Happy Buddha

Location: 135-37 37th Avenue, Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese, Vegetarian
Hours: DAILY (11am-10pm)
Phone: (718) 358-0079
Website: www.happybuddha.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 9

Frequency: All the Time

After skipping a month a few of us were able to get together for a June dinner. I actually tried to pull everyone together the week before, but most of us weren't available. This week was a little better with Irene, Ben, Charlotte and Reinhard. I also had Ifore join us. Since this crew was mostly Flushing based, we moved from the usual Woodside/Forest Hills area to downtown Flushing.


I chose Happy Buddha because most of the group hasn't eaten there recently if not at all. It's always fun for new customers because of the way they prepare the foods and make all of the dishes look just like the traditional Chinese ones... but without use of meat or dairy products. I also enjoyed the relaxed environment. I was also thinking of Tung Yi Fung, but the problem is they will try to rush you on bringing out the dishes.

QM vs EN

Queen Mary 2 and Enchantment of the Seas are 2 very different ships, but since they're the only 2 cruises I've been on, I'm going to compare them.


Dining
EN - Enchantment had much better food in both the buffet and the restaurant. QM2 still had good food as far as quality, but their dishes weren't as exotic. Enchantment incorporated a lot of Caribbean and South American flavor.

Entertainment
QM - QM2 wins this category by a long shot. Naturally the sheer size of the ship allows it to offer a lot of venues at once. Enchantment wasn't really that much smaller, but it lacked on variety of entertainment. They basically had 2 shows per day and very little conflicting activities. On QM2 I had a hard time deciding my daily itinerary because there was so much to do. The theater always had something going on as did the planetarium. There were also a variety of classes ranging from oceanography to hands-on art. QM2 is a bit larger, but they had a lot more to do.

Design
TIE - This category is purely taste. QM2 has more of a classic cruise ship look, but in a gigantic scale. Enchantment has a modern style, resembling space ship. Personally, I liked the exterior design of Enchantment better. The pool area looked amazing. QM2 had the better interior though. It looked like the spent a lot of time designing every little alcove. On Enchantment, all of the design seemed to go into the Centrum area.

Fitness
QM - The only thing Enchantment had that QM2 was missing was the rock climbing wall that's on every Royal Caribbean ship. QM2 had the larger gym with more equipment, more special classes (more than a complete day's worth) and a better track. Enchantment's track because unusable at times because it was too narrow. During the day, people would sunbathe on the track... too much traffic.

Service
QM - Service is generally good on every cruise ship, but I would have to give the slight edge to QM2. There was a more personal feel from the staff that served us.

Cabins
QM - Cabins shouldn't really weigh in that much when choosing a cruise, because if a voyage is good enough, you won't be spending much time there, but it's still a category to compare. QM2 was more modern and slightly more spacious. The beds were also more comfortable. On Enchantment, we weren't among the lucky ones to get one of the renovated cabins in the middle 70ft portion of the ship. The cabins were basic and sorely dated.

So overall, I thought Queen Mary 2 was the better experience. I was constantly busy and had way too much to do. There were times on Enchantment of the Seas when I felt like I had too much down time.

Cathy & Lu's Road Trip

I got a call from Cathy yesterday saying that she and her family were on a cross-country road trip and they would be in NYC today (for 3 days). Coincidentally, I had the day off as I always take the day after Father's Day. Lewis was also not working, so we were able to do a little SCAD reunion. Ning was missing though as she was heading out to Singapore.


We just spent the day catching up since it's been about 2 years since we last saw Cathy and over 10 since we last saw Lu.

Enchantment & Florida

There's more! After we got from the cruise, my Dad & I went back to New York, but the rest of the group stayed in Florida for the rest of the week to see Miami & Orlando. Here are the pictures from my parents' camera:

Edwin's Last Day

Today was Edwin and Auntie Aida's last, so we went all over the place to complete the rest of Edwin's goals. He still had to get See's Candy, which is only available at Lord & Taylor outside of it's hometown of San Francisco. And then we had Joe's Shanghai on the list as well. From a time perspective, it made more sense to hit Manhattan on Sunday and then Queens on Monday, but there was a Puerto Rican Day Parade over the weekend that would've made shopping on 5th Avenue very slow. So instead, I planned the visit to Arthur Ashe yesterday and Lord & Taylor today.


We went out early in the morning to hit Lord & Taylor and got there pretty early. We made good time because I immediately knew to location of the See's Candy stand. I bought it there often because it's a favorite of my Dad's. That was the only thing we were interested in, so we were out of there as soon as we got our candy. With a lot of time left before we had to meet up with Emily for lunch, we walked down 5th Avenue.

For the rest of the story, check out the Picasa album.

Tung Yi Fung

Location: 135-29 37th Ave., Flushing, NY, 11354
Cuisine: Chinese, seafood
Phone: (718) 886-8233
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 5
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: All the Time

We went to Tung Yi Fung yet again. I knew were going to go at some point, but didn't realize it would be this soon! Please check out the slideshow and Picasa album for details.


I'm reposting the general info. because I updated the "service" stat. I dropped it to a 5 because they have been consistently rushing us towards the end of the meal. Everything else is still the same.

Lucia Pizza

Location: 136-55 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Italian, Pizza
Phone: (718) 445-1313
Prices: $6/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 4

Frequency: All the Time

Lucia Pizza is one of the oldest businesses in the downtown Flushing area... possibly the oldest on Roosevelt Avenue. It's a family owned and operated pizza joint and is the only place to get NY style pizza in the area. Ifore ate there a lot while he was studying in NY, so he makes it a point to eat there at least once each time he visits. It's the same as what I do with Jollibee in the Philippines.

The pizza is so good that everyone tends to get impatient when it comes out of the oven and burn their mouths from the hot cheese! Many people stop by after work and get a quick cheese slice that they eat in the restaurant standing up or on diner-style stools.

The service is efficient and everyone is friendly. One great thing about Lucia Pizza is that they don't collect the money until you get your food. That's the right way to do business and more fast food places should follow that.

The environment is the only negative. After all the decades of business, they haven't renovated much. With the money they made, they should've done something or even expanded the place! On the other hand, you can look at it as a classic dining place that represents real NY pizza... a slice of the old NY!

A Day in Queens

It's a little non-traditional, but whenever we have a lot of family members visiting from my mother's side, we end up spending more time in Queens than Manhattan. Today's schedule consisted of dim sum at Gala Manor (all ratings are the same as before), a visit to the US Open, shopping at Queens Center in Elmhurst, snack at Lucia Pizza and dinner at Tung Yi Fung.

After dim sum, Ifore, Edwin and I headed to Arthur Ashe. Even though the US Open wasn't in session, the tennis shop was open for business. Edwin went there last year and got some items from the previous year. He was looking to do the same as well as searching for autographed items by Roger Federer who just won the French Open for the first time and tied Pete Sampras with most majors in history. The store just carried a few leftover items from 2008 and no high-end autographed items (he ended up ordering Online afterwards).


We still had the whole afternoon, so we headed off to Queens Center so Edwin could get some gifts at H&M. It was actually the first time I walked around the renovated mall.

When we got back to Flushing, we went to Lucia's Pizza. It's a stop Ifore has to make each time he visits NY. I'll write up a full review of this place in a separate post. Then we headed off to Old Navy, which had a 50% sale on all men's items! I rarely shop for clothes, but found a lot of $4.25 t-shirts I wanted. I ended up getting 6.

Finally, we went back to my dad's office to meet up with the rest of the family and to wait for Uncle Henry to arrive. Earlier in the day, I was telling Ifore that while he was here, we would probably eat at Tung Yi Fung at least once. I had no idea we were going to end up there tonight for dinner!

Related: US Open, Queens Center Mall

Enchantment on Frommer's

I just posted some of my vacation photos up on Frommers.com. We have many different levels of photos now and I have to think about where I want to upload them. For Key West and Cozumel, I placed them into the official Destination Guides. Since we don't have a photo feature for cruises, I upload the Enchantment of the Seas images to my Community account.

- Key West Slideshow

- Cozumel Slideshow

- Enchantment User Gallery

Enchantment of the Seas TOC

This post is a table of contents of all entries related to the Enchantment of the Seas trip to Key West & Cozumel. I wrote many of these within the past week, but posted them based on the original dates of occurrence:

- Enchantment Prologue
- Packing for Enchantment
- Boarding
- Dinner
- Welcome Show
- Burgers & Ice Cream
- Key West
- The Blond Giraffe
- Cozumel
- Buccanos Bar & Grill
- Enchantment Staff Dance
- At Sea
- The Wall
- Enchanting Weather
- Enchantment of the Seas

Enchantment of the Seas

We had one final meal at Windjammer on the last day of the cruise. Everyone got up early for breakfast because some of us were set for the express checkout so we could catch our planes. My Dad, Auntie Susan & I had to head back for work. The rest of the group is going to Miami & will fly out of Orlando to return to NY.


On this trip, unlike QM2, I enjoyed the stops more than the day at sea. There was a lot to do at the 2 stops and not as much on the ship itself. QM2 had more variety on board, but boring stops.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the trip overall. I think this is going to be a regular thing as long as enough family members from the Philippines can coordinate on days off. And for some of us that are busy during the Summer, the cruise has to be a relatively short one (4-7 days). Until next time!

Enchanting Weather

A couple of days before this trip, I was trying to decide what to pack. One of the things I was undecided about was the footwear. I had a pair of Pumas that I usually bring on vacations, but was hesitant this time because the forecast was showers & thunderstorms for the entire trip... in all 3 locations! My Pumas have never touched rain before. I figured I already had them for years and it's a special occasion, so I decided to bring them. My other pair of shoes wouldn't have been good enough for the gym and track.

Guess what? No rain for the entire trip! We arrived in Florida to nice sunny weather. Key West was perfect... not a cloud in sight. Supposedly it started raining after the ship left. When we got to Cozumel, the weather still held up. At about 1pm, the sky started filling with clouds, but nothing came down and the sun came back. The day at sea also did not see a drop of rain. It was supposed to rain also on the day I returned to New York. It did, but stopped long enough for the plane to land and for me to get home. Then we had that massive thunderstorm overnight. So my Pumas are still perfect! It makes me wonder... did we get lucky or was it the shoes that magically killed the rain?

The Wall

Today was the only day I didn't have a conflict with the rock climbing wall's hours. So Ifore and I made it there at 3pm for a short, but strenuous workout. The rules said that we weren't supposed to climb without lessons and neither of us has done this before, but the staff said it was easy... gave us a few pointers and let us go for it.


I thought it was fun. I rushed a bit and slipped once, but eventually made it to the top. Ifore made it up pretty quickly (see video). The wall was located on deck 10, so if one were to look at us from outside of the ship, it would've looked dangerous. But once I started climbing, I was concentrating so much on which grips to reach for that I forgot all about how high I was.

At Sea

After a schedule intense couple of days, today was more relaxing... a full day at sea for the journey back to Fort Lauderdale. Today, I got a chance to do all of the things I wanted to, but conflicted with the port arrival schedule. I woke up and followed the usual gym/jogging routine. Then I met up with the rest if the group for breakfast at Windjammer. Edwin & I ate quickly so we could head back to the cabins to watch the French Open Final between Roger Federer & Robin Soderling. Federer made history by tying Sampras with 14 grand slams and finally completed his career grand slam. Aside from that, he made short work of his opponent in straight sets. That gave us more time to do other things!


For lunch, my dad tried to get the whole group, as the 12 of us never had a meal together. My parents have always tried this with each group cruise they go on. It was pretty close to working... 11 of 12 of us made it. We went for our first sitdown lunch at My Fair Lady, which was renamed Royal Brasserie Thirty. We found that the lunch offerings were better than any of the dinners we had previously. There were soup specials and dessert specials.

Enchantment Staff Dance

We almost had the full group on the 3rd night for dinner at My Fair Lady. Ifore & Edwin joined us, making that 11 out of 12 of us. It was the most exciting dinner so far because the staff did a dance at the end. After we got our desserts, a little bit of music came out of the speakers. I thought it was a mistake, but shortly after, there was an announcement that the staff would do a dance.


Thanks to our waiter, Rommel and bread/water server, Edgar!

Buccanos Bar & Grill

Location: @ Club Cozumel Caribe, Playa San Juan, Cozumel, Mexico
Cuisine: Mexican
Phone: (800) 833-5971
Website: www.clubcozumelcaribe.info
Prices: $18/person
Credit Cards: MasterCard & Visa

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 10

Frequency: Unique

As part of the tour, we were taken to a restaurant called Buccanos Bar & Grill inside Club Cozumel Caribe. This paradise of a resort was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The tourbus circled around the island. To our left was always a field of green and to the right, beaches. Entering the resort felt like arriving at an oasis. We were allowed to use all of the beach amenities. It was too bad I didn't bring my swimming gear along with me. I really didn't think I needed it.


I was happy that we all ate lunch together. Before booking the tour, I thought we'd just end up in some downtown area where some of the group would just spend the time shopping in tourist trap stores. I was determined to get a good Mexican meal! It was great that everyone got a taste of it. Some people in our group feared the swine flu because of all the news and media. A couple were even hesitant about leaving the ship.

We ordered a variety of foods consisting of both safe dishes and more adventurous ones. The service was great, especially the way they handled the large group. As far as environment, I can't think of any place that was better than this one. The scenery, with one entire side open to the beach was unbeatable. The restrooms were super clean. All toilets and urinals had foot pedals for flushing. They also had free wi-fi, so I was able to check email while waiting for the meal.

For more details on the food, visit the Picasa album.

Cozumel

Since the Cozumel disembarkation was scheduled for 10am, I was able to go back to my regular gym schedule. There weren't really a lot of people in there, but it was still full because of the small square footage. I was also able to try out the track. They didn't post how many laps was equivalent to 1 mile, but I figured it was around 4. The QM2 track was 3 laps to 1.3 miles. On this ship, the track didn't go around the entire circumference of the ship and also, the ship was shorter. Early in the morning is the only good time to jog because the track was also pretty narrow. During the day, it's filled with people getting tans and wandering aimlessly.

After working out, I met up with the others at Windjammer for breakfast. We were able to take our time because the ship was a little behind schedule docking at the port. We planned on taking a tour of the Mayan ruins because it was the one thing that was not related to shopping or eating.


Once docked, we all met up at the gangway and went through the port shops quickly so we could find a tour bus with room for 12. My dad found a large van with more than enough room and a reasonable price, who would take us around to a few scenic spots, the Mayan ruins and lunch at Club Cozumel Caribe. For more information on all of these activities, visit the Picasa album.

The Blond Giraffe

...All Things Key Lime and Coconut!

Location: 511 Greene Street, Key West, FL
Cuisine: Dessert, Cafe
Phone: (888) 874-PIES
Website: www.blondgiraffe.com
Prices: $7/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 5
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

Most of our group continued checking out the shops, but Ifore and I broke off and headed to a cafe that served key lime pie. We had already passed by many places, mostly food stands that served it. Then we came across The Blond Giraffe, a nice little sitdown cafe. It was empty and didn't even look open, but we went for it because they had a free wi-fi. It turned out that The Blond Giraffe was one of the better known places. As we ate there, we read a pamphlet on the Key West port and this place served an award-winning key lime pie as seen on Food Network 20!


The pies were great. I was expecting an overly strong lime flavor. I normally don't like key lime pie, but since it was a big deal in Key West, I wanted to give it a shot. It actually tasted good and natural, unlike the artificial neon green variety you can get at any dessert place. I also tried their limeade, which was pretty strong.

The only quirk about The Blond Giraffe was they ran out of limeade. I ordered the last one, but it was obvious that we were the first customers of the day!

Key West

Normally, the first thing in the morning for me on a cruise is the gym, but the stay in Key West was so short that I had to go for that first. We were only at that port from 7am-1pm. By the time we ate breakfast and got everyone together, it was about 9am already. Luckily Key West isn't that large and didn't have that many major attractions. My main goal was to get the key lime pie mentioned in everything I read about the island. The port area was right by many stores and restaurants already, so cruise passengers weren't locked into booking an overpriced tour.


We got very lucky with the weather as well. The forecast that I kept checking everyday before we left was consistently thunderstorms and showers. However, for the entire time we were docked, the weather was perfect. Hopefully we'll have the same luck tomorrow in Cozumel where the forecast is also thunderstorms for the whole weekend.

Burgers & Ice Cream

After the show, Edwin & I met up with Ifore back at the rooms. We watched a little bit of the game, then headed out to Windjammer with Uncle Charlie for our late night cruise meal... aka Burgers & Ice Cream. The menu was limited as they only offered hot dogs, burgers & pizza. I thought I was going to miss the ice cream half of the tradition we started last year, but on the way back down I came across the ice cream machine. So I brought my dad a glass of punch and then headed back up to the ice cream machine to fulfill the mission and end the night with this blog entry.

Welcome Show

After dinner, we walked around the ship a bit and then rested a while before going to the welcome show at the Orpheum Theater. I was originally not going to join the rest of the group for it because I wanted to catch the Magic vs. Lakers NBA Final. Then I figured I could still leave in the middle to watch the 2nd half. I ended up staying the whole time because it was pretty good and we had front row seats so I could see in detail what the illusionist was doing. Here are some clips:




The show ended earlier than I though, so I actually saw the end of the 2nd quarter of the game.

Dinner

Since we had a group of 12, we were assigned to 2 tables for dinner at My Fair Lady. The first seating was pretty tight. It only ran from 6-6:15pm. Missing that small time frame would mean an 8:30 dinner! Most of us made it, but Edwin, Ifore & Uncle Charlie were still battling jet lag.

Boarding

We boarded The Enchantment of the Seas at around 12pm. There was hardly a line as we were having lunch at The Windjammer by 12:30pm. Since we had an early breakfast, we were all pretty hungry. Also because we boarded & checked-in early, all 12 of us got seats and made our rounds right away. Naturally, everything is just a bit smaller than QM2, but so far, the buffet dining seems to have more variety.

After we ate, I went with Edwin & Ifore to take a quick tour of the ship. The pool area is one large one as opposed to the many small ones in QM2. The gym on Enchantment seems to be slightly larger, but has less variety in classes. There's a rock climbing wall at the rear of the ship. Because of it's location, the feel of being at the top must be pretty close to an actual mountain because it's all ocean if one were to look down!

So right now, we're just relaxing and waiting for our luggage to arrive on our floor. There's also a mandatory safety drill coming up.

Don Frye?

We got up at about 5am for the 8am flight to our port of call, Ft. Lauderdale. The limo arrived on time and we all did the electronic check-in, which took just about the same time as the conventional method. While I was entering all of our flight data, I saw a guy walk by that looked just like the fighter/actor, Don Frye. In my mind, I always thought he was taller though. I didn't get a chance to ask him because his name didn't come to my mind right away... and he was too far away by the time I was done with the ticketing machine. Too bad we didn't end up at the same gate. I could've used a second look to confirm and would've loved to take a picture with him.

Right now, we're waiting for the plane to take off. There was a slight delay because they had to get some paperwork done for a part replacement. Hopefully it doesn't end up like our American Airlines flight back in January.

Related: IMDB, Wikipedia, Godzilla: Final Wars

Packing for Enchantment

With just 3 more days until my family cruise to Key West & Cozumel, I started putting aside what I plan to bring early. It's a short 4-night cruise, but hard to pack for. I'm trying to think of the different activities I might be doing and balancing that with the latest luggage restrictions. It's going to be hot, so at least most of the clothing will be light. Here's what I have so far:

- netbook for blogging & offloading digital photos
- digital camera, 8 GB SD, charger & case
- iPod for the plane ride & gym
- prescription swimming goggles
- 1 pair of dress pants for dinner
- *1 pair of jeans for other cruise activities & flights
- 2 pairs of shorts (1 for gym, 1 for port stops)
- 1 pair of swimming trunks
- 7 pairs of socks (1 for each day, 2 for emergency)
- 6 boxers (1 for each day, 1 for emergency)
- 1 dress shirt & tie for dinner
- 5 T-shirts for various use... it's more than the number of days because some of these will be used for mornings at the gym
- *1 belt that goes with everything
- dress shoes for dinner
- *Pumas for jogging & port stops
- armband for cellphone, but can also be used w/ iPod while jogging
- 1 small pouch of personal hygiene products
- light leather jacket for the flights... and because it's my favorite
*Will be wearing these items

All of these items cover the various activities like swimming, jogging, rock climbing, dining etc. They also fit into a laptop bag and medium sized carry-on luggage with some room to spare. A lot of the space was saved with the 10" netbook. Before getting that, I used to lug around a 15" laptop that weighed about 7 lbs! Since the netbook is so small (like a hardcover novel), it can easily be carried around, which also eliminates the small travel journal I usually bring around. I used to make notes for blogs on paper, but now I can go directly to computer.