Updates on the last days before my cruise.

 

Lately, I've been preparing for my upcoming cruise, and trying to get as many things in order before flying to California.  I had been thinking of buying a camera for this trip and realized that it wouldn't make sense because I usually get good enough pictures on my cell phone and realized that that the DSLR camera I already own is gathering dust on one of my shelves. (In my defense, the camera doesn't take SD memory cards, lenses aren't made for this camera line any more, and the rig is bulky as hell.)

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Yesterday, I decided to look at cameras on Amazon and found that most of the inexpensive rigs would take more than 2 days to be delivered to my house.  (I wasn't going to pay extra for 1 day delivery.) This was unacceptable, and was one of the main reasons I started to think differently about buying a new camera.  For the most part, this was an unneeded expense, like my drive to the family homestead I took.

Why am I mentioning my drive to the family homestead?

My brother and I own a house that we've been renting out for years. This year, our tenant left, and the place has been vacant since January.  There were upgrades we needed to make to the house, such as replacing the water heater, replacing leaking gas pipes and replacing the washer/dryer in the basement, that had to be done before we could rent the place out again.  While we were doing this, another "might as well" came into play - we repaired and painted the basement walls, then redid the electric wiring and lighting to make it appear as an almost finished basement.  Yet, my brother forgot one thing: Did he make sure that the fire extinguisher was back in the kitchen before the final inspection.  So, I took 4 hours out of my life to find out that the extinguisher was in place when I could have spent it doing something more enjoyable.

There was no way I could do anything else that day.  I had to open up a co-op board meeting specially held to interview 2 applicants to purchase apartments.  This kept me from doing what I would have liked to have done - having one last evening by myself before 2+ weeks of being in the constant presence of others.

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Today, I had only one thing on my docket: seeing an acquaintance I met on the first post Covid shutdown cruise I took in late 2021.  J, as I'll call her here is a retiree who can afford to take several cruises each year, including at least 1 from a bucket list category.  We have been in very loose communications over the past 3 years, and we had another opportunity to meet again - She's going on a cruise that sails out of New York tomorrow, and I'll be leaving for California the next day.  But there is one problem.  She's staying at an airport hotel.  (Why she's not staying in Manhattan I'll never know.) So, this makes my journey to see her more complex, as I have to take Metro North to Grand Central, take the Long Island Railroad to Jamaica, and then the JFK Airtrain to the TWA Hotel where we planned to meet.

My friend was supposed to arrive in NYC at 9 am, but got bumped to a later flight.  That worked out for her, as she didn't have to wait as long at the hotel to check into her room.  I started down to the airport when she was checking in, and was lucky to catch an express train with a few minutes to spare.  (It helped that some people were leaving early, and I found a parking spot within 50 feet of the parking meter kiosk.

With parking voucher in hand (I won't call it a ticket lest a reader get confused), I hopped onto the train (train ticket in hand), and made it to Grand Central at 3:45 pm.  I had a little time to kill, and went to the LIRR concourse at 4:15 pm, catching the next train to Jamaica.  It was easy to kill a few minutes in Jamaica (nothing much to see here, as the train station puts function over form), and then I caught the Airtrain to the airport.  (The Port Authority still uses the obsolete Metrocard to pay for Airtrain rides, and will eventually shift to a "tap and go" system sometime in the next 12 months.  But I digress....)  Given that I was in the airport at 5 pm, I decided to go to the JetBlue terminal, then walk over to the TWA Hotel.  Well, my friend made it to the Airtrain station earlier than I expected, and I trekked back to the Airtrain station to meet her. 

We met around 5:30, and proceeded to the TWA hotel for dinner.  This hotel was originally the TWA terminal at the airport and was decommissioned when American Airlines took over TWA.  It didn't make sense to preserve this terminal for flights, as it couldn't handle today's jets.  More importantly, this building is a landmark piece of architecture designed by Eero Saarinen.  So, it made sense to turn the place into an expensive airport hotel and make the place a living history museum.

I didn't get the chance to explore the whole place - it was time for dinner, and I was hungry.  We talked about cruising for the most part, and indirectly talked politics in a neutral way.  (She pays no interest in politics, but understands why I'd have trouble with the current regime in DC.  She loved the place, and was very glad that I suggested we eat there.  Service at the restaurant was fast in the delivery of our food.  Our water glasses were kept full.  And they weren't in a rush to chase us out for more paying customers.  So it was I who noted that it was 9:30 pm, and that I had to be on my way.

Hopefully, I'll see my friend soon on another cruise, or when she's in New York for some other reason.

PS: My friend is going on the same cruise as another friend from my Yonkers game night group.  Hopefully, they will bump into each other and have a great time.

  

Preparing for my upcoming cruise

 

Today, I am driving down to RQS's place and will be dropping off a couple of bags containing the clothes I will be wearing on my Alaska cruise.  For the most part, I am wearing the same clothes I had planned to wear on my New England / Eastern Canada cruise that was moved over to later in the season.  

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Alaska is a very informal place, where formality can be defined as wearing a freshly laundered (and pressed) pair of jeans to dinner.  (I may be exaggerating things, but I'd bet that few local women wear dresses, given the weather in the state.)  The weather can go from 40° to 80°, rainy to sunny, all in the same day.  One has to be able to dress in layers, as they will be put on and taken off as needed.

This will likely be my last visit to Alaska, unless we find a cheap cruise there which has an itinerary which interests us.  Once I've seen the best of the Inside Passage, I don't want to keep repeating similar itineraries. There are so many other places in the world worth visiting, and I want to visit them while I'm able to do so.

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Several years ago, I felt comfortable humping my cruise luggage on various forms of mass transit.  Other than taking commuter trains into/out of New York City and using the JFK Airtrain from Jamaica to the airport, I will no longer do so with more than a carry-on bag.  The NYC subway system does not have enough "Accessible" stations, and there is no way I want to deal with staircases on my way to a cruise.  If I'm sailing out of Manhattan, I'll take a cab from/to Grand Central to/from the cruise terminal. If I'm sailing out of Brooklyn, RQS and I will take an Uber from her place to the terminal, and use a combination of a ferry and an Uber to return to her place.  If I am cruising alone out of Brooklyn, I'll use a cab to go between Grand Central and Pier 11, then use the ferry to go between Manhattan and the Brooklyn cruise terminal.

This trip will involve an Uber to the Airport, coupled with the expected airport delays.  I'll be sure to carry a book or two with me, as well as a fully charged cell phone for entertainment.  Given that the plane's entertainment system will require corded headphones, I may bring my own pair with me, as the quality of those provided by the airline usually are sub par.

When we arrive at our destination, I know what to look for when using cruise line provided transfers.  (One time, I missed the transfer, and had to make my way to the airport hotel myself.)  Yes, I'm lazy.  I pay for the simplicity of having the cruise line make all of my arrangements to travel between my home airport and the cruise ship.  Simplicity is a blessing, especially when traveling.

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But enough for now.  I'll be on my cruise within a week's time, and I have to get showered, dressed, and out of the house before traffic gets bad.

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/30/24 (Afterthoughts)

 

Having had a good bit of rest from the day before, I figure that it is time to collect my thoughts about my recent cruise.  It is truly a "once in a lifetime" cruise for, as the UN has declared the Norwegian Fjords to be a World Heritage Site and Norway is using this (for its own reasons) to eliminate conventionally powered ships from entering the fjords to reduce CO2 pollution.  Next year, it will be virtually impossible for us to go to Flam or Geiranger with the cruise lines of our choice because Norway is gradually banning cruise ships from their fjords, a process which will be complete by the end of the decade.

This was our first time traveling internationally by air.  For the most part, my worries were unfounded.  However, it was something well worth thinking about, as we would not be protected by US law while we were overseas and we might make mistakes that would be tolerated in the US, but not overseas.  If anything, the mistakes we could make are violations of custom, and not of law.  Most of these mistakes would identify us as uncouth foreigners and not as lawbreakers, such as when I raised my voice at the Tower Bridge.

London itself, proved to be a place that we need to explore when we have the time to do so.  To do this, we would need to visit in the early spring or in late autumn, so that we could ride the tube without needing to be cooled by non-existant air conditioning.  (We'd also have to corral my niece into being a tour guide for a few days for this.)  Like the fjords, we would need several large capacity memory cards for the photos we'd be taking on this trip.

I found that having a universal travel adapter to be an essential part of my travel kit.  I needed it for my CPAP machine in London, as well as for an extra electric socket on the ship.  (Thinking about my CPAP unit, it is time that I schedule an appointment with the sleep doctor, as my machine has reached end-of-life.)  Having extra USB-A to USB-C cables also helps, as most of my electronic gear uses the newer cabling standard.

The fjords are must-visit places, awe inspiring wonders that people should see at least once in their lifetimes.  If possible, the Flam railway is a must if you can get to Flam. (it will not be accessible in the future to most cruise ships.)  If in Alesund, one must take a cruise into the fjords, as we were gobsmacked there as much as we were on the Flam railway.

After Norway, we arrived at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.  It's about 45-60 minutes from Ghent, which I consider a place worth spending a long weekend, instead of a short day.  60 minutes touring the old town plus a 60 minute canal cruise is not enough.  As much as I wasn't impressed with the idea of stopping here, instead of stopping at another Norwegian port, I was glad that we came here.  Too bad that the port is so far away from Ghent, otherwise more people might have taken this excursion.

Finally, we had to return home.  If one can avoid returning to the USA in an airline that goes to JFK Terminal 4, do so.  If the weather is bad, this can be a taxing place for one's return home.  (Avoid Delta and Virgin Atlantic flights for this trip.)  I can't make any excuses for Terminal 4, nor should I try to do so.  The Port Authority of NY and NJ has no excuse for allowing any airline to subject passengers to this poor excuse for the international arrivals process for airlines using Terminal 4.  But then, JFK has been a mess from the time it was called Idlewild, and it will remain a mess long after I have passed from the scene.

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/29/24 (Southampton, UK - Disembarkation and our return home)

 

This is the day we hated most:  Returning to the UK, then flying home to NYC.  The above photo was taken on our way to Southampton, and was the start of an all day trek back home via sea, land and air.

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I'm a notoriously bad sleeper, and I was up around 5 am to see the ship making its way into port.  If there's one thing I enjoy about returning home from a cruise out of NYC, it has to be seeing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Statue of Liberty at the break of dawn.  There is nothing like that coming into Southampton.  Instead, it is coming into a passenger terminal which is next door to a major shipping terminal.  There is not much to see on the way in or out of this place.

Once we were up for the day, we packed our remaining items and went down for our last breakfast on board the ship.  Both RQS and I had a filling meal, though not as much as we'd have eaten at the start of the cruise.  We were glad to be among the few people eating in the main dining room, as it was far from crowded.  I guess that most of the passengers (and dining room crew) were dealing with breakfast in the buffet.

We stayed in the dining room until just before our debarkation group was called, and then it was off the ship, through customs (no one checking who we were and where we were going), and then to the buses that would take us to Heathrow.  Due to traffic congestion, the driver took us on a roundabout back way to our terminal, and we were there before noon. 

Traveling in and out of Heathrow as an international passenger was a new procedure for both of us.  Unlike airports in the USA, the UK has no equivalent to the USA's trusted traveler system.  This means that everyone has to be prepared to take off all their jewelry, their belts, and (often) their shoes before going through security checkpoints.  Like the USA, all liquids must be in containers no more than 100 ml in size and fit into a 750 ml bag.  I only got snagged because of my shoes.  RQS got snagged due to a couple of items she forgot in her bag.  And this triggered a security search of her hand luggage.  Unlike the USA, UK's security people were polite about this issue, and went out of their way to make travelers like us know they were not trying to hassle us.

Once through security, the path to airport gates is through a shopping mall that makes what we have in the USA look like a quaint set of mom and pop stores.  If you want high end luxury items, they were for sale here.  If you wanted common consumer goods and souvenirs, they were for sale here too.  This is where I paid a premium to replace a USB-A to USB-C cable that fell apart earlier in the day.  We had 3 hours to kill, and 45 minutes of such were spent inside a sushi restaurant where we had a nice chat with a Brazilian waitress.  (Only in London or NYC!)  And then we waited around for our gate to be called.  Waited and waited and waited....  Eventually, our gate number was posted and we were off to wait to get on the plane.

We were given aisle seats in the back of the plane, and I knew that we had to be like gate lice to get advantageous storage space for our carry-on luggage in the cabin.  So we got ready to enter the boarding line as soon as our group number was called.  This proved the right thing to do, as RQS's bag would not properly fit in the shorter storage bin above the seats allotted to window-side seats.  (The economy class in this cabin was in a 2-4-2 seating layout.)  Luckily, RQS didn't have anyone next to her.  While I had a very nice and understanding gentleman to my side who tried to help me with several problems I was having with the Infotainment system on this airplane.

   

If I were running Virgin Atlantic, I'd have been embarrassed to fly passengers in this plane.  For example in the first picture above, one will easily see that the tray table is being held in place with some form of tape.  Why they didn't bother to fix the tray was a mystery to me, a mystery which could easily be explained by the Infotainment system available on the plane.  You'll note that there is no socket in which one could plug in a headset.  Yes, there is a USB-A port which I later used for charging.  But there is no headphone port in which I could connect a headset.  So, I asked a flight attendant for help.  And she didn't know where it was either.  Another attendant found it at the side of the armrest - right where many large passengers like me could never find it.  AARGH!   This is when I realized that the airline might have taken this old plane out of mothballs to service increased demand on their transatlantic routes.  (Kudos to the airline staff for trying to make this a pleasant trip for me.  Pitchforks for those in corporate management who would have passengers fly in this plane.)  For the most part, it was an uneventful flight to New York, save that it took 2 hours longer than the flight to London.  (Blame this on mother nature, and not the airline.)

Now, before I get too boring, I have to say that JFK airport (I prefer to call it by its old name, Idlewild) is a mess.  Like many airports, JFK is undergoing major renovations.  We knew that we'd have to take a free shuttle bus to the Uber/Lyft pick up lot at the outskirts of the airport.  What we didn't know is that we'd have to exit the plane and go down a narrow set of ramps onto the tarmac to take another bus to the customs/immigration section of Terminal 4 before we could pick up our luggage and journey home.  Even though this was a simple process, we were told that JFK is one of the few airports that does this half-assed process.  Other airports have planes "drive up" to the main terminal, then route passengers (using forms of barricades) to customs/immigration.  Eventually, we made it through the gauntlet (which wasn't bad, save for a slight misunderstanding I had due to lousy signage in the customs area) and out of the terminal.  

Getting from Terminal 4 to the pick up lot isn't bad.  However, the pea soup that was the air around the airport told us that a rain storm was coming.  We were very glad that the rain hadn't started yet, as we knew it was going to be a heavy downpour.  As we arrived at the pickup lot, I summoned a ride, and he was here 5 minutes later.  For a day that started at 5 am UK time (Midnight NYC time), we arrived at RQS's door at 9:45 pm, ready to pass out.  It felt good to get home before the storm hit....

California Vacation - Day 10 (Disembarkation & Returning to New York)

 

Last night, I put my large suitcase out for delivery to the pier upon the ship's return to LA.  This morning, I woke up unnaturally early (4:30 am PDT) and couldn't justify going back to sleep.  So I decided to shower early, finish packing for my return trip home, and go to the buffet before the crowds arrived.  And this proved to be a wise move, as I was able to eat in peace AND return to my cabin to relax before Debarkation.

Disembarkation on the Discovery Princess is a reasonably well organized affair.  A night or two before the end of the cruise, room stewards supply cruisers with luggage tags to be used for Disembarkation. Different colored tags are associated with groups of travelers.  For example, I was given Cream tags, associated with people with paid airport transfers.  Others had Brown tags, associated with people who had scheduled bus tours with airport transfers afterward.  As expected by the cruise line, I left the assigned gathering spot (the Princess Theater) at 8:20 am, and made it off the ship by 8:30 am.

Once inside the LA cruise terminal, it's a long walk to retrieve one's bags.  I figure that I must have walked a mile from the time I started my walk from the Princess Theater to the place my large suitcase was placed in the terminal.  From there, it was a short, quick walk to US Customs, where they matched my face against the photo ID I provided before the cruise.  And then, it was another long walk to the bus for my airport transfer.  Along the way, a fellow stopped me to ask which airline I was flying on, and he made sure each of my two bags were tagged with the correct terminal number at the airport.  So, by the time I got on the bus, my bags were ready to be returned to me when I reached Delta's terminal.

When I got to the airport, I retrieved my bags and proceeded to check in my bag.  With a little help from an attendant, my bag made it to check-in, and I made it to the TSA security checkpoint.  And that's where the "Fun" occurred.  Although I presented the first person with my legal ID (male, with Mario's name), when I reached the scanners, someone pressed the female button - and my genital area was flagged for inspection.  So I ended up getting a pat down by the first officer available - a female.  She was totally professional, and I was on my way into the secure zone in less than 5 minutes.

My flight home was uneventful, save that I didn't hear which luggage carousel would be used for this flight's bags.  So I was very glad that I had Delta's app on my phone - and found that my bag would come out on Carousel #12.  One problem - Where was Carousel #12?  I asked someone who told me that it was off to the side from Carousels #10 & #11.  Once I got there, I found my bag without problem, and began the long walk to the Uber stand.

For those unfamiliar with JFK airport, it is located in the middle of Jamaica Bay.  This means that it is usually uncomfortably humid.  Even with 75 degree weather, I was uncomfortable wearing leggings and a short sleeved dress.  After I reached the Uber stand, I summoned a car, and he was looking for me within 2 minutes.  Within 30 minutes, I was at RQS's house and ready to get some sleep.

Traveling to/from NYC

 

East Side Access / Grand Central Madison.  It's been a dream for many people for years.  However, it was not available when I needed it, nor was it in public use by year end 2022 as promised by the MTA.  If East Side Access was available when I needed it, I might have used mass transit to reach the airport instead of staying at a hotel near the airport before my flight to Hawaii.

Unlike some lucky cities, two major railroads controlled access to Manhattan island by rail: The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Although both of these railroads are long gone, the competing infrastructure they built still remains for commuter rail and for intercity rail.  This legacy has created a system where I am unable to use Amtrak for trips to/from my home station, unless I pay for an expensive trip into Pennsylvania Station, NY (NYP) or use the NYC Subway to reach Pennsylvania Station from Grand Central Terminal (GCT).  (Amtrak's fares actively discourage people from using Empire Service to reach NYC from the North, as it doesn't want to provide commuter service along this route.) Historical airport placement doesn't help either, as none of the 3 major NYC airports were designed for mass transit to deliver people people between Manhattan and the airports. As a result, I couldn't justify traveling into NYP, then using either New Jersey Transit (NJT) or Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to reach Newark (EWR) or Kennedy (JFK) airports.  Even reaching La Guardia (LGA) airport is a pain, as one can only reach LGA (via mass transit) via the NYC Subway, then connecting to a bur to the airport.  

At both JFK and EWR, special transit has been built to transport people between railroad stations and the airports.  But this can result in awkward land based trips to reach the airport.  For example, had East Side Access (ESA) been available to me, I'd still need to take Metro North (MNRR) into NYC, then transfer to a LIRR train to Jamaica, and finally a special "AirTrain" to JFK.  EWR and LGA would still be unavailable to me.

Years ago, there were buses that (for a small fee) would transport people between the NYP and GCT railroad hubs and the 3 NYC area airports.  Sadly, the last time I looked, these buses are no more.  If I want to go to an airport, I either have to find cheap parking nearby, or use an expensive cab to reach the airport. I am worse off now than I was 30 years ago!

However, this problem isn't limited to air travel.  With the exception of the Manhattan cruise terminal, cruise ships dock in either Brooklyn, NY or Bayonne, NJ.  Neither is good for many people as one can only reach these terminals from Manhattan via an expensive cab or Uber ride.  If one lives in the outer boroughs, the expense is even worse.  Only if I'm traveling from RQS's place will I consider going to Red Hook, Brooklyn to go on a cruise.  It would cost me way too much to reach Brooklyn from my home - I might as well fly somewhere where cheaper cruises are being offered.  As for Bayonne, I doubt that I will ever cruise out of that port, as I can not justify the excessive cost of leaving my car in a unattended (or under attended) parking lot.

As you can guess, New York City is not a place that makes it easy for frugal travel.  But I still find ways to do so, and will continue to write about my exploits as Marian and as Mario as they occur.

Something that bothers me....

 

Although TCL is a friend, she has one habit that bothers me.  Whenever I state a preference for doing something that is not 100% logical or something done in a way she wouldn't do in my position,  Tonight, she hectored me about being a little cheap with my preferred mode of airport transportation for my Hawaii cruise.

Since I don't expect to get flight information for my Hawaii trip from the cruise line until early November, I know that I shouldn't be taking any long trips between Mid-October and Mid-November.  This will allow me to take care of any flight plan snafus that may arise due to cruise line booking issues. Additionally, this will allow me to quickly jump on the phone and complete my flight reservations, making sure that I upgrade to "economy plus" with checked luggage.  Normally, I'd have preferred to book my air separately from the cruise.  But in the age of Covid-19 and its aftermath, I'm glad that I have one-stop shopping, a single contact point if there are problems with my cruise booking.

When I eventually receive my flight information, I will make decisions on how I will get to/from the airport.  I don't want to spend $300+ on cab fare, unless absolutely necessary.  I'd rather find a cheap parking lot near the airport or take mass transit instead.  Too bad that LIRR East Side Access will not be open on time for my trip, as I'd have flown out of JFK instead of LGA.  TCL wonders why I am being frugal in this area.  But I'd rather save money in NYC, so that I can spend it in Hawaii.

As soon as I get home from my New England / Eastern Canada cruise, I will do several loads of laundry, then start packing for Hawaii.  This will save me the headache of putting summer clothes away, and then having to unearth them shortly before my cruise.  It'll be nice to feel the warmth of the sun in the middle of December.  I can't wait!