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Published: August 24th 2018
I warned Sharon to brace herself before she read yesterday’s blog, and to restrain her editing oversight that can often include removing entire sections which she feels her family doesn’t need to read. Now, I didn’t use the “Meltdown” word regarding her reaction to the Dive-In losing her order, a fast-food-like outlet aboard HAL that took not quite an hour to fix her a plain burger; but, even she called what happened a Near-mini-Meltdown when she heard they lost her order. She did post the blog; but, then remembered that there was an omission from our dinner at the Pinnacle Grill that should have been included. I had managed to get through dinner without spilling anything onto my shirt. Quite an accomplishment for me. I had to be extra careful eating the shrimp cocktail and the excessive amounts of sauce I slather on each shrimp. And I had to be careful with the peppercorn sauce and garlic aioli. But it was when I got to the Chocolate Lava Cake that the problem started. I had my napkin strategically placed to catch any inadvertent accidents. It was when I spotted a couple of chocolate drips on the very edge of the saucer holding the container for my lava cake and rich gooey chocolate sauce that my eyes widened, and I checked my shirt and napkin. There was a small chocolate droplet on my shirt. I used the napkin to try and remove most of it, and now there was another and a couple of chocolate smears as well. The more I tried to eradicate the problem, the worse it got, until my front was pretty much a total wreck. I smiled and crossed my arms and smiled deceivingly. “You’re not fooling anyone,” Sharon assured me. “Do you plan to go around all night with your arms crossed?” Well, to tell the truth, the thought had crossed my mind. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?” Sharon was shaking her head with her giggle. I later slipped into a restroom, and it’s amazing what a bit of water and those cloth hand towels can do with a little bit of chocolate. I was good to go again!
Sharon headed out to mass to start her day. I met her outside the Wajang Theater so we could head off to breakfast. It was when we strolled with our breakfast to the forward pool area on the Lido Deck when we realized the transformation that had occurred. We first noticed the windows along the exterior, first seeing a few of the lifeless creatures, and then noticing more of them stretching the length of the pool deck. We found a table, and we realized that this was no small transformation; but, an apocalyptic one. Sixty-four different types of creatures (about 300 in total) were hanging from the rafters, lining the pool, occupying all of the bathing loungers even stretched out in large groups on the deck and staging areas. Some of these towel creatures we’d seen before in our cabins, usually a different one each evening; but, never en masse on this scale. There were lobsters, both large and small, whales and penguins, monkeys and orangutans, rhinos and hippos, cobras and spiders. Most of these appeared in all white; but, a few tried to come to life with color towels including blue and white stripe ones. In the end those, even these remained in their zombie-like frozen state and were simply there for us to admire and enjoy. Everyone was having fun looking at them and taking photo after photo as they saw something new.
I went to the Showroom at 10AM to watch Tom Anderson give an entertaining talk on “Communication at Sea”. He covered many of a variety of communication options including signaling canons, semaphores, flags, Morse Code and radio. I was saving a seat for Sharon for the 11AM session with the captain, and had put our camera on the seat I was saving for her. Somebody passed in front of me, reached down and grabbed the camera asking, “Is anybody sitting here… no, great, here,” and he handed me the camera. You must appreciate, this was not the only empty seat in the Showroom! To start with, the one on the other side of me was also not being used, and there wasn’t a camera in it. The one he chose was on the aisle, and he did get up and leave before I could even fathom “What just happened?” At least I wasn’t going to have to explain to Sharon why I hadn’t been able to save a seat for her to see Linda host “Ask the Captain…” Tom continued and told how the Beatles had wanted to appear on the cover of their “Help” album with signal flags held in positions that spelled H-E-L-P; but, the photographer didn’t like they way that looked so they wound up with N-U-J-V (on the UK cover) or N-V-U-J (on US covers). Sobering thoughts as we sailed through the waters where the Titanic went down, and a big part of their problems was an inability to call for help. I was also pretty sure that there is a trivia question or two that Tom may have snuck in here if Linda or Tino are paying attention!
While I was at the lecture Sharon attended Coffee Chat with the Cruise Director where Linda interviewed Paul Pappas who had entertained us with his piano playing and singing a few days earlier on the cruise. He has been performing for a long time on ships and still enjoys it. He started out his cruising career as a Band Director and finally decided he wanted to be a guest entertainer because he is such a ham. He answered many questions about how he ended up in this business. He has a bacherlors in Math and a masters in music. One of his nephews is traveling with him on this cruise and everyone has asked him why he took him on a cruise to Iceland but he said his nephew picked out this one because he’s always been interested in the area and is having a great time.
Sharon arrived and they played a warm up video showing activities around the ship in the day of a captain, showing the people he manages and things he must do. Linda and Captain Pieter Bant came on stage and he gave a PowerPoint presentation of the various systems onboard and what it is like to control the ship from the bridge. The captain started by saying “I like to go through this PowerPoint question slowly, so there is less time for questions,” and he had the room in the palm of his hand. He assured us, “You may ask a question that even I won’t know the answer to; but, I will find out and get back to you! Also, you may have noticed that there is quite a bit of fog outside.” And as if on cue a long burst of the foghorn could be heard in the background. “So, it may be necessary for me to rush away.” He assured us that the bridge was in good hands; and, because of the heavy fog, extra eyes were on duty. He had mentioned how there are two side thruster systems in the bow and stern. When he was later showing a view of the hull of one of Holland America’s ships there appeared to be three fan-like recesses in the hull. “I would like to say that this is what the hull of the Rotterdam looks like; but, this is not the Rotterdam.” This was one of a ship larger than the Rotterdam because three of these thrusters were visible in the bow. When showing the engine room, he continued, “I would like to say that this is the engine room on the Rotterdam; but, this is not the Rotterdam.” He explained how the number of cylinders wasn’t right for the Rotterdam. And when a very impressive view of the bridge was presented, with the electronic map imaging displays he again admitted, “I would like to say that this is the bridge on the Rotterdam; but, this is not the Rotterdam!” Again, the configuration wasn’t right. People asked very relevant questions and we learned quite a bit. We learned that the captain has three months on duty followed by three months off duty. During the off-duty time he will get additional training that is continually being updated. For his current assignment, he had come onboard one month earlier to get familiar with the Rotterdam class ship; because, this was his first time being the captain of this size ship. Somebody in the upper balcony on the other side asked, “I noticed in Norway that the red-green coloring for left-right on the channel markers appears to be the opposite of what it is where I live in Seattle. Can you tell us why that is?” The captain admitted, “You are exactly right. That is, the way it is! You ask why… I don’t know why… That is, the way it is. Just as in the UK they drive on the left side of the road, and in the USA they drive on the right. That is, the way it is.” It was a very good sessions with great questions and the captain was very personable which was nice to see.
We had grabbed some food from the Lido, some chicken and potatoes, and got a small round table near the pool and right in front of some of the larger and more spectacular towel animals, including the rope spider web with the towel-spider about to consume the towel fly caught in the web. It may not have been the best place to eat lunch because people kept crowding around us taking pictures of the towel menagerie. Linda came out and introduced all of those cabin stewards that had put together this spectacular mastery of their animal-creating prowess, and we gave them all a hearty round of applause as they came out and waved to all of us on the Lido forward pool deck. People were still coming up to get photos as they were trying to get all the towels picked up and get them back to the laundry so we could have showers the next day ?
We headed up to the Crow’s Nest and our whole team was soon in place; except for Jim who was out doing another of his walk-abouts I supposed. Sharon asked, “Did you see all of the towel-animals around the pool. Both Rosemary and Pam agreed that that was wonderful. Sharon also wanted to know if they’d been able to get to see “Ask the Captain”. Rosemary just rolled her eyes, “You know, Jim asked one of those questions.” She had been on the lower level, and remembered hearing the question and was thinking, “What a stupid question. I can’t believe that somebody asked that!” Later, Jim had joined her excitedly asking her, did you hear the question that I asked, and he started to tell her about the question on engine noise in the rear of the ship even when in port or at anchor since his cabin was right over them. His ears must have been burning because right on cue, Jim shows up and sits down filling out our Team. His face was beat red and sweat was beading on his head. “What did you do?” Jim explained how he’d just finished his run in the gym, and then he’d run up and down the stairs, ALL of them. The beverage steward showed up and Rosemary decided against gin and tonic because the steward admitted that they still only had yellow limes. Linda started Trivia with a flag question, so Sharon was putting me in the hot seat, “You better get this one,” she cautioned. “The national flag of Australia has five 7-pointed stars, AND one other star. How many points does that star have?” I concluded that it must be five! And I was right, thankfully. I might not have heard the end of it if I miss another “Flag Question”. “What is the largest tea company in Canada and the UK; AND, the second largest tea company in the USA?” For whatever reason, we went with Lipton. Somebody mentioned Bigelow; but, Pam said we never see that in Canada. The answer was “Tetley”. “According to ‘The Book of Judges’ (in the Bible), after she found out that Samson's weakness was his hair Delilah cut Samson's hair” True or False. We haven’t had the greatest luck with True/False questions, as this one is; but, this is what my spreadsheet would categorize as a “GODLY” question, and for these I look to Sharon. Her answer was “False”; which, raised an eyebrow or two. Her reasoning was sound and Sharon held her ground. When Linda confirmed later that indeed Delilah had not cut Samson’s hair, I thought there was going to be an argument from someone on a team on the other side of the Crow’s Nest. Linda cautioned the women, “You’re seriously not going to argue the Bible with me are you?” And I think it was about then that the woman remembered Linda’s rules about “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” (i.e. arguing with the Cruise Director over the correctness of an answer to a trivia question). She settled down, and Linda explained to the room, “Delilah was responsible for it but she did not cut Samson’s hair, she called in a servant to shave his head.” This was exactly what Sharon had explained to us. Sharon also knew the name of the girl who died in “Love Story!” She’d suggested “Jenny” and I supported her. We had to guess about “What U.S. President once had been a model?” We went with the obvious choice: “Ronald Reagan.” There were quite a few that we dismissed out of hand, such as Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and the Bush’s. We weren’t sure about some of the others, such as the former haberdasher Truman, Carter, Ford or Clinton. It was in fact Gerald Ford, and Linda suggested, “And he looked pretty good when he was young.” We didn’t know who the boxer known as the Manassa Mauler was either. The correct answer was “Jack Dempsey”. The bonus question was to name the director of three Vietnam movies from the 1980’s and 1990’s; AND, to list those movies. We got the director, without a problem: Oliver Stone. And we came up with two of the movies: “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July”. Sharon helped by writing down “4
th of July” and I figured out what she meant. So many other Vietnam movies to choose from. “Full Metal Jacket,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Hamburger Hill.” None of us had heard of the third movie: “Heaven and Earth.” We scored 13 of 19 possible points, good enough for second place behind one team with 14. Linda decided to award pins to the top two teams; and, she had a few of the coveted brass pins in her stash. I’ve still yet to get a brass “Canada & New England” pin; but, today I picked up two brass “Northern Europe” pins for Sharon and me! Small victories.
At 2PM we attended a lecture by SunnyRose Marlow on “How Did Vikings Get Where They Got?” Well, they got there in long boats that were sinks of a huge amount of human resources to build, just an unimaginable number of man-hours. It took experienced craftsmen using period appropriate tools over four years to recreate a longboat; and, in about forty-five days sailed that boat to Nova Scotia. The square-rigged sail used wind power when the prevailing wind was in the right direction; or, could also be propelled by oars. Within the craft, there was little shelter from the elements; although, canvas tenting may have provided some shelter. Navigation could have been accomplished by the stars. Sailing from Norway to Iceland could have been accomplished using simple hand and celestial relationships that would keep the longboat on a due easterly course.
At 4PM it was time to play $22,000 Jackpot Bingo. Sharon bought these two six-pack packages and we were both hoping that we’d be rewarded for her $70 investment. She wasn’t happy with either of her purchases; but, did eventually choose one for herself. Tino asked if there were any first-time Bingo Players in the audience, and all of us were surprise there was one man who’d never played HAL Bingo before. Tino reviewed all of the rules a bit too quickly; because, he neglected the most important rule: “You must have the last number called in any winning BINGO solution.” That is to say, don’t be late calling “Bingo”! Tino called the first game on the blue card and Sharon got within one of calling Bingo on any single line Bingo. Tino called the second game on the orange card and Sharon got within one of calling Bingo on the 4-Corner Game. Tino called the third game on the green card and Sharon got within one of calling Bingo on the Crazy Six-Pack Game, in fact, she had about 4-possible Bingo’s, and one number would have given her two Bingo’s on the same square! Tino called the final game on the yellow card and Sharon got within one of calling Bingo on the blackout game. On the first Bingo session Sharon had gotten Bingo on the 65
th call of the Blackout Game, and there were no other calls of Bingo. Today, after 65 calls, there still were no Bingo’s. Tino called one more number, and on the 66
th call, FIVE people called “Bingo” on the blackout game. They had to split the $460 prize!
It is “Gala Night” and we had to get dressed up. I was more interested in just being comfortable tonight, and I put on my new dress shirt and my black jeans. “Where’s your coat?” Sharon complained as we were walking down the hall. “It’ll be fine.” “But we bought you a coat for Gala dinners… Are those jeans!” “They’re black jeans,” I observe confidently. And as I suspected, nobody refused to seat us. We may have been a bit underdressed compared to the couple with whom we shared a table for four. He had a very distinguished looking waxed handlebar mustache, and we both remembered having dined with him earlier at a much larger table. Looking at the curl in his mustache and the curls at the end, all I could think of was “Flip-Flip”, a sort of joke between Sharon and me about uncontrolled curls in her bangs from the play “Wicked” that we’d seen back in Ohio. The supposed “Good Witch” there had this obsession with her hair, and these sorts of natural curls, and twist her head right-and-left that would jostle these curls, and she would utter “Flip-Flip”. I ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail (is this three nights in a row now) and again requested the horseradish. The server delivered my shrimp and apologized, “Mister John, so sorry but we are out of “Yellow Lemons”, we only have “Green Lemons.” I indicate, “No problem;” but, wonder what Rosemary would have to say about my getting “Green Lemons” for my shrimp. I suspect she will see this if she eats in the Dining Room and it won’t make here happy that there have been limes onboard since Greenland. I enjoyed the Roasted Turnip Soup; and, chose the Mushroom Ravioli for my entrée. Well, plus the lobster tail from Sharon’s Surf & Turf. She enjoyed her filet, and knows now how to order it to get it cooked the way she likes it… Medium-Plus. The Warm Flourless Chocolate Cake was as good as we both remember them.
We’d seen the “Dance” performance by the HAL performers and so we skipped the show tonight. I decided to play Blackjack and I sat down by myself at the table offering 3:2 odds on blackjack. The first couple of hands didn’t leave me optimistic, but some good things were happening, and I did win my first Double-Down. I’d won three hands in a row and had started into my parlay. The pit boss came over and began his very annoying habit of standing in my blind spot, whispering, “Can I get you a drink?” and when he wouldn’t leave it alone or move away, I refused to signal a hit for the hand I was playing. I adjusted my chair so that I was now facing him and ignoring the dealer altogether. If the pit boss wants to talk to me an annoy me then I figure he deserves my undivided attention. I say, “So, I don’t want or need a drink.” The dealer was waiting for my signal. She’d just have to wait. “Is there anything else you would like to know?” I’m guessing that the overhead camera is getting this all down, how he inserted himself into my game and caused it to grind to a halt. He backed off and went to watch another table. I turned around, and I swear I saw the dealer smirk. I signaled a hit, and play resumed. After that first shoe I noticed that I was actually ahead. I did get a number of five to six hand winning streaks; and, I was getting a lot of double-down and blackjack wins, so the chips were starting to accumulate. But then the high roller’s sidekick, who had been playing on the Fun-21 table, decided to come and sit at her normal spot on this table, and by the way she was making such a big show of doing everything, it was clear that this was becoming a social game about here. She tips quite well, as does the high roller, so they are no doubt favorites of the dealers. And they are most gracious and happy to be her friend. I play a couple of hands and I think I won one and lost one, and that was all it took for me to realize that this table just went from playing at a rate of about 150 hands per hour to about 20 hands per hour. It was all I could take, I cashed in my chips, and called it a night.
Sharon had headed to the Piano Bar for what she thought was going to be Broadway Night; but, the program was wrong, and Barry was featuring Bette Midler and Abba. She was able to get a few to get a few pieces of Chocolate during the Chocolate Surprise parade and enjoyed them. The waiters don’t all make it back to the corner of the Piano bar during this parade. Sharon was already in the cabin when I returned. She thought about going back up to the Piano Bar at 10:45 for Barry’s Jammie Night. He had to wait for 7 people to come dressed in their jammies before he put on his onesie.
We also decided to do a series of photos of a sea day but most are on our phones so we’ll post them when we get home.
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Patricia
non-member comment
Outstanding!
Fantastic posts throughout this blog, but this one really earned an A++++ What writing, what detail. So much fun to read. Loved your description of the Captain's talk: you have brought him to life! Thanks for taking the time and effort to entertain us with this masterpiece.