Sunday Sea Day

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Sunday morning mass was at 8 AM this morning, being a “Sea Day” and mandatory because both Sharon and Erin had decided to skip the Vigil Mass the evening before so that they could help the team with its Team Trivia Travails. Look at how well that worked out for us. After mass we went to the Dining Room for our second sit-down breakfast of the cruise. I again ordered the vegetarian frittata with sausage and hash browns. Sharon ordered her old standby American breakfast. Our day was off to a nice relaxing leisurely start; but, I still had a couple of days of blogging to catch up on. I’d been sleeping in more than I have on previous trips, and I really need a sea day now and then to catch up on the blog.

Back in our cabin we took our final Sudoku that we’d secured a couple of days back. As it would turn out, this was to be our last HAL challenge. I’d stopped by the Exploration Lounge on the way back to the cabin and found that no new Trivia sheets had been put out, and the sheet holder had been empty for a couple of days now so there definitely is an interest in these daily challenges. HAL at one time had taken their Sudoku from the New York Times daily puzzle, and they must have had some arrangement with HAL for them to do so for one year. Each puzzle is numbered. The puzzles on this cruise have ranged all over the place. On previous Alaskan cruises I’ve seen them use puzzles 1 through however many cruise days there are. On the Rotterdam there seems no rhyme or reason. The librarian was actually in the lounge this morning changing certain event sheets and tidying up, so I asked if new Sudoku sheets would be forth coming. She assured me that they would be put out “later”. Well later, that day, they had not appeared yet; nor, had they appeared the next day. In fact, by the end of the cruise I was still waiting for those sheets. As I write this it is about 5 in the morning and I am approaching NY harbor. I edged out Sharon on the Easy puzzle. I thought I was way ahead on the Hard puzzle when I realized I had one of those “Houston, We have a problem” moments. With no way to fix the problem and no replacement sheets available I was resigned to a DNF. Sharon plodded on to her victory.

At 11 AM we again became the bingo trio in search of our first win. Show Host Andy plays an assortment of longer games and today was no exception. It’s nice when the second game is something more than the “Small-X”. On one previous cruise the Show Host played that on every single second game a couple of times the game was over in five calls. HAL always starts with a single Bingo. Today we played the Large-X; but, first we had to play the regular Bingo game. Sharon got to stand; well, if she had been a little bit quicker she’d have gotten to stand to let everyone else in the room know that she was just one number away. Someone called bingo, and that was that. For the Big-X, there was a déjà vu moment, and again Sharon got to stand; well, she would have if she’d only been a little bit quicker. Show Host Andy likes to play the 6-pack for the third game. On this game we were all standing. I had about 5 different numbers that could give me Bingo; and, I think everyone in the room was just one number away. Show Host Andy commented that he suspected there would be a lot of people calling bingo; and yet, he continued to call the numbers. One person finally called “Bingo” for the three-hundred plus dollar prize. For the $20,000 jackpot game we all seemed to be doing pretty well. I got to within eight calls of the bonus, and Sharon within 7. Several people were already standing, not too long after the bonus limit of 46 calls had passed, and we were now playing for just over $500. We all had the next call, and it put each of us within one. We all looked at each other, paused, and then started to stand; but, a belated “Bingo” came from the back. How does someone just one number away not know what number they need (or maybe they just couldn’t believe their luck).

Sharon, Erin and Dennis went up to the Lido for lunch. I went back to the cabin to work on the blog. I’d had a pretty big breakfast, and didn’t feel like more food. And I knew that there were more big meals ahead of me. We couldn’t dawdle though, and made our way to the Crow’s Nest by 1 PM for Team Trivia.

Michael started with what should have been an easy question; and, I’m pretty sure that I’d heard the question before, perhaps while passing during a Pub Trivia question. At least, dealing with entertainment, it sounds like a Pub Trivia question. “What brand of apple did Apple Records use for their logo?” Erin scribbled down Granny Smith; but, then cooler minds prevailed and we talked ourselves into Macintosh, seeming to recall some sort of lawsuit with the computer company. Well those cooler minds were dead wrong. Michael is half Dutch and half British, and the Brits do like those Shakespeare questions. That’s fine as long as the answer is “Hamlet”, which it often is. This tim, in e Michael asked, “What is the name of the only dog to have a name in one of Shakespeare’s plays? In fact,” Michael added, “he had quite a role in the play.” That last clue probably would have helped if I remembered “Two Gentlemen from Verona” which I did start many years ago, but never finished. The dog’s name is “Crab”; and with his accent which tends to soften the “B’s”, Michael emphasized, “Crap, with a B!” Sharon knew the name of the lake formed when the Panama Canal was built, I never would have come up with it. Gatun Lake. One team went with Panama Lake. I got the token Harry Potter question, name the fourth book and movie of the series. I’ll give you a hint, “It’s the one with the Tri-Wizard Tournament!” That would be “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. The question that we should have gotten, and being ex-military Erin and Dennis were taking turns kicking each other, “Who is buried in Arlington Cemetery, The Arch de Triumph and Westminster Abbey?” In retrospect, Benjamin Franklin really wasn’t that great of an answer. I doubt the Brits would be all that thrilled honoring that revolutionist. I’m just saying. Now, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, that could have been a great answer for us. The five point bonus was totally undoable for us, well, we got the easy ones. Michael gave us Airport Codes, five of them. We missed “NRT”, “ORY” and “KUL”. Narita in Tokyo, Orly in Paris and Kuala Lumpur. Yikes. Do I need to tell you that we didn’t win (and we didn’t come in second today either). And those teachers, didn’t miss a single question, again.

After trivia we decided to play some more Spades in the Crow’s Nest. I had some new rules for Erin and Sharon to digest, altering the scoring slightly. We had just started when Michael strolled by to say hello. Erin asked him, “That group that keeps winning, we call them ‘the retired school teachers’. Do you know what they do?” Michael said, “I think they just sail a lot.” I wonder if they follow Michael around on the Rotterdam. He’d told us that this has been his home for the past four years; but, that he will be going briefly to the Zuiderdam, and from there to the Princendam, a ship that he’s been trying to get onto for some time. He likes the intimacy of the smaller ships. Michael had told us that he does all of his own questions. Today he added that he has a list of about 120 Trivia Question Sets that he uses. I did the math, and my spreadsheet has a ways to go to match that. I did add about 130 questions to my list of FAQs; but by Michael’s standards, I’m still only half way there. Michael left, and we continued playing Spades. Sharon started out well, again; but, then began to falter. In the end, I wound up the only one in the plus column and Erin took considerable pride in humbling her much, much older sister.

Sharon stopped in the Casino on the way back to the cabin. Nobody was playing blackjack, so I took this as a chance to continue with the blog. I checked the time and realized that I’d better go find Sharon, since she hadn’t come back to the room yet. Since she seldom risks more than $20 at a time, I wasn’t too worried. I found her in the casino and she was proudly pointing to the Player’s Credit number which was well north of 30,000 credits. She’d won the middle jackpot, and the small jackpot and done well with the bonuses. She’d won $300. She agreed it was time to walk away and go see the Future Cruise lady.

The Future Cruise lady was finishing up with someone when we arrived. Another “walk-in” was ahead of us; but, the lady let us know that she operates by appointments, and someone was scheduled for 4:30. We hung around, and that appointment knew what he wanted and it took just 15 minutes, so she fit us in in the remainder of that 30 minute slot. We wound up booking a Collector’s Cruise of 21 days in the Baltic for the Fall and a two-leg Alaskan cruise for next summer.

Tonight was the second and final gala night. We sat at table for four. I enjoyed the jumbo shrimp with brandy sauce; but, they were nothing like the triple mouthful sized shrimp in the Pinnacle earlier on this cruise. I doubt that I shall ever forget those. Dennis and I both enjoyed the mushroom soup; and, as Dennis noted they serve the soup HOT! I had also ordered the special daily salad, and enjoyed eating some greens. I opted for the veal rack served on mashed potatoes, and it was a new and enjoyable dish for me. Sharon and Dennis went with the more typical gala fare of prime rib and baked potato; and for once Sharon didn’t need to make a special order of the baked potato. Erin chose the pasta entre without cheese of course, as she often does. At lunch she had ordered a pizza her way in the NY Pizza place on the rear deck aft of the Lido. She listed just the things that she wanted, but hadn’t specified “no cheese”. The steward observed, and I think he’s probably right on this, “But pizzas come with mozzarella cheese!” They did redo her pizza for her, without cheese. Sharon and I had the flourless chocolate cake and it was very good.



I decided to skip the cast show. Erin hadn’t gone either, and the next day when she asked me why, I told her “It’s kinda akin to, Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me; but, fool me three times: that would make me an idiot!” I think she concurred. But Sharon did go to the dance show, and said that she actually enjoyed this show. Our cabin is beneath the Showroom and from the loudness of the drums I was happy I wasn’t there; but, Sharon insists that it was quite good featuring several styles of dancing. I suppose this might appeal to an avid watcher of “Dancing With the Stars”. I think that Sharon misses the at sea version of this show; which, they are no longer doing. Sharon went to the casino on the way back to the cabin, and won another $50 at her slot machine. She’s going to be impossible when we get back to Las Vegas.

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