Canada/New England Cruise 2025 - Disembarkation Day (09/18/25)

 

As usual on the nights before disembarkation, I didn't get much sleep.  But I was lucky to be awake enough to capture this view of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge on our way to port.  This was one of those rare days where it was warm enough to go out on the balcony in my jammies (please don't imagine how I look in them) and capture a few more shots like the one below:

- - - - - -

Today's disembarkation ritual went off easier than expected. But first, a little explanation on how luggage gets organized on the pier for collection....

Each cabin is given a set of tags listing an assigned disembarkation group by color and number.  Each color designates where the cruiser is going post cruise:

• Silver: To the Airport with cruise line arranged transfers.
• Silver: To the Airport with cruise line arranged pre-flight excursions, with Airport drop-off.
• Blue: Self-Arranged post-cruise travel 

Each group disembarks in numerical order, Number 1 being first, and Number 30 being last.  We were in Blue 29, with group 30, usually the last of numbers to be called. Although the announcements implied that all groups should be disembarked by 9:30, the paperwork we were given said 10:15.  If the paperwork was true, we would miss our 10:00 ferry and have to wait for 75 minutes for the next ferry up the East River.

Knowing that we had a lot of time to kill, we had a very leisurely breakfast at 7:30, making it possible for the room steward to turn the room for the next cruiser as soon as possible.   Around 9, we left the main dining area one last time and went to a seating area to wait for our group to be called.  This time we got lucky.  We were hanging out where all the handicapped passengers wait to be wheeled on shore.  So, when we heard that all Blue groups' luggage was on the pier, we walked out with others being wheeled.  (Both of us were using our canes this trip, so we technically qualified to get off the ship a little early.)  Within 5 minutes, we were off the ship looking for our luggage in a "virgin" storage area, and were out the door and at the ferry dock by 9:20.  

There is something very new going on at the Red Hook ferry terminal on cruise days.  NYC Ferry was giving away free rides to Wall Street for cruise passengers debarking today. (They plan to continue this for a while, hoping that they can drum up enough passengers to relieve automobile congestion at the cruise terminal, and make this a long term solution to traffic problems near the cruise terminal.)  We took one of these rides, then transferred to another ferry taking us to North Williamsburg.  Although we may have spent more time in getting home, we spent much less on our return trip's Uber ($44) than on our trip to the terminal ($84).  We made it to RQS's place around 11:30 am, and were able to stay relaxed until we got home.

I'm a little concerned about supply chain issues getting worse.

 

Several months ago, I mentioned that it took forever for me to get this replacement head unit for my air conditioner. Supply chain issues prevented it from being manufactured and delivered in a timely manner. Today, I watched a video that makes me think that this incident may just be the tip of an iceberg...

One of the things I've noticed when I went to the beach with FH last years was the presence of cargo ships sitting outside New York harbor.  They had yet to cross under the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge and enter the Ports of NY/NJ for unloading. Today's video came from someone who seemed to be a survivalist by nature, but had a valuable insight to what's happening on the West Coast.  His most salient point in the video had nothing directly to do with the problems with world shipping.  Instead, it had to do with the Russia-Ukraine war.  Even though Russia is not well integrated into the Western economies, we lose a lot by cutting off trade with Russia, and he focused on their fish and fertilizer exports.  He also noted that Ukraine being a bread basket for the world.  Couple these factors with supply chain issues at major ports, and we likely will soon see major food shortages - even in the USA.

I feel that we will have to learn how to live with sudden short term periods of scarcity as supply chain issues work themselves out.  Smart people will need to learn how to maintain inventories of things they need, so that they have reserves for when selective items are temporarily scarce and hard to find. Strangely enough, this will pump up our economy while making things worse.  America has always been a land of plenty, and this period of temporary shortages will be a hard thing for Americans to get used to. It will likely cause major social disruption, as our culture defines America as THE land of plenty (for a price) when we're not in the middle of a world war.

You may ask, what does this have to do about being transgender?  The answer is simple.  When times get bad, people become more conservative and prone to populist insurrections.  January 6, 2001 was just the start of a problem for us transgender people, as people in "Red States" now feel free to enact laws regarding what we can and can't do with our bodies (think of abortion laws and transgender participation in sporting events).  As things get worse for the general population, politicians will make minorities like us sacrificial lambs to deflect attention from the fact that they aren't getting anything done to solve the problems average people face.

I can still remember the name calling that FCP did after the unfortunate dissolution of our friendship. In many ways, it showed the true nature of what she felt inside about me.  (Just drop the words of anger, and focus on internal definitions...)  We will see a lot of that in our friends as things get hard for them.  They will be saying that there are more important things to worry about than gender identity, expression, and preference.  And from their perspective, they may be right.  But from our perspectives, it reaches deep into our identities of self - and this could be a live or die issue for many.  I am lucky NOT to have severe gender dysphoria.  But what about those who do?  Can they live, much less, prosper in stealth mode?  I don't know.

As the fictional Margo Channing once said: "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night." I'd change that to say it's going to be a bumpy year or two at best....