American Cruise Lines - Day 2 - Yorktown (Part 1)

Since we started this cruise on November 2nd, we were on board during the fall back date of November 3rd for Daylight Savings Time. Cruise Director Ali and Hotel Manager Cheree made a point of informing everyone that the ship would also observe the time change and assured everyone that our cabin clocks would change automatically. Every once in a while, the big ships will visit a port where they stay on "ship's time" rather than changing for local time. Then it's up to you to keep track of both because the captain won't care what your taxi's clock says as they're pulling out of port at their scheduled departure time.

Even though the ACL website shows our itinerary's first stop being St. Michaels, MD, pretty much every report I found online listed our first port as Yorktown, VA. Then when we got the packet of information after booking, the daily itinerary page included said Yorktown. Sure enough, we woke up docked in Yorktown, VA this morning. We were scheduled to be here from 7:30AM until 5:30PM.

Today's ACL sponsored excursion choices (as always you were free to book your own tours or just get off and wander around) were "Colonial Williamsburg" at $55 per person with a morning or afternoon time slot or "Historic Yorktown Trolley" which was complimentary. The folder in our room contained more detailed information about each excursion choice so between that and any questions asked at the embarkation day meeting, you should be as educated as possible about which tour to choose. For the Colonial Williamsburg option, it is described as a bus ride via the Colonial Parkway to reach Williamsburg. Then a guided walking tour followed by free time to explore. Historic Yorktown Trolley would stop at the battlefields, the Visitor Center, the historic buildings and stores. The trolley ran from 9AM until 5PM. We chose both options for both of us when turning in our excursion sign up sheet believing that we'd want to also visit the battlefields after taking the 8:30AM tour of Colonial Williamsburg. The more in depth tour information sheet did have symbols indicating which excursions were wheelchair accessible, camera permitted, tour length in hours, motorized scooter permitted, a physical activity rating, and restrooms available.

We used my cell phone as our wake up alarm as needed though I admit I was up just before 2AM to make sure all our clocks changed properly. Once they did, I fell back asleep until just before 7AM. Breakfast was scheduled for today from 7:30AM to 9AM. Normally we're not big on having a full breakfast when we have a morning tour, opting instead to just grab fruit or a bagel to take with medicine and stave away any migraines from not eating. Knowing that it wouldn't be as easy to get a real meal onboard later, we made a point of heading down to the dining room by 7:30AM. There was a table set up by the entrance for passengers to help themselves of fruit, small cereal boxes, pastries, and the like.

With granola, yogurt, raisins, cottage cheese, and prunes taking up half the table, I'm not sure the warning about flushing anything but toilet paper was the reason we might have "a stinky ride to Jacksonville" as Cheree described it. I did try the fresh fruit and it was perfectly ripe and tasty.

Dad stuck with getting just a bagel and I chose scrambled eggs for some quick protein. Nice to see regular size glasses of orange juice as we can drink just as much of that as water. Not so nice to see how long it often took to get water and/or OJ delivered much less refilled.

Time for another round of plate presentation inkblot test - anyone else see an up and down fish shape in my eggs? Just like RCL's tiny stuffed tomato on every plate, we saw these little fruit skewer garnishes on most every plate. I always picture the poor soul whose job it is to stack hundreds of those for every meal. Note - if you like ketchup or hot sauce on your eggs, you have to ask for it. Only things on the table are salt/pepper, butter, and little jars of jams.

Heads up if you choose the trolley option, in our case the local guide Rebecca was only riding the very first trolley out at 9AM so none of the other ride times would be narrated. The most information you'd get is "Here is the battlefield, anyone getting off?" She was also scheduled to come on board during breakfast to hand out brochures moving from table to table according to Ali who referred to it as "table touching." We never saw this Rebecca so she either never came or showed up just before her scheduled first trolley tour at 9AM. 

Once we finished eating we headed off the ship to board the bus at the top of the road. No having to scan your card or let anyone know you're leaving the ship like you did with the big ships. There is a deckhand monitoring the gangway from the outside but he's mostly there for passengers who may need physical assistance versus stopping people to make sure they are really passengers before boarding again. There were ports during this cruise where the tides changed so quickly that they'd have to move the gangway from entering on the main 1st deck to entering on the 2nd or third deck making a much sharper incline. 

The deckhands always had a cooler full of the small water bottles and offered you to help yourself both coming and going. Much nicer than the crew standing there offering to sell you bottles of water as you wait in line to debark at ports that we're used to seeing. Yorktown had a bit of a walk to get from the ship to street level but it's all paved. There was options to use a wheelchair or in some ports, a golf cart to cover the length of the pier if you so desired. 

There is an unmanned gate to step through where the wider dock turns into a narrower slightly inclined bridge. Then a little structure (roof and columns - no duty free shops here) to walk through past the small beach before you reach the road where the bus waited. Once up at the bus, instead of turning in a ticket to the contracted guide, you gave your cabin number to Ali as a way of verifying attendance and that you should be charged for taking the tour. She would run back and make announcements for the people missing but if you still didn't show up then you were out of luck. 

The bus was pretty easy to get into with a step stool and a few steps to get up to the seats. Today's excursion key states it is wheelchair accessible, motorized scooter accessible, 4 hours in length, a 3 level in physical activity (1-4 with 4 being the highest), camera permitted, and restrooms available. That sounds high for physical activity but for the most part it was only walking between buildings and as much walking on the paved road during the free time as you chose. There were benches throughout for sitting and taking a break.

It was nice to see that there was routinely a representative from ACL in the form of a crew member or guest speaker Rachel that would accompany each tour. Today we had Rachel and she gave us some good history facts pointing out how things were back in colonial times on the roads we were traveling down. If you choose to visit Williamsburg on your own, note that there are different ticket options at different price points. Our tour tickets (which ended up being stickers showcasing a "you've paid" style bar code to put on our clothing) included the ability to go inside the various buildings and learn about the trades. We watched the re-enactors question people a few times for wandering in when it wasn't obvious to see their tickets. 

I'd been to Williamsburg as a child during a family road trip but the most I can remember is being chosen to hold the lantern during a night walk and my parents arguing about whether I should be allowed to buy one of those wooden flutes from the gift shop. One of the first things our guide pointed out once there is to remember the rule of "If it's round and brown, go around" as a mantra for watching out for horse deposits as you're walking along the road. There are a couple through streets within the historic area that cars can drive on so watch out for them too while you're crossing between the long stretches of road that are closed to car traffic.

Our first stop was to the city hall/courthouse. Do note that if you go inside these buildings, they will make you spit out any gum or food you may be in the middle of consuming into a small pot by the door. A couple tour group members got "reprimanded" for their gum but promptly complied. Plenty of treat shops, bars etc. on site so I'd suggest visiting the trade buildings before imbibing. They do try to limit the amount of people inside each of these buildings at one time so our 15-20 group size filled the space and got a private chat with the re-enactor. He told us tons of information about who could serve on the jury, where everyone sat, and the origin of terms we use today like "passing the bar." He brought up role playing through a case but our guide said we didn't have time.

Since these are historic buildings, and I believe our guide said this is one of the few that hasn't needed restoring, those few steps in front are the only means in and out. If you aren't willing to toss out that gum before going in, the stocks are ready and waiting for you.

The jury is umm out?

Our re-enactor showing how no one but the judge, jury, and lawyers could stand on that side of the railing. The accused would have to stand at the railing on the other side. When you finally finished your legal training, you were allowed to go through that gate and stand on the other side of the railing, hence "passing the bar."

Our next stop was to the weaver. This re-enactor turned out to be from Pikesville so we had a nice chat when he heard I was from Baltimore. Then he praised me for actually pronouncing the "t" in Baltimore. Sorry, my "Balmorease" way of speaking disappears when you take me out of the area. I refrained from replying "Aww thanks hon!"

We learned about how families would take in other people's children of a certain age and be taken care of like one of their own in exchange for the children working as weavers. This was the first spinning wheel made and it required the user to stand back while the silk winds onto the spindle drawing the user closer. Then to continue, they'd have to go all the way to the back again and start over.

Then came the new design with a foot pedal so the weaver can sit while they spin.

Some of us were asked to pick our favorite colors of yarn and my choice of green meant I had expensive tastes as it required both the blue and yellow dye process. When someone else finally chose red, he showed us the small jar pictured below that contains crushed up bugs. He said even to this day, anything with that dark red coloring is made partially from crushed up bugs. Makes you think twice about your favorite colorful candy doesn't it? Mmm, protein!

Once the silk thread was spun into yarn, the weaver could move on to the loom creating the large patterned pieces used for blankets etc.

Our next stop was the foundry where we learned how metal is melted down in a giant furnace or fire to then be poured into molds to make things like silverware and candleholders.

My what big bellow you have...

Then we stopped at the Governor's House where we were greeted by a beautiful black and white marble floor and walls full of armory mounted to show visitors that they were strong and able to fight.

These guns in the center are original and preserved from the Governor's collection.

Normally tours are led up the long wooden staircase to see the family's private quarters and ballroom but if you can't climb stairs, they offer chairs to sit and photo books to look through while you're waiting for the rest of your group to come back down. The tour ends at the doors leading out from the ballroom into the gardens. Going out the side entrance to the gardens puts you right back by the front of the house where you can also view the kitchen and smokehouse buildings without having to climb stairs.

Dang, even on this cruise we end up at Nassau!

After walking along the road to get closer to the main intersection by the church, our guide stopped to point out the raised platforms in front of the buildings that people used to step in and out of their carriages. She then gave us an hour of free time to do as we please and several of us went off to explore the shops and café. After wandering around a couple shops and learning that a venue called Mellow Mushroom was really just a pizza place, we learned that there are way too many things that can be emblazoned with a picture of the American flag. We started walking back up the main road toward the historic buildings and passed where our guide was chatting with some of our group. Ready to head back to the bus as our hour was almost up, we left our guide and continued walking straight up the road until we'd reached city hall again. Our guide had said we could come back to the benches and wait for our bus who could only pull up on the main road adjacent to where we started. Trouble with that is there's bench groupings all throughout! Finally we ran into one man from our group who was walking alone and the three of us figured out that we should have turned down the side street about 2 blocks from where we currently were. We turned down the very next side street until it met a regular road and was able to look down the street to our right where the bus was parked. I was sure by the time we reached the bus that everyone would be on board waiting on us but thankfully we weren't the last directionally challenged souls to return.

Ahh back to our home away from home and nothing but a "Hi, how was your tour?" from the deckhand monitoring the gangway. Still amazes me how little they seemed to check on whether you were supposed to be on the ship or not. We saw so many people wander up to the ship and chat either with the deckhand or people on their balcony asking about the ship and its itineraries that the deckhands started keeping ACL brochures in their jackets to hand out. Wonder what would have happened if any of these curious souls wanted to come in and look around? Per Eagle Society membership rules, I could have headed down and welcomed them on for a tour as my friends.