The Official Trippingpara's Chasing the Canadian Sunshine in the Maritimes Review

OMG! You're getting me super psyched for our first trip ever to NYC! Also, I'm a fledgling dslr photographer trying to learn to use my standard lens, and attempting to go off auto settings. I'm in awe of your photos and am giddy awaiting more!

Hey cpshaye. Thank you so much for such kind words, I really appreciate it!! If you ever are looking for some tips, assistance or have any questions about NYC or photography, I'm more than happy to help!! There are a ton more photos and diary tidbits to come!

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Sunday, August 6th – New York City

I woke up early and did my normal morning ritual. When I was done, Lady Trip was still sound asleep so I decided to head out to grab some Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. I knew there was one around the corner so I wrote a brief note to her, grabbed my camera and headed out.

It only took me a couple minutes to walk down to DD and grab a large cup of Joe. Knowing that my Lady would still be sleeping, I decided to head a bit further down to check things out. The Flatiron Building was only a few blocks away, so I headed in that direction.

Since it was still fairly early in the morning, there were very few people out and about. Mostly locals heading off to work, jogging or out walking their dogs. I walked 8 blocks south to Madison Park, which sat at the edge of the Flatiron Building.

After snapping a bunch of pics of the infamous building, I strolled into the park, sat down and watched the city come alive.

Dozens of dogs ran around the dog park in one corner, an older pair of gentlemen sat in silence playing chess while several various people sat like me on park benches, drinking coffee and watch the world go by. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a lazy, hazy morning.

I spent about an hour enjoying the park before heading back. Apparently, the city was now fully awake and the streets were now active and buzzing like a beehive with activity. Lady Trip was already up as well when I returned. We chatted for a little bit before packing our camera gear up and headed back out into the city.

The goal for the day was to spend it taking photos. I was scheduled to spend the morning with a famous street photographer walking the streets of lower Manhattan on Monday, but the pending thunderstorms forced us to cancel. Since I’m a photography student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), I was sooo looking forward to spending the time with such an expert and distinguished individual in his field. But the weather was not cooperating. So, if the world gives you a bunch of sour lemons, you make lemonade!

Lady Trip asked me if I was willing to teach her about photography, so off we went. I love teaching my passion to others and Lady Trip has an incredible eye and sees things very differently than I do. She loves the finer details of things and naturally leans more towards fine art photography while I tend to focus more on landscapes and travel photography.

We slowly walked the streets taking photos of everything and anything. We strolled through Bryant Park, the New York Public Library, Grand Central Station, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the shops on Madison Ave., Rockefeller Plaza, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, the Theater District, the Garment District and of course, we had to stop at B&H (the greatest photography store in the world!!!) Yes, I was like a little kid in a toy store.

Here is a sampling of some of our photos:

I call this one: Birds in Flight. The streets of New York is a never ending stream of photographic opportunities!

The infamous Chrysler Building

 

Commotion in Motion. The main chamber of Grand Central Station is a constant hub of activity.

Catholic mass at the enormous St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

42nd and Madison.

If you have never heard of B&H before than you need to go do a quick Google search. This is Nirvana for anybody into photography, videography, music, computers, drones, televisions...ah hell, if you like electronics, than you'll love this place! I love how you buy a product there. First you chat it up with anyone of the hundreds of specialists there to assist you, request the item, then watch it (and thousands of other products) go sailing across the mammoth store on a raised track above your head over to the checkout lines. You then pay for it and pick up your item. The person that first helped you, will tell you exactly how long of a wait it will be to get your item (usually is only a couple minute wait). I had a permanently etched smile on my face there (as did 90% of the men there while their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, cats, dogs, etc., looked utterly terrified!). Lady Trip was smart...she took my wallet away from me. Too bad I have Samsung Pay on my phone! Ha-Ha!!

Next up: Top of the Rock and Times Square at Night

I'm enjoy owning your review and photos. We did the 7 day NE/Canada last Sept. And we are doing it again on 9/16. I also love photography, you're right about B & H. Looking forward to the rest of your review and photos.

I'm enjoy owning your review and photos. We did the 7 day NE/Canada last Sept. And we are doing it again on 9/16. I also love photography, you're right about B & H. Looking forward to the rest of your review and photos.

Hi nycmedic. Thank you for joining along. Jealous that you get to go back up there in Sept!

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Sunday, August 6th – New York City (cont.)

Man, I love Times Square. You will see the weirdest thing there!

After eating dinner at Guy Fieri’s restaurant at Times Square, we headed back over to the Rockefeller Center to watch the sun set On Top of the Rock. Thankfully, I purchased VIP tickets which allowed us to bypass the line and enter whenever we liked (everyone else had timed tickets). We walked into the Rockefeller Center to absolute chaos at the entrance to the Top of the Rock. I finally found an employee there and showed him our VIP tickets. He got a huge smile and shouted “I love VIPS! Come in, come in!” He then opened a door and let us in past several hundred very angry people in line.

The VIP Tickets were quite a bit more than the regular timed entry but I think it was well worth it. The line was huge and it looked like sheer mayhem. In less than 5 minutes, we were being rocketed up to the Top of the Rock. The elevators are really cool. The ceiling is glass and the elevator shaft is illuminated so you can watch you rapid ascent to the top. Once you are at the top, there are 3 different levels that you can look out over the city. The views from all three areas were incredible!

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Sunday, August 6th – New York City (cont.)

Since it was near sunset, the crowds were heavy. You had to push your way up to the edge of the building in order to get photos. People did not want to move once they made it to the front. Words were exchanged, dirty looks given but it was a success. Once I got into a good place to take photos, I would then quickly give my spot over to others. I just don’t get the “I’m more special than you” mentality that seem to affect so many people today. What ever happened to respect and courtesy? Take a few minutes, enjoy the view, take your photos and step away so others can enjoy it too.

Anyways, we spent a little over an hour at the various observatories before we headed down and started making our way back towards our hotel. We decided to walk back to our hotel through Times Square where we stopped for some pizza and people watching. We eventually made our way back to the Martinique to view our photos from the day.

Here are a couple shots from Times Square at night:

Nighttime snacks

Guess who?

Facing towards Broadway in Times Square

Overall, I was pretty happy with how our photos turned out since neither of us were carrying a tripod. You can tell by the different signatures in the photos which ones Lady Trip took. For really her first time out with a DSLR, she did a phenomenal job! Who do you think?

Next up: Boarding the Carnival Sunshine and departing New York City.

For really her first time out with a DSLR, she did a phenomenal job! Who do you think?

Whoops, that's supposed to be "What" do you think? No matter how many times I review and edit my writings, I always seem to miss things!

Whoops, that's supposed to be "What" do you think? No matter how many times I review and edit my writings, I always seem to miss things!

I think you are both doing a phenomenal job and you're not even on the ship yet! :) Your review and pictures are great, as usual. And, congratulations on being accepted into the photography program. I can't wait to see the pictures on your next review. :cool:

Heather

Hi estillcrew, good question. I must apologize, as I misspoke when I said the Sunrise was the smaller of the two. You are correct...SunSET is the smaller of the two and is the forward dining room on Deck 3. SunRISE is the two story MDR that is located on Decks 3 and 4 and is the aft dining room. Yes, the SunRISE is the brighter of the two since it has windows on both sides as well as the entire aft bulkhead. My apologies for the confusion. Cheers!

Thank you so much for the clarification! I'm enjoying your review!

Your photos are spectacular. I can't wait to see more.

Great review so far, amazing pics as well, ty

I think you are both doing a phenomenal job and you're not even on the ship yet! :) Your review and pictures are great, as usual. And, congratulations on being accepted into the photography program. I can't wait to see the pictures on your next review. :cool:

Heather

Hey SenatorsFan. Thank you so much for the very kind words! I can't wait for the photos from my next review too! Our next cruise will be on the Legand in Alaska. We have a Vista Suite with a wrap around balcony. Man, I can't wait for those views!!!

Thank you so much for the clarification! I'm enjoying your review!

Hi estillcrew - you are more than welcome! Glad you're enjoying the review so far.

Your photos are spectacular. I can't wait to see more.

Hi mosleyman. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! There will be plenty more photos to come!!

Great review so far, amazing pics as well, ty

Hi sassykitten74. I gotta say, I love that name!! Anyways, thank you very much, I appreciate the nice comments!

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Sunday, August 6th – New York City

Like I had mentioned earlier, I was scheduled to spend the morning with a local photographer for a private lesson on street photography. However, Mother Nature was being rather cheeky and decided to rain on our parade (literally), so we decided to cancel the session for a later time to be determined. Well, it looks like I'll have to make another trip back to NYC!

Now that we suddenly had the morning free, we decided to move up our embarkation time and just head straight to the ship early. Since we had such a busy day on Sunday, we took advantage of the extra time and slept in a bit. We eventually strolled out of bed and packed our stuff up and ordered up an Uber to take us over to our new home for the next week: the Carnival Sunshine.

Of course, I grabbed a couple more photos while we were waiting for our ride:

Signs, Signs, Everywhere signs!

Now there's a proper museum! We had gone here on a previous trip to NYC. Even I blushed a few times in there! And there are some VERY weird fetishes out there!!

After a pleasant Uber ride across Midtown, we entered the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We rescheduled ourselves to the earliest boarding time at 11:00 am. Since we had purchased the Faster to the Fun option, we were quickly checked in and grabbed a seat. We knew that we were there before we could even board but it was better than sitting in our hotel room staring at the walls and it was raining too hard to go out and see any sights, so here we were.

We waited for about 30 minutes before we were called to board. Cruise time!!! We grabbed our bags and made our way to the gangway. Although I like the iPads that security uses to scan our Sign and Sail card (much faster), but I do really miss the “Ding!” when you boarded the ship for the first time. With the FTTF, we also get immediate access to our room, so we made our way to the elevators to head up to the Serenity Deck to our cabin.

After unpacking, we grabbed our cameras and headed out to tour the ship and photograph the crap out of it. Here are just a sampling of the photos we took. DCCruiser1013 (aka Matt), posted a ton of great pics on his very recent review of the Sunshine, so head over to http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2532745 to see a very detailed selection of photos (and a lot of great ones at that!!).

Sunshine's Atrium

The infamous Whale Tail

Where the hell's the sunshine?? The bench says there is sunshine!

We had decided that we were going to break down and purchase the Cheers program, so we stopped at the Lobby Bar to sign up. Much to our chagrin, we were told that the Cheers program is not available on the first day when sailing from NYC due to local laws. Bummer! So what would one do when faced with such depressing news? Why drink of course!!

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Enjoying the heck out of your review. If you were blushing in the Museum of Sex take a trip to Pittsburgh PA and the Andy Warhol museum.

Awesome pictures and fantastic write-up! I do believe you may be off by a day on your headers though. The ship left on Monday, August 7th.

Awesome pictures and fantastic write-up! I do believe you may be off by a day on your headers though. The ship left on Monday, August 7th.

Son of a....! Thanks for pointing that out DCCruiser. I copied it from the previous day's post and forgot to edit it. What a dork! No matter how much I try and edit these, I always end up still making mistakes!! Grrr.:mad:

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Monday, August 7th – New York City

Okay, I'm an idiot. Thank you DCCruisier for pointing out the errors of my ways. Please note: we boarded Carnival Sunshine on Monday, August 7th, not Sunday, August 6th as my previous post stated. I hate computers!

Anyways,what better way to tour the ship than to check out the quality of the drinks at each bar! Before we knew it, we were being called to our Muster Station. We were assigned to Muster Station E which was in the Liquid Lounge. Thank the Lord on High!!

All the other stations were outside by the lifeboats. I hate having muster there. All crammed in there like sardines, standing for what feels like eternity. Okay, so it’s not that bad, but I would much prefer to be sitting in a nice comfy chair while I watch the entertainment crew show me how to wear a life vest for the umpteenth time.

We then had to go outside to look at our lifeboat. Seriously. We were escorted out the lounge and out onto the 4th Deck and walked about 5 feet and headed back in through another door. That was effective. Whatever. Now that that was out of the way, it was time to get the party started! Oh wait…we already started that party. But now it was official!

With the rather crappy weather, we decided to watch sail away from our balcony. Since we were on the starboard side of the ship, I knew that we were going to miss seeing Manhattan pass us by, but I really was interested in getting a front row seat to the Statue of Liberty which we just happened to be on the correct side for her.

Pulling out of our pier next to the USS Intrepid. We would come back and tour this amazing ship after our cruise returns.

The Erie Lackawanna ferry terminal

The Goldman Sachs Building with the Colgate Clock

The NJ Railroad Terminal

The crowds braving the rain for sail away

Ellis Island.

Wow, wow, and just WOW!!! I can really see a huge difference in your pictures and the ones you got on your prior cruises were spectacular!!! I really loved the night pictures you were able to get from "Top of the Rock". I forgot to ask you when I posted earlier about the Tamron Lens. Over on the "photography" boards here on CC, I noticed a thread about the Tamron 18-400 lens, basically a one size fits all. To get that range now, I have two lenses but my zoom lens' highest range is 250mm. It would be compatible with my Canon Rebel t1i but I've been on the fence about purchasing because it is a little pricey but it would sure be nice to have one lens that would cover all, eliminating the need to bring two lenses and considering a third for higher zoom (400mm). Are you using your Tamron for any of these great pictures? I've seen the positive and the negative on it, basically on on-line reviews. With those, it's pretty hard to tell "who" the photographer is. It would be a big help to know whether the reviewer is new to photography, someone who has been doing it a while, or a professional. We have an upcoming trip of a lifetime and have decided to wait on even thinking about purchasing one. I'm familiar with the two lenses I have and what kind of pictures I get when using them and really just don't have the time to practice enough with a new one. Will consider it for the future though.

I am really enjoying your review and again, I'm really looking forward to more...especially after catching up today and seeing more of the pictures you have. Great job!!!

Spectacular sail away pictures.

Wow, wow, and just WOW!!! I can really see a huge difference in your pictures and the ones you got on your prior cruises were spectacular!!! I really loved the night pictures you were able to get from "Top of the Rock". I forgot to ask you when I posted earlier about the Tamron Lens. Over on the "photography" boards here on CC, I noticed a thread about the Tamron 18-400 lens, basically a one size fits all. To get that range now, I have two lenses but my zoom lens' highest range is 250mm. It would be compatible with my Canon Rebel t1i but I've been on the fence about purchasing because it is a little pricey but it would sure be nice to have one lens that would cover all, eliminating the need to bring two lenses and considering a third for higher zoom (400mm). Are you using your Tamron for any of these great pictures? I've seen the positive and the negative on it, basically on on-line reviews. With those, it's pretty hard to tell "who" the photographer is. It would be a big help to know whether the reviewer is new to photography, someone who has been doing it a while, or a professional. We have an upcoming trip of a lifetime and have decided to wait on even thinking about purchasing one. I'm familiar with the two lenses I have and what kind of pictures I get when using them and really just don't have the time to practice enough with a new one. Will consider it for the future though.

 

I am really enjoying your review and again, I'm really looking forward to more...especially after catching up today and seeing more of the pictures you have. Great job!!!

Hey pghsteelerfan, thank you so, so much for such kind words, I really do appreciate it! It has been neat going through my photos over the years and watched the the change. It's amazing how much I've learned in school so far, but the critiques from the professors are brutal!!

Lady Trip used my Tamron lens the entire trip. I have posted several of her photos already, including the one of the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower as well as the Chrysler Building and Met Life Building from the Top of the Rock. Now she has no experience or training at all in photography and all of those shots were taken on automatic settings (except she likes to manually focus so she doesn't use autofocus). She, however, is blessed with a nature sense of composition which I think is one of the most important aspects of good photography. The Tamron all-in-one lens are great lens as long as you understand their limitations. It will distort in wide angle (18mm) and it will flatten out and be very soft in full zoom (400mm). It does make a great travel lens for those that want to travel light yet not be limited by standard lens (24-70mm area). It was my regular go to lens until I started to get very serious about photography and moved to a full frame camera body.

Spectacular sail away pictures.

Hi JaniceB. Thank you so much! I can't wait to post our returning pictures later on. The weather was much better and the soft morning light was great on the towering buildings of Manhattan.

Embarkation Day cont.

Thankfully, we were on the 11th deck which was covered, so we could stay nice and dry during sailaway. The deck below us extended outward more so their balconies were exposed to the rain.

After taking about 5,000 photos of Lady Liberty, I noticed that it had stopped raining, so we opted to head out onto the Serenity Deck on Deck 14. Which, by the way, just happened to have a very nice bar located on it. And it was facing aft so we had a perfect view of the Whale Tail and NYC and Hoboken, NJ in the background.

After taking a ton of photos looking aft, I then ran around to the front of the Serenity Deck to capture a bunch of shots of us going under the Verrazano Bridge. I then ran back to the bar and got a bunch of shots of the Whale Tail going under it.

So cool! I strolled back to bar and surprise, surprise…Lady Trip was chatting it up with somebody. That woman can talk to anyone! I have no idea how she does it. I’m a very gregarious person, unless I don’t know you…then I’m as shy as a mouse.

Turns out the gentleman was a professional opera singer from NYC and had just booked this cruise the other day and took the last cabin! He was very funny and we ended up chatting with him for well over an hour. Of course, Lady Trip being her ever so helpful self, gave him ton of hints and things to do on the ship. She should work for Carnival!

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Embarkation Day cont.

The Sail Away Party in full effect in the Atrium due to the weather. Emma, our Cruise Director can be seen dancing on the bar below.

After closing the Serenity Bar down (apparently, it was only open for the Sail Away party), we said goodbye to our new friend and headed down to Blue Iguana for some lunch/dinner. We love their burritos!! Once we chowed down, we headed down to the Mezzanine Deck to our favorite place on Carnival...the Alchemy Bar!

Lady Trip had noticed that they were having a sale on their martini tasting. Since she is a bit of a martini connoisseur, she ordered that. She got to choose 4 different martinis from 8 options. Our bartender (Javorka from Serbia), whipped them up and placed them on her mat and told her that they were not in order and Lady Trip needed to figure out the proper order of them.

Lady Trip studied the drinks and the ingredients for a couple minutes. She studiously moved them around and Javorka gave her a big smile and then handed her a small martini charm. Lady Trip was so excited. Yes, the simple things in life excite her! I ordered a Caribbean Manhattan. It was essentially a Manhattan with brown sugar syrup mixed in. It was soooo good!

Javorka creating her masterpieces

We worked our way through our drinks and decided to see if there were any openings at Fahrenheit 455 Steakhouse. There was. So, we went. We ate. It was delicious. Don’t ask me why I’m writing like this. Yes, I’m an idiot. Anyways, Lady Trip ordered escargot and lobster while I went with the lobster bisque and a 14 oz. NY Prime Rib. Out-freaking-standing!!

If you have not eaten at the Steakhouse, all I can say is..."Ya must be wicked re-tahted!" (this must be said with a very heavy Bostonian accent). We eventually rolled ourselves out of there and headed back to our room to enjoy the wine we brought aboard and watched the sea go by. What a way to end the day!

Here's a nice shot of the Serenity waterfall at night. This was right by our room on the 11th Deck. Loved that pool!!

Another fabulous review from Mr. Trip!! I loved all of your NYC photos... really makes me miss my old stomping grounds! I look forward to reading the rest of your review to get me through the last few days before I leave for my own cruise next week (although I am going somewhere a bit more tropical than you went!) :D