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.

Filling out paperwork for my next cruise.

 

A while back, I decided to buy stock in two cruise line corporations: NCL Holdings and Carnival corp.  Although both stocks have given me acceptable market appreciation, I may have gained more by taking advantage of the benefits that each shareholder can receive by filling in a form.  Today, I mailed out forms to give me $350 worth of cruise credits ($100 for my first cruise and $250 for my second cruise taken on Princess this year.)

Over the past couple of years, I have already received $500 of onboard credits from NCL and Carnival.   I expect that over time, these stock purchases will have paid for themselves in cruise credits alone.  The only reason that I didn't buy RCCL when I bought these stocks is that I didn't want to pony up $6,000 to own shares in a company whose products I don't use.  (I'm not knocking RCCL.  Instead, I simply didn't want to take the risk of investing this much money in a firm when I wasn't sure of when cruise line business would recover.)  All 3 corporations have performed well over the past 2 years, so I have nothing to complain about.

I am not addicted to cruising.  It is an inexpensive way to get away for a week or two and chill out.  I enjoy not having to drive when visiting a new city.  But I wish cruise ships spent more time in each port, so that I could see more of the associated city.  For example, last year's California Coastal cruise spent two days in San Francisco.  This gave cruisers a goodly amount of time to explore this great city.  This year's cruise will spend only one day in San Francisco, far from enough time to take in "Fog City's" beauty.

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When I first started making cruises a standard option for my vacations, my former cruise partner (FCP) encouraged me to go on these cruises as Marian.  The ships were good places for me to practice and develop my feminine presentation.  Given that I'd never see most of these people again, it didn't matter what these people thought of me.  I just had to be careful at which ports I'd get off the ship for shore excursions.

One of my next two cruises will be in Marian mode.  I can't wait to take it, although I'll be spending the day before the cruise as Mario when I see my uncle in his nursing home.  As for the other cruise, I'll be presenting as Mario for over two weeks.  You can bet that as soon as I get home from this cruise, that I'll rush to my closet to figure out what dress I'll wear the day afterward.....

California Vacation 2023 - Sea Day #1

 

Sea Day #1.  

This was a day to relax.  We had nothing to do and nowhere to go. So we stayed in bed and had a late breakfast.  After exploring the ship a little, it was time for lunch in the main dining room. And that is where we shared a table with two ladies who went to college together.

Often, it is quicker and easier to get a table in the main dining room when one is willing to share a table with others.  This is something I tend to do on most of my cruises, as it allows me to meet with new people and learn new things.  This time, RQS and I were able to share some of our Eastern Canada / New England cruise experiences with others who had an interest in the itinerary.

After lunch, we decided to rest a while before dressing up for dinner.  RQS made a stop at the ice cream station on the lido deck where she got a specialty dessert for us to split.  (Getting these desserts is a perk we are entitled to in our cruise package.) It was yummy, but not something I’d have every day.

Soon enough, it was time for us to get dressed for the evening. Unlike one extremely formal cruise line I want to take soon, I didn’t need a “Dinner Suit” for formal night.  Princess is happy when women get dressed in nice dresses, and the men get dressed in a blazer, shirt & tie with a pair of dress slacks.  This would be the first time we got dressed up since our last cruise, and we enjoyed it.

Dinner in the specialty dining restaurant (the steak house) was good.  But one thing marred it a little.  The place was understaffed, and it took a while for service to get started.  When it did, it was up to the level met by the complimentary restaurants on the ship.  RQS was impressed, as it was a consistently higher level of service than NCL has on its ships. Yet, both of us agreed that NCL’s steak house had the better quality steak.

So how would we rate the ship so far in this cruise?  Princess has better quality service.  There are not as many attempts to upsell the cruiser extra products and services to make money.  We both prefer NCL’s buffet, but prefer Princess’s main dining rooms.  We are not as happy with Princess’s Medallion experience as we’d like, as the App doesn’t carry all the information one might need from the daily Princess Patter (such as times restaurants are open), but it is something I’d like to see implemented on other cruise lines.  

After dinner, we met up with a couple of people at the lounge.  We had a nice chat, although the band was playing too loud for comfort.  I wonder - is the band playing loud because the older demographic of the cruisers imply hearing troubles?  Who knows?  But I’d have loved to have chatted in an area less noisy.  At least, I was able to use my louder male voice for conversation.

A cruising promotion watch-out

 

Although I have enjoyed my cruising with one cruise line, I am leery of booking my flights with that same cruise line after hearing complaints about their ticketing issues in several forums.  My experience with this line's air travel booking was merely acceptable, but it was not something which made me want to use this service again - even if it saves me money.

Today, I watched two travel agents discuss NCL's flight booking program, and realized that I got lucky with my flights to/from Hawaii.  If I had used NCL's hotline to get assistance when United scuttled the first leg of my flight to Honolulu, I might have missed the first day of my Hawaii cruisetour. This would have been a great disappointment, as I spent almost $9,000 to take this trip and would hate to lose a day in Hawaii due to a plane's mechanical failure.  Given that NCL will not guarantee that all passengers on a single booking will fly together, and that NCL has canceled tickets on the day of the flight, I will likely never use this service for myself again.

There are some travel agents that still consider NCL's "second person flies free" part of the "free at sea" promotion, and will consider this option for their clients. So it pays to understand what one gets as part of the promotion and what one doesn't get.  Although RQS and I will be taking an NCL cruise early next year, they will not be booking our flights.  I do not trust them to get the best value for us when we can't even choose which airport that we fly out of.  As I've mentioned, I live in Westchester county, and RQS lives in Queens.  It would be a hardship for us if our flight were booked to leave from Newark instead of La Guardia or JFK.  But NCL does not allow us to specify an airport if another airport is within 60 miles of where we live.

It's obvious that we'll be cruising with NCL again, as we already have two more cruises with NCL in the pipeline.  But, given the horror stories being reported in the NCL Facebook forums and now by prominent YouTube.com vloggers, I will no longer be taking my chances and letting NCL book my flights. 

 

I might be planning another cruise soon.

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For better part of a year, RQS and I have been talking about taking a Norwegian Fjord cruise next year. Soon, we will need to plan for this trip, else we won't be able to take it at all.

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As I might have mentioned elsewhere, 2024 will be the last year that conventionally powered cruise ships will be allowed to cruise the Norwegian Fjords.  This is a classic bucket list cruise, ranked up there with Alaskan cruises, Panama Canal cruises, Hawaii cruises, and Atlantic crossings on a classic ocean liner. I know that this is a "budget buster" item, something that RQS will have a hard time affording with all the traveling we are doing this year and will likely be doing next year. So we have to think carefully as we plan this trip out.

 
Right now, I'm looking at options from 4 cruise lines: Holland America, MSC, Norwegian, and Princess.  The big problem is choosing a cruise with the right price point and length with an acceptable itinerary. This is something we have to discuss.  There are some 7-day cruises out there that look good to me.  But there is one 14-day cruise that I'd really like to take, a Princess cruise that sails out of Southampton and goes to both Norway and Iceland. But I'm not sure that we'll be able to take this cruise, given RQS's finance and scheduling concerns.

Assuming that we take the Norwegian Fjord cruise, this will be the first time I have left North America and the first time that I will need to present my passport for travel.  There is a big part of me that is afraid to take this trip, as it takes me well out of my comfort zone.  But everyone has to have a first time, and this might be mine.

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Unlike the Bahamas cruise that I'll be booking soon, this cruise will be taken as Mario.  There would be way too many complications for me to take this cruise presenting as Marian to risk making a mistake. However, when I eventually take my British Isles cruise or do the Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2, I hope to take it presenting as a female.   Unlike many British Isles cruises, the above cruise does not stop in France.  To me, this is a bonus - I do not need to worry whether someone I come into contact with will be able to (or bother with) speaking my language when on a shore excursion.  

As you can guess, I'm working on checking off bucket list trips while I'm still healthy enough to do so.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get through most of this list while I'm still in decent shape for my age and weight.

 

I live in New York, and will only sail out of one of its three regional cruise terminals.

 

The Manhattan Cruise Terminal.  On my own, it's the only cruise terminal in the New York City region that I will choose to cruise from.  But this is for practical reasons.

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I live in NYC's Northern Suburbs.  If I want to take a cab from my town to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, I'd be charged at least $150 before tips.  Travel to the cruise terminals in Bayonne, NJ (a.k.a. Cape Liberty, NJ) or Brooklyn, NY costs even more due to distance, time and tolls.  If I were to drive to any of these terminals, I might be charged a minimum of $30-$40/day to park there.  Since I like to take 7-11 day cruises, I refuse to pay $210-$330/$280-$440 just to park my car.  For that amount of money (and a little more), I could fly to an out of town cruise port and enjoy a cruise from there.  But I digress.

None of the NYC area cruise terminals are easy to reach via mass transit.  Although I have used a NYC bus to take me from Grand Central Terminal to the Hudson River along 42nd street, I prefer to spend $20 for a crosstown cab for this 1.5 mile trip.  Travel to Bayonne and Brooklyn terminals is much more awkward from Manhattan.  To reach the Bayonne terminal, one would need a cab for part of the trip. One could take mass transit to reach Bayonne, (NYC Subway to PATH Trains, then transfer to Hudson Bergen Light Rail to reach Bayonne) and then, one would still need a cab for the last 2-3 miles of the trip.  Reaching the Brooklyn terminal is an easier task.  One could take the NYC subway to a station near the cruise terminal, and then walk about a mile through an industrial area to reach the terminal. I'd simply take the subway to the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Terminal (Barclay Center arena) and catch a cab from there.

 

New York City has a robust ferry system which evolved to service real estate development in New Jersey and in some waterfront areas of Brooklyn and Queens. However, none of these routes serve either Bayonne or Brooklyn cruise terminals. Sadly, none of the cruise lines have been willing to cut deals with the ferry operator (or NY Water Taxi) to provide cruise-day service from Manhattan to the Bayonne and Brooklyn cruise terminals. (Even the weekend service to IKEA in Brooklyn could be adapted to service the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal without much problem.)  I feel that this would be a net benefit for all parties concerned, as the cost of ferry service from Manhattan would be much cheaper than the equivalent cab fares or parking charges.  Considering that NY Waterways already provides service to nearby docks, why not provide cruise day service using existing facilities and equipment to the cruise terminals?

So, what does this all mean for me?

I have cruised on 3 lines: NCL, Princess and Holland America.  Of these lines, only 2 make home ports in the New York area.  NCL has gotten most of my cruise business, as they sail out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.  Both times I've sailed on Princess from the New York area, someone has had to transport me to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  Any ship sailing out of Manhattan is easy for me to cruise on.  Ships sailing out of Brooklyn are awkward to get to.  That means I will not likely sail on MSC or Princess that often.  And it means that I will likely never sail Royal Caribbean (RCCL) out of Bayonne. 

Until I see a cheaper and easier way to reach the Brooklyn or Bayonne cruise terminals, I will not bother to cruise from them without a good excuse.  Although I can see RQS and I cruising out of Brooklyn due to its accessibility from her house, I believe we will continue to take our NYC cruises from Manhattan for now.

 

 

 

PS: I recently found that there is a ferry from the Wall Street area that will take me close enough to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  However, I hate the idea of humping bags through the IRT (New York's "Numbered" Lines) subway stations, then walking a few blocks to the ferry. I will try a dry run long before I take a cruise from Brooklyn.

Friends and acquaintances are slowly coming out of the woodwork - a short post.

 

Every so often, I try to reach out to people I haven't heard from in a while.  Today, 3 people reached out to me to say what's up in their lives.

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Several years ago, I met a woman from Ontario who has become a pen pal.  There was no way we could have a romantic relationship, but we enjoyed each other's company on the cruise.  I was pleasantly surprised when she wrote me at the end of her most recent cruise.  Sadly, like me, she has noticed the quality of NCL amenities going down while the cruise price is going up.  In response, I mentioned that we're taking our next cruise on Princess, and may switch to cruising with them for a while if they sail the routes we want to take.

Next, I received a call from FL.  She has moved out of her place on the Jersey shore, and has moved inland.  Her faith is very important to her, and she has found a church that is growing.  More importantly, she is now seeing someone - and I'm very glad for her.

Finally, Patty (my ex-girlfriend from years ago) stepped out of the woodwork for a little bit.  Sadly, things have been going wrong for her, and she's dealing with quite a few inconveniences.  Hopefully, things will get better for her soon.

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I mentioned a select group of people, as I'm not a person with whom most people think of to keep in contact.  So it was nice to hear from these people - just to break the routine....

Hawaii Vacation - Day 02: Polynesian Cultural Center

This is the view from my hotel room this morning.  Tthe weather was warm, but not too humid.  And I was up at the crack of dawn to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center on the first of my 3 days in Honolulu, I feel that this is a practice run for the two days that follow, as I will need to be ready for each day at 7 am, instead of 8:45 am.  If how I felt by 4 pm is any clue, I'll be wiped out before I even get on the cruise ship. 

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As usual, I didn't get much sleep the night before.  But I felt that I had a restful sleep, and was ready to go out for the day.  So, I got showered and dressed, then picked up "breakfast" ar the ABC Store downstairs. (For those who've never been to Hawaii, the ABC Stores are all over Hawaii's tourist areas and sell both "tourist" and "non tourist" goods - all with a focus on serving the tourist.)  Today's breakfast was more tasty than yesterday's overpriced airport sausage and egg sandwich.  It was a dish with eggs, bacon, spam (?) and rice.  It was yummy, but not something I'd want to eat on a regular basis.  And then, it was off to the meeting area for those on our cruisetour.  

NCL packages 3 days touring Oahu with a 7 night cruise.  It's a good deal, and I highly recommend this way of visiting Hawaii for the first time.  There were 30-40 people who, like me, opted for this travel option, and NCL representatives were trying to make sense of who was and wasn't there.  I thought they had checked my name on the list of attendees, as they had given me an ID tag for the 3 days of Oahu touring. But later on, I found a message from NCL telling me that I missed the tour.  Once everyone was supposedly accounted for, it was off to today's first stop - The Dole Plantation.

The Dole Plantation is not much of a destination as it is a good place for a bio-break on the way to the other side of Oahu.  Inside the main building are 20+ separate stores, most of which are selling tourist goods made somewhere other than Hawaii.  The only thing I bought these was a pineapple ice cream cup, and then it was off to our second and main destination - the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The center is a park dedicated to show the commonality and differences of the 6 main Polynesian cultures: Samoan, Hawaiian, Tongan, Fijian, Tahitian, and Aotearoan (Polynesians of New Zealand) peoples are represented here, and cultural demonstrations are performed for visitors.  Is it real?  Is it fake?  To me, it's like visiting the old World's Fair, where people of different nations demonstrated things that defined their cultural identity.

When touring this place, you will notice places where traditional culture clashes with modern building codes - and modern codes win out.  Hopefully, all my readers will get the chance to visit this place, as it gives a typical main-lander an idea of what Polynesian culture is and what it isn't.

Once done, it was back to town.  And this is where I'll leave off for the day.

And now, we've booked another cruise

RQS has the cruising bug!  Ever since we went on our first cruise, she can't seem to get enough of cruising to new ports and exploring.

As of today, we are booked on an NCL cruise that will take us to Bermuda and back.  One of the problems with a typical Bermuda cruise is that there is not enough time on the island to explore and get a feel for the place.  Our cruise will give us that time, and we will still be able to skip unwanted ports such as Port Canaveral.

The two of us have similar tastes, and it's nice to have a travel companion with whom I can explore the world together.  I've noted that if I were to come into a significant sum of money, that I'd book a bucket list cruise for the two of us.  But that is a way off.  And then, how would I present on the cruise?  All of my ID says "Mario", when I want to do much of my traveling as "Marian".  So I'd be limited in where I could go, as most places are not trans-friendly.

So, I do my research in where we can go, and save my memories of a place to determine whether I can travel there as Marian in the future.  Not all of my travels will be on cruise ships.  But you can guess that a lot of them will be, as this is an inexpensive way to enjoy a vacation.

 

I wish I had a picture of me without glasses.

NCL notified me that I had to check in for my cruise.  Although I was ready and willing to do so, I did not have a picture of me available that was suitable - all of the shots I've saved on this computer in female presentation have me wearing glasses.  So I will need to wait until the next time I'm dressed as Marian before I can take a photo of me without glasses.

Getting all the paperwork in order before a trip is a pain in the ass.  This time, I have to take care of airline check-in procedures in addition to cruise line check-in procedures. Although taking care of things isn't that difficult, more can go wrong and cause me trouble when at the airport or in Hawaii.  So I want to be sure that I have gotten things right before leaving home to go on my cruise.

Right now, I have started to arrange both my carry-on bag and my toiletry kit for my outbound travel. Even though I may not need to take off my shoes or pull out my electronics and liquids (I have trusted traveler status), I still have to follow the rules for passing through a security checkpoint.  In short, I have to be prepared for the random "SSSS" printed on the bottom of my boarding pass, whether or not I am actually subject to special screening. And then, I have to wait to get on the plane. Once I'm finally on the plane, I must be ready to be uncomfortable for the next 12 hours.  I'm lucky that I paid for confirmed seats on the aisle, as I may have a little more room to stretch out now and then. And I won't be disturbing anyone as I get out of my seat to go to the loo.   

When I last contacted Kim (Traveling Transgender), she didn't have much advice for me.  So I will likely need to talk to the TSA agent before going through the security checkpoint and ask for appropriate screening.  After I have successfully done this once, I expect I will have little trouble on the return trip.  (I'll be sure to keep emergency information on hand, lest I get stuck at the airport.)  This will be a new experience for me - Flying Pretty.  Kim has done this many times, and has written about it in her blog.  Sadly, she doesn't write much anymore, as her job now keeps her "down on the farm" much more now than in the past.

If I felt it were right for me at this time, I'd do several things.  First, I'd change my name to use the familiar version of my first name (works for both genders).  Then, I'd get partial FFS (Facial Feminization Surgery) to make my face androgynous. And finally, I'd get some electrolysis done to remove my beard, and to eliminate the hairs on my back that I can't shave off by myself.  (If I had the time and money, I'd remove all the hair below the neck, save maybe my pubic hair.  But that's an expensive proposition.)  With these changes, I could get a wig styled in a way that I could go out as a female one day, and then use another wig (a toupee) for use when I want to present as a male.  Then, I could present my ID, and people would be looking at my face, and not the gender marker on the ID.

Compared to many other transgender folk, I still have it good.  I've found that most people don't give a damn about how ugly a female I am, or how fat a male I am when I present in the associated gender.  I have a girlfriend who says she loves me, and I will do what it takes to preserve the relationship - even if I slow down my journey on this transgender path....

 

Does "Marketing" pay enough attention to the emails it sends out?

I just received a pre-cruise email from NCL regarding my upcoming Hawaii cruise on the Pride of America.  If one didn't know anything, you'd think that there was nothing wrong about this email.  But you'd be wrong.  Can you guess what I'm talking about from the above sample?

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My girlfriend (RQS) and I do a lot of internet surfing for information pertaining to the cruise industry, searching for affordable fares and destinations.  My Hawaii cruise is not one of these cruises.  I booked the cruise long before we got serious with each other, the source of much of my information about the cruisetour being MWL.  She noted that there was no casino on this ship, as it is American flagged, sailing solely in Hawaiian waters.  So, I found it strange that NCL would send out a generic notice from their "Casinos at Sea" department, when there is no casino on that ship to enjoy when at sea.

Luckily, it is a reminder for people to start booking their specialty dining and their shore excursions before getting on the ship.  For most people, this is the first opportunity to do pre-cruise booking.  For people with a high enough loyalty status, they could start booking things 4 months before the cruise.  In my case, I made Platinum status on my first Canada/New England cruise, and couldn't start booking things for Hawaii until the day after I got back from the cruise - and many of the pre-cruise reservations were no longer available for booking.  (At least, I should be able to get this fixed once I am on the ship.  But that's another story for another day.)

Given that I don't like making too many "donations" to any ship casino, I won't miss the "action" on my Hawaii cruise, nor will I miss passing by a de-facto smoking area.  This is likely to be one of the more expensive cruises I will ever take, and I hope that it is also one of the more enjoyable cruises I will ever take as well.

 

Second Cruise - Day 6: Halifax, NS.

 

 

Day 6: Halifax, NS.

This is our last port day, and we awakened around 10 am local time.  Although my watch is set to “Greenwich Village Mean Time” (my way of saying Eastern Time), my cell phone reads Atlantic Savings Time.  When we cross back into American waters tomorrow, we will be back in Eastern Daylight time, and then when we get home, we will set our clocks back another hour for “Standard” time.  This setting of the clocks is a big pain in the ass.

RQS and I had no plans for the day, save to get off the ship and explore the Pier 21 Museum.  (Pier 21 is Canada’s answer to America’s Ellis Island, and Canada dealt with many of the same immigration issues as we did South of the border.)  So we got dressed, had “breakfast”, and off the ship by 12:30 pm.  This gave us the time to make the museum by 1:00 pm and participate in a guided tour.

After the museum, we decided to walk the shore front and get our walking in.  After we got to a group of kiosks selling food, we decided to have some ice cream before turning back to the ship.  But first, it was a chance to see a ship under restoration and to see some kids playing on a sculpture meant to look like a ocean wave.

Once on the ship, we had a late lunch, then rested before dinner.  Sadly, our choice of dinner venue was a mistake.  On NCL’s larger ships, there are 3 main complementary dining rooms. And we chose the one we in which we last had a pleasant meal.  Not only did we get ignored after ordering our iced teas, but we had to speak with another person on the staff to get our iced teas.  And then, we had to ask for spoons to stir sugar in our teas - something that was a running joke between us on our last cruise.  Fortunately, the rest of the meal went OK, as our server was supervised by his next in command.

Dealing with screwups!

 

I've been in the position where I've royally screwed up, and deserved to get laid off from my job.  Today's post covers a screw up that I have to deal with for an upcoming cruise, and a vendor's representative who does nothing but screw up.

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When I booked my Hawaii cruise, I noticed that the cruise line didn't have a place where I could enter my middle name.  Normally, this would not be an issue, as TSA does not get involved (much) in who can (or can't) go on cruise ships.  However, since the cruise line booked my air, I found that they screwed up the booking of my flights.

Sometime toward the middle of the year, NCL sent out an email to inform those people who are using the cruise line to book their air travel that they would need to have their complete legal name on file for their flight booking.  I contacted NCL, and gave them my full name: Marian Ann Johnson.  Well, I found out that NCL sent the name "Marian Johnson" to United Airlines, and not "Marian Ann Johnson." This prompted a call to United, where I needed to get past their unfriendly chatbot to reach a human who could fix my problem.  And even then, they may have created an error, as my name now reads "Marianann Johnson".  When I called United for a second time, their chatbot threw up a gauntlet that got in the way of reaching a human to fix the problem the first agent may have caused.  When I finally reached an agent, she said that TSA should accept this.  I am very skeptical, so I will soon be contacting TSA to verify this claim.  AARGH!!!!

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Just after dealing with my plane ticketing issue, I had to attend a co-op board meeting.  Although I can't say too much about went on at the meeting, we made the site representative of our management company very uncomfortable - his performance does not meet the standards I'd want to see in someone with whom I'd do business.  I asked him about an issue regarding a light that illuminates a sign, and he reported that the light was fixed - the electrician had worked on the light the day before.  Well, I was upset.  He is responsible for verifying that all contractors complete their work to our satisfaction before paying these vendors.  So I said that I'd check this light when I went out later.  And, of course, it was not lit.

At this point, I was livid.  This man had left our meeting early, as he was not up to the criticisms we had about his performance. And now, I had proof that he didn't bother to check that the work was done properly.  I'd bet that he'd pay the bill for work not done if I didn't call him out.  So I wrote a polite letter (with photographic evidence) that the work was not done, that the light was not on, and asked him to get this fixed ASAP.  Of course, I made sure to copy the full board on this issue, and blind copied his boss.  24 hours later, he still have not replied to my email.  So, sometime tomorrow, I will send an email to his boss, saying that I (as an individual, and not as a board member) have no confidence in this man being able to take care of requests in a prompt manner, and that I intend to write to the boss from now on for any services that I might need.

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Please remember that I have screwed up big time in my career, and have paid the price for it - I was dismissed from my job.  Since I have a responsibility to the co-op's shareholders, I will exercise the same kind of responsible decision making that others have had to make when dealing with careers like mine....

Day 07 - St. John, NB

 

St. John, NB. This is a port that I'd skip for St. Johns, NL. There are only two things worth seeing when in St. John, and one of them will almost always be unavailable to cruise ship passengers - a visit to a park on the Bay of Fundy, where one can walk on the ocean floor at low tide.

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Both of us found it hard to get moving when we woke up. But we were able to make it to one of the main dining rooms in time for breakfast, and sat with a couple from England. (This was RQS's first experience sharing a table with other cruiser for a meal.) We had a nice chat with this couple, and wouldn’t mind dining with them again.

After breakfast, it was out and about in St. John. Since I visited the place before, I knew that this wasn’t a place for shore excursions. Instead, we walked to a coffee shop for some free Wi-Fi, then to an empty shopping mall to see if we could find an electronic gizmo we could use to transfer photos from her camera to her Chromebook. Once we were done with the mall, we wnt across the street to the local farmer’s market. There was not really much to see here, so Sue and I went back to the ship to rest before having dinner at the ship’s French restaurant.

Given NCL's penchant for nickel-diming, we were surprised to find that the specialty restaurant staff did us a solid by not charging us for an extra appetizer. Once done with dinner, we went to get our pictures taken, and then back to our cabin to end the day.

Day 02 - A planned Sea Day

 

This was the first of two consecutive sea days. When we got on the ship, we expected to follow Hurricane Ian on its way up the coast. Little did I know how this hurricane would affect this cruise at this time.

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After waking up, we had a hearty breakfast. From there, we explored the ship a little and went back to the library to read. On the way back from the library, we both needed to check on things at the internet cafe. Given how minor cell phone configuration issues can run up big bucks on marine phone charges, I needed to make sure my phone was set up properly. (I knew to keep Airplane Mode on for the trip. Yet, I was getting some Facebook notifications. So I turned off all Wi-Fi, which caused me problems using the NCL app.) The fellow at the internet cafe said my phone was set up correctly, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he was right. RQS's problem was simpler - she forgot to tip her Uber driver, and she needed to know how to tune her Wi-Fi on to give him his tip, then to turn it off afterwards. This was a simpler task to take care of.

After lunch, RQS and I were tired and needed to nap, We ended up going to an earlier dinner than planned, but missed the entertainment venues we wanted - a Beatles “tribute” band and a singer of Elton John songs. After a few minutes watching a couple of lounge singers do their thing in the atrium near “the Local”, we went back to the room and put the lights out for the evening.

Beware of accidental misinformation from a "trusted" source

The other day, I realized that I was getting confused when trying to figure out the exact window in which I needed to take my proctored pre-cruise Covid test.  So, I called up NCL and I was told that I could take my test on Tuesday for a cruise that sailed on Friday.  Technically, he gave accurate advice, but not complete advice.  The Canadian government's site requires that the Covid test be taken within 72 hours of embarkation, not 3 days before embarkation as could be implied by reading all the materials at hand.  Given that I had scheduled my Covid test for 2:00 pm Tuesday and my embarkation was scheduled for 1:00 pm on Friday, I should have been OK.  But what about RQS?  Luckily, RQS read things a little differently than the person from NCL, and we both were able to schedule our Covid (PCR) tests for Wednesday, fulfilling Canadian requirements to the letter. This incident taught us NOT to rely on call center personnel who have been poorly trained to answer questions requiring subtlety of thought.  We will now be much more careful in dealing with issues such as this, and ask more questions ahead of time when we have to deal with seemingly ambiguous issues.

I'm hoping that this is the last headache for us before cruising together.  I'm sure of one thing: Both RQS and I will be writing complaint letters to the CEO of NCL.  Even if nothing gets done for us, these complaints do get passed on to appropriate parties to act on (or not act on).

Thoughts on travel as Marian and as Mario

A while back, I bought the above dress at Target. As much as my shoulders appear too broad when my entire figure is considered, I thing that this will be one of the dresses I'll be taking with me when I go to Hawaii.  However, I'm not so sure of the dress below.    

Although both dresses are of similar styles, there is a great difference between the two.  The top dress has just enough "going on" with the fabric to make it look tolerably nice on me.  Unfortunately, the bottom dress is too plain, and I will need to find the right piece of costume jewelry to wear with it because it shows too much of my neck.

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Being transgender with male hormones flowing through my veins for over 50 years, I have the build of a heavy set male.  This forces me to use any and all tricks at my disposal to minimize the broadness of my shoulders and maximize an illusion of having larger hips.

RQS accepts me in both presentations, and may eventually cruise with me in a female gender presentation.  This won't happen for a while.  Until then, I plan to make the most of my trip to Hawaii, as this may be the last chance to take a vacation as Marian for a long while.

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The other day, we found out that NCL would not downgrade our "free drinks" package to a "soda" package.  Although the soda package would cost them less, this was not an option given for the "Free at Sea" package.  There is no way I want to spend $200/pp to get a drink package for the price of its gratuities (20% of $1000 = $200) when the two of us are cruising on a budget.  A soda package would cost us (and NCL) much less (20% of $120 = $24/pp), but we couldn't convince NCL to offer that upgrade. So, we are sending snail mail complaint letters to the CEO of NCL, with a hope that this could be changed before we go on our cruise. (I don't think this will happen, but...)

Contrast this with my future Hawaii trip.  I am not bothering to scrimp on anything, save the transit to and from my home airport.  The Hawaii cruise excursions will cost me roughly $1,000, where the New England / Eastern Canada excursions we have already booked will cost us $75/pp.  Even if we booked an excursion in every port, we'd still spend less as a couple on excursions than I am spending as a single traveler.

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Last night, while trying to reach a state of exhaustion, I started to try to reduce the cost in getting to a Panama Canal cruise and home from that cruise.  Instead of booking airfare on one of the legacy airlines or traveling on Amtrak, I'm now looking at flying Southwest.  Do you have any ideas of what I should watch out for if we choose this option?

 

Cruising to new ports

 

One cruise destination I have done more than once is New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces.  Given that this route usually runs from New York to Halifax, NS, there is not much new to see on this route.  Yes, some cruises stop at one or more of these ports: Newport, RI; Boston, MA; Portland, ME; and Bar Harbor, ME.  But these are all places I have visited before as Marian and as Mario.  The basic New England/Canada 7 day cruise has become boring to me.  

When I saw a 16 day cruise with these ports, my eyes perked up (as did the rest of me):

• Halifax, NS (Canada)
• Sydney, NS (Canada)
• Nuuk, (Greenland)
• Nanortalik, (Greenland)
• Qaqortoq, (Greenland)
• St. John's, NL (Canada)

Not only were there 5 new ports for me, but the single port I wanted to visit again was on the list as well.  Although this cruise would not add any points to my NCL status (this cruise is on Princess), it would be unique.  The only way I'd have a chance of getting to the last 5 ports would be on a pair of (25 and 36 day) cruises being sailed by Holland America next year. 

Given that there is no single supplement at the time I write, I could take this cruise for under $2000.  If I were to take this cruise, should I go as Mario or Marian?  What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a cruise similar to what I took in December.

I just saw the pricing of the above cruise, and figured I should mention it.  Given that we're less than a month out from the cruise, NCL has priced it to look like another "Unicorn" is out there for hunting. The key differences between this cruise and the cruise I took in December are: (1) the replacement of the port of Charleston, SC with Nassau and (2) my cruise took place on the Gem, while this cruise takes place on the Getaway.

If I were to take this cruise, I'd go for the mini-suite again, and possibly sail as Mario.  Why Mario, you might ask?  Well, I might want to get off in the Bahamas, and don't want any hassles with Bahamian customs.  At $749, plus taxes, port fees, and gratuities for a mini suite, this is a bargain!  But I am not interested in this cruise, as I was bored when I was in Nassau with XGFJ, and that there is nothing worth doing in Port Canaveral.

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My brother looks at auctions to occupy his time.  I look at cruise deals.  In this age of the pandemic, good deals keep coming around.  Although ship capacity is often limited to 50% these days, it is possible that added capacity will only serve to raise prices.  Recently, one video blogger prognosticated that when cruise lines start creeping back to sailing at 100% capacity, that pandemic suppressed demand will cause cruise prices to go up instead of down.  A cruise group he organizes had cabin prices double since he organized that group.

 

Right now, I expect that there will be a lot of last minute price drops until people get wise to the fact that cruise ships are no longer floating Petri Dishes. It's too bad that I couldn't take advantage of last minute discounts for the Hawaii cruise I'll be taking later this year. I simply love the idea of a good bargain.

On the topic of my Hawaiian cruise, I wonder if I will have a traveling companion by then.  If so, will she be comfortable with me sailing as Marian?  Who knows?  But it will be a very interesting situation of this were to come to pass.  And if it comes to pass, will I be able to get her a cruise ticket without putting the deal I have at risk?

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Originally, I was planning on taking my Hawaii cruise in Marian mode.  I am hoping that I will be able to do so later this year.  Keep your fingers crossed for me....