I haven’t really lost any weight on this cruise

Friday, February 24, 2023

It was a sea day today. We had to be up and ready at noon for trivia – and we barely made it. Given enough time, we can waste all of it. We found Regina and Brad to start, then gathered two people from nearby – Elios and Donna – to make our team. Long story short: we had more fun than anyone in that room, even though we did not win (we got a respectable 15. Winners got 16). We kept erupting in laughter, making the host and the many other teams envious of our good times.

Play along!

1. In the drink, what do the letters IPA stand for?
2. How many books are there in the New Testament?*
3. What river is Victoria Falls on?
4. What singing group was originally known as the Four Lovers?
5. What is the only way a vampire can enter a house of the living?*
6. What town were the Beatles from?
7. What singing superstar was Dione Warwick’s cousin?
8. What drink is vodka, triple sec, pomegranate juice and lime?
9. What country’s flag has a sinking ship on it?*
10. What two dogs are part of Mickey’s VIP gang?
11. What character is known for saying, “Why so serious?”*
12. What part of the brain controls language and visual memory?
13. In what city were the famous hanging gardens located?
14. What is the official language of Brazil?
15. Who wrote Moby Dick?
16. How many squares on a chess board?
17. What form of transportation had an early version called a bone shaker?
18. In Judo, what color is the belt for beginners?
19. What is the day after Christmas commonly called?
20. What is a love apple?*

We got the ones with * wrong. Let us know if you could have helped us win!

There was a Caribbean lunch today. The creole sauce was FABULOUS. I went back for jerk chicken twice just so I could eat more of that sauce. We lingered with Barbara and Brian for hours after lunch, then headed back for a nap. Richard the naturalist gave a talk on humpback whales that was very interesting. We sat in the backrow so we could dash away to get in the dinner line in front of everyone else in the theater. Mission accomplished. We were seated quickly, then waited 15 minutes for someone to approach our table. Huh. We ordered (they have you order starter, main, and dessert right away) and got our dinners. We had chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce. It was pretty tasteless without the bearnaise, but I love bearnaise, so it was a win. Then we waited for 25 minutes for our miniscule desserts to arrive. Two more minutes and we were out the door.

There was a show at 9 – Dennis Daye. He was announced by the cruise director last night as a multi-percussionist. We wondered what that meant. In today’s schedule, it said he plays the piano, accordian, and trumpet. We wondered how that was any kind of percussionist (okay, some with say that piano is percussion. That is still only one percussion instrument). The cruise director introduced him tonight by saying he is a multi-percussionist. We decided the cruise director (who is a singer) doesn’t know the difference between a percussionist and instrumentalist. English is his first language.

The guy was hilarious and played lots of instruments. He took classical tunes and jazzed them up – or in the case of the last medley, played Bach, Beethoven, Mozart (and more of that crowd) as if they had been born in Latin America. For the next two+ hours, we shared stories with Regina and Brad. (Their daughter was supposed to get married July 4, 2020. The venue refused to refund their deposit when everything was closed, and charged a $5000 rebooking fee to use their deposit for another date. I was so up in arms!!!) They told us a story about trying to get information about their one-day extension at the end of the cruise. They talked to a guy at the front desk of our ship who was NOT understanding their questions (e.g. “What is the name of the hotel we will be staying at?” “You will be the last ones off the ship that day.”) I pulled up yesterday’s blog and read them my interaction about the shuttle. We decided it was the same guy! 😊