Baltic Travels (Or are We Moving Yet)


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Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Baltic Sea
September 7th 2017
Published: September 10th 2017
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Our center cabin room is arranged with our feet pointing toward the bow as we lie in bed. The TV makes the perfect portal giving us a forward view when we set it to the bow camera; which we do before turning in (setting the elevator music accompanying this view to “mute” of course). We were still in port when we went to bed. Around midnight we seemed to still be in port, our forward Warnemunde port view had not changed, the lights of other boats docked in port had not moved. Still later, it seemed that we had not moved, and were still in port. We were supposed to be underway by 10:00 pm for sure; because, the casino was scheduled to open at midnight The next morning we awoke, having set our clocks ahead and we were still in port. “They should tell us what is going on?” Sharon complained. Or perhaps in this case, why we are not going at all. Sharon went to mass, and the priest was wondering where we were… “Isn’t this supposed to be a sea day? Where are we?” Sharon told him, “We never left.” Clearly he hadn’t heard what was up… I guess that the priest isn’t in the captain’s inner circle. Neither had the crew member who helps set up for mass. Later at breakfast we sat at a table for six, and one of the ladies seated with us filled us in. She had gone to the front desk and demanded to know why we hadn’t left port. Evidently, the wind was blowing harshly just off the coast and we needed to navigate a narrow channel before reaching the open sea, and so the port had been closed to larger ships. But, we had just gotten underway when we were seated for breakfast.

We were wondering when we’d ever manage another win at trivia. We’ve yet to win on this leg on the Baltic. Christina started with “Which queen wrote the Casket Letters?” and Joan and Jackie seemed quite happy with “Victoria”. Alas, it was Mary Queen of Scots. Sharon suggested 12 for “How many drummers drumming did my true love give to me.” But then Joan talked her into 10. Of course, it was indeed 12. Who really cares what color the Telly Tubby Twinky Winky is anyway? I can assure you that it is not “Yellow”. “Purple” would have been a better guess. A slew of off-the-wall questions did us in, including “What vegetable is nicknamed ‘Lady Fingers’?” Her answer was “okra”. Huh? Someone argued that Bananas weren’t a vegetable, because evidently they believed those were called Lady Fingers also. She reminded them that she had specified “Vegetables”! We got our lowest score in some time, since we won with 7 anyway, we didn’t win at this early morning Trivia.

I got pizza again for lunch, and we ate up on Deck 10 overlooking the pool. Sharon brought up some roast chicken with potatoes. There was no Bingo today, unusual for a Sea Day. We did sit in on another installment of “Where in the World”. We were looking forward to heckling the Frog People; but, due to technical difficulties they sent the three teams on there way with a bottle of champagne and instead passed out answer sheets and did an audience participation test, similar to their Trivia Challenges. The did have special “Where in the World” answer sheets though, so maybe this happens all of the time. I just want to know why they couldn’t have had technical difficulties a week ago when we were theFrog People. We did well enough on the questions, some repeated from our humiliating performance; but, others that we hadn’t heard before. We did manage match the group names of animals to the species; although, many in the room seem to have trouble. Pair each grouping of paddling, shiver, glint and skulk with the specific animals that these are groups of from: fox, goldfish, shark and duck. We started with the obvious, a paddling of ducks. Shiver of Sharks sounds right, as did Glint of Goldfish, and there was only one pairing left. We didn’t quite make the cut.

We had another chance with Christina during the normal Daily Team Trivia. Steve knew what the name of Dr. Who’s Time Machine. It is Tardis. We had to guess what the occupation of a Leprechaun is from Shoemaker, Thief, Candle maker or Carpenter. We missed the trio of monsters in Greek mythology with horrible faces and bodies. We went with “Harpies” but Christina was looking for “Gorgons”. We came close for “During the 2000 Berlin Marathon 33 contestants were disqualified for using what?” We said “Short Cut” but the answer that got the points was “Subway”. Some of course went with “Steroids”. I came up with “What pop duo in the 1960s from Forrest Hills NY changed its name from ‘Tom and Jerry’? I wrote down “Simon and Garfunkel” and we got that one right. We also came up with the bonus question: “In a Big Band Rhythm Section, besides Drums, Bass, Guitar and Piano, what are the other three instruments?” They are Trumpet, Trombone and Saxophone. We missed tying for first by one point. We’re getting closer at least.

Sharon popped in to play with Bob. As it turns out, she’s done pretty good with Bob all day, stealing a few spins here and there, and I think she’s ahead for the cruise. She’s won the small jackpot and also the middle jackpot; but, I keep reminding her that she needs to win the big jackpot. She keeps trying.

This second sea day, five dinners into the cruise was our first Gala Night on this leg of the cruise. We were seated at a table for six where two ladies that we hadn’t met yet are seated. I have a roll with butter, as does Sharon. I get some water and order an iced tea. Finally the lady seated next to Sharon leans over to her and asks, “Are you Dutch?” Sharon smiles and says, “No, we’re from Las Vegas.” The woman’s face stiffens and deduces “Ah, so you… are… Americans?” Again Sharon smiles confirming this conclusion. The woman then turns to her companion to her right and they engage in a torrent of Dutch. A bit later she calls over the steward and says something about “Dutch”. He returns a moment later and gives her friend a Dutch menu, then tries to hand the woman a Dutch menu. She says, “This one is fine.” A moment later the steward comes in behind me and Sharon, “Excuse me…” Then phrasing the question diplomatically “Would you perhaps prefer that I find you another table?” I guess it was his way of saying that we weren’t Dutch enough for these two ladies. Rejected, after we’d dressed up and everything.

We were seated at another table and it was much more congenial eating with couples that we’d already met, and who were not likely to send us packing. Besides, we were seated first at this table so I’m guessing that gave us squatters rights. It was the typical first gala dinner with escargot and surf and turf with shrimp… and of course, chocolate soufflé.

We made it to the 7:00PM show, only to discover that it wasn’t starting until 7:15PM. It is the first time that the HAL performers have appeared since Amsterdam, and as we suspected, this troupe was different than those that performed in Norway. They were very good, and the World Stage was setup as a theatre in the round. The music was billboard hits from the 1940’s on and included many familiar tunes including a final concluding set featuring songs from the Beatles.

We barely had time to make it up to the Crow’s Nest to play Evening Trivia, only to find that it was down in the Billboard Onboard lounge on Deck 2. No elevators were near the Observation Deck so I decided to walk down the stairs. Sharon came down in the elevator and we both arrived about the same time. I should have spoken up when they asked “What country introduced curling?”; but, our school teachers were sure that it was Canada. It was what I suspected: Scotland. We also didn’t come up with what popular musical and movie was directed by John Houston in 1982? We came up with “Grease”; but, then decided that Houston wouldn’t have been involved with that movie. We switched to “Cabaret”; but, that wasn’t it either. It was “Annie”. I got the bonus question, “What country makes Absolut Vodka?” Becka decided to give people a clue. “It’s one of the countries that we’ll be visiting.” That sort of narrowed it down to “Russia” or “Sweden”. A lot of people went with “Russia”; and, some on my team wanted “Russia”. We got the points for “Sweden”. We tied with one other team for first. The bonus question: “How many homeruns did Babe Ruth hit in his career?” I showed Becka our answer and told her, “I guess it’s another tie.” Both teams answered: 714. We got our pins, and showed Becka what the “Good Pins” look like. She’d heard about them but never seen them.

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