Calm Seas and Clear Skies in Charlottetown

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Maasdam was scheduled to dock in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island about 9:00 AM this morning, about the time we were waking up. This tour-free day for us is certainly starting out at a leisurely pace. As I checked the booty that Sharon’s raffle ticket had won in the casino the night before, I was happy to see that the T-Shirt was an XL-size, and the hat was a nice one too. That’s when I couldn’t find the baseball hat from Niagara Falls that I’d been wearing. We had to rush to get up to the Lido to get there in time for the open buffet breakfast. Sharon had her French toast and bacon and I waited quite a while in the omelet line, as the gentleman at the front ordered up not just one, but in the end four additional omelets. I got to the table as Sharon was finishing up, and she had gone to the other side where there was no line.

We picked up the Daily Sudoku Puzzle on the way back to the room. I stopped by the Front Desk, to check with the Lost and Found if my missing hat had been turned in. It had been found left in the gangway entrance, which makes sense, I’d taken it off to go through the X-ray machine the day before and it must not have come out with the camera, cell phones, and camera case.

Sharon and I had another tie on the Easy Puzzle; but, then I noticed that I hadn’t written down the answer to two of the cells that I’d annotated, so I guess Sharon beat me on the “Practice Puzzle”. Sharon got another “DNF” on the hard puzzle as she still had about one-third of the cells left to annotate as I finished.

We went out to try just one more lobster roll at the MacKenneon’s “Lobster on the Wharf” restaurant, and Sharon was back to having Fish and Chips. I started with a cup of their lobster bisque, and I’d have to give it a nod as the best that I’ve ever had, with plenty of chunks of lobster. My entrée came on a traditional lobster roll with an ample helping of their lobster salad. It had plenty of large chunks of lobster, with just a little bit of mayonnaise, and a little bit of chopped celery and some seasoning including tarragon. At $17, this was the most expensive lobster roll that I had, but part of that price I’m sure is the window view of both the St. Lawrence River and the Maasdam docked at the pier. We had the option to sit outside, but chose to get inside out of the wind which was stiff enough getting off the ship to threaten to blow my hat away. I still have to give the nod to the lobster roll that I enjoyed in Bar Harbor at the West Street Café as the best one on this 14-day Odyssey. The one at the Lobster on the Wharf is a close second; and both of these were a clear step above the other lobster rolls that I had tried.

There is no Team Trivia today (and no Bingo either) so we are just hanging out in the cabin, doing blog updates, checking email and hanging out until Sharon will go to mass. Okay, so maybe we’re eating some of the fudge that we bought: Sharon the maple fudge and me the Breton Whiskey fudge we had gotten in Sydney. Sharon then noticed that the Cruise Director Jeremy was having a special Canadian version of trivia, but said it was an informational slide show but not a challenge, covering Canadian Inventions in the Showroom, so we decided to check that out at 4:30 PM. Surprisingly, we found our fellow teammates Edie and Fred already there, and they were ready with pencils and answer sheets. I’m thinking, I’d better go over to the other side and get us some of those. It turned out that it was indeed a slide show, and teams were offered a choice of three possible answers. Mostly the format was some Canadian inventor was sited, and people were asked what their invention was. We mustered up ten out of fifteen points; but, for this challenge there was no bonus question. We did manage to get into the double digits (barely) along with three other teams, all behind the two-member non-Canadian couple that scored two additional points. Everyone got a pin for participating; but, I had to pickup Sharon’s for her who had to disappear to attend mass at about question number twelve.

We sat at the rear of the Maasdam in the Rotterdam Dining Room again, with the grandparents and their two grandchildren from a couple nights back. I requested Sharon to order me the crab and shrimp tower; while, I tried the goat cheese and mushroom pastry. Except for the color on top, they looked very similar, as if backed in a small custard dish and then removed upside down on the serving plate with those decorative touches of avocado or crème fraiche. Both were very good. Sharon had the chicken noodle soup; while, I decided to try the French Onion Soup from the Daily Menu. My soup only made me realize how much I miss the French Onion Soup that they used to serve in the Pinnacle. “That” soup was excellent, this one, not so much. I ordered the grilled pork tenderloin which was served as a breaded pork cutlet. Sharon asked when she saw my plate, if “that” was the same dish I’d once made at home, leaving her with a horrendous mess in the kitchen to deal with the next day when I had left to visit my mother for her 80^th birthday. And it was! This had happened on a Thursday, the day we have the house cleaned by our maid, and we now have a rule that I’m not allowed to mess up the kitchen on a Thursday. Sharon ordered the strip steak from the daily menu. The grandchildren left the table before dessert to go up to the Lido for ice cream. The boy was dressed in a suit coat and tie, and I suspect he was on the way to their cabin first to change. I ordered the Chocolate Soup for dessert, which was served in a tall narrow glass sundae glass, topped with whipped cream and containing chopped bananas and cinnamon. It was quite tasty. Sharon had the chocolate chip cookie stack, which have both of us scratching our heads. Three chocolate chip cookies came stacked on a plate.



After dinner we went to the show to see the comedienne Julie Barr with her flaming pink and blue hair. Sharon had asked the grandparents if their grandchildren would be attending the show; but, they were not. Sharon was concerned that her show might not be age appropriate. As it was, there were quite a few children in the audience, and her interaction with them was pretty funny. But there was an edge and double-entendre to her humor. After the show, Sharon went to the piano bar; while, I of course sat down at the blackjack table. There were just one or two others playing with me for that first hour. Sharon returned and planned to play some slots, and then went back to the cabin. At one point an elderly Asian couple were playing $5 each on their spots. I had started into a winning parlay and my bet was $8. I showed a seven and eight facing dealer’s king of diamonds. I hit a six and was pretty happy with my chances. The lady hit a six and held “18” and her husband had two face cards for “20”. Then the dealer turned over his hole card; and, it was an ace. He cringed, realizing that he’d failed to check for a blackjack. He started to reach for my bet and I shook him off, showing the hand to be a “push”. If the house rules call for dealer’s to check for a blackjack, and they don’t and players play their hands, the best the dealer can do is play the hand as a “21”. He called the pit boss over. At first he told the dealer to take the bets. I said he didn’t check for blackjack, and showed that my hand should be settled as a “push”. He just shook his head with that “au weh” look that I’ve never seen in a Pilipino before, and told the dealer to declare a misplay, effectively pushing all the hands in play, and giving the dealer that glance that said that he would be hearing more about this lapse. I don’t think the Asian couple understood what had just happened, and they soon got up and left. Other people continued to trickle in and it looked like I would never get to play alone. There was one young lady, and by young we’re talking twenty-something, who was playing quite well and confidently. After a few hands the dealer flirted with her, “You play very well!” On the next hand she stood on “16” against an ace; and, two hands later she hit “14” against dealer’s four. That one comment completely undid her play, making her feel that she had to think about each hand and outsmart the cards. Another lady who had been buying in for $300 and charging it to her room (with a 3%!s(MISSING)ervice fee) twice each night at my table had cut back to $200 tonight. One player next to her gave her some tips on splitting, e.g. “never split tens”. This was news to her, who I’d seen do it twice already on this cruise. I think she took this hit to heart. I offered, never split fours or fives either, and she asked why. I said, “If things are good enough to split them, they’re even better to double down.” She thought about that for a second, “Ohhh… yeah.” After some early struggles, I managed to struggle back, thanks in part to a well-timed blackjack. The table cleared out, and some rapid play yielded two small winning streaks of five and six hands each. With my most modest profit so far I left the table with an extra $20. Tonight we would cross time zones again, returning to EDT.

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