TC1 Days 4 & 5: At sea

First I will report two technical successes. Due to the impending Hand, Knee and Foot training session, we needed to print a set of rules and some scoresheets. So I took the laptop down to Deck 1 where there was a “business center” with 3 computers and a printer and inquired at the service desk how to use the printer. The answer was to log into my WiFi account, which meant that someone using the computer could use the printer only if they also bought WiFi time, which I found surprising. As I had an account already, that was not an impediment. But I didn’t appreciate using my precious minutes trying to figure out how to configure my laptop to communicate with the ship’s printer. Between setting it up and printing the documents, I used about 20 minutes of WiFi time – about $8.

The printer also ran out of paper one page short of completion. I again waited in line to request paper and the service agent returned with 3 sheets. I smiled and said that 3 sheets would be sufficient for my purposes but the next person would be back to ask for more. She then gave me about 100 sheets.

I also took the opportunity, while at the service desk, to inquire about the television. They were surprised that I was having difficulty and assured me that there was no ship-wide outage. She filled out a service request.

Nothing happened with the TV until after lunch, but after Jett called to jack up the urgency, a repair guy appeared within 15 minutes and fixed the problem in another 10. We now have movies again! We watched The Darkest Hour and more Season 1 episodes of Downton Abbey.

I visited the jigsaw puzzle several times – morning, noon and evening. The noonish visit was aborted because about 8 people were swarming around the table and I didn’t want to be a 9th. So I went down to the casino and lost about $50 in about 50 minutes. Not a good day at the slots. I am now down $20 for the cruise.

We met a few more interesting people in the smoking area and heard a number of complaints about the ship. Most surprising is that there were no cigarettes for sale on the ship – the stock of cigarettes was left on the dock in Ft Lauderdale and is being flown to meet the ship in Barcelona. Thank God Jett brought enough to last her until then. But some folks are going to be mighty unhappy. I can see a black market in cigarettes forming.

It is rumored that the stock of yeast was also left on the dock, meaning that the breads at dinner are going to be unleavened. The grumbling is that the ship should never have left if it was so poorly supplied. The people who are complaining are veteran (and loyal) Holland America passengers who are saying “never again.” This might be a poor cruise for the company business.

The most interesting person we met on Day 4 was Sabine, born in Bolivia of a Dutch father and a German mother, raised as Catholic while her brother was raised Lutheran and married to an Afghan Muslim. She describes herself as a “citizen of the world.”

The weather deteriorated dramatically. The balmy weather and calm seas were replaced with gray skies, light rain and a rolling ship. I put on my anti-nausea wristbands for the first time.

The Hand, Knee and Foot couple were no-shows.

We dined with our regular dinner buddies, except Bob who was absent for the third straight night. We think he will not reappear, which led to a discussion of how to find a replacement. The thinking was that we needed to find a pretty young woman for Dave. That should give Jett something to do for the next few days.

Day 5 (Saturday) continued cloudy, cool and damp, though not so rainy as Day 4 and the overcast started to break up as sunset approached. I again spent some time on the jigsaw as it neared completion, but was not present when the last piece was placed. No time was wasted in destroying it as when I returned around 4 pm a new puzzle – also 2,000 pieces – was already underway. Another foray into the casino netted another $25 loss. The winning first day is a distant memory now as I am down about $45.

I ate very lightly, skipping breakfast entirely and having only a Dive-In hot dog (with saurkraut!) for lunch. I have sampled both the Dive-In burger and hot dog now and they are good, but not exceptional. The hot dog is better than the burger.

Dinner for me was pot roast, and it was excellent. It was preceded by a seafood soup and was followed by a mango cream horn – a pastry filled with a mango-flavored concoction. Both also excellent.

We went to bed immediately after dinner (around 10 pm) but didn’t go to sleep until much later as Jett had a bout of extreme abdominal pain.

A poor end to an otherwise good day.

I think it took me 5 days to realize that the ship changed the rugs at the bottom of every elevator every day, keeping everyone informed of the day of the week. I was at first amused at this silliness, but soon began to realize how useful it was. Days blend together on a long voyage.