Our
final enroute stop of the cruise was in Norfolk, Virginia.
This is definitely a naval town, with the partner city of Newport News just across the sheltered body of water which carries that intriguing name of Hampton Roads (“Roads” in this context is short for “roadstead”, which used to be the name
for the harbour of an anchorage port, as opposed to a port with docks). A lot of American naval history was written
in Norfolk and Hampton Roads, or on ships that home-ported there.
The
harbour opens off the broader waters of Chesapeake Bay. Before we could even get to the dock,
therefore, we had to enter the Bay and that gave us an excellent view of what
looks like the highway from nowhere much to no place at all.
But
actually, this is a segment of the 18-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which
carries US Route 13 across the mouth of the Bay, connecting the
Norfolk/Hampton/Virginia Beach area with the small northeastern portion of
Virginia on the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula (that name comes from “DELaware/MARyland/VirginiA”).
Most of the crossing is made on low-level bridges, but the two main
shipping channels in and out of Chesapeake Bay are traversed by mile-long
tunnels connecting pairs of artificial islands.
I drove across this remarkable crossing many years ago, but didn’t have
the good fortune to drive under a ship the way some of today’s drivers did!
After
we turned into Hampton Roads we proceeded down a long line of docks with naval
ships parked in them. The U. S. Navy
must figure there’s nothing here to hide because they’re letting cruise ships
sail past with decks and balconies lined with eager amateur photographers.
The
ship passed the cruise terminal, and then pivoted on the spot before returning to the dock –
stirring up lots of silt from the harbour bottom in the process. It makes almost an artistic sight,
considering the force with which the side thrusters are agitating it.
I
only took a short visit ashore, mainly to get some pictures of BB-64, U.S.S. Wisconsin, a
battleship built before World War Two, which last saw action in the 1991 Gulf
War! It’s now a floating exhibit of the
Nauticus Maritime Museum. Needless to
say, I love Wisconsin’s unofficial
nickname: “Wisky”!
On
the way back to the ship, I passed (outside the museum) this fine example of a
long-lost art form: the ship’s figurehead, found in the olden days on the bow
of any sailing ship whose owner could afford one.
And
that was the last port of call for this cruise!
We then had two days at sea to rest from all the port-hopping before it
was time to say goodbye to Caribbean
Princess in Fort Lauderdale. Those
sea days were absolutely delightful: sunny, warm, and a smooth sea over which
the ship glided with scarcely any hint of motion at all.
I
have to say this cruise has worked out much better than I hoped. Although the ship is huge, the size is not
especially noticeable – nor does it even seem particularly crowded. There are enough public spaces to distribute
the crowd around at most times. The only
real drawback is a lack of places to sit down and rest in public space when the
weather is cold and wet outside – the outdoor pool decks being out of the
question. After all, you can’t exactly
camp in one of the bars without being expected to buy a drink!
It
has, on the whole, been a fun cruise, and I’ve certainly lost my dislike of big
cruise ships – but my preference for smaller ships remains strong all the same.
The final port call of the cruise was in Norfolk, Virginia.
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