Alaska Cruise 2025 - Leaving for San Francisco (08/08/25)

 

Our day started very early, as we had to be at the airport by 10 AM.  And this is where the problems started.  On the way to the airport, an 18 Wheeler was attempting to make too tight a turn under the EL and blocked traffic for about 10 minutes.  This wasn't the worst part of the day.  When we arrived at the airport, we had problems with our boarding passes for which we needed help. And we encountered a Karen....

At first, the Karen was willing to help a little, but didn't listen to us or pay attention to our needs.  Both of us needed to have our Trusted Traveler Numbers attached to our boarding passes, so that we could use TSA PreCheck.  She got my boarding pass fixed, but RQS had to look up her number from another airline's site.  We asked for help again, but the Karen started redoing my pass and was ignoring RQS. So I started shouting to get attention, but I drew the wrong kind of attention. After things calmed down, the Karen refused to help RQS, or even let her through to the kiosks we were told to go to, as the Karen was taking things out on RQS to get even with me.  (You can guess what will go into a "nastygram" RQS plans to write.)  I ended up going through 1 PreCheck line while RQS got her problem dealt with at the kiosks on the other side of the floor.

Once we were past the TSA checkpoint, I was able to relax.  It took me a while to chill, but we had no further problems at JFK.  We got on the plane with no problems, and had an uneventful flight to San Francisco.  And that's where we were greeted by someone from Princess Cruises, helping us with our luggage and the cab to the Mark Hopkins Hotel in Downtown SF.  Both of us were tired and needed sleep.  But if we slept, we wouldn't be able to find something affordable to eat.

Around 6:30, we took a cab to the Stinking Rose, a restaurant specializing in Garlic dishes.  They moved to a new and better location since I ate there.  So I was glad that the cabbie knew that the place relocated to a spot further down the street.  RQS loved the place, finishing up her ravioli.  As for me, I enjoyed the food, but couldn't eat more than a half portion.  

By the time 8 pm came, it was time to go back to the hotel and finally get some much needed sleep....  

It's off to Alaska!

 

By the time you read this, I should be home from my cruise.  We flew out to San Francisco from New York, then spent 3 days there until the cruise started.  I expected a different experience than when I took my first cruise to Alaska on this line almost 30 years ago.  Then, I was still filled with grief, having lost my wife the year before.  Now, I'm with a partner with whom I expect to spend the rest of my days.

Over the next few days, I plan to journal my daily activities.  Unfortunately, I could not take this trip as Marian for several reasons, the most important of which is that my feminine wardrobe is not geared for Alaska's climate. And now, with the Orange Snowflake in power, I would not feel safe going through any TSA/CBP checkpoints as Marian.  We now have a repressive political regime in power these days, and I don't want to be caught in its crosshairs while it's in power.

- - - - - -

Assuming one is interested in an Alaska cruise, one has several decisions to make when choosing a cruise itinerary, a cruise line, and a cruise ship.  Since I am very comfortable with Princess Cruises, it was topmost of the 3 lines allowed to sail into Glacier Bay:

• Princess
• Holland America
• Norwegian

Other cruise lines are allowed to cruise these areas for glacier viewing:

• Endicott Arm
• Hubbard Glacier
• Tracy Arm 

I had several port requirements:

• The cruise must make port in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.  
• The cruise must spend a full day in each Alaska port. 
• The cruise must make port as close to the Alaskan town as possible.
  (This ruled out Norwegian, which makes port at Ward Cove, 6 miles outside of Ketchikan.)

These requirements limited me to choosing a Princess cruise sailing out of San Francisco. Unlike my last Princess Alaskan Cruise package from this port, they did not have me stay at an airport hotel.  Instead, they booked me into the Mark Hopkins in the heart of San Francisco.  It's one of San Francisco's more well known places to stay with prices to match.  But then, this is a "Bucket List" type vacation and I feel that Princess now wants to make sure that people feel they are getting something special when they book their Alaskan cruise.

- - - - -

San Francisco will always be a special place for me.  My late wife always wanted to live there, but couldn't do so.  After visiting the place once, I wished I could live there.  But life made other plans for me.  It's just as well, as San Francisco lost much of its vibrancy with the Covid pandemic.  Businesses left town, and storefronts were shuttered.  It has yet to recover, and I doubt it will in my lifetime.

On my last visit to San Francisco with RQS, we visited the Japanese Tea Garden, the Musee Mechanique, and had a meal at the Swan Oyster Depot.  With 3 days in town, our choices have expanded, and I will document them in later posts.  Needless to say, we knew where to feast..... 

 

We're still having problems with our rebooked cruise.

 

This will be a short post.  

Tonight I had to script a letter to the folks at Princess Cruises about how our reservation was screwed up after we accepted their Moveover offer to make room on an overbooked cruise.  

Last Friday, I received an offer to give up my cabin on an overbooked cruise, and in return, receive a free 7 to 10 day cruise (with our money returned to us as refundable onboard credits.) After some thought, RQS and I accepted the offer and booked a substitute cruise for later in the year.  On Saturday, we noticed that RQS couldn't access the new cruise booking, and we contacted Princess.  Their representative told us that the Captain's Circle number (Loyalty ID) was entered incorrectly, and that we should contact our travel agent to get this corrected.  We did this on Monday, and he did some work with Princess, saying that we should expect to see a correction in their app in a couple of days.  Today, RQS logged in, and saw different information coming from their website and from their app.  To make things worse, she still had no access to the replacement cruise AND had some information fouled up on our upcoming Alaska cruise.

So, I sent an email to the woman who made the Moveover offer AND copied our travel agent on the email.  If the problem is not fixed, I will continue to escalate things up the ladder until we reach someone who can get things done. 

I just received an unexpected email from the cruise line about my upcoming cruise.

 

I just received an unexpected email from Princess Cruises today, and jumped at calling RQS as soon as we had the chance to digest it.  Seems like Princess Cruises has oversold the cruise we are about to go on, and is offering us a free cruise of up to 10 days on the same route, plus our money back from this cruise IF we move over to a sailing later in the year.

Nice deal if one has the flexibility to change things, wouldn't you think?  But this posed a new dilemma for us: Since we won't get our money back until Autumn, and we want to go away, where can we go where it's both cool and cheap at this time of year?  That's a big problem for us!  As one could say,  these are first world problems.  But it is a nice problem to have, as we will have approximately $2,000 each in our pockets, almost enough to complete payment the "Bermuda Triangle" cruise that we'll be taking next year.

We'll have to book shore excursions for the rescheduled trip.  But we have a chance of going to see Lunenburg, NS, an excursion for which we were on standby for the original cruise.  It would have been nice to get away from New York during a heat wave, but I can live with running the air conditioner for an extra few days this summer.

Now, if this is the worst thing I have to deal with this week, things can't be too bad....   

- - - - - -

Looking at this from a different perspective, it seems like cruise lines are trying to fine tune their reservation systems to leave as few "General Cruise Cabins" unoccupied as possible.  In the past, there were two times one could score a cabin at the lowest possible fare:

1. Upon initial offering of the cruise.
   
   This is when every cabin on the ship is available, and a person has their pick of available cabins at a low price.
    
2. After Final Payment Date (usually 3-4 months before the cruise).
   
   This is when the cruise line has unsold cabins they have yet to fill, and will offer them at low prices to fill the ship as much as possible.  One may not have many cabins to choose from, but the fares charged will be low. 

Selling discounted cabins following final payment date is not efficient.  Ideally, the cruise lines could match supply exactly to demand.  And it looks like several cruise lines (RCCL being the most noted of those using this practice) are overselling "Guaranteed Cabins", knowing that there will be cancellations prior to sailing, similar to the procedures used by airlines to fill up their seats.  It may be cheaper (and better for a cruise line's reputation) for a cruise line to give away free cruises later on for voluntary bumping, than to involuntary bump cruisers just before a cruise's sailing date.

Examining the offer email I received, it provided me with another reason to book air and pre/post cruise hotel stays through the cruise line - they would handle the rebooking if I accepted the offer.  Otherwise, in my case, the cruise line would only offer an (up to) $600 per person compensation for travel expenses not booked through the cruise line.  

Luckily, Princess Cruises has always treated me well.  It's nice to know that I will be going on a similar cruise to the one I originally chose later on in the year.  

 

I've been entering my cruises into The Cruise Globe, and some interesting things show up.

 

Lately, I've been entering information from my prior cruises into The Cruise Globe, and it has been mapping each of my cruises as I enter them.  Not all of my cruises have been entered yet, and I am doing the research to fill the rest of them in.

Why am I mentioning this?

The bulk of my cruises have been out of New York: NCL out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, Princess and MSC out of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  My other cruises have been out of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Fort Lauderdale, and Southampton, England.  Some of these cruises have been with a travel partner, and others have been as a solo.  Some of these cruises have been as Mario and others as Marian. And on each of these cruises, I learn a little more about myself and the world as a whole.

- - - - - -

Some cruise ships, like NCL's Pride of America, act as floating hotels that take people from port to port for their sightseeing.  Others, like many Royal Caribbean ships, are resorts in themselves.  Most cruise ships are somewhere in the middle.  Yet, cruising is not for everyone.  If one wants to visit a city and get to know it well, cruising is not the way to do this.  But if one wants to sample several places in one vacation trip without having to unpack, then cruising might be the vacation for you.

Entering data into the Cruise Globe triggered memories of how I was treated as a transgender person on some of the trips.  Occasionally, I was addressed by my dreaded masculine name, which put me in an awkward situation at times.  Other times, I was treated properly for a woman of my age.  Sometimes, I was reminded how I slipped into my masculine voice in the early days of traveling as Marian.  Each entry brings up some memory from the associated cruise, some good, some bad, and some embarrassing. What I found most interesting was that I have spent almost 6 months on cruise ships since I lost my wife to cancer.

- - - - - -

Soon, I'll be going on another cruise and reporting on it here.  Hopefully, I will continue to learn more new things while revisiting places I've been to before.

By the time you read this, I'll be back from my cruise.

 

I've been alluding to this cruise for a while.  However, for purposes of safety, I didn't want to start talking about it until I returned.

- - - - - -

When we booked this cruise, I was thinking of how RQS and I could spend some time together in a warm climate, while I presented as Marian for a few days.  Over time, we settled on the above 10 day cruise.  But the idea of me spending time as Marian went by the wayside, as I couldn't get information from the DR regarding whether I'd have problems with a gender presentation which conflicts with my legal ID.  In addition, we had a snowstorm the weekend before we left, followed by sub freezing temperatures until the day we were to board the ship.

After the holiday season, the thing I wanted to do most was to hunker down inside for a few months and come out of hibernation when spring comes.  Instead, I ended up having to plan for a trip I wasn't completely excited about taking.  About the only thing that interested me about this trip was the possibility of visiting historic sites in San Juan, something which was impossible when I made port there on an NCL cruise which arrived after 4 pm.

As I've mentioned in this and my other blog, I am not a fan of cruise lines "hot docking" their ships, so that multiple ships can be in port on the same day.  I feel that this is a disservice to cruisers, as one is often unable to have a chance to properly enjoy a port. In fact, I chose an Alaska cruise with one of my criteria being whether the ship spent a full day in each of the Alaskan ports where the ship docked.  Our January cruise does not "hot dock" at any of its ports, but it will spend 6 days at sea (including Embarkation day) on a 10-day cruise.  We made a trade-off to have full port days and extra days at sea to have our 10-day getaway.

Given that we are sailing on MSC in a sub-optimal inside cabin below the entrance to the buffet, I expect that we'll have to deal with noise coming from the deck above. Neither RQS nor I are impressed by the quality of MSC's entertainment.  Yet, it is good enough for us to have considered sailing the line again.  The same goes for the food.  Unlike what we got used to on Princess and NCL, MSC's specialty dinner package offerings do not give the same bang per buck. On this trip, we opted NOT to buy specialty meal packages in advance and to enjoy the food served in the main dining room, with the possible exception of going to the on-board taco joint..

MSC is a line known for low priced cruising.  It also has some of the most reasonably priced shore excursions compared with similar excursions offered by NCL  Both RQS and I feel that NCL's excursions have been excessively marked up by the cruise line.  Contrast this with MSC, where we get good excursions at a very reasonable price.  On our past Bermuda cruises, NCL was charging $140 for a tour that visited the Crystal Caves, while MSC charged $80 for a similar experience.  (I may be comparing apples to pears here, as NCL offered an extra stop on its tour.)  Yes, MSC does a quite bit of nickel-diming, but in general one will get decent value for money spent.

While I'm cruising, I'll be writing posts about the cruise that you'll be seeing here over the next few days. Hopefully, you will enjoy our exploits.  One thing I am certain to do will be to ask the people at the pier whether "My Sister" (as I refer to myself when presenting as Mario) will have trouble at the port if she presents as Marian, but presents Mario's ID.  (It worked in Bermuda, why not elsewhere?)

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....

A relaxing day in Queens

 

RQS was up by 10:30 am, while I didn't get up until noon.  I must have been very sleepy when we went to bed the night before....

Once I woke up, we proceeded to take care of little things, such as proof-reading an email RQS was sending to Princess Cruises.  We have our complaints about the cruise line's app, and needed to find out why we couldn't make sense of certain things.  For example, RQS had purchased an extra pair of specialty dinners for our Norwegian cruise, but it didn't show up in billing or our list of things purchased.  Neither the website or Princess' app gave us the info we needed.  So, it was time to ask for help in resolving this issue. Next, we paid off the cruise we're taking this Autumn.  I figure that we have each spent close to $9k in travel this year, and we are sure to get our money's worth from our Norway and Bermuda cruises.  

And then....

RQS asked me for help with her computer.  Every time she opened up a MS Word document, a window would freeze, and she couldn't get rid of it.  I was lucky to figure out what to do to allow her to edit Word documents.  But I couldn't eliminate the problem....

Two years ago, RQS bought her laptop, and we installed MS Office before porting programs from her old computer.  One problem - we didn't clear out all of the links between her computer and her former office.  Settings that would have her computer try to log into her former employer's system were still in place.  Since she was no longer affiliated with the employer, she could not log in, and Office-365 (the cloud version of MS Office) wouldn't let her access any Word format document.  I experimented a little and found a workaround - she'd have to tell the system to try a different account, then cancel the log in attempt before trying to select a Word format document to edit.  Since I can't find the link to log into her former office, I couldn't deactivate or eliminate that process from starting.  So she'll have to take it to a software specialist after our next cruise.

All too soon, I had to leave.  And by 7 pm, I was home.  But I still had to go out and pick up a book from the library before I could rest.  So it was off to the library, and then back to the house for the evening.

California Vacation - Day 01 (Arrival in Los Angeles)

 

Today was a day I'll remember for a while.  Not only did I have to finish packing (and I forgot a few things), but I had some experiences which were very enlightening.

- - - - - -

My plan was to finish getting ready for my trip, and catch a cab around 10 am to take me to the train station.  Well, I did just that, but forgot my "outdoor" glasses after I was halfway to the train station.  So, I asked the cabbie to bring me back home for a minute, and took the opportunity to pick up my glasses.  This detour cost me 15 minutes, but I was able to take the express train to Grand Central with all my luggage.

Before I go on too far, I have to mention that I have a carry-on suitcase, a 28" large suitcase, my CPAP, and a large personal bag in which I could stuff a lot of things if needed,  Since I'm travelling as Marian, all of my makeup, toiletry supplies and other needed items must me in the carry-on, and yet set up to go through TSA security.  So, I'm forced to wheel two heavy bags from one part of Grand Central (the original terminal) to another part (the LIRR addition) while getting some exercise in the process.  

Metro North deposited me near the escalators which connect to the LIRR zone, and I proceeded to buy a one way ticket to Jamaica ($5.50), where I would connect to the overpriced JFK Airtrain ($8.50) that would take me to Delta's terminal.  Once at terminal 4, I checked my bag and proceeded to TSA security where the first incident took place.

Lately, I've been finding that people seem to be treating me as a heavyset, tall, 60+ year old woman.  My presentation seems to be good enough that I am taken for a cisgender female much of the time.  So I was pleasantly surprised when the TSA agent said I was travelling with someone else's passport.  Once I opened up my mouth and spoke in a voice an octave lower than expected, he simply told me where to go to be scanned before entering the secure zone.

Two hours later, I was on the plane and headed to Los Angeles.  While on the plane, the flight attendant asked me if there was anything I wanted, and I said I'd like a winning lotto ticket.  This made her smile and we made some nice chit chat as two women would, but not as a man and a woman would with the same phrase.  She was very pleased to take care of my needs, and though it was purely professional, I have the feeling that in a different time and place, we'd have probably been good friends.

Once in Los Angeles, I met the fellow from Princess Cruises who took care of my bags and made sure that I got on the right shuttle bus to the hotel.  At the hotel, I was greeted by a fellow at the reception desk who was surprised to see me as Marian, but carrying Mario's ID.  We chatted, and he told me that he was also trans (showing me a picture of him in female mode).  However, he had to revert to male presentation, as his beard kept coming in with ingrown hairs.

- - - - - -

Tomorrow, I look for the people from Princess, as I want to make sure I know what the routine will be on Saturday morning when I take the bus to the cruise terminal....

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.

- - - - - -

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.....

I'm looking for a cheap cruise without a single supplement.

 

I took the above cruise a few years ago.  Would I take it again?  Probably not.  But, if I were to see a cheap cruise like it offered on Princess without a single supplement that sails out of New York, I'd jump at the chance to take it.

- - - - - -

There is a problem with cruising.  In many ways, its like taking a tour bus, except that it covers a larger area on water.  If I were to take a tour bus to see the sights in San Francisco, the knowledge that I'd gain from that bus ride would give me an idea of where to focus my exploration on a day to day basis.  Cruising is much the same, as it helps familiarize a person with the important things that can be seen in a coastal area.  In the Caribbean, I like to say that each island consists of 3 main things: a beach, a fort, and a shopping district.  The size and scope of these things differ from island to island, but for the most part, there is not much difference between the islands.

With the above being said, cruising can be a great way to detach from the world.  When I was still employed by the bank, I found that NOT being able to read my emails or make phone calls from the ship forced me to disconnect.  There is an art to disconnecting from the world.  But once it is mastered, one can relax without pressures of the outside world getting in the way.  (Leave your phone on, and you can receive both a large phone bill upon your return and bad news to be processed while still on the ship.) 

- - - - - -

So, why do I cruise?  I guess it's habit.  I've gotten used to the idea of staying in a hotel that moves from port to port, and not having to pack and unpack at each destination.

California Vacation 2023 - Some Final Thoughts

 

As some of my readers might know, I chose to cruise out of Los Angeles, so that I could visit my uncle. When I originally planned this trip, my 90 y/o uncle was taking care of himself and his wife in comfort. Unfortunately, things changed since then.  In trying to care for my aunt, not setting limits, he fell and broke his hip.  Now, both my aunt and uncle are in separate care facilities, and my uncle was just told that he will never be able to live on his own again.  He was not in the right frame of mind for us to visit.

I'm glad that RQS and I scheduled a day of sightseeing in Los Angeles in addition to visiting my uncle, as neither of us thought that the day before the cruise was a wasted day.  Yes, we could have done more things if we had done more research.  But we accomplished a lot by visiting two museums and taking advantage of serendipity when we could.

We were both impressed by the level of service provided by Princess.  Yet, we were unhappy with the Princess App. The app was slow, and didn't always provide the information we needed. For example, when we needed to find out the hours for the main dining room, the app did not provide that  information.  When we wanted to find out what performers were in the main theater and the times of their shows, we could not find that on the app.  We were better served by reading the paper Princess Patter.  Not everything was bad about the app.  But Princess has a long way to go before the app can replace many of the things best done the old fashioned way.

This trip made RQS feel that we need to spend more time in California on our next visit.  Not only is San Francisco worth more than spending just two days there. But the same could be said for San Diego as well.  Only Los Angeles stands out as "a suburb in search of a city."  And who wants to visit a suburb when one can visit a city?

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.

California Vacation 2023 - Embarkation Day

 

Embarkation Day.  This is where I figured that we'd have some problems because I had lost (or misplaced) my Princess Medallion.  And I was right....

- - - - - -

Getting up this morning, I knew that when I arrived at the pier, that I'd have to go through a gauntlet of headaches before we could get to our cabin.  So I made sure to touch base (again) with the Princess personnel at the hotel to confirm what I needed to do to get on the ship.  And then the fun began.

RQS and I refused to pay $50 to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.  So we got on line for the in-house Starbucks, where we found reasonably priced breakfast beverages and refreshments before getting on the bus to the cruise ship in San Pedro.  While making a Bio-Break, the bus came and RQS went outside for the bus.  She didn't hear me announce that "I had to see a man about a horse," so she went outside looking for me.  I got a little anxious looking for her, but things turned out all right and the bus started making its way to the pier.

Once at the pier, we had our first expected problem.  It took forever for the people at the pier to cut one-time-use cruise cards that we'd use to get on the ship.  And then, we walked onto the ship and into our second headache - the wait at Guest Services.  Normally, a visit to Guest Services shouldn't take too long.  But it was chaos in front of the desk, and the air conditioning was not able to keep up with the heat.  As a result, I was dripping when I approached the counter.  (Thankfully, I had no need to wear a wig on this trip, as I'd be presenting as Mario for the duration of the trip.)  About ten minutes later, I had a functioning medallion, and I was set to go.  One problem.  RQS's medallion no longer worked.  So it was back to Guest Services, and another ten minutes later, RQS had her working medallion.

It was a long day, and we took a much needed rest before dinner.  This would be the first of seven days where we'd enjoy great food, walk around a lot, and feel tired by day's end.  Things finally were starting to look good....

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....

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?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking of booking another cruise before my Hawaii trip.

 

The above is a map showing the ports on a cruise I'm interested in taking.  Given the uncertainties of the cruise industry at the time I write this, I'm not sure of whether my Hawaii cruise will become a reality later this year.  Although I've been to 4 of the 6 ports before, I'd take this 10 day cruise on the NCL Joy so that I could visit Boston (again), and to visit the ports of Charlottetown and Sydney.  (I'd also gain the 10 Latitudes points I need to achieve Platinum status if my complaint to NCL isn't addressed properly.)

The last time I visited Boston, I was on a cruise with my former cruise partner.  She insisted that I hang out with her son and his girlfriend (now wife), while I wanted to go to the Union Oyster House and to see the USS Constitution. If I take this trip, I will likely be able to do both activities I wanted to do on my last trip to Boston AND get back to the cruise terminal in time to return home.  It'll be interesting trying to go through a military checkpoint with a male id, while presenting as a female.  (And it'll give me a good idea of what to expect when I visit Pearl Harbor, later in the year.)  

However, this is not the only trip I might take.  There is a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise out of Bayonne that goes to Halifax (NS) and Saint John (NS).  That'd be a much cheaper cruise for me to take AND it would give me an idea of whether I'd cruise with RCCL in the future.  Yet, there is another cruise that really piques my interest - a 16 day Princess Cruise out of Brooklyn to Greenland, stopping at Halifax (NS), Sydney (NS), Nuuk (Greenland), Nanortalik (Greenland), Qaqortoq (Greenland), and St. Johns (NL) before returning home.  The latter cruise may be a budget buster, and would likely require that I travel as Mario.  Saint John (NB) and St. Johns (NL) are not to be confused with each other.  The city in New Brunswick is not that interesting.  But visitors to Newfoundland praise its town.  So this place will be on my list places to visit as I plan future cruises. 

Unfortunately, many of the cruises I plan to take will cost some serious coin.  But it's the price I have to pay to make up for lost travel time....

Another cruise has been added to my bucket list

I stumbled across the above trip last night, and it's one I'll have to take in Mario mode.  Seeing Antarctica has been on my bucket list for a while.  Although this NCL cruise doesn't go to the Antarctic mainland, it is close enough to suit my wishes.  (I'm not going to blow the whole wad on a Hurtigruten cruise to this region, when I can spend half as much and still have a good time.)

Hopefully, I will have a new travel partner by the time I take this cruise.  However, I am not going to limit myself to NCL for a cruise in this region.  I could just as easily take the Princess cruise below:

This is a cruise that spends more time in Antarctica, allowing the cruiser to get a longer view of the beauty of that region of the planet.  This cruise might be the better deal of the two cruises, as it seems to have a broader scope of things to see on the trip.

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Bucket list trips are meant to be shared with someone.  I'm hoping that both of these trips will be available at year end 2023, so that I can choose between the two (or more) Antarctic cruises that may be sailing then. I only wish my late wife was still alive to share this experience with me.