Saying Bingo at Sea

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Mass was at 8AM, this morning and we both made it on time hearing the sermon about the Immaculate Conception of Mary on this date. This was new to me, and even Sharon said she hadn’t heard this part of her faith until seven years ago, because she hadn’t been taught that as a child.

For breakfast we both had the American Breakfast, mine with eggs over medium done exactly right with two potato cakes and sausage and sour dough toast, and Sharon with her scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and white toast. I got an iced tea instead of juice, but Sharon stuck with her apple juice. We had breakfast with another couple from North Carolina.

We next made our way to morning bingo in our bath robes (to get the extra game card for the final game). I popped up to the Explorer’s Lounge and picked up the daily Sudoku, and we played while waiting for the cards to go on sale. Sharon won today’s challenge when I messed up my solution. Sharon bought the cards today, and she needed a Coke to get her energy up. The games were any regular bingo or 4-corners, the BO, the “Big-L” and finally the blackout. I got to stand once, briefly, and Sharon did too, but very briefly. Prizes were a bit smaller than for previous games on this cruise since there were fewer people willing to wear their bathrobes to bingo.

It was time for lunch, and John ordered the Spring roll, followed by pasta fagiole, and then baked ziti with sweet Italian sausage. Everything was delicious, but the pasta fagiole really was more of a minestrone than the tasty and spicy Italian bean soup. Sharon ordered the stuffed chicken (with tomato and spinach) appetizer (for me). She ordered the cheeseburger without cheese. She asked for it plain but it came with mayo on it. She was going to scrape it off but I told the waiter and he got her a plain one. We ate with an older couple from Bakersfield. We both had the sugar-free fudge track ice cream, which was okay… got that mom, just okay.

We then made our way to Team Trivia, and found four people to play with, on our team the “No Nothings”. The cruise director JC extolled the virtues of today’s prizes, the genuine HAL coffee tumbler with six straws in an authentic souvenir box, but he relented and each winner was to get their own tumbler. The game started easy enough, needing the percent of the earth’s surface covered by water (within 10%). When we needed to know the actor’s first and last names starring in Crocodile Dundee, I managed to come up with Hogan, and Sharon of course added her brother’s name to complete the answer. We also got quartz as the mineral called Alaskan diamonds, and so JC will allow us to return to Alaska, all those on teams that got this answer wrong have been banned! The bonus question for two points was the exact year when Mike Tyson bit off the ear of Evander Holyfield: we changed our answer from 1988 to 1992, but we were still 5 years shy of the correct answer that would have tied us for first place. We got 10 points and came in third.

We stopped by the casino to gamble a bit. The casino is open all day today. I gave back most of my $150 winning, and the final hand where I doubled down and held 20, but the dealer found a way to make 21 sort of hurt. And not getting any blackjacks didn’t help either. Sharon lost her afternoon limit playing video poker.

We got a second chance at the afternoon bingo session, with a crowd slightly larger than the morning. Sharon checked the cards I bought, and based on 13’s and 53’s picked the ones she wanted (13 is her lucky number, but she says I can’t say why she likes 53). The patterns were more interesting than usual, with a normal bingo (or 4 corners), a six-pack, and the “Big-H” (another game with no N’s). Did I get those bingo terms right, Linda? About six people were standing in the first game, when I got the last three numbers in a row, and called “Bingo”, and won the $111 prize! We came close in the blackout, but someone else got there first. Men were the winners in all four games, which DJ Mike says is unusual. He also had someone call Bingo on B5 which he uses as his example in the instructions for having to win on the last number called. He said that was the first time that had happened and now he’d have to change it.

Tonight was a formal night, so for the second night in a row we got to dress up. I got the grilled shrimp and scallop appetizer, and also the tomato and mozzarella crostini with drizzled balsamic vinegar (thanks to Sharon). Both were modest portions, but I suspected I might be hungry otherwise with the entrée I planned to order. I ordered the four-mushroom soup, which was delicious, and Sharon was very happy with her chilled apple vichyssoise. My entrée was the gnocchi with butternut squash, and they were very light and tasty the way they should be. Sharon had the same choice most people chose, including everyone else at our table, the beef tenderloin. She said it was great, very tender and tasty. I of course accompanied it with a glass of the Shiraz from the bottle I bought the other night. They seem to pour the glasses bigger when you’ve bought the bottle, so I don’t know if I’ll be getting an extra glass or not! It’ll probably work out to cost the same. Sharon had the Baked Alaska again, and this time she was able to find the ice cream, while I enjoyed the lightest and best tiramisu I’d ever had, along with my cordial, the Irish Kiss (Baily’s Irish cream, green crème de mint, and Frangelico).

It was back to the casino to try our luck again. I had to try my luck at third base this time, because a couple had the other corner occupied. He managed to work a $100 stake up to $200+, but when it started to decline, he decided to keep $100 profit, and I switched to my favorite spot. I did quite well but only managed to get one blackjack, but I was winning quite easily. Sharon came by and said to meet her upstairs in the show lounge for the show (it was about half an hour before show time). I played another fifteen minutes, up just over $100 myself, and went to find Sharon. I looked upstairs, then in the lower lounge, and upstairs again. I went back to the casino, but couldn’t find her there either, so I headed back to the room. I found her there. Some people in the show lounge had started making a scene over a few people who were saving 2 seats for others, and Sharon didn’t want to hang around. She came looking for me, but evidently we passed each other (she probably didn’t recognize me all dressed up). All in all a very nice sea day as we get ready for 3 port days in a row.

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