City Island Dinner with Vicki

     

City Island is nautical hamlet off the coast of New York City's mainland borough, The Bronx. It still has a small town feel, even though it is in America's biggest city.  The reason why most visitors come to this out of the way part of NYC is its collection of Seafood Restaurants.  And this is where Vicki and I planned to head today.

It was nice to get dressed as Marian again.  Unfortunately, it was a little bit too cool to go out in one of my summer frocks.  Instead, I took out a dress and a pair of leggings that I wear during the winter, threw on a light denim jacket, and drove to Vicki's place to pick her up.

Normally, Vicki does much of the driving.  But her car was in the shop for warranty repair.  Given how much the repair would cost if not under warranty, I'm glad that she is still  covered by her manufacturer's warranty.  Otherwise, she'd be spending 40% of the car's original cost to fix it.

I picked Vicki up a few minutes after 6, and we started catching up on things.  It was nice to be able to tell Vicki about our cruise, and the disembarkation day problems.  And she mentioned things I won't cover here.  Arriving at the restaurant around 7, we sat down to order our food - a lobster plate for each of us, with a calamari dish we could share.  Yum!

We had to rush back to Vicki's after dinner, as she has a couple of dogs to care for.  But we'll be having dinner again soon, as RQS, Vicki and I will be feasting somewhere nearby. 

Now that I'm back home (a short post)

 

I feel like I ate like a pig while on my recent cruise.  Yet, the scale told me otherwise today.  I think it lies. RQS and I discussed this earlier, and she was thinking that this is a good thing.  As for me, I need an explanation for this, as my late wife had unexplained weight loss before she was diagnosed with cancer.

But first....

This was the first night I slept alone for almost 2 weeks.  As much as it's nice to sleep with RQS by my side, it also feels good to have my bed to myself.  I woke up to the mess in my apartment and made things worse.  It was time for me to start putting my winter clothes away, put clothes I don't use in a donation bag, and hang my summer dresses up in my closet.  Right now, I have one donation bag to be delivered to charity, two loads of laundry to go in the wash, and then dresses (so far) to hang up in my closet.

My plans were to go outdoors today.  But I had relatively little energy to do so.  I didn't want to bother getting dressed.  Yet, I did set up some social engagements with a couple of friends, and tried to set something up with another.  I expect to be very busy over the next few weeks, but I'm not sure of how my schedule will fill up.

Tomorrow, it'll be dinner with Vicki, and I'll be the one doing the driving for a change.  It'll be a seafood dinner, not a "see-food" dinner. (If I see it, I eat it. 😊)  More on that tomorrow.

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Afterthoughts (04/26/26)

 

Now that I'm back on dry land, I now have a chance to look back on this cruise.  Strangely enough, an old phrase from a Russian novel comes to mind:

 "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

From having friends who are polyamorous, I learned that good communication, honesty and openness are the keys to successful relationships.  In the case of cruising, good communication is essential to having a good cruise experience.  On disembarkation day, Virgin Voyages turned a good cruise experience into a disaster by poor communication.

Will I take a cruise on Virgin again?  Maybe.  But I'll have to see how they respond to a complaint letter I plan to send them.

- - - - - -

A question posed by an old, cynical joke was:

Besides the assassination Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

This same question reflects my feelings about the cruise.  If I could ignore the last hour or so onboard the ship, it would have been an excellent cruise.  Even then, communication issues were black spots on a very white sheet of paper.   Virgin depends too much on its app to notify people of things going onboard the ship.  Instead of simple announcements that the ship has made port, and that passengers can leave the ship for shore excursions, they only send quiet messages to cruisers via the app.  If one doesn't constantly look at their phone, one can't know what's going on.

- - - - - -

RQS and I have some time before we can schedule another cruise with Virgin.  Before then, we will be taking another cruise with Princess, and maybe a cruise with NCL Virgin won't be back in NYC until autumn.  And then, it has no cruises sailing out of New York scheduled for 2027.  Will they be in New York in 2028?  I doubt it.  And even if they were, I'm not sure if I'd sail with them again.  I don't want to deal with another experience as ugly as our disembarkation experience, even though (for us) it lasted only 15 minutes.  I'd have no problem with Virgin if it had good communications with its cruisers.  But it doesn't.  It is not a cruise line that holds up its customer experience by both belts and suspenders - they don't use both Plans A and B for communicating with its cruisers. 

PS: I got a response on my email to Virgin.  They actually looked into the details of my issue.  Hopefully, they will correct things for the next time something similar occurs.

 

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Disembarkation Day (04/25/26)

 

The problem with cruising from Brooklyn is that when one arrives back in port, one has a better view of Jersey City than one does of New York City.  Yes, Governor's Island is also in this picture, but Jersey City predominates the view.  But it could be worse.  It could be Akron, Ohio from the rails.

- - - - - - 

We got home earlier than expected, but not because anything went according to plan.  Our ordeal started at 6 am, both of us getting up early, so we could vacate our cabin by 7:30 am.  We were out the door by 7:15 am and in one of the ship's restaurants by 7:30 am.  That was our first defining issue for the day, as the restaurant, Razzle Dazzle, was vegetarian.   

Razzle Dazzle may serve good food, but none of its breakfast offerings appealed to me.  So I ordered something close to what I'd get in an omnivore breakfast - scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tiny potatoes, and "Impossible" sausage patties.  Luckily, they had a "Naughty" item on the menu - Maple Bacon, which I ordered. As expected, this meal didn't satisfy.  The Impossible sausage patty had absolutely no flavor and not satisfaction quotient.  So the eggs, bacon and the mushrooms were the only things that kept my stomach from growling for the next few hours.  Heck, I couldn't even get a glass of orange juice without paying a premium for fresh squeezed juice.  And to make things worse, the restaurant was way too warm, considering it was a chilly day outside.

Leaving this forgettable joint (and I hope to do so soon), we proceed to the 6th floor to exit the ship. And this is when the real problem began.  We had booked a 9 am disembarkation, knowing that many of the early birds would be off the ship before then.  Well, we went upstairs at 8:45 am and found ourselves at the end of a line that stretched from mid-ship to the rear of the ship and back because they weren't letting anyone off the ship.  Since I can walk forever, but not stand in one place for long, I had RQS stand on line while I waited in the casino for the line to move. The line started moving 15 minutes later, and we were out of the cruise terminal at 9:15 am.  From what one crew member told me as I was finally exiting the ship, the delay was caused by issues related to a CBP contraband sniffing dog and the luggage transfer process.  In order to prevent passengers from arriving at the pier before their luggage made it to the pier, they held up disembarkation to accommodate a complete restart of the luggage transfer process.  AARGH!

Next, we decided to take the ferry.  Walking past taxi drivers that were hungry for a fare, we barely made it to ferry dock for a 9:22 ferry.  And then, we had trouble with the ferry app (mostly caused by being in a rush and still having our phones in airplane mode).  We held up the ferry while personnel tried to help us.  And then the ferry screwed up, heading towards Pier 13 in Manhattan instead of Pier 6 / Atlantic Avenue. So we arrived at the stop where we'd summon an Uber as it started to rain a bit.  Luckily, it was a short walk to shelter with our bags.

Here is where we had our miracle.  Our Uber was there in 2 minutes, and then there was NO traffic on the BQE (in our direction).  We were back at RQS's place by 10:30 am - a new record from the terminal!  Finally, we could rest and catch up on sleep.... 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #4 (04/24/26)

 

I woke up early this morning and found that the tablet that controlled everything in the room had run out of juice.  I couldn't change the temperature without getting out of bed and using manual controls, I couldn't adjust the lights to allow me to see where I'm going, and I couldn't turn off the TV, to which I had fallen asleep.  This could have been a big problem.  But, given the time of morning and the state of the TV, I easily managed things until the tablet was recharged.

- - - - - -

Today is the last day of the cruise, and a day that I always feel down when thinking about it.  I'll pack up everything, save a few necessities and put them outside to be picked up at the pier the next morning.  It was in the 80's when we left on this cruise and it will be in the 40's when we return.  I expect RQS will be freezing when we get off the ship.  As for me, I know I'll be feeling cooler than I want to feel.

We got out of the cabin late enough to barely make it to breakfast.  And then, the wait staff fouled up RQS's order by not bringing RQS her omelet.  This would be the last breakfast/lunch we'd have onboard the ship, and we will miss having someone cook for us and clean up the mess we made.

After resting for a while, RQS went out to see a comedian perform his act while I stayed in the cabin.  RQS came back early, and we took our naps before going to dinner at 6 pm.  This would be our last dinner on the ship, and we had some great dishes.  One problem - they neglected our drink service.  So we ended up going to the Galley for an after-dinner cup of tea.

Back at the cabin again, we packed our bags and left them in the hall to be delivered to the pier when the ship makes port.  It was a great cruise, and we look forward to the next cruise on this line.   

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Charleston, SC (04/23/26)

 

Last night, I had an interrupted sleep.  But I managed to have a few good hours before waking up at 8 am.  Even though I was up early for me, I didn't feel tired.  Instead, I felt like my allergies to pollen were winning a battle with me, as we were nearing land as I was coming to consciousness. 

- - - - - -

Charleston's historic district is beautiful, and should be experienced slowly.   The last time I was in this city, it was raining, and a bus tour made everything blend into one boring, gray mess.  Today, it would be bright, sunny, and not overly warm - a perfect day to visit this city.  Both RQS and I were looking forward to our self-arranged shore excursion.

We went up to the Galley (Virgin's substitute for buffets found on other cruise lines' ships) to have a quick breakfast.  And this breakfast was good.  Both of us had the "Grab and Go" Salmon, while I ordered Scrambled Eggs and Sausage.  We were sated, and ready to go to find our excursion.

Getting off the ship was easy.  But it was a 10 minute walk from the ship to where the carriage ride started.  While on the way, I noticed that I forgot my sunglasses.  So I bought a cheap pair in the Charleston Market on the way to the carriage ride.  

There are 5 routes which carriage rides are allowed to travel, and they are assigned at random to prevent too many carriages from disturbing motor vehicle traffic on a single route.  Today, we took the "Yellow" route, chosen at random at a station near the market.  Much of Charleston's history blended into something easily forgotten, but I remembered one thing of note: Like New Orleans, Charleston has laws which require buildings in its historic district to be maintained with historical accuracy.  If a building is to be painted, a commission must approve the paint - and have it reflect colors used in the building's past.  External structural elements must conform to reflect how a building looked in the past.  Too bad that more American cities didn't do this to preserve their historical districts.

- - - - - - 

We got back on the ship around 12:30 pm and started looking for lunch.  The Pizza Place would be closed until 2 pm, so back to the Galley we went.  Of course, I ate too much, wanting a little bit of everything.  To make things more "interesting", they had the wrong menu available in our section of the Galley, and we ended up getting things we didn't plan on getting.  Although I missed my Duck Ramen, RQS got her Pastrami on Rye.

And then it was time to rest until dinner.  

Again, RQS made herself at home in the hammock, while I worked on my other blog.  By the time dinner time came, we were ready to feast, yet not eat too much.  So, it was down to to Pink Agave for another Mexican meal.  Was the food good?  Yes.  Yet, I miss the two Mexican joints down the hill from me, as more of their food is "stick to your ribs" cooking.

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #3 (04/22/26)

 

There is something nice about waking up to a nice sunrise while at sea.  Although the sun is not visible in the picture above, it is bright, and the cabin was fully illuminated.  There was no way for us to stay asleep.  Both of us were up before 6:15 - something rare for two people who are rarely out of bed before 9, except for bio-breaks.

- - - - - -

Neither of us got moving until 8 am, and we ended up waiting an hour before we could have Brunch at the Wake.  While there, we enjoyed another filling meal, and had another nice chat with people sitting at nearby tables.  (I'm going to hate looking at the scale when I get home.)

I can't say too much about what we did until dinner.  Both of us needed to rest, and RQS hung out in the hammock on our balcony, while I edited some things for my cruise blog.  After that, I decided to rest for a while, trying to catch up on some needed sleep.

For dinner, we went back to the Test Kitchen, where we had some artistic food dishes.  This time, I enjoyed the selections more than the lat time we ate there, as smoked salmon was one of the 3 appetizers, while a lamb chop was the main course. Once done with dinner, it was off to one of the lounges to listen to some music.  Sadly, seating in the area left much to be desired.  But the music made the effort to reach the lounge worthwhile. 

- - - - - -

Sometimes, one doesn't have a lot to say about a cruise day.  And this was one of those days. 

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Nassau, Bahamas (04/21/26)

 

On Virgin Voyages' ships, "The Galley" replaces a ship's buffet area with a bunch of mini-restaurants, each serving a certain specialty. (I won't list them by name here.  Instead, I'll list their functions.)  First, one finds the salad station, where salads are produced according to menu listings.  Next is a burger station.  There is a taco station, a sushi station, and a ramen soup station.  What they all have in common are two key things:

• Simple menu selections mean that dishes can be mass produced without customization.
   
• Cruisers never touch the food before it gets to the table, reducing disease spread. 

As much as I admire Virgin for reworking the concept of the buffet, they have not solved a key problem: How can a cruise line design in adequate seating capacity for busy hours?  Given the nature of The Galley, Virgin has added a new problem: giving cruisers quick service after sitting down in the Galley.

RQS and I have been looking for sit-down dining options for breakfast and lunch that are not connected to the Galley.  It is not easy, as many others are flocking to these venues as well.  And this is one of the things I don't like about cruising with Virgin.

- - - - - -

Today's port stop was Nassau.  We had no intentions of getting off the ship here.  So we took a leisurely lunch in the Galley and then relaxed in our cabin.  RQS was doing her watercolors while I was working on my cruise blog.

Around 6 pm, it was time to go to dinner.  Wayfaring signage on the ship is terrible, and we asked for instructions on how to get to our restaurant - and got lost for a few minutes.  But we ended up in the right place and had a nice meal.  I know when I next get on the scale, I will be shocked of the weight I gained.  But for now, I might as well enjoy the delicacies I'm having that I won't be able to get when I return home.

  

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #2 (04/20/26)

Instead of focusing on the nature of a typical sea day on this ship, I will start out by talking about Virgin Voyages' RFID wristlets.  I figured that most of my readers would like to see something different for a change. 

- - - - - -

Three cruise lines I've cruised on have similar technology in place on their ships:

• MSC
• Princess
• Virgin

Of these, I find Princess' use of technology to be the most user friendly, with Virgin coming in a close second.  Why does Princess rank a little higher than Virgin, when Virgin integrates modern technology into every possible touch point with its cruisers?  The answer is simple - Virgin has taken away options that older people might want by forcing people to use its app for everything.

When I booked this cruise, I expected that most of my sign-in process could be done with a PC interface.  This was far from the case.  I had to use the cell phone app to capture information from my driver's license and my passport - even when I had scanned copies of the same documents I could upload from my PC.  And then, their scans of my driver's license and passport had to be redone just before our cruise, as some glitch in their back office systems rejected what I had previously submitted.

Although I am comfortable with modern technology (though I don't use many of the apps my niece might use), I still prefer a "belt and suspenders" approach where more humans are involved in processes.

- - - - - -

Today, we woke up early (due to RQS receiving a call she had to take), but wandered down for brunch around 11 am.  We waited on a queue for 45 minutes before sitting down to eat.  At this point, I was starving, as my blood sugar level was likely too low for comfort.  Luckily, we were seated by noon, and a nice couple from Canada sat down next to us.  We had a nice conversation on current affairs (including the insanity of our Orange Monster) while eating lunch.  As part of the conversation, I made my TG nature known, and they were curious about it.  I answered a few questions, and it was back to normal.  I hope we see them again before the end of the cruise.

Later on, it was time for dinner.  And tonight, we went to the ship's Korean BBQ.  This was a disappointment for reasons not related to the quality of the place.  Instead, it was a loud and lively environment for dinner at a time I really wanted a quiet, relaxing environment to savor some food.  The people around us were nice, and we enjoyed the conversations over dinner  But the main courses were muddy in flavor, with me not being able to taste much of a difference between beef, pork belly, and octopus served at the table due to the marinade used in its preparation.  At least, we'll remember not to choose this restaurant if on a Virgin ship again. 

 

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Bermuda Day #2 (04/19/26)

Yesterday, I supplied the cipher.  Today, I supply the quote.  Can you tell me what this wall says?

- - - - - - 

Again, we didn't start moving until 11 am, and this didn't leave us much time to do anything in Bermuda before the ship was scheduled to leave at 3 pm (ship time).  If the crew hadn't planned to clean the balconies this morning, we would have left the drapes open and let the sun wake us up.  Instead, we had a good healthy sleep - something I usually need very much.  When we finally got up, we decided NOT to walk to a local store where I could buy some jewelry for my Marian presentation.  Given how slow things were going when we went upstairs, we decided to stay on the ship until we reach Nassau.   

For a bit of the day, RQS rested on the balcony hammock, and then we went for dinner at The Wake (the steakhouse on this ship.)  The food was excellent, but I was too full from earlier eating to appreciate everything put in front of me.

I'm glad that I didn't order this seafood dish - it was $85 extra, but well worth it.  The gentleman who ordered it had cruise credits to burn, and he shared the food with a nearby table.  RQS wouldn't have accepted his offer, but I might have done so at another time - I was way too full from lunch to finish what I had already ordered.  But this gave me the opportunity to share my cruise blog's business cards with several people.  Hopefully, they will enjoy what they see.

After dinner, we walked down to "Sailor Services" (the purser's office) to get a shore excursion ticket printed for Charleston.  And then, it was back to the cabin for the evening. 

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Bermuda Day #1 (04/18/26)

 

Bermuda, at last!  We'll only have 24 hours at this port, but it is a 24 hour period where we can enjoy ourselves on land, as well as pick up a few items we could use at the local store.

But first....

Neither of us wanted to get up this morning, so we slept in until 11 am again.  By the time we were ready to go out of the room, it was lunch time.  So, it was off to the Galley and wait for our food to be delivered.

The Galley was crowded for lunch, so we ended up finding a seat at the rear of the ship.  From the moment we sat down, we could see Bermuda coming up in the distance.  By the time we were done with lunch, we were passing by the parish of St. George (Do I say town? county? What to Bermudians call this subsection of the archipelago?) on our way to the Dockyard area.

We arrived in port at 2:45, and were able to get off the ship at 3:00 pm.  (One catch, we had to stay on "ship time" and not "island time", as Bermuda is in the Atlantic time zone, and the ship remained on Eastern.  Staying in the Dockyard area, we browsed a few shops before returning to the ship.

Once back on the ship, we killed time before making it to the ship's Italian eatery.  We ate way too much food, and all of it was tasty.  (It was not as good as some of our favorite NYC Italian joints.  But then, we live in NYC and have a plethora of great Italian eateries.  So it would be an unfair comparison to consider ranking this place against our favorite eateries.)

It was a good day.  And I'm hoping that the rest of our remaining time in Bermuda will be just as good. 

 

 

 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #1 (04/17/26)

 

This is the first full day that we've been on the cruise ship, and the highlights of the day were our meals.  No, this is not anything negative about the ship, its entertainment, or its crew.  It's because we got up very late in the morning, and the high points were lunch and dinner.

But first....

We had our drapes fully closed this morning, and when we woke up naturally, it was about 11:30.  Although we could have had a normal breakfast, we figured it best to skip to a lunch in the Galley (a dining hall which resembles a buffet, save for the fact that your food is served.)  Given that it was "high lunch" time, we sat in a nearby area of a restaurant which turns into a Korean BBQ joint at night.

It took us a while to get service.  However, I figured out why things were running slow, and why we had some problems communicating with our servers - couple us in an area being prepared for evening dining (even though the "flags" identified the area as functionally part of the "Galley") with a staff member who couldn't understand our English, and one would expect a minor misunderstanding.  Even with this, the staff was more than willing to see that our needs were met.  (RQS noted that many of the crew members may have been unhappy to be there, as if things had changed since the days they signed on for their roles.)

After lunch, it was back to the cabin for a while.  I watched TV and added more information to my cruise blog while RQS fell asleep in a hammock.  It was nice NOT to have anything to do.  But none of the ship's activities interested me that much either.  

Around 6:00, we went to the ship's tasting restaurant, the Test Kitchen.  For those unfamiliar with this class of dining, diners will be served a series of small, artistic dishes with exquisite presentation.  In our case, there was only 2 options: Omnivore or Vegetarian/Vegan.  We chose Omnivore, and loved the dishes.  It was hard to believe that 5 small dishes could fill us up this much.  Sadly, I could not describe these dishes, as the preparation was complex, and too many elements involved in each dish for me to remember the dishes properly.

Would I go there again?  Yup - our next visit is coming up in a few days.  And we're looking forward to it! 

Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Embarkation Day (04/16/26)

 

Today would be the first time on a Virgin Voyages ship, and I knew there would be some issues.  The key one would be getting to the ship on time, given the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in the middle of the week.  With a little advance planning, this would be a minor wrinkle for the day.  What worried me most would be the unknown differences between Virgin and other lines on which I have cruised.

- - - - - - -

We got up at 9 am, and did our final preparations for the cruise.  Around 12:30 pm, I brought our luggage downstairs to make it easier when the Uber was to arrive at 12:45 pm.  As planned, the Uber arrived on time, but it took longer than expected for us to make it to the cruise terminal.  Unfortunately, my GI Tract was about to explode, the most important place I could reach was one where my GI Tract could be dealt with properly.

Reaching the cruise terminal, it was the usual chaos outside the building.  However, Virgin made it worse for many by preventing early arrivals at the terminal from checking in early - unlike most cruise lines making port here.  We were lucky enough to arrive close enough to our scheduled arrival time to be let in early.  Again, we encountered the usual long lines inside the building.  But this time, they ran slower than usual.  

Eventually, we made it onto the ship and began our vacation.  We first went to lunch and then to dinner.  The food was good as expected.  (More on this in my cruise blog.)  And then it was back to the room to rest.