See Sharon, See John, Sea Day Three

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With a day at sea from Sitka to Victoria, and losing one hour as we returned to the Pacific Daylight Time Zone, we were a little slow rising; but, Sharon had set the time ahead an hour so she at least made it to the 8AM mass on time (with two other hearty souls). John was a bit slow, but he did get there in time for his favorite “may peace be with you part”. Cruise lines frown on folks shaking hands, but for some reason they’re okay with cabin mates kissing.

We next went to breakfast, with John settling in on his Eggs Benedict, with extra hashed browns and sausage links. Sharon of course had the All American breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon and white toast. They offer juice, and Sharon had apple, but John makes them come up with iced tea with lemon. With the foggy rainy conditions outside, we reflected on the magnificent weather we enjoyed in each port, and the very rainy conditions endured by those on the cruise prior to ours. I guess you really don’t know what the weather might be when you go to places that measure rain and snow each in the tens of feet per year.

By now it was after 9AM, so we made our way up to the library for our Daily Sudoku Challenge. John finished both the easy and hard ones in under 5 minutes each, and had to wait for Sharon to catch up. We didn’t do well on the “practice trivia” sheets they pass out next to the Sudoku sheets from the NY Times.

We decided to try our luck at the casino, but Sharon’s machine wouldn’t quite give her the rewards she sought and she made a small $10 deposit to be collected later. John fared a little better at the blackjack table, and pondered how this one couple always seem to be at the table. The was the first time he realized they were married, because at previous sessions one of them would arrive later, while the other would already be at the table when John sat down. She was playing much better than earlier in the cruise; but, they both play $1 on the “Cruise 21” side bet that has a 50:1 payoff for a pair of suit matching aces on the first two cards, 25:1 for a matching suited pair, 10:1 for a like-color pair, and 5:1 for an off-color pair. John figures this to be about an 8% house advantage wager, losing about $1 for every $12 bet. It might be fun when you win, but you can go a long time between pairs! Although John started poorly by losing the first seven hands, things turned around quickly, and a couple of double downs and one split later he was up over $50, and it was time to play bingo… and I didn’t get a single blackjack in that session while the couple got eight between them in a very short time.

Many people came out for the 11:30AM cruise bingo, but one group left in a huff when they found out the cruise was a 7-day Caribbean cruise (and they were from Hawaii). They should have hung around to hear Cruise Director Mike tell of HAL liberal policy when it comes to this cruise prize, of applying it to a cruise of your choice… oh well, a better chance for the rest of us I guess. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough of an edge for Sharon or John to make good on their $20 blackout card to win the cruise… but someone did!

There was no lunch in the La Fontaine today, as they were hosting the captain’s award luncheon there. As this appeared to possibly interfere with the cruise bingo, and definitely interfere with team trivia, we decided to skip getting our cruise tiles, and do these other activities instead. We went to the Lido, and John started with the tortilla soup, which was a rather clear broth, tasty and with a couple tortilla strips sprinkled on at the end, and a couple of morsels of chicken, but not your typical hearty thick tortilla soup. John also tried three tasty sushi, using lots of wasabi, and he may have overdone the wasabi on the last one because Sharon noticed him turning a bright shade of red (and I had lost my breath and been quite overcome by the wasabi fumes to the point I just had to swallow and grab a glass of iced tea). John then had some rotisserie chicken (dark meat of course) and two cheese manicotti. Sharon had a slice of roast pork with mashed potatoes. We both had a chocolate chip cookie for dessert, but Sharon had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with her cookie.

It was up to the Crow’s Nest for Team Trivia. We found a couple of our former team (not the ones who helped us win), and we used our name, “The No Nothings”. We started well enough, but we changed our first answer “Toronto” to “Vancouver” for the Canadian city with the longest street in the world (Yong Street). That cost us one point. And for the golfer that was the first to win the Masters, British Open and US Open in the same year (John had written down Jack Nickolas and Ben Hogan). The team agreed on Jack but it of course was Ben, and that cost us another point. Each member of the team contributed at least one answer, Sharon knowing “Sweet 16” for the term used for the third or fourth rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament , so her brothers should be proud. We got 10 points but needed a few more (still I think we came in third).

We went to the 2PM talk were Jeff Trachta told an inspiring story about his life, his family, his early success, and his efforts to deal with depression which began at the age of 25 when the villainous soap box character he played was killed off in the serial, how drugs weren’t the answer for him, and eventually talking with his therapist got him back on track to enjoying life, and developing his craft, and expanding his horizons. His alcoholic father had died young, but was a very big positive influence on his life, giving him words to live by “if you can find a job where you can make people laugh, you’ll always be happy”, plus an innate love of country. His mother also suffered from depression, and is alive today, but has never found the peace she seeks, and has never seen him perform, but Jeff says he never stops hoping.

We next went to see the final three in the Super Star Karaoke competition, in the American Idol format. Each contestant got to sing two songs on the big stage in the Queens Lounge. The first was a middle aged lady with a great voice, singing first a slow or ballad-like song, and displayed a great voice and range. Next came the only remaining man, with a low gruff voice, singing a song suited to his voice “Wonderful World”. The third contestant singing her first song was a younger woman, with a nice voice and it appeared the contest might be between the two women. The judges were very kind, noting a missed note, or apologizing for the karaoke music being off key and promising to look into it, but almost universally positive. For the second more lively song, where the judges I think were more looking for presentation, style, audience participation, and showmanship, as opposed to pure singing talent, the first contestant knocked it out of the part singing Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. Her voice was impeccable, not quite hitting the highest notes that Dolly does in her rendition, but still very satisfying and completely recognizable to the audience. The guy noted that was a tough act to follow, and it really was but he troopered through King of the Road which was very enjoyable. And finally did her song, which was perhaps as poor a choice for a song as a contestant could make for this venue. As one of the judges noted, this song from “Pink” which Sharon and John had never heard, contained phrases like “morphine drip” and seemed to be saying goodbye to someone in a drug induced coma and referring to the nurse on duty as a “b---h”. Sharon said it was the worst song she’d every heard (not the voice of the singer but the song itself). Clearly a bad selection for this audience.Well, I think it was unanimous, the first girl won.

It was my final chance to buy the bingo cards, and pick a winning card for Sharon. I waited for very near the end to buy the bingo cards, this had worked before, and I was hoping it would work again. John also bought a lottery chance to win a cruise, three chances for $20, and they did this raffle just before bingo started. The called out for guests with room numbers beginning with “1” remain standing. Most of the room sat down. The next number was “4”, and now only four people were standing. The next number was “2” and there were just two people standing, and they were standing right next to each other. Cruise Director Mike then asked the woman if she knew the man standing next to her, and she replied that she’d been sleeping with him for the last thirty years… The Cruise Director then repeated the question, as to whether she knew the man standing next to her. With the two of them anticipating their free cruise, he called the last digit in the room number “9”. This was not the number they were looking for, and the lady suggested that the “6” looked like a “9”, but the winning ticket wasn’t in attendance, and clearly Cruise Director Michael was disappointed not to award this prize in person in front of the audience.

Bingo started immediately and there was a huge crowd in attendance, easily twice the size of the games earlier in the cruise, no doubt attracted by the $100,000 bonus prize possible on the final blackout game. The by default regular bingo was over almost before it started in just 9 calls, with a prize twice that of earlier first card winners. The second game was the six-pack, and again, someone else won in a fairly rapid manner. The third game was the Big-L, not the crazy one. John finished the bottom leg earlier, but could seem to get the other B’s, and in the end someone else won. And in the blackout, Sharon got down to just one number left, but on the final call when someone else yelled “Bingo”. Oh well, we tried.

We dressed up for dinner in the Pinnacle. John ordered a cabernet to go with his steak. The complimentary appetizer offering was a grilled scallop with some zesty sauce, and guess what… John got to eat two. This complimented his jumbo shrimp cocktail with a tangy horseradish sauce. There was plenty of large shrimp and almost enough sauce, but not enough fire to suit John. Even Ron, the best man at our wedding and fond of a good shrimp cocktail, would have wanted more zip. Sharon ordered the crab cakes, and yep, John got to eat that too. They were two very small tasty crab cakes, with not quite enough tomato-tartar sauce, but elegantly placed on the plate. John’s next course was their signature French onion soup, and as French onion soup goes, this is as good as it gets. Most importantly, they serve it sizzling hot. There is just the right amount of completely melted cheese, not the huge blob one often gets. And just the right amount of completely saturated French bread and plenty of onions and lots of rich beef broth reinforced with cognac. Sharon had the petite filet mignon with mashed potatoes while John ordered the rib eye medium rare with green peppercorn sauce, mushrooms and scalloped potatoes (which they make with cheese). The entrees were wonderful. For dessert, we shared the chocolate volcano cake with whipped cream and the chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce reinforced with Grand Marnier. Both were yummy and it really is tough to say which was better. John ordered the daily cordial, Tropical Delight, consisting of Midori, banana liquor and Cointreau, and it came in the yellow shot glass to give John two of each color (blue, red, green, orange and yellow). They are supposedly out of purple.

After dinner, it was time to try our luck at the casino again. Sharon found some early luck at her Winning Bid slot, and decided to quit $20 up when she couldn’t quite get her winnings to $40 (she came close). John started slow at the blackjack table, able to secure his first base slot, losing the first few hands, not quite as bad as his early start this day, but disheartening. He had worked his way back to even when Sharon stopped buy after her first session, and she decided to continue with some video poker. John was flirting with getting $50 ahead, but suffered repeated setbacks. Sharon won another $10 and decided to quit on a winning note. She stopped by again to wish John luck, and move onto the piano bar. John eventually decided to call it a night, with a $60 profit, and met Sharon in the piano bar where Matthew Cline was entertaining listeners with a Johnny Cash tune, Folsom Prison Blues. We stayed a bit before calling it a night.

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