Crossing to Charlottetown

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Monday morning started our first and only “sea day” on this leg of the cruise as we make the passage from Quebec City to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. And it began with a late start, after setting the clocks ahead one hour for the next time zone, with Sharon exclaiming “Is it really eight o’clock.” The importance of 8 AM is that on sea days mass is held at… you guessed it: 8 AM! It was ten minutes before eight actually, and Sharon rushed to get herself presentable, rushing off to find about twenty others had also gotten up for mass. Every priest that we’ve had on HAL cruises has been memorable, special and even a little quirky sometimes in their own special way. Father Dan is no exception. Yesterday he told of how he now lives in a retirement home, which he noted for him, took some getting used to, because after all, he had to get used to living with women. He equated it to living in a monastery (with women). Today, he marveled at the advancement in technology, and speculated on what it would be like if god had voice mail. He elaborated, “Imagine calling god and hearing, Press 1 for General Prayers, Press 2 for Finding Relatives in Heaven, Press 3 for Special Requests, Press 4 to find out if your loved ones made it to heaven, etc”

Afterwards we went up for breakfast in the dining room. I decided to try the Swiss Muesli and added a hash brown patty cake for good measure, and Sharon ordered her old favorite the All American Breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon (with her chocolate croissant on the side of course). The muesli was actually delicious, being made with a light yogurt and honey and raisons and a raspberry on top. My only complaint might be that the tiny serving bowl it came in… I was expecting something akin to the large bowl my oatmeal had come in the day before.

Today’s culinary arts lesson covered making crème Brule and lobster salad, and we arrived early and got seats in the second row center because we didn’t want to miss any samples that might be passed out. The guest chefs were the master chef for the Pinnacle Grille and his assistant chef. The lesson began with making crème Brule, using the recipe used at Le Cirque and available on the one night each week that the Pinnacle Grille changes into Le Cirque (on this cruise that would be Wednesday). The recipe was quite simple with just a few ingredients, but quite a bit of work and time are required. They passed out samples to everyone, but not with the double-thick burned topping (for that you need to go to Le Cirque Night at the Pinnacle). Still, the sample was delicious. Next came the Lobster Salad, and here there were a slew of ingredients, not just for the salad itself, the sauce, and the potato confitte; but, for the presentation of the dish as well. At Le Cirque in New York, this dish alone is priced at $45. So this becomes quite a bargain for the slight surcharge for attending Le Cirque on a HAL ship. It was emphasized more than once, that it’s all in the presentation. One cooking tip that they did offer, for the preparation when boiling the green beans that were included in the base underneath the lobster salad, is to cook the beans in water that contains just a bit of sugar, and this will keep the beans bright green in color. Alas, there were no free samples of the lobster salad (for that too, you need to go to Le Cirque).

We considered going to the Lecture on Halifax, but were lured away by the casino which opened at 10 AM on this sea day. Normally the casino is closed during the day while the ship is in port. Sharon sought out her video poker machine. I sat down at first base and joined the regulars who seem to play quite a bit. Play was proceeding with pretty typical results, and the dealer and I seemed to be exchanging wins and losses. I wasn’t getting any blackjacks, but at least I wasn’t getting killed with my double-downs as I had that first night at the tables. I hit a couple of short parlays, that allowed me to win a double and a split and was slightly ahead when I started on another 4-hand winning streak, and it looked like I would be winning the fifth hand with “19”, but after hitting four cards the dealer made “20”. I decided to take my $30 profit and find Sharon for lunch.

We went up to The Dive-In, the new 1950’s Hamburger Drive-In theme restaurant by the pool, where they hand you a pager after you place an order. This avoids the former problem where everyone was milling around the hamburger grill waiting for their food; and, instead you can find a table and order a drink. It still takes a bit of time for your order to come up. I ordered The Cannonball that features a hamburger, Gouda cheese, smoked bacon and grilled onions and their special Dive-In sauce. Along with their seasoned fries, the burger was exceptionally good.

Sharon was ready for a Sudoku re-match after lunch, so we headed for the library. I finished the Easy puzzle first, and could see that Sharon had made a mistake; so, we went on the Difficult one. We both finished that one, but I was slightly ahead. We both agreed today’s challenge wasn’t one of the tougher puzzles, but then again, it is Monday.

We checked out the dinner menu for Formal Night, and it looked like one of the better meals. We went back to the cabin, worked on the blog, and rested up for Team Trivia. I tried to watch some of Wimbledon, but the sports channel was having satellite issues and was almost completely blacked out. We arrived early for Team Trivia, and were soon joined by our teammates from the day before. We call our them “Penguin Spotters”, partly because when Sharon was telling them of our trip to Antarctica, and our favorite part looking at the penguins and walking among them, and partly because of our teammates who had been on a cruise across the North Atlantic and a speaker had urged people to join him the next day for spotting penguins on deck. People actually showed up with their binoculars, and sadly with their children, with high expectations of seeing penguins. We were sitting near another lady waiting for her husband, and we got to talking, and we invited them to join our team. Everyone seemed to contribute, even our neighboring advisories who blurted out Bette Davis when the first question was “Who was the most popular actress during World War II?” We shouldn’t have ‘borrowed’ their answer, it was close, but it wasn’t Betty Grable which would have gotten us a point. We couldn’t come up with the name of the bar in Liverpool where the Beatles got their start, so we just wrote down Crow’s Nest (where we are playing this trivia game). Any Beatles fans out there ever heard of “The Cavern”? And when they asked “Who patented the first hide-away?” I wrote down “Thomas Jefferson”, but our team agreed that “Murphy” was a better choice. Alas, it was our third president. It’s funny how you remember the ones that you didn’t get, so easily, but you don’t give the ones you got right a second thought. Sharon’s now reminded me of the ones that she did get right… Thank-you Sharon! “Which city has a law not allowing you to pawn your dentures (I guess she’s been eavesdropping on my Pawn Star addiction because the answer is indeed Las Vegas)? What does an androphobic maiden fear? Men, of course. And “What magazine sold over a billion copies for the first time in 1974? Hint: It wasn’t LIFE, and it wasn’t Time; and not even Sport’s Illustrated with its Swimsuit Issue. Sharon had to argue vehemently with our teammates (okay, so this is a question from a previous cruise, so we need to give credit to her memory). The bonus question was, “What is the nickname given to the Canadian two dollar coin?” We all knew this one: “Tooney” (or is it “Two-ney”). When all was said and done, we’d gotten “12” points, and were tied with one other team for first place. Our tie-breaker question (tie breakers are always numerical questions, closest to the right answer wins): “From end-to-end, how long is the Panama Canal?” I suggested 20 miles. Sharon said it has to be longer than that, it takes a day to pass through it. Our newest team member, the one whose wife said that he knows sports when I asked, and who complained that there hadn’t been a single sports question, felt that it must be at least forty miles. So I wrote down “40”. The actual answer was “40.3 miles” and so we were the proud winners of a brass Holland America New England pin. Someone suggested that we might be able to get 15-cents for them on eBay.

We had to go and get ready for the formal dinner, which starts for us in the Open Dining at 5 PM. It’s nice being able to fit into my tuxedo and vest and pants again… it’s been a while. We sat at a table for eight. Sharon ordered me a jumbo shrimp cocktail while I ordered the escargot appetizer. Both were excellent. I next had the pumpkin soup. I was waffling over the entrée, with so many appetizing choices, from crab legs, to beef tenderloin which Sharon ordered, to veal tenderloin. I eventually decided on the Duck al a orange. I don’t think there was a bad choice for this meal, at our table 4 chose the beef tenderloin, three the crab and only I had the duck. The chocolate soufflé with chocolate sauce for dessert topped a perfect meal.

We enjoyed the comedy of The Magic Bob in the Showroom after dinner. It is billed as a magic show, but he was truly funny, and his audience participation just added immensely to an altogether enjoyable experience. He started his show by saying “We’re going have some fun tonight. There are always people walking in late, and when they do, I’m going to engage them in conversation, and I’ll ask them where there from. Then I’ll ask, is there anyone from where they’re from, and everyone cheer. It gets some unusual reactions from the new arrivals!” He then got someone to give him a $20 bill, which he assured them, they’d get back. He gave that bill to a lady on the other side of the room, and he gave the man who gave him the bill a grapefruit. He instructed the man that every time he asked “Who has the grapefruit?” that he was to stand and in his best Shakespearean voice announce “I have the Grapefruit” (being sure to roll the R’s). Then someone walked into the theatre, and he chatted with them, and then asked them where they were from. They answered “Toronto”, to which everyone cheered, loudly. Bob just shook his head, looked bewildered, and said “For this to work, you need to wait for me to ask, Is there anyone here from Toronto? We’ll try again, later.” He then sought out a boy, who he said that he would turn into a rabbit. The grandson of the lady holding the man’s $20 was volunteered. He then needed a girl to help with the trick, and asked a girl in the front row to come and help out. The child, with long flowing blond hair responded, “I’m a boy.” Bob had some fun with that, but handled it very well. He got a girl volunteer from the balcony section behind where we were sitting to come up on stage. And he later asked the boy he thought was a girl to come up as well and assist. The girl had to count one-two-three as Bob waved his wand over the boy (whose head was being held forward by the other boy who didn’t look very happy being there). The importance of the head being facing forward became clear in a minute, as he dropped the wand for the third time above the boy, a banner of a rabbit unfurled, with a hole where the boy’s face peered through. There was a lot of interaction with the kids, and their reactions and I’m sure embarrassment was priceless. And in the end, the $20 with matching serial number that was in an envelope the grandmother was sitting on, was found in the grapefruit when it was sliced open.



I decided to try my luck at the blackjack tables, after all, it’s not every day you get to where a tuxedo and gamble in a casino looking like 007! The same people were still playing. I was slightly ahead and the cards were running fairly good, when I lost about five hands in a row, then won a couple of hands. I decided to press my luck, needing to win one of the next three hands not to lose any money. It took a “20” and that third bet to stay even. I decided to cool my heels until I won two hands in a row again, which occurred right away. I decided to try again, again needing to win one of the next three hands. I lost the first, and then I got a pair of three’s, and the dealer had six, which is the worst card for the dealer and best for the player. Best odds for the player is to split the three’s, but this of course doubles the bet, one of the largest I’ve made… but you have to go with the odds, so I split. As expected, I get a face card on the first three and need to stand. But I get a seven on the second three. Arguably the card I’ve been hoping for, and I could just hit, but again the odds for the player say to double down, which I do. Expecting to see the dealer to turn over a five for his hole card, instead he turns over an eight. And then he obligingly follows that with a face card, and I decide to call it a night. I’ve recouped most of my losses from the first night. If you guessed “TV Guide”, then you too might be a contender on Team Trivia.

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