Biding Our Time in Boston

---

We approached Boston, and the captain did an excellent job of keeping guests comfortable; because, we never were inconvenienced in any way by Hurricane Arthur. I decided to postpone my work-out until after breakfast since the Rotterdam Dining Room would close at 8 AM when disembarkation of departing passengers was scheduled to begin. We spotted Sara and Charles in line just behind us, and asked to be seated with them. It was nice to have a chance to say goodbye to our Penguin Spotters teammates. And we agreed to continue to use the team name on future cruises, including our return leg to Montreal. Charles thought that perhaps in Southern Waters when they cruise with HAL to Antarctica, perhaps they should modify the name to Polar Bear Spotters.

I did get my workout in the gym, and also was able to watch the Wimbledon Women’s Final. We kept checking for today’s Sudoku Puzzles, but none were to be found in the library. We lounged for a bit by the pool, but it was a bit breezy with the open roof. Sharon took some pictures just to show that we were in Boston… see the picture that says “Port of Boston” in big letters. Sharon went up to the Crow’s Nest to read. Near noon we relocated back to the pool, and were the first to place our order at The Dive In. Boarding passengers had not yet filtered up to the pool area, and the quiet was almost deafening. I ordered the Cannonball again (burger with Gouda and bacon and special sauce); while, Sharon had her plain burger. Their “naked fries” really are very good. Many new passengers began to filter onboard, and from the windows overlooking them, we can see them and their luggage coming onboard.

We just took this time to relax, get caught up on our blog, and verified that we have reservations at the Pinnacle this evening. We hadn’t received a notice with our tour tickets from the front office; but, we were scheduled again for 5:30 PM. Sharon exclaimed, “Now why did we do ‘that’?” since the Vigil Mass will likely run over from its 5:00 PM start. A knock came on the cabin door, and the steward was delivering a “Gift from the Captain” for “Collection Voyage” passengers who were doing the return cruise back to Montreal. We thoroughly enjoyed the array of various chocolates that we received. We spent some time up on the Sports Deck, and Sharon remarked how fun it was to be continuing on the Maasdam rather than trying to get settled on the first day. We hoped to see the 4:00 PM departure, but the captain was still awaiting final clearance from the port authority when that chime sounded. Along the Boston terminal facing the ship are many historic mural panels from Boston’s history. With no Sudoku today, and no bingo, and no Team Trivia, we really did have an unencumbered restful time. We went down to get dressed for our “big dinner” in the Pinnacle before Sharon went to mass. I went up a bit later and waited for Sharon outside the Wajang Theatre, and I could hear the new priest’s voice booming down the hallway. I wandered up to the Pinnacle just before our reservation time and was seated at a window side table. The waitress brought the complimentary bread and bread crisps with some unsalted butter. Sharon joined me shortly. I ordered the lobster bisque, and I noticed that their famous French Onion Soup has yet to return to the menu. Sharon ordered me the crab cakes. Our little subterfuge isn’t really necessary, you can pick whatever (or however many) appetizers you want for this fixed price dinner; although, I noticed that there was a surcharge for some of the items now appearing on the menu (such as caviar and crab legs). After taking our order we were brought the chef’s complimentary pre-appetizer, a grilled scallop atop pumpkin puree, which was delicious (both of them). The lobster bisque with tiny chunks of lobster in the center along with a swirl of crème fraiche was gone in a jiff. The crab cakes, two small crab cakes and mustard sauce dollops on the plate, also went down very easily. Sharon ordered the small filet mignon, medium well, and I who had been waffling back and forth all day on what to order, from the filet to the halibut, finally settled on my old standby, the 18 ounce bone-in rib eye done medium rare. I chose the mustard horseradish sauce to accompany it. For our sharable sides we asked for the whipped potatoes, the buttered carrots, and the parmesan with prosciutto Brussel sprouts. It was, as it always seems to be a perfect dinner at the Pinnacle Grille. But wait, there is more. We shared the chocolate Grand Marnier infused lava cake with whipped cream, and also the chocolate soufflé. We had heard that they had discontinued offering this dessert, but we still had the choice of either the chocolate or vanilla soufflé. I had already made a pig of myself, devouring most of the truffles they had brought us when we’d finished our entrees.

We headed for the casino after dinner. As I’d expected, the tables were still sitting pretty much idle, even though the casino had opened at 5:00 PM. I sat down at first base, and the dealer began to shuffle the cards. I suspect that he is a new dealer, because he had some trouble handling the eight decks, and as he was assembling them for me to cut, the top few cards went shooting towards the edge away from the dealer. He lunged to keep them on the table, which he did, but not before losing control of the rest of the shoe. He looked sheepishly at the pit boss, who gave him that “you know what you have to do now” shake of the head, and he proceeded to reshuffle the cards. I asked if the cards had flown onto the floor if the whole shoe would have to be rechecked, and he nodded, and this was clearly not something he was enjoying. We did finally start to play, and things went back and forth, but I was making a bit of headway with some blackjacks and double downs. I decided to press my luck just a bit, making my string of three bets where I hope to win at least one of the three hands, the third recouping losses if I lose the first two. The first hand did not go well. Neither did the second, so I followed through with my third and largest bet so far. That’s when the nice old lady was about to put out $10 for chips, and I asked her if she’d mind waiting just a bit. She was very nice, and let me play the hand. I was holding “14” and looking at dealer’s ace, and I was too rattled to figure out what the hands might have been if the lady had played (okay, she would have had the ace, but beyond that, who knows). I hate having to hope the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, refusing to take the insurance, and having passed that hurdle, being left to hit a stiff hand. I hit a seven, and all I could think was that maybe things wouldn’t turn out that badly, after all, I had a “20” and the dealer wasn’t going to beat me on the turn. The dealer turned over a four, but followed that with a five, and we pushed. The dealer then proceeded to win the next hand when I busted this time. I signaled for the lady to make her bet, as I put out a red chip for my minimum $5 bet, thanking her for waiting. So I get to play catchup this evening. I proceeded to make a long string of minimum bets, occasionally working into a slight parlay, but seldom winning more than two hands in a row. And the onslaught of players began to join the game. The lady next to me hit fifteen against dealer’s six, busted with the card that would have made the dealer bust, and as the dealer took everyone’s bets marveled, “Oh, maybe I should have not hit that card since dealer had a six.” You think? It does help if you look at the dealer’s up-card before guessing whether or not to take a card. A couple other players were very bold hitting stiff hands when dealer had a low card; but, with the same hand against an ace or ten they somehow felt that they stood a better chance waiting for the dealer to bust! And I seemed to be losing an awful lot of those hands; but, it’s their bet and their money and it should all work out in the end. I just need to hang on and bide my time. A young woman bought in for $10 giggling how you can’t play for less than $15 in Atlantic City. She made a $5, doubled down and made twenty. Unfortunately the dealer turned over a face card and they pushed. She did win the next hand and was up $5; but, that was the last hand that she won. About this time I was in the middle of losing ten or eleven hands in a row as a stack of red chips I was playing with disappeared. Then just as suddenly, things seemed to be turning back to the players, as the dealer began to bust. The results I was seeing made me feel comfortable making my next large bet; which, with a blackjack could recoup the loss of the series. Well, that plan didn’t pan out and I was looking at “15” against dealer’s ace, of course. Again I declined insurance, and again, dealer did not have blackjack. I hit a two, and at least I didn’t bust. But “17”, dealer needs to bust for me to win! The dealer turned over a second ace, followed that with a ten, and followed that with a face card busting! Okay, feeling very, very fortunate, I pulled my bet back to $5, and it was a good thing that I did, and a good thing that I continued to bet $5. Eventually things were starting to go better for me again, and at one point I even won nine hands in a row. I then lost with “19” looking at dealer’s eight-spot as he hit about four cards to come up with “20”. It was too bad too, because I got a blackjack on the next hand, but with a $5 bet instead of the next bet in my parlay series which would have been very nice. The lady that I had asked to wait, played quite a long time, okay she was buying more chips along the way, but she decided to leave. This left just one player opposite me who didn’t seem to like to bust. He decided that now would be a good time to split his two tens against dealer’s seven. He grabbed the two tens on the table and separated them, and I thought the dealer was going to bite his head off. He pulled his hands back, and then reached for the tens again, and the dealer swatted at his hands saying “No touch.” The dealer placed the bet behind the cards where he now placed them. The player hit an eight on the first hand, then got another ten. He split that one as well, having started with a $10 bet. He got another ten, and split that, and the dealer warned him that that was the last time he could split. He got another eight, then he got a nine on the third hand, and then a seven. All in all, things could have worked out so much worse for him. If ever you should hope that the dealer has the card that he should have, this would be it, but not this player who was coaching for the dealer to turn over a nine. The dealer obliged, now having “16”. Now he expected to coach the dealer into busting, but the dealer’s next card was a three, giving him “19”. Again, I suppose you might say, it could have been worse. I lost $5 on that hand, and was trying to hide the smile on my face; but, at least this guy lost more than I did on a hand we both should have won. I told him after the hand “When cards are dealt face up, players aren’t allowed to touch them.” Reeling from that hand, and now from my rebuke, the player gathered what chips he had left, and moved on. I can only hope he won’t sit down if I’m at the table during the rest of the cruise. I now had what I was waiting for, the table to myself, as when I had started. It was already past 11:00 PM. The house generally will stay open until midnight, and then, depending on the action at the tables, may stay open longer. The pit boss asked me if I wanted a free drink; which, I politely declined at first, and then said, yes, I’d like some ice water. The cocktail waitress seemed happy with the $1 blue chip I gave her. And the cards were definitely running fair. One dealer asked if the stack of $2.50 chips I was accumulating were all from blackjacks, and they were. There were at least twenty of them in a stack. That number times twenty is a rough approximation of how many hands that I played so far, or about 400! There was a last call for drinks, and I’d known for some time they wanted to close the pit. The dealer asked if he should shuffle again, and I said yes, and I think it was his way of saying “Last Shoe”. I did some pressing into this run of cards, finishing with a run of about seven hands in a row, and decided to call it a night. I had managed to salvage a $30 profit for the evening. It was just after mid-night when I snuck back into the cabin.

---