July 4^th, 2026

New York

Today is the day!

At 6:00 AM we left Brooklyn and moved to the Hudson River to position ourselves to watch the tall Ships parade.

We weren’t the only ship on the move, the US navy aircraft carrier, the Nimitz, was also on the move and positioned itself not far from us.

Other navy ships were also on the move, and I felt like we were in great company.

At 6:30 we rushed up to deck 13 to position ourselves to watch the day’s activities. Then we were confronted by the sign.

Our plans to spend the day on deck 14 were totally thwarted. The NBC Today Show crew had taken over deck 14. All of it. Not even a small area was available for passengers. We would have to find somewhere else to watch the parade.

Crowds had already assembled on deck 13, all dressed up in 4^th of July accessories, ready to take part in the Today Show if asked.

Just as my stomach was informing me that breakfast was needed, I saw that Cunard had put on a real feast for us – delicious fruit skewers and bagels. Just the thing for a New York morning. The substandard fake cheese bagel of yesterday was now a mere memory.

This was all good, but it is impossible to get a good view from deck 13 due to the glass walls which are great if you want wind protection, but awful if you want to see what’s happening. The same goes for deck 12. And the pet area which would have afforded a good view was closed off even though there were no furry or slimy friends on board. Deck 11 is for the Grills, Decks 9 and 10 are full of staterooms. What were we to do?

Then we got to deck 8 and I remembered the spot where I love to watch us sail away from Southampton. Yay! No one else was there and it was the perfect place to stand and watch the parade and fly past.

It was already getting hot, but there was a breeze, and we were all set to stand by and wait for the parade.

It was 7:00 AM and the parade was not due to start until 10:00. No worries, we had our cameras ready, our sunscreen on, our sun hats weren’t blowing away, and the drink of the day at the Pavilion Pool Bar was pina colada. All was well with the world. I just wished that our stateroom steward, for no good reason, had not thrown out our water bottle.

People started to arrive and join us at our spot. We had fun chatting to them and Brian was discussing cameras, as we all waited to see the first tall ship.

The parade started with the USS Farragut (DDG-99), a guided-missile destroyer reviewing the international navy ships anchored along the Hudson River, and saluted the Statue of Liberty.

The Vice President and his family were on the amphibious assault ship, the USS Kearsarge, and as the Farragut went past it the ship fired off its ceremonial saluting canons. Who knew there were such things?

After the Farragut headed back up the river, we waited and waited. And waited. But there in the distance, slowly sailing towards us were fire boats. The parade had begun!

I must say that I had thought that there would be a commentary telling us what ships and what planes we were seeing. After all the running commentaries we hear going through the Panama Canal, or Glacier Bay have always been so informative. The great ship enthusiast Bill Miller is on board, so as the first ship sailed into sight, I was expecting that the background 60s music would go away and he would start his commentary.

It was not to be. For the next 2 hours the 60s music continued, not that I have anything against the Monkees, I was addicted to their TV show but singing “hey hey we’re the Monkees” in my head as the beautiful tall ships sailed past was incongruent. I couldn’t help thinking that Bruce Springsteen or John Philip Sousa might have been more appropriate music.

With Beatles music now occupying my brain, I wondered how on earth we could we find out what we were seeing? Luckily Brian was able to find that information on his phone, so in between taking photos he was able to update us on what the ships were and a bit about them.

The tall ships were wonderful, and the parade went on for 2 hours. Here are just a few of them:

As we settled in to watching the parade of ships go by, suddenly out of nowhere there was a loud noise, and the Blue Angels appeared overhead, and in a few seconds, they were gone. I love them so I was really excited.

Then there were the Red Arrows. Now I am ecstatic! For many years when we have been on Cunard ships in Southampton or Liverpool a show by the Red Arrows was on the schedule. There would always be this big build up about them being on their way, and some big wig from the Royal Air Force would be giving us a commentary on their progress. Then as we looked skyward into the dense clouds above us, they would announce that there is a “low ceiling” and the show had been cancelled. That’s British weather for you.

I have such great memories growing up in Malta watching them practice. Malta had a Royal Air Force base there in those days, so it made sense for the Red Arrows to spend time practicing and perfecting their routines under our clear blue Mediterranean skies, much to the excitement of my family. When I see them I always think back to those incredibly happy days.

The air show had all sorts of planes from modern aerobatic to World War 2 planes. It was amazing, and hard to believe what we were seeing.

Brian was having a wonderful time taking photos,

and even caught a glimpse of the pilot of one of the French planes!

The final fly past was quite spectacular.

Then it was all over. Time to get out of the sun and head off to lunch. The morning had certainly exceeded my expectations. What a privilege to be there.

Smelling of suntan lotion and sweat we returned to our stateroom only to be confronted by a form asking us what our plans were for disembarkation. Gracious we just embarked yesterday, it’s way too early to even consider disembarking.

We had a nice relaxing afternoon. I went to the Cruise Critic meet up and it was great to talk to fellow members and get pins from one very talented member.

We had planned on going to dinner at 7:00. So had the 2,691 other passengers on board it seems. There was absolutely no availability, and they weren’t even taking reservations. We were redirected to go to the King’s Court.

We must have looked quite disappointed by that, and as we were walking away the maître d’ told us that there was also food up on Deck 13.

Well, none of us is a huge fan of the King’s Court so we thought we would give it a try. I mean we really didn’t have anything to lose.

We are so glad we did! There was a huge spread of yummy looking food. On arrival you saw the desserts – cakes, pies, cookies, and hundreds of brightly colored cupcakes. What a good way to start.

Then there were the main course options. Loaded hot dogs, regular hamburger sliders, veggie burgers, and an unidentified offering which I decided to miss. Give me a loaded hot dog any day.

I heard that the pie and ice cream was delicious, but I opted for a cupcake.

And what would a 4^th of July party be without s’mores? Yes, they even thought of that.

With the Manhattan skyline and Mary’s iconic funnel as a backdrop, what could be better? Oh yes, Kim brought along a bottle of champagne. Talk about perfection. It was that sort of evening that you just wanted to go on forever.

There was also a big screen on which was playing a recording of the NBC coverage of Sail 4^th 250, some of which was filmed on this very ship.

We watched the sunset over New Jersey

The skies grew darker, and we heard talk that they may have to cancel the fireworks.

I was getting quite anxious. Another storm like the one we had last night would not be good at all. But then it was decided to have the fireworks earlier and thus avoid the storm.

So, after dinner we moved towards the back of the ship and watched the fireworks.

There was meant to be a stirring musical accompaniment to the fireworks, but unfortunately, we couldn’t hear it from where we were. The fireworks were great, and looking towards Brooklyn we were also treated to loads of other fireworks in the distance. What a night! We could see the tall ships all lit up in the distance.

 

Then suddenly I realized that we were on the move, and about to go under the Verrazzano Narrows bridge. Instead of watching the fireworks from the back of the ship I turned around and watched us quietly glide under the bridge and out to sea.

Manhattan and the 4^th of July celebration were now behind us. It has been quite a day and I feel so honored to have been here and a part of it. It has been the most wonderful day.