2023 Bermuda Cruise - Day 1 (Embarkation Day)

 

Sunday, November 19, 2023.

We considered ourselves lucky today, as RQS had found the handbag which contained all of her ID needed for the upcoming cruise. So it was our “normal” travel routine or rushing to get ready, and hiring a car to get us to where we had to go.

Around 8:00 am, we got showered and dressed and ready to travel. While RQS finished her breakfast, I went out to buy a pair of sunglasses and get some extra money for our trip. With our bags fully packed and ready to go, we called a cab, so that we could take the 10:37 train to Grand Central. The train ride was relaxing, and we caught a cab to the cruise terminal, which got us there by 12:15 pm. Cruise check-in was a little annoying, as the counter agent asked RQS for her passport, and didn’t accept her passport card - normally, the only ID required for closed loop cruises.

 

 

By 12:45 pm, we were on the ship and ready to deposit our bags in our room. One catch - the rooms weren’t all ready for passengers yet. Walking to the cabin, we noticed these signs hanging on the doors.  I hadn't seen anything like them since my December 2021 Christmas cruise during the pandemic restart. We cheated a little, and dropped our bags off in our cabin, then went to the buffet to have a leisurely lunch. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, we were tracking the location of our checked luggage, as our bags hadn’t yet made it to our cabin. Just before the ship left port, RQS’s bag made it to the cabin, leaving the location of my bag still a mystery. Luckily, the tracker reported that it was in the ship’s hold (based on a nautical location ID), and my bag was placed outside our cabin just before dinner time.

Since I have a Platinum loyalty status with NCL, I get two “free” specialty meals when I cruise. But I couldn’t reserve these meals until I was onboard the ship. However, we had booked our cabin with the “free at sea” promotion, and this gave us two specialty meals that we could book. So we proceeded to the Brazilian Churrascaria onboard, and had an “Atkins Diet” feast - all the meat we could eat, and we did just that.

After dinner, we decided to take it easy and go back to our room for the evening. Unfortunately, on the way back to the room, a woman fell on RQS, injuring RQS’s ankle. For the rest of the evening, the ankle hurt, and RQS wondered if she’d be able to walk around Bermuda when we arrived on Tuesday.


What a way to start a vacation!

A test run of a trip to NYC to reach a ferry terminal.

 

I loved watching Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was a kid.  He always seemed to come out on top of almost every situation.  But in the real world, that's the type of thing that requires a lot of work.  Soon, I'll be taking a cruise out of Brooklyn, and I figured that I needed to take a test trip using Metro North and the NYC Subway to reach the Pier 11 ferry terminal, and I'm glad I did this, as I found out that I will need to change my plans for this journey.

- - - - - -

Shortly after I finished lunch, I decided to trek into NYC by train.  Since it was a weekday, I was glad that I was not wheeling a bag - for reasons I will discuss in a bit.  I had some GI Tract issues which delayed me a little, and I ended up leaving for Croton-Harmon station later than planned.  By the time I got there, the usual supply of available metered parking spots (freed by people returning to Croton in the early afternoon) was depleted, and there were several cars hovering in the lanes of the lot waiting for spaces to open.  I was in luck - a space opened up just in time for me to both pay for parking and to make it onto the 3:45 pm express to Grand Central.

Around 4:40 pm, I arrived at Grand Central, and browsed the holiday court of stores before heading to the subway.  Since the Lexington Avenue line (#4 & #5 trains) runs along Broadway in lower Manhattan, I doubted that I'd use it to reach Pier 11, as it is a long walk from the Wall Street station to Water Street.  This ride gave me a good reason to nix this line for use - It is not an ADA accessible station.  It would be a major effort to lift my bag up the stairs (as there are no elevators at the station) and then walk th the pier.  On my way to the pier, I noticed that the 7th Avenue line (#2 & #3 trains) would be just as bad a choice to reach the pier.  So what should I do?  I figured that I'd walk to South Ferry and see if there was a bus that runs along Water Street, and figure out how to take it from the Staten Island Ferry terminal to Pier 11.  Although I didn't see the downtown bound M15 Bus, I did see uptown bound buses, and knew that I could reach the ferry terminal without problems.  (I'll deal with the return trip when I get back to NYC.)  And the South Ferry subway station is ADA accessible.  So, now I had a plan.

Once I got to South Ferry, I took the 7th Avenue local to Times Square, then transferred to the 42nd Street shuttle to reach Grand Central.  While at Grand Central, I decided to look at the Long Island Railroad Terminal.  They did a nice job on it, and the rest rooms look much better than their counterparts in the original Grand Central.  (I say that, as they do their best to make the restrooms stay clean at the original Grand Central, but they look the worse from many years of overuse.)  But soon enough, I had to return to the Metro North zone and board a train with only 5 minutes to spare.  I'm glad I did so, as the train was a super express that didn't even stop in Harlem.

Soon enough, I was back home and in for the night.  It was a long day, but only because I did a lot of walking.  My legs were telling me to call it a day when I reached Wall Street.  By the time I walked to South Ferry, my legs were cooperating with me and didn't mind the exercise.  I wonder if I will feel the same way when I do both legs of this journey for real in a few days.

 

 

PS: They were preparing to light the Financial District's Xmas Tree as I walked along Wall Street.  Glad I didn't stay to see it, as I'd bet that the area would be a pickpocket's paradise in a little while.  I certainly don't want to visit DMV again, nor do I want to dealing with stopping stolen cards again!

A run to Kingston to attend a spa's grand opening.

 

I haven't seen my friend Maria for over a year, and today was the chance to say hello and catch up with her for a few minutes.  The catch, the spa she owns with two partners is up in Kingston, NY, and we were in Croton.  So going to see her for a few minutes may not have been a cost effective trip.  But it was one I wanted to do to stay in contact with a person I think is worth the effort to know.

- - - - - - 

RQS and I got up late, and by the time we left the apartment was 3:15 pm.  This meant we could easily make it to the spa by 4:30 - 5:00 pm, and be able to have a leisurely drive home.  However, we forgot one thing - traffic.  Even with traffic, we were in Kingston (after a couple of stops) around 5:00 pm, and got to the address which was given to google maps.  One problem - the link I was sent had two addresses: the address of the business and the address of one of the owners of the business.  Guess where google sent us?  Certainly not to where we wanted to go, but to a nondescript home in one of Kingston's residential districts.

Once I realized we had a problem, I manually entered the spa's address, and google sent us through the back roads to get to the spa.  And even then we had a little bit of confusion before we got to the spa.  As we arrived, I mentioned that we were looking for Maria, and I was greeted warmly by Maria.  She introduced us to her boyfriend (when is he going to make her an "honest woman?") and showed us around the place.  Then RQS received a complimentary 15-minute facial before we left for home.  Hopefully, Maria will fit us into her schedule sometime early in the new year.

Instead of taking the thruway back home, we came down Route 9.  Even though it was pitch black outside, it was nice to see the lights in Rhinebeck on for the holidays.  On the way back, we stopped into a store to pick up a few sundries, and then stopped off at the bank and the supermarket before reaching home for the night.  

Hard to believe that we'll be on our cruise soon!!!!

A trip to NYC and a temporarily lost handbag

 

My plan for today was to first go shopping at Universal Standard's sample sale, meet RQS at Grand Central to take the same train into Croton-Harmon, and then go to the one game night being held by my friends in Yonkers.  And everything on the checklist was accomplished, but with some drama while in Croton....

- - - - - -

When I got dressed, I figuratively flipped a coin to determine whether I'd be wearing a dress to Universal Standard, or wearing a unitard (body suit) under a duster.  The dress would be more convenient for taking a bio-break, while the unitard would be more convenient for shopping at Universal Standard.  I chose the unitard, as I wanted to be able to try on clothing without having to strip down to my bra and panties, possibly exposing that I was born in a male body.  And this would be a wise choice.

Before I got to Universal Standard, I stopped by Metro North's lost-and-found office in the vain hope that the backpack I misplaced a month ago was found and in their custody. From there, it was on to the subway to reach the store.  Upon entering the store, I noticed that two 20-30 y/o women were trying on garments, one of them in a unitard like me, and the other stripping down to her bra and panties to try on clothes.  Neither of them was uncomfortable with my presence, and both of them were handing me garments to try on.  There were 3 dresses I was interested in, and the 2 ladies said that I looked great in the black dresses (1 of which I would wear as a duster, which I did later on).  However, US's signature dress, their Geneva dress (a dress with an asymmetrical hemline) looked good on me, but the color was terrible for me.  So I made a note that in the future, to try one of these dresses in a color that looks good on me.

Next, it was off to Grand Central where I met RQS for the trip to Croton.  I killed some time before she arrived, and we took an early train home. And that's where the fun began.  Arriving at my apartment, we carried several bags upstairs, and the handbag containing RQS's phone was misplaced.  We attempted to ring her phone, but we couldn't hear it.  So both of us worried about going on our cruise without normal documents.  I was willing to drive to Albany to get a replacement state issued photo ID card, and willing to do a round trip to her place to get her birth certificate - the minimum documentation needed for a closed loop cruise from NYC.

After a break for dinner, we went back home.  Before entering the door, I looked around, and found her bag sitting where I often place my bag.  I rang her phone, and neither of us heard it.  Then she took her phone out, and I rang it again.  This time, we heard the ring.  So, we were both very relieved.  At this point, we were very late for game night, and decided to drop by just to chat - and that's what we did.  It was nice to see the gang again, and I hope to see them one more time before the holidays.

I skipped going into the city today

 

When the day began, I was thinking of going into NYC and seeing a matinee performance of an off-Broadway play.  However, I didn't buy my ticket on time, and decided to stay in Westchester for the day.

- - - - - -

Considering that I didn't get out of the house until after 12:00 pm, I knew that trying to see another matinee would be pushing  the limits.  So, I decided to go for lunch at a diner in White Plains.  While there, there was a couple of women chatting away in Spanish, while the son sat quietly at the table.  By the time I was done, I wanted to tell the mother that her son was well behaved - but it wouldn't have been received as I'd meant it.  So I erred on the side of caution, and left the diner to visit my acquaintances at the LGBT Center

Having been to the LGBT center many times, I knew a way into the parking lot that allows me to avoid the building entrance for a pre-school on the other side.  When I entered the building, I met one of my old acquaintances, and we caught up on things while he was setting up for a meeting.  He introduced me to a few new people, and I left shortly afterwards, as the meeting was about to start.

My next stop was my home, where I decided to nap for a while before going to a trivia night meetup in Peekskill.  As much as I wasn't in the mood to go, I decided not to bail on the meetup.  And I enjoyed myself, in spite of not having the chance to chat much.

In short, it was a nice day out as Mario, and one of the last I'll have before my cruise as Mario....

Bored, not Board

 

For the most part, I wasn't in the mood to do much of anything today.  Although I got up at a reasonable time, it took a while before I got moving.  And when I did, I realized that I had to start packing for my cruise.  So, it was off to unload the laundry basket that has been sitting in my living room, and putting both underwear and socks into compression bags, then into my suitcase.  Yes, I could have done more packing, I figured that it would be best for me to simply develop a checklist, so that I can be sure to include what I'll need for my 7-day cruise.

4 pm came around, and I decided to get Chinese takeout (a big mistake) before the evening's co-op board meeting. I returned home, finished my meal, and then turned on the computer for a 6 pm Zoom meeting.  And this is where today's tedium came in.  We have a new member on the board who chooses to regurgitate what is being said, wasting time in the meeting.  (Sometimes, it's better to listen and not expect to pick up on everything going on in a business meeting.)  It felt that he was playing up to a teacher.  And then, he was trying to rescue a relationship without knowing why things were in trouble in the first place.  (As I said, sometimes it's best to just listen.)  I know that he was triggering some feelings, and I think it's that he wants to preserve a business relationship that we already feel may need to be broken. But enough of that....

While the meeting was going on, I was keeping my mind active by doing other things on my cellphone.  I've always had problems with long business meetings, as they are where minutes are taken and hours are lost.  As a result, I try to keep my mind active doing other things, and half-listen to what is going on when others are speaking. And today was no exception - even though I was the person taking minutes.  At least, I won't have to do this again until next month.

It was a long weekend, and yet it seemed so short.

 

RQS came up here on Friday and left on Monday morning. The longer we spend time together, the harder it becomes for us to leave each other at the end of the weekend.  Soon, RQS and I will be packing for a cruise to Bermuda.  It'll be our first time there, and it'll be a chance to spend time together, away from our normal activities.  

It seems like the remainder of this year will be a busy one for us.  After our cruise, RQS will be going to see her sister, while I'll be cruising to the Bahamas.  We don't know how we'll be spending Christmas and New Year's Eve.  But I expect that we'll keep being busy well into the new year.  For example, I'm looking for an excuse to take a trip to the West Coast, so that I can visit my uncle in his nursing home.  When I was there earlier in the year, he wasn't up to seeing visitors.  This time, I am looking at taking a short 3-4 day cruise out of LA, seeing my uncle either on the day before or after the cruise.

I'm not too keen on visiting Los Angeles.  It's not the easiest city to get around without a car, and I am taking a risk that my uncle may not want to see me if I decide to visit.  Yet, he's in his 90's and doesn't have many years left to live.  So, I'm hoping I can visit and see him for one last time soon....