You no foola me. There ain't no Santy Claws.

 

I love the Marx Brothers.  Almost 100 years ago, the Marxes exposed America for what it is in their first 5 films for Paramount.  In The Cocoanuts, they used the Florida land boom as a backdrop on which they hung their jokes; in Animal Crackers, they skewer that pomposity of high society; in Monkey Business, they have fun with the nature of the Transatlantic Crossing, being stowaways, and America's love for celebrity; in Horse Feathers, they have a field day with colleges, football, gambling, and speakeasies; and finally, with Duck Soup, they expose high level diplomacy and war for what it is - human foolishness. 

So, why did I start off with the Marxes today?  Well, RQS and I are gluttons for punishment.  I finally had a good excuse to buy a cruise for RQS as an Xmas gift, and we'll be going on the cruise sometime in the new year.  What does that say about us?  There is a feeling of absurdity I have about what we're doing, as I wonder whether RQS can keep up my pace.  Are we living like we're dancing in the ballroom while the Titanic heads into an iceberg?

With this new cruise, it will be the 3rd time that I've traveled this planned route (New York - Cape Canaveral - Nassau, Bahamas - Cruise Line Private Island, Bahamas - New York), albeit with different cruise line private islands. As of yet, I have little interest in leaving the ship in the Bahamas.  I might want to visit the Space Center when in Cape Canaveral. But, I've been there before and only want to see the area from which rockets take off into space, and not want to see the amusement park like areas of the center.  Luckily, RQS and I will be happy if we never get off the ship.

I am not a fan of cruise line private islands.  NCL has its Great Stirrup Cay (GSC).  MSC has its Ocean Cay Marine Preserve, Royal Caribbean has its Perfect Day at CocoCay.  It seems like every cruise line is getting into the private island business - and for good reason.  All money spent on these islands is captured by the cruise line with little going back into the local community.  Since I am not a beach bum (I spent too much time in the sun while I was young), I have little reason to get off the ship at these islands.  And now that NCL has decided to exclude GSC from a ship's drink packages, I feel that NCL has again reduced the value provided for money spent for a cruise, making its private Island even less attractive for me.

So, why did I choose a winter cruise with a less than optimal itinerary?  Well, I wanted to get away again, as well as finally give my gift to RQS.  In short, I wanted to show her in a concrete way that I care for her. This cruise does just that.  Hopefully, RQS will have a good time on this cruise.

    

I'll be going on another cruise soon - this time as Marian!

 

By the time you read this, I'll have already packed for my cruise. It's a simple 7-day run from NYC to the Bahamas via Port Canaveral.

I'm not much of a fan of visiting Port Canaveral, as it is only a restocking stop for the ship gussied up as a place worth visiting.  If one wants to go to Orlando's theme parks, one has to take an overpriced shuttle to reach them AND pay for a 1-day pass which will only be used for less than half of a day.

Given the relative cheap price for me to take a solo cruise, I figure that I'd try out MSC as a cruise line.  Even if I like this cruise, I don't intend on cruising on the line that often, as they do not yet have any West Coast / Alaska cruises which would make it worthwhile to use them for special vacations.  Yes, I could have tried them out for our Norway cruise next year.  But I didn't want to risk having a bad cruise with RQS taking money out of her savings account to finance her trip.

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I've been told that MSC's basic drink package works on their private island.  This means that I'll be able to have a beer or two while there and not worry about getting nicked when back on the ship.  (Some cruise lines' private islands do not honor the onboard drink package when on some of their private islands.)  Since I don't drink much, this is not much of an issue for me.  But it might be for some of my readers.

For those who cruise often, MSC is an outlier in the way it does things.  For example, it doesn't attach your credit card information to your cruise card account before embarkation.  Instead, it requires that the cruiser to register his/her card shortly after embarkation.  To make things worse, since the line is headquartered in Switzerland, one should bring a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, as one might get nicked extra service charges on every shipboard debit made to one's account.  (The big 3 "American" cruise lines all use American banks. so one doesn't have to worry about these fees when one is onboard the ship.)

I'll miss RQS on this cruise.  But it'll be nice to travel as Marian again, and will be even nicer to see her when I get back to NYC....

In a couple of months, I'll be on a solo cruise.

 

Soon, I'll be taking the above cruise.  It is highly likely that I won't bother to get off the ship at any of these stops, two of them because I am in a gender non-conforming presentation.  Strangely enough, I feel almost as at risk getting off at Port Canaveral as I would getting off in Nassau. This is a time where I wish I lived on the West Coast, as  I'd feel safe disembarking at all US and Canadian ports there.  But this was a cheap cruise booked out of New York.

It's going to be strange traveling without RQS.  But it'll be a good thing I do this.  I need reasons to get up in the morning, and enjoying a cruise will provide a week's worth of reasons.

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The last time time I took a solo cruise similar to this was shortly after the pandemic cruise stop was ended.  On that trip, I got off at Charleston, SC to see Fort Sumter. Before that, it was a cruise with XGFJ, where we got off in both Port Canaveral and in Nassau.  (She decided to go snorkeling at the cruise line's private island and was underwhelmed.)  My impression of all 3 ports was lackluster at best. Port Canaveral is a refueling stop disguised as a place worth visiting.  There is no 'there' there. The only things to do are to visit the nearby Space Center or taking a 90 minute shuttle to the Orlando theme parks for a half day of overpriced rides.  Nassau isn't worth stopping at, as there is little that found worth doing or seeing there.  And that leaves the cruise line's private island.  It's a great way to separate  people from their money, as all the special attractions generate money for the cruise line and not independent vendors (as is the case in Nassau).

So, why am I taking this trip?

Simply, I need to get away.  I want to see whether the cruise line is worth it for future cruises with RQS, especially for last minute getaways.  

Wish me luck.

Bahamas Cruise - Day 5 (Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas)

 

Great Stirrup Cay - NCL's private island.  It's a nice playground, but not one I wanted to bother with.  If NCL had bothered to build a pier, I might have gotten off the ship to enjoy a pristine beach.  But that was not the case for me.  

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This was another day that I decided to stay on the ship.  Most people had gotten off the ship, leaving the pool/hot tub areas relatively empty.  So I decided to take another soak, and got in the wrong tub.  No, it was not because there was anything wrong with the tub itself.  Instead, I was surrounded with Trump supporters.  One thing you can't do with people who have drunk the Kool Aid is argue with them using facts.  Instead I tried to shift the topic as best I could, so that we'd have more things we could agree on than get agitated about.  (When one of these people mentioned "voter fraud", there was no way that I was going to cite the Associated Press and its statistic regarding this crime in battleground states.  These people would never believe it.)  At least, I got deeper tan lines from sitting in this tub for an hour....

What I found most interesting about this stop was that Royal Caribbean's private isle was next door - Little Stirrup Cay.  Of course, they had to rename the isle "Coco Cay", so that there wouldn't be brand confusion between the two islands.

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Tonight's dinner was with the woman I met on the trip to Fort Sumter.  The specialty restaurant we visited was good as usual, and I continue to be impressed with what they can do with meat on a grill. Now if only, I could get their recipe for a grilled pineapple, I'd be in heaven.  But that's another story. After dinner, I went to the casino, and then to the lounge.  I had a good time, but was surprised to find out that the lounge singer didn't know (what I think are) well known standards, such as "St. John's Infirmary."  And there was another person in the audience who had the same feelings that I did.  Too bad that I didn't get the chance to meet her husband.  I'd have liked to meet someone who'd forget his wallet at home.  (He has to be worse at remembering things than I am, as I only forgot my jewelry before going on this cruise.)