.  We had kept him posted as to our delay so he ended up stopping at a parking lot with an Aldi and a Starbucks just prior to entering the Lincoln Tunnel.  This way he could wait comfortably until he was just ready to enter Manhattan and not have to struggle with street parking to wait, with no easy access to a restroom, or fighting with port staff about waiting too long to pick us up.  He left the parking lot in NJ and was alongside in about 23 minutes!)  

​We found our luggage and took the big, slow elevator upstairs to be picked up.  If you sailed from New York, you know the one.  Chris was there seconds after we arrived! The ride home was very easy with no traffic.  

We dropped off my mom and were home just before lunch.  My cruise belly was telling me that before I even looked at the time.  

It was a different cruise since it was lower capacity and had various COVID-19 related policies but it was still superb.  I am so glad to see cruising making a comeback and look forward to my next one in February.