Sailing the Gulf of St. Lawrence

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We awoke without worries for our first sea day, sailing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal to Quebec City. Our departure from Quebec City had been delayed due to river traffic. Sharon and Erin went to mass, and I got up more slowly. Well maybe I had some worries, falling a bit behind on the blog.

The four of us dined in La Fontaine Dining Room for breakfast. The first thing we noticed was the menu had changed. And they’d spiced up the Frittata to my liking, adding asparagus and red pepper flakes. I also had a bowl of muesli. Sharon went with her old standby, “The American Breakfast”. Erin enjoyed her waffles. Dennis started with the creamed wheat, and he confirmed it had no lumps to the two ladies seated at our table.

I’m starting to get worried about this “Sudoku Crisis”. Often you cannot get a Sudoku on the first day of the cruise. Well, I tried several times in the Exploration Lounge while in Quebec City (did I mention that the proper pronunciation is “Kay-bek”) to no avail. And today, none were out and there was no librarian to help. I’d remembered last night that on our previous cruise, you had to ask for the sheets, I think this was some sort of paper saving measure as part of HAL’s “Green Initiative”. But No Sudoku: Really? Sharon and I resorted to doing our normal “Enjoy Sudoku” challenge, and wouldn’t you know: she won the very easy “Intricate”, although I did better on the “Difficult” (but this being a weekday, that doesn’t count according to Sharon).

We’d gotten started late this morning and it was nearly time for lunch. I wasn’t sure that I was hungry, and I think Dennis was in the same boat. Even Sharon said she wasn’t really hungry, then she filled a plate full of roast beef and mashed potatoes in the Lido. I had picked up a chocolate eclair, because it looked good (it was my mother’s “okay”). Not too hungry at lunch time… chocolate éclair/twice baked potato. When I saw Sharon’s plate, I decided to get myself one of their 4-cheese twice baked potatoes which turned out to be quite light and good.

Trivia is at 1 PM on most sea days, and today was no exception. Michael started in great humor, taking credit for the nice and clear sailing weather whereas the forecast had been for rainy and stormy seas. There were plenty of whitecaps as we transitioned into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but our journey had been smooth and the skies mostly clear with clouds on the distant horizon. Michael you see had talked to the “Weather Gods” and convinced them to allow us a fair passage. He claimed that his favorite TV show as a child had been “The Love Boat”. I know what he is going to say next, because the cruise director on the previous cruise had said the same thing. It was funny then, and I think it was even funnier with Michael’s distinctive Hollander accent. He’d dreamed way back then of growing up and being Julie (a cruise director). From his favorite TV show, the first question was to write the official ship’s name of the Love Boat. Sharon is stammering “Something Princess”. We got half a point for our Star Princess. The answer Michael was looking for was Pacific Princess. He then asked what is Russian for “fortress” or “citadel”. He promised that this answer was doable, we could work it out. So I figured that it must be “Kremlin”, which turned out to be correct. There were many suggestions on our 4-person team for what gas is used to ripen fruit. Dennis proposed nitrogen or nitrous oxide. I suggested carbon dioxide. Nitrogen probably isn’t right because air is already 80%!t(MISSING)hat. And since carbon dioxide is also in air, that probably isn’t it either. That was what we went with, but the right answer was ethylene. Michael said the even use it on the ship for serving fruit at its ripest. The next was a question that everyone can relate to, well, maybe not everyone. Why did Erin look with pity at Dennis, and Sharon with even more pity on me when Michael wanted to know, “What is the AVERAGE number of hairs on a human head: (a) 50,000, (b) 100,000, (c) 500,000 or (d) 1,000,000?” We all agreed to nix d. Dennis was pushing for b but got overruled 3-1 for c. Too bad. Dennis was right. I think that we’re playing with that same group of retired schoolteachers who warped the curve on one of our Alaskan cruises. Again, they only missed one question (they chose also for the hair question). Michael asked, “In the modern pentathlon, athletes compete in running, shooting, swimming, horseback riding and what?” We went with cycling. A better choice would have been the correct answer: fencing. For the bonus question, Michael was offering 1 point each for the four European countries whose names begin with “L”. There were four of us that had written down between 1 and three names, and when we put them all together, we’d come up with: “Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Lithuania”. I’m kicking myself because I certainly knew this when I’d learned the flags for the Atlantic crossing last year. It was time to exchange papers for grading when I suddenly remembered and snatched the paper back. I knew it must be one of the countries that came out of the breakup of the Soviet Union, and I quickly wrote down “Latvia”. We came in second, but still almost 3 points behind the winners.

We played bingo at 3 PM in the main lounge. Sharon bought our game cards and must have been feeling lucky because she splurged for 6-cards per game instead of our normal 3. I ordered her a Sprite and me a gin and tonic. There was a large crowd present and the first game was for nearly $200. This caller was quite a bit faster than most HAL callers, and seemed to be sticking to his call of just 12 seconds between calls. The first game was over almost before it started. In the second game, a 4-corners game, Sharon was the first to stand but not among the two people that called bingo. Unfortunately, the first person to call had bingo on the previous call, and so his didn’t count. You snooze, you lose. On the third game, a six-pack with wild card allowed, it seems that everyone in the room was standing, including the three of us. But we were among the last to stand (and first to sit down). The final game was for the $10,000 jackpot (blackout in 46 calls or less), but reverted to over $500 for the eventual winner (which was split, but not by us). It looked like Sharon had a good card, needing just 4 numbers with 4 numbers left to call to win the bonus. But then a funny thing happened, although Sharon didn’t think it was all that funny. Thirteen calls later, Erin needed just two numbers, I needed just three numbers on two cards, and somebody else called “Bingo”… and yes, Sharon still needed four numbers.

Dennis enjoyed the history talk about the Halifax explosion, although he wasn’t that impressed with the speaker. He loved this historic information. We dressed up in coats and ties and formal attire for the Gala Evening. I enjoyed the escargot and the pumpkin-artichoke soup. Dennis and I both had the baked ricotta stuffed shells which were delicious. Sharon had the grilled pepper steak with grilled shrimp, and I can tell you that the shrimp were also delicious. Erin went with the everyday grilled chicken. Sharon and I opted for the chocolate soufflé which came out very light and tasty, to which the server added chocolate ganache at the table. I think this soufflé was as good as I’ve had on HAL for their Gala Night.

Tonight’s show featured a modern medley entitled IRIS which was a collage of music and dance, starting with promise with no doubt strong performances… I think we were left hoping to recognize some of the songs which never happened. The stage backdrop featured electronically manipulated imagery which was effective, and often linked to the music, but there was no story, no real way to make sense of what was being displayed, and after the ice skating sequence which was a visually engaging performance I think the audience were left scratching their heads (that is the ones that had stayed to the end). The performers seemed to be giving it their all trying to bring the audience into the performance, but there is only so much they can do. Obviously, this is not for the typical HAL cruiser. And it obviously wasn’t for the Thirty-something group seated behind us, although they thought the ice-skating bit was “Awesome”, they were gone long before the end. My recommendation, skip this and find a good seat in the piano bar. Sharon and I don’t do this often, but two thumbs-down on IRIS.

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