I'm finally home for a while (a short post)

 

After a week away from home, what do I say?  I needed to get away, but I didn't feel as free as I did a year ago.  And all of this is because of the evil orange snowflake causing havoc in DC.  Even on a ship with a TV News station with middle-of-the-road bias, I still couldn't escape hearing about what damage this clown is doing to America.  AARGH!!!!

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When RQS and I got back to her place, we relaxed for a while, and tried to avoid any YouTube video which would drone on and on about the Snowflake and his illegal actions.  And even then, Saturday Night Live did what I expected - they made fun of his latest actions.  Luckily (and this is rare for me), I fell asleep before Weekend Update, finally disconnecting from the world for a while.

This morning, I woke up early and started editing both this blog and my travel related blog.  Work I needed to do on this blog was relatively quick.  However, it took me several hours to get the other blog entry into a shape where it can be published.  Hopefully, my review will prove useful to cruisers who wish to take a similar itinerary with MSC in the future.

Given that we expected rain throughout the day, I decided to go home early, so that I can rest for a bit before attempting to do anything of value.  Although I got home by 2 pm, I didn't get around to doing anything until 6:00 pm.  And even then, I didn't do much. 

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Soon, I'll be going on another cruise, this time to New England and Canada.  Will I be willing to take this cruise as Marian?  The way politics are going, I doubt it.  But, as Fats Waller might say: "One never knows, do one?"

Eastern Caribbean Cruise - Follow-up Thoughts (02/03/25)

 

This was a day that I completed some tasks, but left more of them undone.  There's the old adage that one needs a vacation following a vacation to recharge from the first vacation.  And that seems true for the two of us.  RQS rushed to make final payment for our New England/Eastern Canada cruise - I guess she wants to make sure that the cruise is paid for while she has the money to pay for the cruise.  (And I can't blame her for doing so.)  I'll pay my share of the remaining monies owed later on this week.  And then we can look into a Bermuda cruise to be taken earlier in the spring.

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I never thought that I'd warm up to MSC cruises after my December 2023 cruise to Florida and the Bahamas.  However both the cruise line and I have changed a bit since then.  The ship has improved its food and entertainment offerings since my last cruise, and I have developed realistic expectations for an inexpensive cruise on this ship. Given the price of cruising these days, MSC has become much more attractive than it used to be for me. I know how to get value from their cruises, and I know not to use them for "bucket list" cruises.

There are times where I miss cruising with my former cruise partner.  Yet, we got into a big rut over time.  Although I made a big mistake which ended our friendship, I still look upon the times we had together as good times.  Yet, these were times that couldn't last forever.  Cruising with her took time away from what I should have been spending with my then girlfriend.  This time around, I make sure that RQS comes with me, with a rare exception or two.

If more cruise lines offered true solo cabins at a reasonable price, I'd have considered cruising more often.  However, I often find that on the lines that do offer solo cabins, the prices for these cabins often exceed that of a double occupancy cabin.  So, it is nice to again have a partner to sail with - especially one who is also my romantic interest.

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There are many places to go and so little time and money available to make those trips possible.  Hopefully, I will soon have the resources to do another bucket list trip.  I'll inform my readers if that does happen....

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/27/24 (Sea Day #5)

 

The last sea day of our cruise.  We have only one more full day after this for this cruise, and then we will be back in Southampton and on our way back to New York.  So, what did we do to start off this day? Laundry, of course!  After a week of cruising, we had enough dirty clothes to fill up the washing machine. Since neither of us wanted to fly back to NYC with a load of dirty laundry, we figured that it was time to kill some time and take care of this chore - just like several other people in the laundry room before us.

The Laundry room was crowded, and we experienced the same problem twice - both the washer and the dryer didn't register our first tokens being fed to the machines.  We had to call guest services to get help, and a gentleman came with extra tokens to be used in feeding the machines.  One wonders why they don't fix these machines in the first place.  But our place is not to wonder why.  Our place is to wash and dry.

After doing laundry, we went down to the shore excursions desk to get some of RQS's questions answered. And then, it was upstairs for burgers and fries.  Neither of us could finish what we ordered, as we've gotten tired of eating as much as we have been doing for the past two weeks.  So, it was back to our room, to rest until attending the Captain's Circle gathering for loyal Princess cruisers.

Around 5:00 pm, we started getting ready for the Captain's Circle gathering.  RQS looked nice in what she was wearing, while my jacket looked like it was hanging on a blob that looks like me when I'm in Mario mode.  It was nice to have a meet and greet with the staff, and I got a chance to chat with the fellow in charge of future cruise sales.  (Our booking was corrected.  Now to wait for this department on the mainland to call me back.)  Although it was a pleasant gathering with "free" drinks and canapes, we couldn't wait to go to dinner.

Tonight's dinner in the main dining room had surf and turf on the menu.  Since we already had too much to eat over the last few days, neither of us chose this option.  Instead, we both chose the Cornish game hen.  It was yummy.  But service was way too slow for our comfort, and we were about to leave just before our tea and coffee arrived.  Yet, we still ended up leaving without finishing our after dinner service, as both of us wanted to get comfortable again.

Day 09 - Boston, MA

 

Boston. Today, we'd meet RQS's friend and go to see "Old Ironsides".

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We’re supposed to see one of RQS's friends, and I don’t know what to expect from this friend. RQS mentioned things about this friend that might bother me in other circumstances. Luckily, we would have a short time with her, and have the rest of the day for ourselves.

Around 9:15, we met up with her friend and toured “Old Ironsides” in a drizzling rain. We found a subtle way to get her friend to drive us back to our ship before taking a nap. Shortly after reaching our room, we had a knock on the door - my laundry had arrived. $15 for a full bag wasn’t bad ($29 with a 50% discount for my Gold Latitudes level.) But I’d never pay $5.00 to get a T-shirt laundered on board, so I was simply being careful to combine discounts where possible. RQS and I are now seriously talking about where to cruise next. However, we both realize that her cats will be a complication for us when we decide to cruise again.