Bahamas Cruise - Day 4 (Port Canaveral, FL)

 

I'll bet all of my readers have seen "Fish out of Water" stories on the silver screen.  Crocodile Dundee is one of my favorites in this genre.  When we arrived in Port Canaveral, I tried to come up with a joke that fits this genre.  But all I could come up with was that NYC is testing out a new ferry route to remind our snowbirds where their home should be.  In reality, this ferry was one of 3 being built in Florida, and was on its 14 day journey from where it was built to where it soon call home.

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Why did I point out this ferry, and not other things found at this port?  Well, I was in this port with my former girlfriend, and was unimpressed with things to do here.  There is no downtown.  One has to be bused to get anywhere, and that includes 90 minute rides to Orlando's theme parks.  And, if one goes to any of these parks, one will need to leave early to make it back to the ship on time before it sails out of the country.

In my case, I decided to stay on the ship and soak in the hot tub.  This is the first time I got to wear my swimsuit in 2 years.  And I felt good about it.  (I think I look much better as a female in a swimsuit than I do as a male. A skirted swimsuit can hide a hell of a lot of things!)  The only thing I wish I could have done was to have better fitting swim forms.  But that's another story for another day.

At dinner, I met one of the two ladies I've dined with before on this trip.  We exchanged contact information and agreed to have dinner again in a couple of days.  (I had already made plans to have dinner with the other woman, and didn't want to have a scheduling conflict.)  When we were through with dinner, I moseyed over to the casino where I won some cash. So I took my winnings and went to the theater to see the comedian's scheduled performance.  He was good, but I had to leave early due to GI Tract issues.  Too bad this was the 9 pm showing, or I'd have gone back for the second show....

Bahamas Cruise - Day 3 (Charleston, SC)

 

If this cruise stopped at Nassau instead of the port of Charleston, I'd have passed on taking this cruise.  Yet, if I had known it was going to rain, I wouldn't have selected this shore excursion.  Go figure....

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I decided to take the afternoon trip to Fort Sumter, even though it was drizzling all day.  I had paid for this trip before the cruise, and I didn't want to consider the $100 I spent on the tour wasted money.  This was a good thing, as I met a new friend who I'd dine with at the Gem's Specialty Restaurants later in the week, and that I got a much better understanding (in a 10 minute presentation by a park ranger) of the causes for the Civil War than I ever got from the history books I've read.

After getting back to the ship, I ended up dining in the main room with the same lady I dined with earlier in the week.  This lady is a former opera performer, and we seemed to hit it off well.  (Too bad I wasn't in Mario mode.  But then, just as well, as she had already been divorced 3 times.  I don't want to be number 4.)

 

There seemed to be fewer performers on the ship than in the past.  They may have been given easier duties, but required to perform longer than usual to keep staffing levels down.  But then, with lounge areas this empty, I'd expect that the cruise line would need to use gimmicks to make people feel like they were getting their money's worth of entertainment.  (No, this is not a criticism of the cruise line.  Instead, this is a recognition that they have to be careful with every dollar they spend until the ships are running at full capacity again.)  When I looked at the shows on the main stage, I noticed that one of the shows is the same as I found on the ship over 2 years ago.  I guess that they needed to get a show up and running quickly, and re-staging an old show might be the most efficient way of making sure that each ship has at least one "theatrical" production.

 

PS: You'll note that I've said nothing about being transgender.  With the exception of showing my legal ID when returning to the ship, my gender and presentation wasn't an issue for me....

Bahamas Cruise - Day 2 (Sea Day)

 

I woke up early. only to fall asleep again.  By the time I was fully awake, it was lunch time.  This is typical for me when I'm on a cruise - such as going out in my female presentation.

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This was the slow boat to Charleston, and yet, it was already warm enough outside for some people to take a dip in the hot tubs on the Lido Deck.  I figured that I was going to get at least one or two days use out of my swimsuit this trip - and planned accordingly for it.

When I got back to my room, I noticed that my TV wasn't displaying my account status.  (I like knowing what charges are being applied to my account in real time.)  So I went down to the main desk and asked for help.  Too bad this may have caused a minor headache for my room steward, as the person at the desk had English as a second language and could not pick up the nuance in how I was describing the problem.  Eventually, I caught up with the steward, and he found out that the problem was with the remote control and not with the upstream software.  (I'll be sure to give him a good review when I participate in the after-cruise survey.)

 

As became my routine, I decided to eat in the Grand Pacific (main) dining room.  It was strange to see this many staff members waiting to direct guests to available tables.  When I had the opportunity to talk with the woman in charge of the dining room, I found out that the room has been this way since the Gem started sailing earlier this year.  This ship has been operating below 50% capacity for weeks, and there is no sign that things will change anytime soon.

I finally had the chance to do my nails.  No, the polishing wasn't so great.  But it did get me through the week with minimal touch-ups.  If I had thought about it and had the time before the cruise,  I'd have gotten a mani-pedi.  Yet, it's nice to have nails on which I could leave painted for a while.

As would be expected, I forgot something at home - my jewelry.  So I used the few items I brought with me when I went to the photographers on later nights....

Bahamas Cruise - Day 1 (Embarkation)

 

I've recently hinted that I was going away on a cruise.  Sadly, there was no way that I'd consider writing about what happened in real time.  There are still too many people who'd figure out where I live and burglarize the place.  So, there is a longer than usual gap between the time I sailed on this ship and the time you'll read about my exploits.

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Day 1 - Embarkation.

It's been over 2 years since I've gone on any vacation.  So this trip would be both a chance to relax and a chance to see what has changed to keep passengers safe when cruising on this ship.  This would be a "new" experience for me, as I am accustomed to getting on board the ship "late" and leaving "early".

My scheduled arrival time at the pier was at noon.  So, I worked my times backward and decided that I had to make it out of my house by 9:15, so that I could catch a 9:45 train into NYC.  One problem - the cab service I usually use wasn't picking up its phone. I ended up having to call a cab service in Ossining (one town over from me), and deal with a man who didn't know the way to my apartment complex.  Luckily, he was nearby, and I told him how to reach my place with a few minutes to spare before my train.

I had time to kill when I reached NYC, so I looked around Grand Central for a few minutes.  One of the things I was looking for was a place selling OMNY cards, but none were there to be found. (I'll have to search around the GCT area for OMNY cards the next time I'm in the area.) Then, I killed more time by finding an unofficial place to sit, as the official waiting area wasn't yet open. Eventually, the clock struck 11:30, and I made my way to the cab stand to make it to the pier.

 

Once at the pier, I was directed to a station at Pier 90.  This was the place where NCL had contracted with another firm to do their Covid testing. The antigen test was not as accurate as the PCR test I did the previous Thursday.  But it showed the result I needed - NEGATIVE.  I was cleared to go, and given a pink band to indicate that I passed the test.  Now, I was off to Pier 88 to check in for my cruise.  At Pier 88, I was checked in and on the ship in 10 minutes.  So, after 30 minutes of arriving at the cruise terminal, I was onboard and in my cabin.

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The first subtle difference I noticed on the ship was that everyone was wearing wearing face masks. Although the card-key was still being used, the cruise line was also working with facial recognition technology when getting on and off the ship.  Since I mentioned the card-key, I might as well mention that it was always used in Tap-and-Go mode.  One didn't have to swipe their card-key to enter a cabin. One simply tapped the card-key on the door's reader, and you'd be able to open the door.

Another difference is the lack of selfie stations.  When I last cruised on the Norwegian Gem, there were several places around the ship where you could have your picture taken with a Norwegian Gem background and send it to your friends as free advertising for the line.  In the places where those stations were once found were holiday decorations.  Although the selfie machines could come back, I doubt they will.  They create a sanitary problem, as these stations are operated by direct finger contact.

A welcome change to standard operating procedure was the lack of a formal muster drill.  Instead of marching to a muster area with a lot of other people, one watches a safety presentation in the comfort of one's own cabin.  Once the video is viewed, one checks in at the muster station for a quick presentation on how to use a "Mae West". And that's it.  It's much easier than before, and much more effective.

I expected to see the serve yourself buffet replaced by a buffet where servers would put the foods you select onto your plate - as has been done by other cruise lines.  This limits the possibility of an infected passenger contaminating the food which others may eat.  I was appalled by seeing one teenager take his water carton, and refill it by putting the nozzle inside the water carton.  This is against the ship's rules, but the kid didn't care.  It was too inconvenient to refill the water carton another way.  Sadly, the buffet is one area where the cruise line could implement higher standards of hygiene.

 

Even though I expected to see a relatively empty theater, I was still a little bit surprised.  Based on what I saw, I think that the ship was sailing at 30%-40% capacity.  Although it was nice to have a little more personalized attention, I miss the energy that larger groups generate.  Yet, right now, I was glad not to be sailing on a crowded ship.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2021 was one heck of a year!  It started off with me still dealing with the issues from the pandemic, but got better as the months went on.  Not only did I start having friendly conversations with an ex girlfriend, but I was able to find a second job where I could work as Marian.

Now that 2022 is finally here, I'm looking forward to the future again.  It took a long while to get me out of my funk. But that's OK.  The pandemic that started in 2020 did a number on me, making my lows lower and my highs higher (as few as they were).  2021 was much better for me, as life seemed to open up again for me.  Dating opportunities opened up, and I also enjoyed being able to meet new people again.  Yes, one avenue for this was wrongly closed off to me.  But I won't dwell on that.  Instead, I'll dwell on the positive - this past year was like a year long spring season.

Hopefully, 2022 will be even better than 2021!

 

 

 

Going through my overflowing closets

 

Recently, I've had the excuse to start going through my closets, donating all the clothes and shoes I no longer use to a local charity.  So far, I've filled 4 donation bags, and I am likely to fill at least one more before I'm done.  Yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg - I have other things to clear up in this apartment as well.

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When I had a steady girlfriend, I tried to keep the place neat enough for someone to come over and spend a weekend.  She'd tell you that I was far from perfect in this regard.  But when she broke up with me and the pandemic started, I let my place go to hell.  And I'm gradually clearing my place up from a full year (and more) that I stopped caring about much.

My closets were not just overflowing with clothes.  They were overflowing with other things as well, such as old electronics (and associated supplies) that I figured I might use again.  These days, I no longer record much on CD-Roms. Yet, I have a supply of blank CD's, DVD's and associated cases that I haven't touched in years.  My newest computer didn't even come with a CD/DVD drive - it assumed that everyone uses memory sticks.  Even now, after a cleanup has started, I have more things to get rid of than to keep.

The storage area in my basement is even worse.  There is stuff in it that I haven't touched since my wife was alive.  And I have to get around to cleaning this area out, so that I have room to store the things I do use.  Not only do I have the bulk of my Vinyl (33 1/3 rpm) record collection downstairs, but I have 2 never assembled cabinets for this collection stored there as well.  (Do you know of anyone who might take this collection off my hands?)

The Swedish have a word for what I want to do with my apartment and storage area:  Döstädning.  This word refers to the Swedish practice of "death cleaning."  No, this process is not morbid in nature.  Instead, it is a process of removing the clutter from one's life, so that one can live the rest of it more productively. It also has the side benefit of making it easier for one's heirs to settle out one's estate when that time comes.

One person I know has to go through this process as she had to move out of her place sometime in the next month.  I have a choice.  Do it now, or let things fester until I am no longer able to do the cleaning by myself.  And then it will be much, much harder for me to deal with.  So, now is the right time to work on this project when I have the time to do so.

You know your closet has overflowed when....

Recently, I awakened by hearing a noise that I couldn't identify.  When I got up to go to the bathroom, I didn't see anything amiss - virtually everything was where I expected it to be.  But it really wasn't.  Today, when I looked at my closet, I noticed that the closet rod had failed. Over time, excess weight on the rod from all of my dresses had caused it to warp and come out of its support.  This caused most of the clothes in the closet to fall on the carpeted floor, giving me an excuse to prune even more things from the closet.

Although I should have done something to support the rod better, I didn't.  So I shouldn't have been surprised that my overflowing closet's rod would fail me again.  But it did give me an excuse to fill up a donation bag, this time with "sparkly" tops I don't wear anymore, some gifts to me from friends, and some shoes I've picked up along the way.  Yet, I haven't seemed to make much of a dent in things.

Over time, I plan to do some more extensive pruning of the things I have in this closet.  I've bought way too many dresses, tops, bottoms and shoes for one woman to wear.  I've become much more of a clothes horse than my wife ever was.  However, I can still afford to indulge myself in having a full closet.  And, I have developed a better sense of what clothing I can and should wear in certain situations thanks to the friends I've had in my life.

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