It’s delightful. Attentive service. A big cabin. A really roomy shower. Food’s delicious.
Mind-boggling expensive.
On Princess, I squirm at more than $2,500 per person.
This was well over three times that.
But you really can’t compare the two. One is mass market. The other is far more bespoke.
We started with a hair raising trip to make our connection through Midway. Hair raising because Southwest stopped boarding halfway due to the thunder and lightning. Those metal ramps aren’t the… well… safest in an electrical storm.
I had visions of those cartoons where you see the silhouette outline of the person with their skeletons visible as the lightening hits. BOOM.
Despite the delay and a mad dash during our connection we managed to get to Albany at our scheduled 9pm, which, given the time change wasn’t too bad.
Albany, however, seems to completely shut down well before that hour.
Never mind! The Renaissance, the hotel where the cruise line put us up, has a concierge lounge and hooray, I’m a lifetime Titanium. Figured we could at least grab drinks and snackies.
It was open until 10, and we skidded in at 9:45.
Pitch. Dark.
No snackies but there were drinks, which was something. Rule #1: never travel without emergency food.
Back to the rooms, checked out instructions for the morning.
6:30 – 9am, breakfast available.
10am, board bus for city tour, transit to the ship.
Okay, this all sounds manageable.
Please have your luggage packed and ready inside your hotel doorway for the bellman to collect by 7:30am.
I’m sorry, WHAT?!
That’s… that’s… gonna feel like 4:30am. And we have to be totally packed BEFORE that?!!
What’s the point of a 9am brekkie if everything’s gotta be gone by 7:30?
UNNGH.
We ate at 7:30 and then wandered a bit of downtown, which actually turned out great.
The Empire State Plaza is impressive… the fountains, three long, long masses of water (think of the DC mall) which become a giant ice rink in winter.
Thrifty lot, these Albanians. Not only do they dual purpose their fountains, they reuse their blueprints.
Which is not to say they lack creativity.
After trundling around Albany on the bus, we wound up at the ship (ship? Boat?) Turns out it’s a “coastal cat”… no, I don’t know what that means either, but it does translate to no more than two staircases to get anywhere.
Well, okay, three. But since we were on the second floor, two.
The American Eagle (it’s all very patriotic here) carries 109 passengers and 50 crew. I do not know where they hide that many workers, given its very shallow draft.
The thing I like most, aside from the twice daily “Cookie Time”, is there’s no real waiting for anything. The restaurant can seat everyone at once… likewise the entertainment venue/bar.
Do we fit this demographic? Oh hell no. Politically liberal lesbians, one not yet retired?
Examining Misadventures 