The Eagle has limped in

The sail into New York must be one of the most iconic events that anyone who goes on a cruise can expirience , it is like suddenly being transported into every film you have seen about the city. There is the Empire State building with King Kong and Fay Wray, the Statten Island ferry (one of the few things in NY that is free) in the opening scene Working Girl and Melanie Griffiths with the big hair. The Statue of Liberty back drop to so many films. Ellis Islands the immigration point where so many dreams where made and ruined, just like the Cruise/Kidman film Far and Away not to be mixed up with the Aussie Soap, Home and Away which is far more superior. Then there is the gap where the twin towers of World Trade Centre were. Have I cast a spell over you yet? Well I am just about to puncture it for you as I leant against the railings with my fellow cruisers to enjoy and marvel at the sites, I was joined by an elderly couple from Leicester who informed me they cruise all year round, as they struggle to pick out items on the skyline like the Manhattan Bridge which we are about to sail under, he informs me in all honesty that the highlight for him will be to visit Alcatraz Island!!!!Do I tell him or let him carry on making a complete and utter twat of himself and his wife to anyone in earshot? Being basically a kind person I quietly inform that Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay, rather than shooting off mortified he stood his ground and asked if I could see the Statue of Liberty yet. They walk among us.

The next step and no small one is get past American immigration, there are customs forms to be filled out, visas to be presented, letters to be handed in. Every passenger wether they are going ashore or not plus crew all have to go through the process, which is a long walk from the ship, now the kicker nobody is allowed back on board until everyone has been checked out, this includes fingerprints left and right hand, right and left thumb print, individual photograph and passport scan, quite a time consuming process. Many of my older fellow cruisers were completely baffled by this array of gadgetry and the distinction between right and left also hand and thumb, in the end many of the immigration officers were as befuddled as the cruisers, one or two were not far off using Taser's and in one case a barretta automatic pistol. If you think there are almost 2,000 passengers and a 1,000 crew the whole process was destined to take around 3 to 4 hours in temperatures around 30c. Another strange thing that struck me was the diversity of the immigration officer's, 10-12 coloured, 4-5 Asian, 4-5 Chinese/Japanese and others who I would not like to hazard a guess! Welcome to America.