Entries about cruise

Monday 17 January 2011 - Turn Around Day

This morning, after breakfast which was VERY VERY SLOW (even though I ordered the express breakfast), I went up to argue about the bill and the girl tried to tell me that I signed in to the computer wrong. We went to the Bolero Lounge about 10:15 and got our new cards and I had a wheelchair pusher from Panama.

First glitch - they told us to go off on deck 2 instead of deck 1 - wheelchairs always use deck one. But we did as we were told. Then they had a problem with the machines that take the pictures for the SeaPass card (we were supposed to have our old pictures transferred) and so they made us wait about 3/4ths of a hour while they fixed that.

Bob saw the new cruise director ushering people to the head of the line which he didn't think was right. They were probably Diamond level or something.

Pool deck

Worker on the ship

They let us in on the first deck which was better. Bob did not believe that we could/should go to our cabin (even though they had said that we could), so we went to the Windjammer for lunch as it was 11:45.

Windjammer buffet

Dish in the Windjammer

Even with no one else there so that I could walk around and didn't have to wait in line, I still can't get lunch and something to drink without back pain. Bob had a hamburger,

Bob's lunch

My lunch

I had a piece of roast beef (which was good although a little gristly), a little tiny bit of sweet and sour chicken, some pasta (which I got cheese for from the Caesar salad bar) and potato leek soup.

An unpleasant man came and sat with us - he apparently has built hotels all over the Caribbean. We left about 1300 and I thought we could go to the computer room and sign on since Bob refused to go to our rooms. But the problem was elevators. We went down to the 8th deck, but the fire doors were closed to get from one end of the ship to the other because there are staterooms there. So we went down to 5 and then couldn't get back up to 8. We finally got on an elevator going down and stayed on when it got down and then went back up. I had to use a new name and password because it said my other one was in use. I signed on and looked at email and used 8 minutes and it said it cost the appropriate amount.

On deck for the abandon ship drill

We had the abandon ship drill and it was out on the deck in the cold and wind. I don't know why RCI still does this outside when HAL and NCL no longer do that. Anyway after we'd been there (me in the wheelchair) for about 15 minutes, they came and said - you don't have to stay out here. So we went in. I thought we should stay around for the finish of the drill but Bob said not, so we got the elevator down to our room. The cabin steward was checking to see that everyone was at the drill, and he was at our room. Bob wanted to know what was going on and I said he was checking to see if we were in there. The steward laughed about that, and after we got in, he put the "evacuated" sign on the door.

Bow camera - a tiny part of the TV - showing the Key Bridge

We were to go to our original table at dinner and the head waiter came running over and said that he put us at a table by the window but it wasn't on our card yet. So we went the back way through the linen closet to the other side and we sat by the window. This was a table for 10 that was set for 8. A couple named Leslie and Joe came and set next to us and

Mac and Betty

were next to Bob. Then another couple was at the end - another Bob and Jean.

Bob and Jean

Jean seems to be dissatisfied with everything

Leslie and Joe

Leslie and Joe live in NC and he used to have a McDonald's franchise. She is a diamond level on RCI and thinks she knows everything. Mac is very interesting - he flew in WWII and was shot down and in a German prison camp - liberated by Patton. The other Bob is too far away from me to really hear.

I tried the

Hot and Sour Soup

and it was way too spicy for me, so I didn't eat it. I had the

Prime rib

This was the same menu as the last cruise and the prime rib had looked good and was. Bob got

Spinach salad

(which I had last time) and

Sea bass

Salmon wasn't on the menu. I remembered how good it was so I had two strawberry Pavlovas for dessert and so did Leslie.

Tuesday 18 January 2011 - Sea Day

It was very rough last night. The ship shudders and bumps a lot. We thought we wouldn't see many people around, and we went up to breakfast early and sat with 6 other people all from the Bethlehem area - there were 21 of them and they all came down on a bus. I had

Cream of wheat

and a banana, and Bob had figs and muesli which is their excuse for raisin bran. I took a picture of the droopy table flower - I think they must treat them roughly or forget to water them.

Flowers at breakfast

Unfortunately the Cruise Critics meeting was at 10 and the Progressive Trivia was at 10:15. So I went up to the CC meeting and signed in

Table in the Crown Lounge

Crown Lounge

and talked to some folks awhile and said if my name comes up in the raffle just claim it for yourselves. Then I left and went down to the Progressive Trivia.

I made a mistake and thought it was on deck 8 and it was on deck 5, so rather than wait for an elevator I just walked down. I walked in about 2 minutes until the start and walked up to the guy in charge and said I need to join a team. He asked who wanted another member and I went to the first team of four that said they would take another person.

They were Heintz, Jeanette, Lorie and Tom. The 9th, 10th, 12th, 15th,16th, 17th and 18th questions were the same as on the first cruise. I had written the questions and answers down. So I knew those questions at least were right. The real difficult one which almost everyone gets wrong is what is the Academy Award winning song in the movie Evita - it is NOT "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Some of those questions I had known the answer on the first cruise like how many stripes did the American flag have between 1785 and 1818 - the answer is 15. We did miss the question of what the national sport of Japan is because the lady who was writing didn't hear me say Sumo Wrestling and they put baseball.

Then Bob and I went to lunch. I had the

Tropical salad

which was VERY good (that's my veggies for the day-corn, hearts of palm, cucumber, avocado, tomato, red onion, and mesclun mix) and

Beef and avocado fajitas

which were a little too spicy. Bob asked for a hamburger without the bun, but they gave him the bun anyway - he just didn't eat it. Then he had his usual ice cream and I had

Carrot cake pyramid

We went back to the room and I had a nap and then we went up to the Where in the World Am I Trivia. There were 15 questions and three teams got 13 right - we were one of the 13. We missed knowing that Chernobyl was in the Ukraine and the Vatican as the place people from all over the world visited. He didn't have enough prizes to go around and he also didn't have any type of sudden death question. We got key chains.

We went back to the room and I showered and got dressed - it was formal night.

In our room - Formal night (Bob doesn't have his tie on yet)

Bob

All of a sudden the ship has cranberry juice, but you have to get it from the bar waiter. I decided that $2.45 was too much to pay for cranberry juice which is watered down with a lot of ice and is probably mostly apple juice anyway.

Dinner had

Shrimp cocktail

and Bob asked for horse radish and catsup so he could make his own cocktail sauce.

Bob's shrimp with his own cocktail sauce

He also had salmon. I got the

Lobster bisque

Seafood brochette

(scallops and shrimp on a skewer). He had the

Coconut cake

for dessert and I again had the

Bitter chocolate souffle

Swan towel animal

Wednesday 19 January 2011 - Sea Day

Selfie

Breakfast this morning as usual. The only thing on the program for today is Progressive Trivia. Bob came with me this time. We held our own even though they were all new questions. We missed the president that the Secret Service name was Timber Wolf, and also we could only think of 3 of the 6 Boy Scout ranks, but we did get JC Penny's name. Anyway we got 16 out of 27 which was more than anyone else. It is warmer out.

Station 9

Sat with some people from Scotland at lunch. I intended to go swimming, but didn't. Mostly because Bob refused to go.

Bob watching TV

Good thing we have a port tomorrow. Bob is talking back to the commercials on the TV. I think the On/Off switch on the camera is going bad - it turns itself on at random. I took some photos of the wall art -- because there are elevators facing both directions you can't reliably turn left or right on your floor. I have to look at the picture frames on each side to figure out which way to go.

Mask on the other side - I don't turn this way

Towel turtle

Tomorrow is Labadee which is in a remote part of Haiti - can't let us see the real Haiti - it would be too disturbing.

I have signed up for the Dragon's Tail Coaster. I debated between that and the over water zip line. I've seen photos of the Coaster and it looked like fun.

Towel swan and towel turtle and the ship's wheelchair

Tuesday 25 January 2011 - continued

After we looked around from deck 10 for a bit,

Hillside houses

Sailboat

Sun on the Tortola hills

we went down and had lunch. The lunch buffet is getting worse and worse. We normally go up and then one of us sits at the table while the other one gets something to drink. Then we go for food one at a time. The man at the next table came back empty handed and told his wife that he couldn't find anything to eat.

This time they had something labeled borscht which was a very salty beef, cabbage and potato soup --- but NO BEETS. And of course no sour cream.

Salty soup called borscht

I tried to get a small part of the beef pie, but all of it was at the far end, and it was too hot to put my hand in there and it was also quite salty. I got some shish kabobs and the meat was good and tender, but the pieces were huge. They actually had pb&j sandwiches on white bread (with the crusts cut off) today. . And those were good.

My lunch - pb and J, shish kabobs, and plain white rice

And they had plain white rice this time, but nothing to put on it. Bob usually gets a hamburger.

Bobs lunch

Desserts

From the Windjammer

Big boats

We noticed a lot of tenders coming in to the pier in front of us and figured that there must be a boat anchored out. We also saw Speedy's ferry come in.

Speedy's (ferry to Virgin Gorda)

Bob pointed out to me where he said Don told him the CSY yard used to be.

Where the CSY yard was located

We saw a Windstar ship on the way out.

The waiters did the Macarena around the dining room.I really see no reason for this.

Mac doing the macarena

They sang on the 23rd. Why do it twice?

Joe and the other Bob

Betty and Jean

Especially since some of the people at the table eat double portions and it takes longer so we didn't get finished until almost 8. Then it is too late to get to the show because you have to go an hour early to get a seat. (Another result of the stretch)

ivory chocolate fondue

This new entertainment director seems to be concentrated on different kinds of trivia which we don't want to do. British TV Theme Song Trivia. Beatles Song Trivia.

Sumo wrestler towel animal

Wednesday 26 January 2011 - Sea Day

At breakfast they put us at a table for four and then didn't put anyone else with us. I don't know why. Bob goes to the buffet in the dining room and gets apple juice, one prune and a very small amount of muesli. I ordered oatmeal and a few pieces of bacon and got a plate of about 10 pieces. I guess I will have to go back to specifying two pieces in which case I get four.

A few pieces of bacon

They advertised a sale in the shops of jewelry and scarves

Scarves on sale

and I thought I might get some, plus they said there would be T-shirts 2 for $20. But they said the T-shirt sale was for tomorrow, even while they were announcing over the loudspeakers that it was today.

Flowers sold in the lobby

Then when we went to trivia, one of our partners decided to confront them.

Heinz - Progressive Trivia

I don't know what the outcome of that was. The first 11 questions in trivia were from a previous cruise, and there were some of those questions that I knew anyway (when was the Montreal Olympics, and who played Rich Cunningham on Happy Days and the currency in Germany). They also asked some new ones that I knew (who wrote "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"). We missed 5 (among them the location of the first winter Olympics, the number of James Bond films with one word titles, and what can you not do after 10 pm if you live in apartment in Switzerland). (The answers were France, 5 and flush the toilet). Bob figured out the number that when written out had the letters in alphabetical order. Anyway we got 15 right which puts us in the lead.

Carmen - the dance instructor that we sat with last cruise

Yesterday the computer took a long time to boot up, so I deleted the programs that I downloaded in hope of being able to see the videos that I took of the whales, and then defragged the hard drive and did a complete virus scan of the computer. That took most of the day.

It is formal night tonight.

Jane the assistant waiter

Bob and Jean

Lettuce wedge

Breaded shrimp

The menu was really bad - nothing that I wanted to eat for a main course. They had pan fried salmon and I tried that, but what I got was the regular salmon.

I think the waiter asked me if I wanted the fried salmon or the salmon that was on the menu each night and either I didn't understand the question or he didn't understand my answer which was "Yes .." that I wanted the salmon on the menu meaning the fried salmon that was on menu that night. I didn't even take a photo of it.

Lime basil parfait

Chocolate marquise

Our towel animal was a ninja again

I don't care for this cruise director and his wife AT ALL. There is nothing for us to do on sea days. There is nothing to watch on the TV.

Thursday 27 January 2011 - Second Sea Day

We had breakfast with some nice people, and then went to the progressive trivia. This was very hard as we knew almost none of the questions. We got 10 out of about 28 correct. I think the most anyone got was 13. I think some of them we should have gotten credit for arachnidutyrophobia we said was fear of peanut butter but Ricky the person running the trivia said it was fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth. I said the middle finger was the medial phalanx and he said the medius was the correct answer.. He said that they drive on the left in Korea and not Japan, and I thought they drove on the left in Okinawa and that was part of Japan. Anyway we now have 56 points. We had 46 points before today and the most anyone else had was 34 points, so even if one of the two teams that had 34 got 13 points, they would have 47 points now and we would still be ahead.

I used all but 2 minutes of the computer time I bought on Bob's card last night, so I am now using the ones that their computer thinks I have left on my account. I know I don't have any more minutes because their computer did not count correctly, but I can't get them to remove them from my account either by pleading or insisting. They say they can't be removed except by my using them so that's what I will do.

I posted some pictures of our trivia partners and our assistant waiter on Picasa and also Leslie wanted to see pictures that I've been taking of the food, so I posted them too after lunch.

Then we went to hear the captains talk.

Auditorium

Captain Rob on right and hotel director answering questions

After that I went to register for the drawing for those people that shopped at the 'approved' shops. Sunny Caribbee was one of the approved shops. It was supposed to be yesterday (according to the program) but yesterday's program was completely screwed up and had almost everything wrong on it - the wrong dates and the wrong sale times and the drawing registration times were wrong too.

Tonight was lobster night.

Lobster and shrimp

Chocolate peanut butter 'tart'

My dessert

We had a strange floppy eared animal for a towel animal last night - maybe a dog.