No surprise to hear at breakfast, the Captain’s announcement that due to the fog last night, we’d arrive an hour late and would leave half an hour later than scheduled. Had this not happened, we’d have missed one of those little incidents that make a stop more memorable. From our balcony, looking ahead, we weren’t too sure what it was on the port side until Paula recognised it as a submarine - with naval escort. What we didn’t know before today was that not only is New England a naval (submarine) base, but they also build the nuclear submarines here.
Anyway, once docked, it was obvious that the free shuttle to town was going to be busy. They seemed a little disorganised dockside as the buses had to come in, wait for the outgoing traffic, then reverse into position ready to be loaded with 54 passengers.
We gave them half an hour or so then headed out – to join a queue that didn’t seem to move very quickly at all. The sun was rather warm by then too. M & M walked straight past the queue, heading for town on foot – as is their wont. By the time we’d got to a coach and travelled the mile or two into town, M & M were almost there.
Anyway, the bus went around the block into town and dropped us off at the railway station. We have no idea how many trains pass through New England, but the blaring train horns seemed to be every couple of minutes from when we arrived to when we left.
Having been driven down what we were told was one of the main shopping streets (Bank St), we were decidedly unimpressed. Several shops were empty and far from being a thriving area, it was almost as if they were still in depression mode. Murals seemed to be a strong point however, ranging from number 42 of Wyland’s famous whale murals, to music and other attractive feature walls. We walked up what was as close as you’d get to what was the second most important street – and back again. It didn’t take very long so we saw a bus with ‘Crystal Mall’ on it and chased it through town – which was easier than it sounds, as their traffic lights seemed about as conducive to speedy progress as Auckland’s, so by the time we caught up with it at the bus stop, the very patient lady driver was still dealing with a short but slow queue of cruisers and non-cruisers. We parted with 75 cents each and headed for the mall. Such excitement. Such disappointment…
It was a large, modern mall but was just about deserted. The food hall was very disappointing and we never did find anywhere for a coffee, though apparently there was one place way up the far end, but somehow we missed it. When a mall food hall only has Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway and Chinese Wok, you can rest assured that it isn’t very busy. We settled for a very nice Subway pizza slice and a bottle of lemon. Add that to the $3 bus fares and you can understand why it was a cheaper stop than anticipated. The bus driver for the return run wasn’t displaying a bus number we were looking for, but he simply announced to all those at the bus stop that he would drop us off at the railway station anyway!
Apparently, this was the first cruise ship they’d had in for about five years. I missed out on the lobster yet again as we never did find where they were doing seafood! M & M found it (beyond the railway station, across the tracks) and they had warm lobster (Mal), tuna (Meg) and two bottles of water for $23 and were well pleased with it. This was the first time we needed to present photo ID at Port Security but the dock staff and tour staff all seemed very friendly and pleased to have the ship’s passengers in town. In many ways, we felt a bit sorry that they had too few cruise ships in to boost the town’s coffers and from the sail in, it looked as though there were some nice beaches.
When we returned, on the starboard side, we stood and watched the Connecticut Police dive team. Whether this was just a training exercise for them or they were examining the hull for damage or illegal drugs or explosives, who knows? Judging by their overall demeanour and lack of urgency, it was probably a training exercise, but we’ll never really know.
Passengers were due aboard by 7pm and at 7pm and 7:05pm, two Princess tour coaches finally returned to the dock. Mike and Sue later said that they didn’t get a chance to eat on their tour until 5pm, so they decided to skip dinner at 7:45.
We went to deck 11 briefly for the sail-away but we were down at dinner before the ship had even reached the submarine manufacturing hangar or the nuclear plant.
This was the famous ‘Bombe Alaska’ night but Mike and Sue weren’t the only ones absent from the dining room as it was only about a quarter full. I had ‘turkey with all the trimmings’ which was very nice, but Darryl and I believe that should have included roast potatoes.
As is usual on the last night of a sector, it was the cruise talent staff show. For anyone who has ever been to one of these shows, you know you are going to get some very talented staff singing or dancing. As is also a tradition, the cruise entertainment staff always do a turn and this time, it was the Dawn Princess’s version of ‘The Fountain’ – their take on what we are now missing, because the new Royal and Regal Princess ships have these dancing waters displays.
We saw it last year on the Dawn too. We loved it then and this was just as funny. A great end to the sector.
Tomorrow, New York, a city that we haven’t been to before, so expectations are high.
A 6am sail in for a 7:15am docking, so we’ll be up early.
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