The Good and the Bad of Sea Days in the North Atlantic

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People have all sorts of reasons for going on cruises, especially longer cruises. Sharon and I wanted to know whether we were suited for spending multiple weeks at sea, possibly considering a longer cruise than this, and now we’re committed. We haven’t even finished this one yet and we’ve already got three cruises planned through 2020. And that last one’s a doozy… 128 days!

Sharon was off to the Hudson Room for Sunday Mass, wondering why in the world they didn’t choose the larger Wajang Theatre. The house was packed to capacity. Sharon had warned me that it might run a bit longer than usual, and it’s probably good that it did because it was already 8:20 when I took a break from the blog to check the time. Okay, I had to rush. Father Roman was still in strong voice as I passed by, and the room was so full I didn’t spot Sharon either time I walked by. She did find me though when it was over and we headed up to the Lido for breakfast. I did ask her what the story was about Father Roman was talking about that gave them a good laugh near the end of mass. It seems He had started a story a few days earlier telling them about his spiritual advisor when he was in the seminary in Rome. There was an elderly monk (late 80s he thought) that everyone wanted as their spiritual advisor, but Father Roman didn’t think he was worthy so didn’t even ask him. However, he came over to Father Roman after a few days and said he’d thought about it and he’d accept him. Father Roman told him he hadn’t even asked but he was told yes he had he just didn’t know he had. At some point this elderly monk came by and touched Father Roman’s shoulder and told him that God was like a telephone and then walked away. This happened several times over the next few days. Eventually he had to ask what that meant since it was driving him crazy. The answer was that when the phone rings you can decide not to answer it but even if you hide it or unplug it etc so as not to hear it the call is still there waiting for you to answer and it works that way with God too. If he is trying to tell you something you have to be listening and pick up the receiver.

I picked up the “Puzzle Page” on the way back to the room and Sharon was already on the computer. She’s been struggling to catch up, get photos transferred, get blogs uploaded, and most distressing to me edit the things that she thinks you shouldn’t read (about her). That last parts been taking up quite a bit of her time. She finished what she was doing, and we did our daily challenge. I thought today’s was easy (unusual for a Sunday) and she just threw in the towel. I’m guessing that her edits will suggest that she likes to let me win every once in a while.

Today was our invitation to the Mariner’s Reception. We arrived, and by coincidence bumped into Duncan and Pam so we sat together in the rear. I took a glass of red wine for the toasts. Duncan and I reached for the glass vase of nuts at the same time, we both backed off, and both laughed. I noted, “Have you noticed how they put out the good nuts when the captain is present?... Like the Brazil Nuts.” Pam goes, “You can have them.” I guess they are an acquired taste. I once felt the same way… just give me the peanuts. There were 60 people getting their bronze medals for 100 sailing days. The lady next to our table was desperately trying to locate her husband; but, he was clearly AWOL. When their names were called, she had to go up and get her medal alone, and his as well, and get her picture taken with the captain and hotel manager. I’m guessing that’s not a mistake that he’ll be making when it’s time for their silver medal. Linda the CD was serving as MC, and announced that 1,100 of the 1,200 passengers are Mariners (have sailed with HAL before). About 400 onboard are Silver Medal Holders and about 200 are Gold Medal holders. Five Mariners got their Platinum Medal at the reception (for 700 sailing days). Those in attendance were invited to take a tour of the galley followed by a special Mariner’s Lunch. The tour would have been nice; but, Sharon and I have found to not care so much for the luncheon menu, especially Sharon where the options are much curtailed.

We took our lunch in the Dive-In, and I ordered both a Cannonball and a Doggie Paddle (Hot Dog with sauerkraut). Sharon noted that this was only her second or third Plain Burger from the Dive-In on this cruise (the first for this segment).

We all met in the Crow’s Nest and we were able to once again secure “Our Table” on the starboard side by the window. Jim and Rose Marie had come from the reception and Jim had a half-full champagne glass with him. His wife was saying something like, “You didn’t have to take them all…” as they sit down. Jim explains, “They were just sitting there on the tray, they’d just be thrown away.” Linda began promptly asking, “Napoleon’s Josephine was born on which island in the Lesser Antilles?” Today Sharon shared her answer with the group, and we all agreed on “Martinique”. We got the point. “What kind of shoe has a vamp, box, shank and drawstring?” Shoes aren’t my bailiwick, so I drew a blank. Pam suggested “Ballet” and Sharon concurred, and we got another one right. The next question was one in her classic style of “memorable lines”. “When asked, ‘How is it that you know your way around a golf course so well?’ what golfer replied, “Madame, the holes are numbered!?” Suggestions from Ben Hogan, Phil Mickelson, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Walter Hagan, Tiger Woods and more. I suggested “Arnold Palmer”. And that was our answer, just not the one for which Linda was looking. The correct answer was “Jack Nicklaus”. Linda then ‘challenged’ us with a common Peter Pan question, “What was the last name of Wendy and her two brothers?” We here that loud team across from us going “Oooh. I know this… what is it?” I scribble down the answer, Duncan transcribes it to our answer sheet, and Jim starts singing to Rose Marie, “Won’t you love me, Darling…” Everybody glares at him with silent hushing looks. “What, they’re too busy getting the answer wrong to notice.” Pam goes, “Your nose is a little red. How much champagne has he had?” Sharon asks Rose Marie. He answers, “Just two” but she sheds light on the matter saying, “Too much.” Linda then asked a Playing Card question I’d never heard before, “In a single deck of cards, how many Kings are ‘Suicide Kings’?” She explains that a suicide king is one with the sword going through its head. She also made the question sort of multiple choice by adding that the answer was from one to four. Duncan seemed to have this one covered and our answer was “One”. Linda later revealed that it is just the King of Hearts that has this posture though one team tried to say the answer should be 2 since the card would have 2 of them like it did in the Eyes question on a earlier day. But they lost that challenge since she had asked how many cards. Linda challenged us again with “Collectively, what is a group of hippopotami called?” She added that it starts with a “B”. I’d already written down “Bloat” and Duncan recorded the answer. Jim looked at it and said, “I really feel bloated after that big lunch.” I guess our cautioning glances weren’t getting through, so Sharon pipes in “Oh did you go to the Mariner’s Luncheon.” Rose Marie nodded, “It was awful.” “What actor won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2017, then broke with tradition by not presenting the award in 2018? For another point, name the movie.” Sharon’s going, “Oh, it’s the one that we took your mother too.” I wanted to know, “Was it a movie that I’d picked out, or one that she’d picked out?” but, I already knew the answer to that question. We didn’t come up with Casey Affleck or “Manchester by the Sea”. The five-point bonus question was to name the movie monsters that appeared on a set of commemorative stamps in 1997 and the actors that played them in the movies. The first was obvious: “Frankenstein by Boris Karloff”. We came up with “Dracula by Bela Lugosi” and “The Mummy by Boris Karloff” again. We also managed “The Wolf Man by Lon Chaney”. We were stumped for the last one, at one point crossing out “Phantom of the Opera” and eventually going with “Hunchback of Notre Dame by Peter Laughton”. Well, our Wolf Man needed to by actor Lon Chaney Junior; so, we only got one-half point. The reason is because the final monster actually was “Phantom of the Opera by Lon Chaney (Senior)”. We got 13 and one-half points out of a possible 20 and for the second day in a row we won Team Trivia, this time by a scant one-half point.

A large crowd assembled for bingo. The man next to us asked if we’d played bingo on the ship before and was surprised that we’d both won prizes on this cruise. He was curious how much the prizes were, and that surprised him too. What I think he really wanted to know was how to win the $15,000 jackpot. The first game was the standard Bingo, and Tino said that he would do his best to get people off as early as possible to get ready for Gala Night. His first three calls were all “N’s”, so he asks, “Is anybody just one number away?” Not expecting any takers, Sharon raises her hand. “Really! Wow!” The next number was a “B”, and the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. “Uh oh,” Tino says, “We have another ‘N’.” And everybody knew what that might mean. I sneaked a peak at Sharon’s sheet and she needed N-36. Tino draws it out, “N…. 36”. I don’t think the number was out of his mouth and both Sharon and I are shouting “Bingo”! Tino said he’d never had someone call Bingo on the fifth call of the first game, and announced that she’d won $175. The funny thing is, that card also had the “B-8” that Tino had call (his favorite number). The second game was the Four-Corner game, and that winner also called it by the seventh number called. Because the first two games went by so quickly, Nico decided to play the Crazy-Six-Pack. It wasn’t long before a dozen people in the room needed just one number. I had perhaps half-a-dozen possibilities needing just two numbers; but, it was Sharon who called “Bingo”… again. Tino exclaims, “Not Again.” This time she won $290. I guess we cruise to win Bingo! We came close with the blackout game; but, we just couldn’t get those last two numbers.

We got dressed up for Gala Night and had just two couples ahead of us when we got in line. We sat at a table with one other couple and two ladies (who were not travelling with each other). One was from Seattle and one was from Toronto. I ordered the Pineapple Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. The man offered to order an extra Shrimp Cocktail for me; because he was only getting one appetizer. I thanked him, and said, “Thank-you, but no. Sometimes my wife does that for me; but, I’m trying to be good on this cruise and not gain ten-pounds for a change.” “And how’s that working out for you, the guy asked?” The lady from Seattle said, “I’m here to eat absolutely everything I can!” I got the Date, Goat Cheese and Baby Greens Salad. The purplish red dressing seemed strange, but it was delicious. I ordered the lobster tail and it too was good. My dessert was the Coconut & Lime Souffle, although others that had had that previously said that they much preferred the Chocolate Cheesecake. I suspect even Sharon would have liked that because it seemed more akin to a Chocolate Mousse Cake and not so much the “Cheese” that Sharon objects to. Sharon chose the filet mignon, pushed the two spears of asparagus aside and requested just a scoop of ice cream for dessert instead of going with the coconut souflee which she didn’t like on the 1^st segment. The gentleman was talking to me about my favorite cruise; but, Sharon took over talking to him because the lady sitting next to her was pretty mum. When Las Vegas came up as our “Home Port”, he asked how often we gamble in the casinos. We both gamble more in the ship’s casino than we do at home. “Do you win?” he asked. I said, “She seems too.” And Sharon’s recent good luck with the Buffaloes and Bingo seemed to impress them. Everybody seemed to object to the smoking in the casino. I told them we both thought that they would do more business without allowing smoking. Basically, the people who both are high rollers and who smoke will undoubtedly decide that they prefer being high rollers than chimneys. Sharon said, “I just play the slots; but, he plays blackjack,” jabbing me in the arm. “Ooh. Blackjack! That’s a game of skill… do you ‘count’ cards?” I said, “It’s really not practical to count into an 8-deck shoe… You can, but it takes for ever for things to turn significantly in your favor. And even if it does, there are no guarantees that you will win, even when you have the advantage.” The Seattle lady then said, “All I ever play is roulette, it’s all I understand.” I was about to tell her of an interesting roulette story I’d witnessed in Las Vegas years ago, that would give one pause at just how much a dealer can affect the outcome of your gambling. A twenty-something came into The Vegas Club where I was playing blackjack. He had his four-year old on his soldiers and he walked over to the roulette wheel right behind me and started chatting to the twenty-something female dealer, “She just turned four today. I’ve given her one dollar to bet.” She wanted to bet on the number 4! Surprise, Surprise. The dollar was placed, the dealer slowed the wheel down to about half the normal speed, and very carefully timed her release of the ball. And it came up Black-4! Well, that was the story I was going to tell. Sharon resumed with talking about the World Tour that we’ve scheduled, and by the time there was any break in the conversation the point of what I had to say had lost its relevance. Then someone asked the very quiet Canadian woman if she was enjoying her cruise, and her reply was, “I am now!” And she elaborated, giving us all pause. “My husband passed away about three years ago. We used to cruise quite often. I’ve been considering doing it on my own; but, just wasn’t sure I could. Then a friend of mine lost her husband earlier this year. They had booked this cruise, and she asked if I would join her, and so I thought this would give me an opportunity to cruise again; but, not all by myself.” “So, where’s your friend?” was the obvious question. “Oh, she fell down the steps at Trinity College in Dublin. She had severe cuts all over her face.” The Canadian said how her friend was “too frugal” to go and see the ship’s doctor, and every day her face seemed to be getting worse. The Canadian contacted the Nurse to get some antiseptic, and the Nurse said to tell her friend to come in… they were expecting her. The nurse advised that her wounds need to be properly cleaned. She said her friend complained, “I know my body better than some ditzy nurse.” The next day however, she did allow her friend to clean her wounds with the antiseptic and the next morning the injured beamed, “It seems to be getting better.” “Yes,” her friend agreed, “and if you’d seen the doctor three days earlier, it would be all better now!” The next morning, she agreed to see the doctor about her knee which remained severely swollen. He gave her some medicine for the swelling and put her in a wheelchair. Her friend later asked the doctor, “How much is the wheel chair going to cost.” Her friend was concerned because she’d seen rates of $500 quoted. The doctor said, “Nothing, because I am prescribing it.” She said she’s going to let her benefactor stew about the cost. And she told us how they could only go to the shows that her friend wanted to do, only go on the tours her friend wanted to do, only dine when and where her friend wanted to dine and that she felt like she was little more than a go-fer. She’s now concerned that she’ll be the one pushing the wheelchair where ever she wants to go; but, for now she’s confined to bed-rest, so she’s been having a blast finally doing what she wants to do. She also told of how earlier in the cruise while at dinner, somebody asked her about cruising with friends, and she replied, “Oh, I don’t have any friends that can afford to go on a cruise like this.” And she was right there and could certainly afford to go on a cruise like this; but, I guess she didn’t fit her definition of ‘friend’. She was more the “hired help”. Everybody wished her an enjoyable remainder of the cruise and assured her that she had indeed been a good and patient friend, certainly more patience than some of us would have had.

Sharon dropped by her favorite Buffalo machine, hoping that history would repeat itself. I sat down at the blackjack table hoping that history would change. From the start it seemed that things were so much better… I was actually able to win with 20 (and even 19), even if my blackjacks were few and far between. Early on I got a 6-7-8 and when the dealer matched my bet, I tapped by the bet, and he said, “Yes, you have 21!” I tapped again, and then he remembered what table he was dealing at. He had to notify the pit boss, to come and approve the change of his payout, paying me the extra $3 for my $6 bet. This game can actually be fun when the dealer busts; and, I don’t spend every hand looking at the dealer with an ace or face card showing. I saw the high roller at the next table, and it was frightening to see that she’d really “come of the rails”. I saw a modest size of red, green and black chips dwindle down to nothing in less than one shoe. She sat some hands out, conversed with the floor man, as another woman continued to play at her table. They’d been chatting earlier during play and I’d watched the new lady double-down with a pair of fours. She drew a six, and it hadn’t worked out for anybody. It was against a six; but, still? When the high-roller suggested that it would have been better to split the fours (which is easy to say in the hindsight of seeing the six) I have to wonder what’s wrong with just hitting the pair of fours. I guess I know what the conversation with the floorman was about, when I next saw her playing with two large stacks of green and black chips. I decided to call it a night. I cashed in and found Sharon at the Buffalo Machine. She was holding on claiming she hadn’t won a single bonus game… and then she got “Three Gold Coins” and earned 8 free spins. It only netted her $6 bucks, and a few spins later she did it again. This time she managed to win even less, which for this machine, is just dreadful. She played her stake down to virtually nothing and cashed in.



I was going to go back to the cabin and she asks me to join her in the piano bar. I give her that “Aw, do I have to” look, to which she bribes me, “I’ll buy you a drink.” I found I needed to explain to the bar steward how to make a “Highball”. We sat in the corner by Sharon’s piano bar friends. It was also “Pub Theme Night” starting with Ireland, then Scotland, Canada, and on to Boston the same as the remainder of the cruise skipping Iceland and Greenland since they don’t have any good pub songs. Barry From Boston Dot Com had adjusted the overhead spotlights to emit only Irish Green light. Barry promised that the songs would be getting bawdy featuring body parts and sexuality (after 10PM) and he wanted everyone to be forewarned. There was a lady camped out on the front center sectional directly facing Barry at the Grand Piano facing back at her. Somebody sat in the seat to her right, and I recall him there the last time I was in the piano bar. To her left however she kept her bag and a pillow and was reclining in a stretched-out manner that seemed to occupy both spaces. Elvis (from the other night) approached and said that he’d like to sit there. “I bet you would… oh well,” she sniffed, not budging an inch and crossing her arms. Then I remember hearing Elvis say to the guy sitting to her right on the last night I accompanied Sharon to see Barry, “Put your stuff there in the center between us “so that woman won’t sit there.” I’m guessing that this is that woman. Elvis retreated to the side rear in the piano bar, sat on a couch and pouted the rest of his time in the bar, glaring at the lady camped out in a prone position on that center sectional. Barry announced that the Drink-of-the-Day is the “Irish Leprechaun” consisting of Jameson, Midori and Pineapple Juice. It was $7.95 for the drink of the day and $9.95 for the drink of the day in a souvenir disco light cocktail glass. I look at Sharon and say, “You may have to get me one of those.” She says, “I suppose you want the tumbler too!” “Of course,” I admit. “What do you think I am, a cheap date?” Barry then said that we were going to play the “B-Game”. He asked for anybody without hip or knee problems to raise their hands. Only a few volunteered. He told these people to leave their hand up if they’d had at least two drinks since dinner. That whittled the pool further; but, Barry chose two women to come forward. Each woman had a chair, and one started out standing and one started out sitting. The instructions were that he would sing a song and they would have to alternately stand or sit every time one of the words he says begins with a “B”. The older lady starts out sitting. Barry begins, “My Bonnie lies over the ocean…” Both ladies are now sitting. Barry re-explains the rules, and so the older lady reluctantly stands up. “My Bonnie lies over the ocean…” Both ladies are now standing. Barry announced, “Madam, you are the winner,” and escorted the older lady back to her seat. He then selected the pinch-hitting gentleman that he had waiting in the eaves. It was pretty funny watching them ping-pong up and down, especially when he got to “Bring back, bring back, bring back my Bonnie to me!” I enjoyed my Irish Leprechaun and when it was finished we were ready to retire for the night.

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