Bermuda Triangle Cruise 2026 - Final Preparation (04/15/26)

Twas the day before cruising, and all through the house.
Two partners were stirring, one using a mouse....

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As you can guess, one of the last things I do before a cruise is to double check that I have everything with me, as we won't be able to recover once we're on the cruise.  Do I have enough socks, underwear, shirts, trousers, etc?  So many questions to answer and check off a packing list. 

This morning, I had to do some last minute packing before going out.  And then, I had to type up last night's co-op meeting minutes.  This would be a busy day.  Yet, I'd be able to rest once at RQS's place.

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For the most part, virtually everything is packed - including my CPAP machine.  My passport is inside my carry-on, and virtually everything is ready to go.  Yet, I won't leave the house until after the rush hour, as I'm not really ready yet to go on the cruise.  Too many small things are different for me to feel comfortable with this trip.  But I always seem to feel ambivalent before every cruise I take lately.  This could be that part of me fears new things.  And maybe this is why I force myself to go - I need to keep overcoming challenges, no matter how small, to keep growing.

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Last night, we had a co-op board meeting.  As I might have noted, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with our most pressing problems.  But we won't be out of the woods until next year (or, I hope so.)  Although I had several weeks to record the meeting minutes, I rushed to take care of them while I could remember the subtle nuances that needed to be captured, and those that needed to be left out.

Examples of things that need to be captured include:

• Key Topics being discussed
• Decisions made by the board (applicant approvals, financial issues, etc.) 

 Examples of things that should be omitted include:

• Opinions regarding individuals or organizations. (e.g.: No slander or libel.)
• Identification of individuals, save where information recording is necessary.
  (e.g.: Do not name people whose issues are covered by privacy laws.)

This Tuesday, we had to deal with a mental health issue in the middle of a public shareholder meeting.  What should we do?  What must I record?  According to the examples above, it makes sense to list that we had a disruptive shareholder cause trouble in the meeting, but not identify her by name.  Because other shareholders have issues with this person, and have complained about her, we had to include minimal identification information in the minutes, but not this person's name.  This way, any person who needs to review our meeting minutes can do so, while preserving the privacy of this disruptive person as much as realistically possible.

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I am looking forward to visiting Bermuda again.  But the timing of our visit stinks.  Having an overnight stay coupled with a 4 pm arrival time makes it hard for us to enjoy the capital of Hamilton.  There are places we'd like to visit in Bermuda which we'd try to reach with a 9 am arrival that we won't bother to visit with a 4 pm arrival.

Nassau, to me, is a wasted port stop.  But then, in the 3 or 4 times I've stopped here, I was totally bored.  Yet, others find this port a place worth visiting.  But, this cruise is redeemed by the opportunity to visit Charleston, SC again.  Sadly, I would not be able get the chance to visit Fort Sumter or the USS Yorktown on this stop.  But, RQS and I will be able to visit historic parts of the city.  (I'll report on this in a future post.)

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Tomorrow, we'll be leaving for our cruise.  

Keep your fingers crossed.  

Bahamas Cruise - Day 3 (Charleston, SC)

 

If this cruise stopped at Nassau instead of the port of Charleston, I'd have passed on taking this cruise.  Yet, if I had known it was going to rain, I wouldn't have selected this shore excursion.  Go figure....

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I decided to take the afternoon trip to Fort Sumter, even though it was drizzling all day.  I had paid for this trip before the cruise, and I didn't want to consider the $100 I spent on the tour wasted money.  This was a good thing, as I met a new friend who I'd dine with at the Gem's Specialty Restaurants later in the week, and that I got a much better understanding (in a 10 minute presentation by a park ranger) of the causes for the Civil War than I ever got from the history books I've read.

After getting back to the ship, I ended up dining in the main room with the same lady I dined with earlier in the week.  This lady is a former opera performer, and we seemed to hit it off well.  (Too bad I wasn't in Mario mode.  But then, just as well, as she had already been divorced 3 times.  I don't want to be number 4.)

 

There seemed to be fewer performers on the ship than in the past.  They may have been given easier duties, but required to perform longer than usual to keep staffing levels down.  But then, with lounge areas this empty, I'd expect that the cruise line would need to use gimmicks to make people feel like they were getting their money's worth of entertainment.  (No, this is not a criticism of the cruise line.  Instead, this is a recognition that they have to be careful with every dollar they spend until the ships are running at full capacity again.)  When I looked at the shows on the main stage, I noticed that one of the shows is the same as I found on the ship over 2 years ago.  I guess that they needed to get a show up and running quickly, and re-staging an old show might be the most efficient way of making sure that each ship has at least one "theatrical" production.

 

PS: You'll note that I've said nothing about being transgender.  With the exception of showing my legal ID when returning to the ship, my gender and presentation wasn't an issue for me....

Bahamas Cruise - Day 2 (Sea Day)

 

I woke up early. only to fall asleep again.  By the time I was fully awake, it was lunch time.  This is typical for me when I'm on a cruise - such as going out in my female presentation.

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This was the slow boat to Charleston, and yet, it was already warm enough outside for some people to take a dip in the hot tubs on the Lido Deck.  I figured that I was going to get at least one or two days use out of my swimsuit this trip - and planned accordingly for it.

When I got back to my room, I noticed that my TV wasn't displaying my account status.  (I like knowing what charges are being applied to my account in real time.)  So I went down to the main desk and asked for help.  Too bad this may have caused a minor headache for my room steward, as the person at the desk had English as a second language and could not pick up the nuance in how I was describing the problem.  Eventually, I caught up with the steward, and he found out that the problem was with the remote control and not with the upstream software.  (I'll be sure to give him a good review when I participate in the after-cruise survey.)

 

As became my routine, I decided to eat in the Grand Pacific (main) dining room.  It was strange to see this many staff members waiting to direct guests to available tables.  When I had the opportunity to talk with the woman in charge of the dining room, I found out that the room has been this way since the Gem started sailing earlier this year.  This ship has been operating below 50% capacity for weeks, and there is no sign that things will change anytime soon.

I finally had the chance to do my nails.  No, the polishing wasn't so great.  But it did get me through the week with minimal touch-ups.  If I had thought about it and had the time before the cruise,  I'd have gotten a mani-pedi.  Yet, it's nice to have nails on which I could leave painted for a while.

As would be expected, I forgot something at home - my jewelry.  So I used the few items I brought with me when I went to the photographers on later nights....

I'm already thinking of booking another cruise.

 

I miss the world we were in when this picture was taken.  I had met both a pen pal AND a Vegas performer on this trip, and had a great time sailing alone.  This was a growth experience for me, as I was unable to lean on anyone for emotional support.

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The cruise I'll soon be taking will be fun.  But it will not be much "to write home about".  I was totally bored in one of these ports, and didn't bother to tender to the island in the other.  When a cruise line has to tender its guests to a private island instead of using its own dock, bottlenecks will happen.  And on the one time I was at this line's private island, they had a hard time getting on and off the island due to the weather.

If my cruise wasn't visiting Charleston, SC instead of Nassau, Bahamas, I wouldn't have taken it.  Nassau was only worth the stop if one wanted to waste time shopping for overpriced goods.  Port Canaveral was far from anything interesting or reasonably priced.  But Charleston is a more than adequate place to stop, as it has history worth taking in.  (Fort Sumter is the place where many consider our Civil War to have started.)

Unlike the cruise I took 3 years ago, the pandemic will always seem to be present in the background. When I get to the cruise terminal, I will be Covid tested before I get on the ship. Cruise staff will both be vaccinated and masked.  All passengers will also be vaccinated. Even if masking isn't required of passengers, most will likely be wearing them out of habit. It could be worse.  Could you imagine being on a mixed (vaxxed/unvaxxed) cruise and having to mask up at all times, then worry about which areas one can visit and what areas one must avoid?

Yet, the minor headaches of dealing with the pandemic haven't kept me from considering another cruise. Right now, I'm think of booking some sort of Hawaii trip.  But I could change that to an Alaskan trip at a moment's notice.  Until I am ready to make a commitment, I won't put any money down on a vacation.  Instead, I'll be tracking prices and hoping they go down.

Unfortunately, prices don't always go down.  Although the price of the cruise I'm taking dropped by $250 shortly after I booked the cruise, it is now the same price as when I booked it - under a slightly different pricing structure.  And therein lies the problem.  I'm not sure of how I can best perform price arbitraging on either a Hawaii or Alaska cruise.  But I want to do so to get the best price available over the next year.  And I hope I can do this effectively....   

Thinking about a different cruise than before

 

Normally, I wouldn't think of going on this cruise.  I've been to Port Canaveral, and was bored there.  I wasn't impressed by the cruise line's private island (Great Stirrup Cay), so I didn't take the tender to the island.  (My then girlfriend wasn't that impressed either, as the water wasn't clear, and the tenders were running with delays when we were there.)  But I do want to get to Charleston for a day, as this is a port that is not often on cruises from New York.

With the exception of the single 8 day cruise which adds a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, all of these cruises are reasonably priced.  Given that two of the stops are on US soil, and the other is on the company's private island, I figure that my risks of infection are minimized on this cruise.  I don't plan to get off the boat in Florida, and I may stay on the ship when we're at the private island.  But I will want to go out and see Charleston, and try and find out whether it is worth a return visit.

Yes, this will be a cruise in Marian mode - something I haven't done since my last cruise with my former cruise partner.  Hopefully, she'll be happy doing what she now does without me as a friend.  And I hope I will be just as happy having a stateroom to myself.