Jan 8 Sea day

Our second sea day started off cool but warmed up as we made progress south. We had a nice buffet breakfast minus my favourite Lido muscelli. I looked all over for it and finally asked a crew member and he didn’t know what it was! I was shocked as it seemed to be a staple cruiseship breakfast item for many years and is now obsolete? They did have oatmeal and cream of wheat as well as a good selection of cold cereals but theres nothing like ship muscelli and I was very disappointed. Tomorrow I’ll ask another Lido worker. I have an idea that it’s possibly available to the crew and if so I’ll tell him how much I miss it! Meanwhile I’ll eat the awesome fruits and yogurts that are available, maybe with some bacon, lol......nah, I’ll have some banana yogurt and a cinnamon bun. With ice cream.

My intention after breakfast was to join in to the slot machine pull with a Facebook group that I had recently found but I hadn’t taken notes on the time and didn’t know how it all happens. I was looking forward to participating even though a lot of what I read online was very vague and mysterious. I don’t understand why they do this, it’s almost like they’re discouraging new people from joining in with all the talk that isn’t explained to newbies. Or simple little answers to a question that don’t elaborate enough to clue you in and some people are too timid to ask or worried that their question is stupid or has already been addressed or whatever. Despite this I was still anxious to participate as this was my 8th cruise that I missed out on a possible shared payoff. And as it would be my first time even seeing what went on it would make me feel in the know to learn the ropes enough to do it on future cruises as well but nooooo! It was not to be. I had thought the meeting place was supposed to be at the Havana bar at noon and participants were to wear Mardi Gras beads to indicate they were approachable and planned to join in.

So I get ready to go to the bar and introduce myself to the person in charge. I checked the ships map and noticed this bar was on the opposite end of the ship from the casino and immediately knew that surely that must be wrong. It would be too difficult to get the 100+ people who had signed up to the other end in unison. WTH i thought, not going from the casino all the way there and possibly or probably not see anyone there so I knew it was a waste and so missed out. Besides it being the slot pull it was also the in thing to be connected with to be able to participate in the cabin crawl immediately afterwards. I’ve always wanted to see other category cabins, maybe even get to see a suite or maybe even a spa cabin. Generally unless you have a connection one just never gets to see a different cabin than the one you’re staying in at the time. For example all cabins are not alike; there’s many different levels each with a different price. I ‘m not even sure if I’ve ever stayed in one that was in a higher category than the usual basic lowest priced balcony room. Some many time cruisers get in the know of all this but after 7 cruises I still don’t know what makes each class unique or what somebody else’s room looks like. It pisses me off to never find out even when I’m right there onboard a cruise ship! So missing out on today’s events was quite a big loss to me after thinking about it ever since booking this cruise over 6 months ago. Actually much longer since I first heard of these onboard activities many cruises ago but this was the first time I had heard of there being an online group for it. So I messed up by not getting the plan straight and in my head along with the knowledge that once onboard there’s no way of finding out because all the info is privately arranged by a passenger and not by the ship.

Of course it’s my own fault, I should have asked more questions and remembered to take notes. Now I know if I would have purchased an internet plan I could have communicated with that online group but it turned out to be so costly to buy it just for this info. Surely there were other folks who would have liked to join in but were not ‘puter savvy or old or for whatever reason couldn’t find out any info once onboard. Now I know you have to get ALL the info in the days before you even leave home or be S***house outta luck! Or be lucky enough to chat with a passenger who is forthcoming with some info. It’s a sad/too bad thing! They had also talked in a secret language about wanting to see each others doors............what does it mean? In all my observations on cruises everyones doors were exactly the same. It’s like long hallways of doors! They’re all the same! On every deck! Just like any other hotel! Why would anyone want to see someone else’s door? The mystery of it all just pisses me off big time. How will I ever be able to be one of them? Wait......maybe I don’t want to be one of them because if secrecy is involved I don’t want any part of it. So There!!!

After breakfast I went shopping with my daughter and granddaughter and then couldn’t stay away from the casino so in I went looking all around for people wearing cheezy beads all crowded around a slot machine but there was nada. Bah humbug. Did I have the time or the place wrong? I guess I’ll never know.

Later we dined at Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint and my burger was very tender and tasty and his fries were to die for. I then returned to the cabin while the girls went to a perfume seminar and met the cruise director and then they toured parts of the ship they hadn’t been to. I watched on the tv hoping to see them and I had my camera ready to snap pics of them on the closed circuit camera but I watched and waited and didn’t see them. They returned to our cabin and decided to go back out there so I could get that pic of them but I still couldn’t see them even though they said they had waved and jumped around to be more visible for me. We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a live viewing even though it seems bizarre that it could have been a back dated show or even a totally different cruise they were showing on the tv.

We ended up back in the casino where I won and eventually lost about half of it because I lingered too long at the fair thinking I’d win more. Sometimes I can be such a dumb cluck!