Cruising - A great way to chill and disconnect

 

The above is a typical Northbound East Coast cruise itinerary.  And it is the one that RQS and I wanted to take this Autumn, but exceeded this year's travel budget if we did so.  It would have been the perfect cruise to take with me presenting as Marian, as I had done this route as Marian several times before.

Every time I cruise, I find that the time I spend away from home allows me to chill out and relax.  Where I have problems staying focused enough to read anything at home due to the numerous distractions that I allow to get in the way of my reading.  This doesn't happen on a cruise ship, as I can't flip between channels until I find something temporarily interesting to watch.  Nor can I get the latest information drop on my cell phone which triggers another rabbit hole exploration.  

When I cruised with my former cruise partner, she'd often be playing cards in the casino while I was reading in the cabin, or being entertained elsewhere on the ship.  (She often gets comped by the cruise line's casino program to get free cruises because of her gambling on the ship.)  Now that I cruise with RQS, neither of us are found anywhere near the casino, save when we must walk through it to get somewhere else.

After 7+ days on a ship, I feel refreshed by the time I get home.  But I wish I could take another cruise shortly afterward.  This year, I will have taken 4 cruises, 2 on Princess, 1 on MSC, and 1 on NCL. The latter 2 cruises will have the same basic itinerary, and I'll be able to make an apples to apples comparison of 2 cruise lines.  Hopefully, I won't be bored with Bermuda by the time we finish the second cruise. Even more, I hope to be able to visit Bermuda as Marian on the second cruise.

Right now, I am packing for the first of the 2 Bermuda cruises.  Hopefully, I'll be done packing before RQS arrives tomorrow, as I'll be driving her home and leaving my big suitcase there for ease of travel.  By the time we're done with cruising this year, RQS may have as many cruises with me under her belt as I did with my former cruise partner.  Hopefully, my former cruise partner is having as good a time as I am on my cruises....

The end of a long weekend

 

It's the end of the summer, and both RQS and I have the itch to cruise again.  Neither of us want to wait for our late autumn cruise to Bermuda to get away again.  So, over the past week or two, I've been looking for cruises we could take on a small budget.

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I dropped RQS off at the train today, then went back to the apartment to chill a bit.  But I never ended up leaving the apartment again like I intended to do.  Instead, I started doing things like paying bills (Ouch!) and again searching for cheap cruises we could take..  If we had known about our future plans, we would never have scheduled an NCL cruise to Bermuda.  Instead, we'd have taken the opportunity to schedule an MSC cruise to Bermuda, and taken either a Princess or NCL cruise to New England / Eastern Canada.  This way, I could present as Marian when sailing on the East Coast, and still get a cheap way to visit Bermuda as Marian.  But this did not happen.

Tonight, I presented RQS with an option: We take both the MSC and NCL cruises to Bermuda and compare both of them.  On MSC, we will have a balcony cabin, drink package, Wi-Fi package (maybe, I had one last time as part of the fare), and probably buy a 4 meal specialty dining package.  On NCL, we will have a balcony cabin, a drink package, 150 minutes of Wi-Fi, 4 specialty restaurant meals. I'll be able to do a true apples to apples comparison of both lines, as we will be doing virtually the same route from 2 different NYC cruise terminals.

Is this the best thing for us to do?  Maybe.  But I will be able to ask the security people at the Bermuda pier whether I could travel there presenting as a female and not get hassled when I return to the ship.  And that might be the best benefit of all for doing 2 Bermuda cruises so close together.

Looking at new vacation options

Lately, I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I used to for this blog.  So, I apologize if the quality of my entries has suffered a little bit.

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For a couple of months, I've been tracking the prices of several cruises.  The April ones on my list have barely moved, and I don't expect to see any significant price drops.  However, I expect to see movement in the cruises scheduled for the second half of the year.  So I will start pruning this list, so that I can have more room for other cruises I might want to take.

Recently, MSC has announced a group of 2023 sailings out of the Red Hook, Brooklyn cruise terminal. Normally, I would not consider traveling to Brooklyn for a cruise, given the headaches of getting to the terminal from where I live. However, MSC will match the loyalty status of customers from other cruise lines as a tool to get them to start cruising MSC.  Since I expect to graduate into NCL's Platinum loyalty level with my upcoming Hawaii cruise, why not consider doing the loyalty match sometime next spring, and seeing if I can take a cruise with a new line?

My vacation options are not limited to cruising.  I am also looking at doing another cross country trip by train.  My nephew lives in the Pacific Northwest, and I've been looking for excuses to visit both Seattle and Portland.  So this might be a trip that hits two birds with a single stone.  In the Fall, I could see myself taking a trip to Chicago, onward to New Orleans, then back home - all on Amtrak.  Each leg on Amtrak could be done in coach, and my big expenses would be food and lodging in the two cities.

Lastly, I have friends from my Texas zoom meetup that I have yet to meet in person.  This is the least likely of my trips, as I'd have to do more traveling as Mario than I would like.  Since I am not enamored of the climate in Texas in regard to being transgender, I am not sure whether I'd be safe there in Marian mode.  Hopefully, one (or two) of them will make it up to NYC for one of their vacations soon....