Colonial America Cruise on the Oceania Vista
9/29/2023 to 10/14/2023

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Page 1 – Pre-trip in Montreal
Page 2 – Ship, Cabin, Dining, Activities, Entertainment
Page 3 - Ship (continued); Ports of Call: Quebec City, Canada; Saguenay, Canada; Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada; Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada
Page 4 - Ports of Call: Bar Harbor, ME; Portland, ME; Martha’s Vineyard, MA; New York City, NY
Page 5 - Ports of Call: New York City, NY (continued}; Charleston, SC; Miami, FL

New York City, NY – Day 2

After breakfast, I went up to deck 14 to take some more photos. The cruise ship that had been docked next to us at pier 87 was gone and there was now lots to see. We were next to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It is in the retired USS Intrepid aircraft carrier.

Alongside the Intrepid is the USS Growler cruise missile submarine. It was interesting to see how the cruise missile is put into a launch position.

On the surface of the Intrepid were many aircrafts, including a Blackbird high altitude Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed in the mid-1960’s. It could fly at almost 2,500 mph.

We once again ordered a couple of Lyfts to go to Zabar’s.

The store is a foodie’s paradise. The first level is mostly a wonderful variety of so many kinds of foods. It is known for its selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives and cheeses but there is so much more.

The upstairs has many kinds of kitchen utensils and appliances.

As far as foods and utensils go, I think it’s safe to say that if it isn’t at Zabar’s it doesn’t exist. They also have a take-out food window which is very popular. I would have loved to get a bagel treat there, but I knew that it would spoil our lunch plans.

We then had to decide what we would do for the rest of the day. It was only about 10:30 AM, so we had plenty of time before and after lunch. We looked at Google Maps to see what was nearby. Just a few blocks away was Central Park. With the beautiful weather, it seemed like great place to go. On the way there, we passed by some beautiful residential areas.

When we arrived in the park, it was nice to be in the large natural environment with rich green grass.

Through the trees, we could see the twin towers of the Dakota, where John Lennon lived and died.

Looking at the park map, we decided to see Belvedere Castle. Belvedere means beautiful view in Italian. It was built in 1872 and has been used for many public agencies. It is the park’s official weather station and contains exhibits and an observation deck which looks out over the pond and rest of the park.

We walked around the other side to get to our next destination, where we had a different view of the tower.

Continuing our walk, we came to the King Jagiello Monument. This is an equestrian statue commemorating a battle this Polish king won in 1410. It was originally made for the Polish pavilion during the 1939 New York World’s Fair. It was moved to Central Park in 1945.

As we moved along the path, we could see the top of an obelisk above the trees. We could finally see the Cleopatra’s Needle when there was a clearing. The obelisk dates back to the 15th century BC. The 69-foot tall 200-ton obelisk originally was in Alexandria, Egypt. It is one of a pair of obelisks. The other was gifted to the city of London. It was a gift from the sultan of Egypt in 1877. It was erected in Central Park in 1881.

We walked a bit more in the park and then decided that we were tired and wanted to stop for lunch. My original goal was to have a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli. I previously had one at the Carnegie Deli and looked forward to trying Katz’s. Looking at the map and how long it would take to get there and then back to the ship, we decided to find something closer. I found a highly rated deli several blocks away, so we headed there. It was a nice walk. We saw a beautiful building across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The museum itself is a gorgeous building. We thought of going there, but since we had all been there before and it would take a long time to see it, we passed.

We finally arrived at the small Pastrami Queen restaurant just after noon. The sign said Zagat Rated “The Best Pastrami Anywhere.”

I believe that it was Zagat rated, but “The Best Pastrami Anywhere” is the restaurant's opinion of their pastrami. Either way, we were ready to try it. We were very lucky that we were able to get a table for 4. The waiter that greeted us, asked a couple that was at a table of 4 to move to a table for 2 so that we could sit down. We certainly appreciated it since that was the last available table. It was a very busy restaurant with lots of people waiting for take out orders. Steve and Jamie ordered the same thing we did, 1 pastrami sandwich to share and one order of potato salad. The sandwich wasn’t as large as Carnegie’s, but my oh my was it delicious. Probably one of the best pastrami sandwiches any of us had ever had. We were so glad we had found the place. The potato salad was also great, but we talked about that pastrami for the rest of the cruise.

We ordered a Lyft and waited for its arrival. As we were standing there, we noticed the new building that was being built across the street. It was being constructed around a small old building. Apparently, the owners didn’t want to sell the property. We couldn’t believe they were actually constructing above the old building.

We were looking forward to leaving port since the sun was shining right at the Manhattan skyscrapers. This was going to be quite an experience. I could finally get unobstructed photos of the two uniquely shaped buildings near the dock I took the previous day.

The two buildings were the Via 57 West and Mercedes House, both residence buildings.

There were just so many gorgeous shots to take. I am putting more in the review than I should, but I can’t help myself. I don’t want to forget the amazing sailaway.

I could also get a different angle on the Intrepid Museum, where I could see the exhibit building on one end.

The skyline is just so gorgeous. The tallest building in the below photo is of Steinway Tower, the worlds skinniest skyscraper. It is 854 stories tall and only 57 feet wide. 57 feet wide is only about as wide as an 18 wheeler tractor/trailer is long. That is a narrow skyscraper! It is a residential building completed in 2022. It contains 60 residences. The prices range from $7.5 million for a studio to $66 million for the penthouse.

The building looked pretty amazing every time I saw it, but when I saw the below photo online in promo material for the building, I had to include it.

We had a great view of The Vessel. This is a $200 million attraction that was part of the Hudson Yards redevelopment project. The honeycomb like structure is 16 stories tall and consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings for visitors to climb. It opened to the public in 2019. Two years later it was closed due to three suicides from people jumping off of it. It reopened in 2021 but closed two months after its reopening due to another suicide. In an attempt at reopening, they have looked at adding safety nets to prevent further suicides.

We again passed by the Little Island; this time the sun was shining on it.

I had to take a last photo of the Edge. I liked the reflection of the other building on it.

I also was able to see what’s called the Jenga Building. You can see why in the photo. This building, completed in 2017, contains 145 condominium residences priced from $3.5 - $50 million.

There were lot of unique beautiful building to see. The one on the left is called Beekman Tower. It’s an apartment hotel.

I could also see the top of Trump Tower. The green lead-coated copper roof stands out in the skyline.

We finally could see lower Manhattan with the Freedom Tower rising above. The angle of view and the clouds kept changing how the buildings looked.

I didn’t expect to get much of a shot of the Statue of Liberty because the sun would be behind her. The setting sun made her profile look stunning.

This had been an amazing sailaway closing out a most enjoyable visit to the Big Apple. We would have a sea day before reaching Charleston. That night we went to Ember for dinner.

Charleston, SC

As we were docking in Charleston, I was surprised to see the same type of tugboat that we had seen in NYC. It was owned by the same company. Moran is a large tugboat company. They seem to name their boats after people in the Moran family. The one in NYC was named the Laura K. Moran and this one was the James A. Moran.

I was able to take a photo of the downtown area from the ship. It was the only one I would take of the beautiful city.

Unfortunately, we would have our first real rainy day in Charleston. It is such a shame since it is so nice to be able to walk around the streets enjoying the lovely homes and seeing the area. We had originally planned on taking a horse drawn carriage ride around the city. With a sunny day it would be awesome, but riding around in the rain in an open carriage just wouldn’t work, so we had to pass on it.

The plan for the day was for Jim to leave the ship at 9:00 AM, when we docked, to walk to the rental car center that was about a 20-minute walk from the ship. He would pick up the van and then come back to pick us up at the ship. We were supposed to then go on the carriage ride followed by lunch at a BBQ place Jim had raved about from a previous visit. After lunch we would go to the Magnolia Plantation for a couple of tours he booked there.

Jim texted us that the Enterprise Car Rental agency he went to was closed. There was a sign in the window that said it had been closed since April. He booked the car in February, and no one ever notified him. We checked and we could still book a car from that very location. Apparently, Enterprise had no idea they had closed. Google Maps even showed that it was open. Jim called several phone numbers to get someone to answer. After many transfers and voice mails he was finally able to reach another Enterprise agency that was a 15-minute drive away. They told Jim that they would send him an Uber to bring him to the agency. Thank goodness! Even though Jim had an umbrella, he was still soaked. He finally got back to the ship over an hour after we originally expected to start the day.

We drove around looking at the town through the wet windows. Steve, Jamie and Jocelyn had not been to Charleston before, so it was a shame they had to see it this way.

After the short driving tour, it was time for lunch. We were going to Rodney Scott’s Barbecue (https://rodneyscottsbbq.com). Being from Texas, I like good smokey barbecue. It’s hard to find in Florida, so I hoped that it would be as good as Jim said it was. The rain let up a little by the time we got there.

It was a nice restaurant with a very friendly staff. We placed our orders and anxiously waited for the food to arrive.

The photo below was taken by Jim. I was so excited I forgot to take a photo until I had eaten part of it. The only difference was that he had collard greens and onion rings with his brisket and whole hog pork, and I had baked beans instead of the onion rings. They call their shredded pork whole hog pork because they cook the whole hog at the same time. The meal was just outstanding! Everything was so good. If I lived in Charleston, I would be a regular there. It was so nice to have barbecued meats that actually tasted smokey. I wish that I had room to have some of their banana pudding that is highly thought of in reviews of the restaurant.

After that big meal, it was time for a nap, but we had much more to do. We were heading to Magnolia Plantation (https://www.magnoliaplantation.com). The plantation dates back to 1676, but the large home there was burned down during the Civil War. Jim dropped us off and he went to park in the waterlogged parking lot. We still had over an hour before our 2:00 PM tour of the house. We were told that the Slavery to Freedom Tour would start at 1:00 PM, so we went through the grounds to where the signs told us it would be. The grounds were quite lovely with large Spanish moss-covered oak trees.

They also had some colorful decorations in the gardens including some funky scarecrows.

It was a longer walk than we expected to get to the site of the presentation. When we saw the small buildings, we knew we were getting close. Thank goodness we had a covered pavilion to sit in.

We had a great presenter, Vanessa.

She told us the history of the plantation and about the slaves who were brought there. She said we would get to tour the houses we saw as we walked up. They were the actual houses where the slaves lived. They were also where they lived after they were freed. The main difference was where two families lived in one house; each house was for one family after the war. Vanessa told us how they grew rice on the plantation. It was a very big cash crop making the plantation very successful. She told us that many of the slaves stayed on the plantation after they were freed and worked in the gardens. Some of the relatives still work at Magnolia Gardens. It was an excellent presentation. We were so glad we were able to hear it.

After the presentation, we went through each of the five houses. Each of the five houses had been preserved and restored. Each home represented a different period of time from 1850 through 1900. Below are some photos of the houses.

They also had nice vegetable gardens behind them.

We walked back to the house for our tour.

We waited on the large veranda with others in our group until we were called for our tour. In addition to the rocking chairs, we were able to sit on the rocking benchs. I hadn't seen those before.

Since the veranda went completely around the house, I walked around to the back side where I could look out into the yard.

The group that was waiting outside was broken down into two groups. We lucked out and were in Millie’s group. She was marvelous! I liked her a lot.

She was a character and most entertaining while teaching us about the history of the plantation and house. Probably because she had been a teacher. We weren’t allowed to take any photos in the house. It was interesting to learn how the owner of the home before and after the Civil War, Reverand John Drayton, an Episcopal priest, recovered from the war. He turned all his wealth into Confederate money and lost it all. He eventually became very successful by making the plantation gardens a very popular tourist destination. For $1.25 tourists would get on a river boat in Charleston, come up the Ashley River, stop at the plantation tour the gardens and return to Charleston after the tour.

Millie told us about the special furniture, pictures and most importantly the stories about what happened at the house. It was a wonderful tour! After the tour we had to rush to get to the gardens tour on the trolley.

We made it in time and listened while the guide told us some of the same stories Millie told us and others. We saw the many ponds/swamps around the gardens, some of which were rice fields before the Civil War.

Touring the gardens in October is probably not the best time. There wasn’t much color, and it was pretty much the same thing throughout the tour. Knowing what we know, we should have skipped it.

We headed back to the ship. Jim asked if we wanted to be dropped off in town to walk around or just go back to the ship. With it still raining, the only option was to go back to the ship. He then had to go back to the car rental agency, which was showing over 45 minutes in the heavier traffic and drive back to the ship. Fortunately, the ship didn’t leave until 7:00 PM, so he had until 6:30 PM to get back. He made it with plenty of time.

That night we had rougher seas. The last production show was cancelled due to the risk for the performers. With us only having one more sea day and evening on the ship, they decided to have two shows the next night. One would be at 7:00 PM and the other at the normal 9:15 PM. That way guests could see the show before or after dinner. It made it easier, since everyone was packing and needed to have their luggage out by 10:00 PM.

During dinner, we looked out the window and saw a gorgeous sunset. I had to go outside to get photos of it.

Disembarkation

We arrived early in Miami. But there was a slight delay for us to be cleared. As always, the skyline was lovely.

Talk about an easy disembarkation! Since we had gone through immigration and customs in Bar Harbor, we just walked off the ship.

Recap

We took this cruise to experience Oceania’s new Vista and for the fall colors cruise ports. We loved the ship. The cabin, food and service were outstanding. I do prefer the deck layouts and specialty restaurants of the Riviera and Marina better, but I will happily cruise on the Vista or new Allura when it launches. The ports were most enjoyable, although we could have done without Shelburne, and I wish that we could have gone to Saguenay and Martha’s Vineyard. The weather for the most part was wonderful, sunny and much cooler than Florida, which we loved.

We do enjoy our fellow cruisers on Oceania. They are normally well traveled and interesting, pleasant people to converse with. On this cruise we were also with five of our friends, which made the cruise so very enjoyable. Since we normally travel alone, it did make this a most special cruise. Traveling with friends means you need to consider their needs and wishes. In this case, it was so easy. We are lucky to have good friends that enjoy cruising and the things we enjoy. Bottom line: We had a great cruise and look forward to cruising on Oceania in the future and with our friends on two other cruises next year.

Colonial America Cruise on the Oceania Vista 9/29/2023 to 10/14/2023

New York City, NY – Day 2

Charleston, SC

Disembarkation

Recap

Colonial America Cruise on the Oceania Vista
9/29/2023 to 10/14/2023