Tuesday, March 24, 2020

December 7, 2019 – At Sea – Caribbean Sea – Partly Cloudy – 78F

There was something odd about breakfast today – the waffles came in several shades – light and dark – and were very mushy even though they looked cooked.  I could not find scrambled eggs to my liking – trying all the available trays – there was something missing in the eggs – they were more like Egg Beaters than the standard scrambled variety.  Still, you can’t starve on this ship.

We went to see Eddy Jenkins talk –“10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ship Life” in the Theater at 10:15 AM.  Eddy really pulled a big crowd – at least three times his usual turnout.  It was a very interesting talk that we heard before but it was still fun.

I gave my last talk – “Forensic Detectives: Identifying America’s Fallen Heroes” at 11:15 AM in the Theater –

 






the crowd was a little bigger.  I would say that overall attendance was about 200 – 250 for each of the talks – not huge by general standards but very good for short Caribbean runs like this one.  A nice final round of applause and some very good comments from guests confirmed that the series was a success on this difficult itinerary.

I finished “Verses for the Dead” and have to say that this is the first disappointing Pedergast novel.  Special Agent Pendergast was not even a major character in this book being teamed up with Agent Coldmoon and working with brand new characters to solve a mysterious but not supernatural crime.  Perhaps Lincoln and Childs were experimenting with a new direction for their eccentric FBI agent but I think they need to revisit their approach and opt to go back to the Pendergast I loved for so many novels – the ones with Proctor, Constance, and Vincent D’Agosta.  Sometimes, new isn’t better.

I downloaded “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah from the library.  This book is about Trevor growing up in apartheid South Africa.  A very interesting book and Noah does a good job of alternating the history of apartheid and his own story.

We had lunch in the Eden Café – I had tuna on bread today along with the blue cheese and beets salad bowl.

I dropped off some paperwork in the Entertainment Office and the man sitting in the far seat called out my name – it was Damian, the cruise director from the 2013 Mediterranean/Transatlantic back to back cruise.  That was the one where I had full houses in the Theater for eight straight days, all while fighting the flu.  He made me feel good by saying the audiences I was drawing on this ship were really good considering the itinerary and length.

Showtime tonight was the fourth Production Show (unusual for a seven day cruise)  – “Colors of Life”.  The show had amazing FX (the backgrounds were animated) and semi-familiar music plus unique choreography but the volume was so amped that it became painful after a while.  Besides the loud singing voices and backup track, the constant beating of the drum (techno beat) eventually affects everything. There were few walkouts so the audience loved the show.




We managed to sit through about 30 minutes before fleeing to the Club (to catch the end of big band music by the Ensemble Band).  We discovered the Club late in the cruise – a beautiful two story venue with an animated screen behind the band or entertainer. 

We had great seats on the second level so we stayed for the game show – “Knocked Out” - at 8:20 PM.  This is an elimination trivia contest – two teams of three answer questions to determine the team winner.  The two winners don’t compete directly but the winner is determined by the number of correct answers.  FYI, I would have beaten both of them yesterday – nobody knew the name of Han Solo’s space ship.  What?

At 8:45 PM, we stayed in the Club for “Live Band Karaoke” with the Nauticals.  Some contestants were pros and some were not but they all sang with a live band – sometimes with a little help from the lead singer of the Nauticals.  It was fun. 

We went up to the Pool Deck


and then to Deck 15 and the Rooftop Garden - all lit up and complete with movie screen and a horse statue.  There is little shade here during the day so it is pretty hot up here.







We went back to the room to settle down since we have to get up a little earlier tomorrow for the turnaround.

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