Friday 14th Vancouver
We woke as the boat nosed into Vancouver terminal next to the Rhapsody. We did brekky, packed, dropped bags down in our new room and headed ashore. We had to deal with USA and Canadian immigration but as transit passengers without baggage we just sailed straight out.
The Information office in the terminal gave us about half an hour internet and then we strolled up to the library where we each had an hour. The original plan to get wifi in Maccas collapsed because the laptop was not charged. So no blog until Hawaii.
The library was very modern and J was totally taken by the system of conveyors that transported books, dvd’s etc round the building, sorted and sized them and dropped them in bins on wheels ready to be filed. It was cute that the conveyors crossed over and the books very politely stopped and waited at intersections until passing traffic had gone. Some of the books fell open and one magazine landed on the floor. Apparently the system has only been in place for a month.
Back at the port, we again sailed through, jumping all the queues and in no time we were back on the ship. That was when I realised that I had left my yellow bag at the xray machine. That’s the bag with the laptop, the camera and the packet of about $500 and the credit cards.
So back through the process again. As soon as we approached the xray somebody fetched the bag which had been stacked on top of the machine. Everything seemed to be inside it. Finally we were on board again by 12.30. There was a special lunch in the dining room for back-to-back passengers (only 30 of us) but nobody else was there so we decided not to bother them and went up to the buffet.
I should mention that nearly all the boats have people who stand at the entrances to the buffets and dining rooms and remind you to sanitise your hands as you go in. The Norwegian girls used to chorus “washy washy happy happy”. This boat has had a “greeter” who is almost manic. A beaming hyped-up probably gay little Thai whose trade mark is a seemingly endless collection of weird hats and masks. He hands out neatly handwritten “business cards” with his name and “Greeter” on them. He is one of those people who lighten up your life for about 5 seconds as you go in to brekky each day.
Today he wasn’t there and we were told he had the afternoon shift. So when we went in to lunch there he was. We often chat to him and play hide-and-seek as we approach and when he saw us coming among the stream of new faces he flew into an even more agitated state and positively squirmed with delight.
We haven’t unpacked because we live in hope that we might just be offered an upgrade to something with daylight shining in, if not fresh air. We headed up to the gym and put in an hour or so on the machines, making sure we took the spa tour so as to qualify for the spa prize draw at 4pm. They gave a 30% discount certificate to the man on my left, then another one to the man on his left and then they drew the grand prize – a free signature service worth up to $250.
So guess who won that? Yes of course. They had announced that this was the big prize so the winner would have to dance for their prize so J bounced out into the middle of the exercise area and grabbed the gym trainer, built like a British Bulldog, and proceeded to whirl him around. She signed up for 3 sessions of ionithermie – some electronic/seaweed extract treatment that is supposed to shrink 3-8” off the patient????. She headed off for the first one straight after the boat drill. We have had a staggering record of winning spa treatments and of course J’s free trip to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Bearing in mind that there are 2500 people on each of these boats and there were about 50 people at the draw today, we are getting more than our share.
J came back very pleased with her session and we went to dinner. It was good because it was quick, we could eat a lot of salad, and we could watch Vancouver go by. Mr Yadav had gone for the night so no news there, there were no huge specials on the Arctic jackets in the shop, so we went back and had some fruit salad before the show. It was a new American comic “direct from las vegas” – not a legslapper but amusing.
Then it was trivia time. We first teamed up with 3 American ladies and then noticed a slender blonde sitting by herself. She had been the one in the orange outfit who was jogging round the track outside while we were in the gym. Hannah lives!! This one is Karen and she is full of energy and doesn’t hold back. I suspect her best friends would describe her as “crazy”- in a very loving way.
The questions were my favourite high school type and I rattled off a heap and J and Karen threw in a few. We won with 13/15 and Kinsey went and fetched 6 keyrings out of a large bag that looked like it held something larger. Fair enough for Day 1. The 3 oldies wandered off and the 3 of us went and joined a couple who had scored fewest points in the general quiz for a Michael Jackson trivia. J had given them our keyrings and they were quite good with Jackson. We managed 13 again and tied with another team to win the upmarket carabineer keyrings, which we didn’t bother to take.
Saturday 15th At Sea
J did the abs, which were extremely tough, while I clutched a bicycle. We had a rough night and the boat was still bouncing around, although it didn’t look bad down there. Karen was on a stepper for a long time but we didn’t chat. We stayed in there for a couple of hours until morning trivia, which we won with a Kiwi and 2 Americans. 6 of the questions were repeats.
We had a lightning lunch then took in the guest lecture about Hawaiian history. A quick drop in at the art auction for a free champagne and the chance to win some “Art”, then I went to Sudoku, which was well contested, and came 4th after 2 Chinese. We caught the back end of the Millionaire game and indulged in some cabin time. Tonight is crowded with choices.
We started at the cocktails but it was the one without rum punch so we left. I hit the gym again then we made dinner upstairs and the movie trivia, where we sucked. No sign of Karen today. We went to the early song and dance show but it was totally full so we came back to the cabin until the late show – and both fell asleep.
Sunday 16th – At Sea
Up at 7 for stretch and abs, brekky, then back in the gym until 10.30. I did laundry then we took the quiz with the same team as yesterday and sucked. A whole lot of weird questions and we didn’t have any Americans (ours were Canadians). Lunch (chocolate ganache cake!), expert talk about Hawaii and volcanoes in general (shit are we going to the wrong place!)
Our afternoon nap stretched right through the trivia – Nikki (host) was shocked and told us off for missing it. We are now well used to dinner in the buffet and moved on to the early show – a concert pianist who, as a 14 year old, got one of Liberace’s diamond studded piano shaped rings (the other went to Barbara Streisand). The geography trivia was one we had heard before. Our team had filled up without us but we linked with 2 Chinese Americans (who won the Sudoku grrr) and another lady and won. We asked the Chinese if they would like to join us for the progressive trivia over the next 3 days and also caught up with Karen. She went off to the second show and we had an hour in the solarium because it was warm and serene. We met her in the pub (where the TV showed a fleeting glimpse of Eagles vs Collingwood but no score L) for the sports trivia, which turned out to be cumulative as well. We joined with 2 Americans and a Canadian and managed to tie with one of the other 2 teams. We looked in at the country party, which was very crowded, and the piano man, who was playing Billy Joel to a good crowd.
Monday 17th – At Sea
We gained another hour last night. The usual routine – stretch abs brekky gym until 10.30 and trivia. We had the usual morning squad plus Karen and we whupped ass!! Our old team went home, they changed all the questions and we still cleaned up a very full Schooner Bar. This time it was J’s turn as the questions about fables, Henry VIII’s wives, dates etc ran right up her street. The interesting part was Q14 – where would you get a Tooth’s lager? I had half an idea it was from over East and nobody else knew any better and I was scared stiff that we would be exposed to ridicule if we missed an Australian question. But we didn’t . . phew.
Nikki was impressed that we had won by a few clear points in such a big crowd and the questions were all new. As I told her rather smugly, you can’t stop the music.
Lunch should have been followed by the movie of the day - The Vow - but J couldn’t find a seat in the cinema. I went to the Sudoku event, which was packed, and finished within 5 seconds of the winner in the first leg. In the second event, it was a rerun of the previous week – I raced through and finished first but had one cell wrong –looking back, it was probably the same puzzle L
The Chinese couple weren’t there and didn’t turn up for the cumulative trivia either. We picked up one straggler and did ok – lots of questions about cocktails but I recognised a lot of Bond villains. In the evening sports event we collected our medals from last night and earned another one, again watching our 3 Americans outpoint the opposition on a series of baseball and football questions. In between, we sat with Karen during the cocktail session and took in the lady singer.
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