Having enjoyed the NCL Prima in September of 2022 on the inaugural cruise, we decided to book this short 7-day New York City to Bermuda cruise. Great 2-for-1 deal and Bermuda was another new country for putting me at #65. We book flights a few days earlier so we can enjoy the City of New York and go see the major sights. Arriving in the early morning hours from a red-eye flight from Phoenix that originated in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico we had reserved the room the night before allowing us early access to freshen up. We need to get out right anyway being in the middle of Times Square at the Crown Plaza Hotel Manhatten, it was the perfect location for quick access.
Not being my first visit to the Big Apple, I have become a little familiar with the major sights and attractions to show to new visitors. So the simple itinerary is going to be the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the 911 Memorial Site, a Broadway show, and just walk around the Times Square area for the next 2 days. Of course, the food is a must for me with plans for New York-style cheesecake, Corned Beef & Pastrami sandwich, and New York-style pizza in the plans. We start out with morning reservations at the Empire State Building for those awesome views with a nice walk from Times Square, not too far.
I had prepurchased a New York City Sightseeing pass to cover the expense of entrance fees to many different places and hopefully save in the end by seeing enough places to cover the cost of it. It did make entrances simple by not having to stop at the ticket offices along the way! The next morning the Big Bus hop on hop off was included, so we made our way around the city with a nice narrated tour. We departed at the stop near Battery Park to head over to the Statue of Liberty Island via the Staten Island Ferry. We decide to just take the ferry ride around with a stop at Ellis Island and head back to New York City without disembarking the ferry.
It is a nice short walk to the 911 Memorial Site with the new World Trade Center buildings and Memorial Fountains. We decided not to enter the 911 museum and caught the Hop On Hop Off bus on the other side to get back to Times Square. Looking for tickets to a Broadway Show we find some for the show “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” with Neil Patrick Harris as our star. Various meals were had in some local Cafe Delis around Times Square including several at Juniors nearby.
Our Cruise ship Prima is scheduled to depart the next day, so we make our way to the Manhatten Cruise Terminal for Embarkation, and by 1130am we are already having lunch on board. The next 2 days are scheduled to be at sea and turn out to be the calmest North Atlantic I have ever seen!
We arrive in the morning of the 3rd day at the Naval Dockyards in Bermuda, a nice day to start our exploration of this island. I did not book any shore excursions because I felt that it was easy to get around here and we could do our own self-guided touring. We walk around the area looking at shops and catch the island bus service all the way to Horseshoe Bay to see the pink sand beaches. Of course, this is a public beach, but also a commercial enterprise with chair rentals ($15 each) and some drinks and snacks ($30), but we enjoy the next few cool hours with the clouds coming and going. Too cold to get into the crystal clear waters, but it was enjoyable. From there we catch a $7 per person group van back to the cruise ship terminal.
The next morning, I had reserved a time slot for midday at the Crystal Caves on the other side of the island. Fortunately, NCL had a free ferry that takes you all the way over to St. Georges, the original settlement of Bermuda. Then a short cab ride to the Crystal Caves had us there in plenty of time. We explored both caves; one with 83 steps to enter down and the other 88 steps. They were challenging, but it was nice to see the underworld of Bermuda!
Catching the free ferry back in the afternoon to Naval Dockyards completed our day in time for sunset and dinner on board. The next morning was just a few hours to roam around because the ship was going to leave a few hours earlier than planned. Apparently, the weather between Bermuda and New York City would not be very good with high waves and rain, so the captain decided to go a long way around the weather system and avoid the worst of it.
We arrived earlier than expected on Sunday in a rainy New York City. We arranged a bus transportation to Newark Airport and a Hotel because our flight back home was not till the next morning. It was a short single-port trip, but as always nice to relax and enjoy the new NCL Prima!
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