Sept. 24,2018 On the Bering Sea

Or maybe still the Pacific. I’m not sure where the Bering sea begins or ends. Yesterday there wasn’t any land to be seen, it was foggy so there might have been some of the Aleutians somewhere. At different times I thought i saw land, however it was hard to tell as the sky was pretty much the same colour as the water in stripes that looked like land.

I started on out for my usual breakfast of muesli and fruit and as soon as the door closed and locked i knew i had messed up by not bringing my camera with me and that i had no key to open it again. So i hurried on down to the casino to see if my room key/casino card had been found and turned in and it had so that was nice to get it back. So back up to the room to get my camera. I sure hadn't planned to be taking all those extra steps this morning because of not being able to get back in w/o a key.

We had thought the cabin crawl was to be held this morning but after we and one other couple waited in the Atrium for 15 mins past the time it was supposed to be held and nobody there knew anything about it. I was quite peeved as i’ve been trying to get in on a cabin crawl for many many cruises and somehow have never gotten to do it. This event is usually arranged by private people through Cruise Critic and the ship isn’t involved in the details so there was no one to ask. There’s lots of people sitting and milling about in the Atrium and i quickly learned to not even bother to ask anyone if they were also waiting for it to begin because they had never heard of it before and then i’d have to explain what it was. Technically the way to get involved in these sort of secret cruisers events is to join cruisecritic.com after you’ve booked a cruise. I was terribly choked by the no-show and imagined that all the rest of the passengers who had signed up for it had their smart phones and got the info sent on them. Because i’ve never gotten a phone to use in the other ways it can be used i think this might have been the one and only time it would have helped me. I do have a phone at home and i only use it for phoning. Period. But even now it feels like i’d never get the hang of staring at my phone or be able to figure out how to use it for googling or finding an address or anything. My car has a built in phone and so i’m always safe with that. As well i do have my IPad but i’m not going to be able to receive the info. I bring it to log my days onboard and to play my game and no WiFi is needed for that.

So off i went to the fruit carving demo and it was pretty awesome to see these amazing chefs carve flowers and things on watermelons and cantaloupes. A nice woman from New Orleans started talking to me and we ended up chatting long after the fruit carving was over. By then it was lunchtime so i headed for the buffet and ended up sitting with a lady i had sat with before. I ate salad and a shrimp dish with white beans. As well, an Indian potato dish with something like chili on it all the while admiring the other ladies sweet potato fries. It would have been nice to stay there with her but i soon found out my seat was right under a very cold ac vent. So i gave my reason and moved on to my second round with a new lunch of excellent sweet potato fries, chicken noodle soup and veggies. I sat at a window table with another nice couple originally from S Carolina who said they recently retired and now live in New York State.

This afternoon i spotted another ship in the distance and there’s been a lot of rugged, mountainous islands on the port side. Whales were seen from Spinnakers Lounge during a break in the program and i was lucky to get a tail fluke in one picture. I thought i had been successful with several pics but most of my pics were of just water.

Then whales were spotted again just before the next event began which was cha cha dancing. I watched for awhile then returned to the cabin after getting a few things from the store. I was cold again so cranked up the thermostat and climbed into my bed with my IPad. Soon Annie arrived home and we just chilled for awhile. Tonight there will be an opera singer in the show lounge and i probably won’t attend. I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day so will play it by ear.

I went for dinner in the buffet and while i don’t usually eat much meat i got a piece of turkey and a piece of chicken as well along with carrots, couscous salad and a lot of other stuff that i’ve forgotten. Then dessert, oh yeah, never going to bypass the goodies so i had walnut cake, cheesecake, ice cream and when i spotted pkgs. of hot chocolate mix I took one to add some of the powder to my coffee and that worked well as a mocha coffee and i had a nice conversation with a Japanese fellow too.

I went back to Spinnakers and decided to join in on the game of Yes and No. After i signed an entry card and placed it in the box and found a good seat i started to regret entering it as i’ve never played it or even heard of it before. When it suddenly dawned on me that my name could be drawn and i’d be on the hot seat with a huge audience watching i started to chicken out. What to do.....the more i thought of it the more i panicked and wanted out of it. So the game began and somebody else’s name was drawn and she went down and sat in the hot seat. The whole idea of the game was to not say Yes or No. you also couldn’t say uh huh, nah, negative, nope or yup or positive or other forms of yes or no. The mc asked her questions and she did extremely well answering all without saying any of the wrong words at all. The next persons name was drawn and i knew i had to get out of there before mine came up. So i got up and first i moved to a dark seat farther away and from there i skulked to the exit before that woman said yes or no and a new name was called. I felt a little like an a&$;&ah0/ sneaking out like that and i’ll never know if my name ever came up or not so that’s the end of that story.

Annie and I have enjoyed Alex's towel animals every night and tonight Annie figured out how to make a towel rose. Isn't she clever and look how cute it is!

Sept. 23, 2018 at sea

Got up a little earlier this morning and went to the Lido for breakkie. It was a mob scene in there and i thought of going to OSheehans as apparently they excel in breakfasts. But i’m lazy and because i was already there in the buffet i got myself my fav bowl of muesli; yes, this is my new and correct spelling. I added some prunes to it and lots of other fruits including humongous green grapes and sat down with a lady from California. We had a nice little visit as we ate and then another couple asked if they could join us and of course we said yes. Well, i noticed this other couple appeared to be quite drunk already at 10a.m. and the original lady that had the table immediately said goodbye and off she went. I attempted conversation with the new couple and the woman ignored me and got up and walked off while the husband lifted his shirt and showed me his battle scars and then in to detail about all his ailments and surgeries. When his wife returned she said she had forgotten to get a glass of oj so i said I'm going that way, i can get you one and she looked at me kind of blank and didn’t respond.  I waited a moment and then she stood up and seemed a little angry that she had to go and get her own oj.  I said goodbye and got away from them asap.

I tried to get to Spinnakers Lounge in time to watch the spaghetti ship building contest but i was too late to see Annie and Scotts ship. Unfortunately it had fallen down or sunk so to speak and there wasn't enough time for them to rebuild.

Annie asked me if i wanted to go for lunch so i said ok and we went to Tzars Dining room and sat with a single lady from Australia and a couple from Vancouver. We were in there quite awhile as it was very busy and our orders took forever to arrive and my clam chowder never did. But my appy came and it was good, then my main course was an omelette and it was ok and then my chocolate mousse was excellent. Meanwhile the couple from Vancouver told us of all their many cruises and it was nice to hear of all the fun ports from Iceland to Dubai that they had visited.

We then returned to our cabin to watch the movie The Book Club and it was ok, not great for me because i hadn’t watched a movie in literally years. I felt the acting wasn’t great as well. Jane Fonda looked amazing and her acting was ok but it seemed like the others were forced like amateur actors and fake. Oh well, that’s just me but now that i think about it i’ve also gotten so far behind in watching my fav tv shows like The Housewives of Orange County, New York, Atlanta etc that i’m not sure if i’ll ever get back to them. Most i’ve pvr’rd but just never have the time to watch. I have made a point of watching Alaska Bush People and Living Alaska and Buying Hawaii or whatever it’s called as well as Mighty Ships so maybe it’s because i’ve become too cruise orientated lately. But also i just feel like creating art in the evenings now, specifically Gelli plate mono printing and i don’t have any time for tv or movies anymore.

Tonight is seafood night in the Garden Cafe and we are going to indulge in my fav food. However i also have to watch it as seafood has a lot of purines in it which could cause gout to rear its ugly head again. I have brought a prescription med with me to take if i suspect it’s starting. I was also counting on eating at least 2 frozen yogurt cones everyday as it could help prevent gout or stop it but alas! There's no froyo machines on this ship! I guess there must be some somewhere onboard in those little cups with the foil on top but so far i’ve forgotten to look for them.

We then went to the Stardust theatre for the acrobatic act tonight. It featured a young married Russian couple Sergio and his wife Anastasia who performed an amazing /scary/hold your breath and gasp show. It was hard for all the passengers just to walk to to the showroom on a ship that was rocking and rolling and this couple were capable of performing an amazing and thrilling show. Walking from there to the casino was a chore; stumbling up the stairs and down the hallway; we must have looked like we were all drunk. Once i lost my moola on the poker and wolf machines i stumbled off down the hallway forgetting to retrieve my key card from the slot machine. Luckily when i finally reached our door without breaking anything Annie was home so when i knocked at the door she let me in. Tomorrow i’ll have to go to the front desk and get a new one cut. Geeze, i hope i don’t lose my points which is in the area of being worth about 4 bits.

 Who ever thought of putting basil on watermelon? Sooooo good!

Sept. 22, 2018 Seward, Alaska

I remember waking up and thinking that we were docked in Seward, Alaska and that Annie had already left the room to go on her whale watching tour boat trip. The window curtains were closed and it’s pitch black in the cabin so I had no idea what time it was. I remembered that I had awakened some time earlier and couldn’t find my pillow. So here I was groping all over feeling for it so I could sleep some more when a hand grabbed mine. It was so funny to realize that it was Annie and she was still in her bed but awake and wondering what I was feeling around for. I thought I said to her “ I’m looking for my pillow” but later she said that I had said “ I’m trying to close the shower curtain” we had a good laugh later as it was especially funny because there’s no shower curtain here on the ship, it’s a shower door and I have a shower door at home as well so don’t know why I would have said that! It was just way too funny.

After Annie left I immediately went back to sleep and it seemed like in no time she was back after having just gone for breakfast. I got up, showered and got ready to debark ship as I had to go to the Seward P.O. to buy a stamp to mail a letter to my husband. It had been established that I wouldn’t be able to email him as I couldn’t remember my 20 year old email password that I’d never ever had to use not even once-but according to the lady guru at the computer desk they need that PW or you can’t email, period. I ended up calling the front desk to ask if they took mail and the answer was no. I asked if they had or sold stamps, envelopes and writing paper and again the answer was no. What kind of hotel is this I thought! I looked out our door to the hallway and our cabin attendant Alex was nearby making up the cabins so I asked him and he said yes, he happened to have 2 envelopes, no paper or stamps though. And here I had assured my husband that I’d be able to email our daughters who in turn would call him and read him my letters. As we’re going to depart Seward at 5p.m. today and be at sea for 6 days before reaching Petropavalovsk, Russia this would be my last chance for awhile so I opened one of the envelopes to use it as the writing paper, addressed the other one and set off to hopefully find the Seward P.O. buy a stamp and mail the letter home. How's that for an old fashioned cruiser?
First i went for breakfast and i sat with a nice lady solo traveller named Phillipa from New Mexico. We got along so well and had so much to talk about that we were in there over an hour. Phillipa and i discussed the pros and cons of Donald Trump and we both agreed that he was ok but should watch his mouth a little more but that he was actually a pretty good guy. I then disembarked and walked through the terminal to get a shuttle bus into town. As it turned out the two ladies who were looking after things there at the bus stop said they could give me a stamp and mail the letter for me! I was so happy about that and while it might have been a good experience to visit Seward i took them up on their offer. As it turned out when they noticed the letter was addressed to Canada they gave me 3 stamps just in case they were needed and refused payment for them! There’s awesome people everywhere sometimes when you least expect it and they said “just pass it on” which i most certainly will do whenever i can. So since it was to be a wait for the next bus and i was already cold and tired from carrying my IPad and my letter was going to get mailed anyhow i decided to just turn around and get back on the ship. I probably will regret it when I hear later that it was an awesome place but what can you do when your gut tells you otherwise.

So now it’s 1:30pm already, I had a little rest and now it’s time to go eat again, lol!
I decided not to eat as an origami class was going to begin in a few minutes so i walked on down to the Fyzz Lounge to participate. I was surprised to see only 3 ladies there so i joined them as we learned how to make a star box. It was quite difficult and all of us had to get the instructor to help us out and in a few minutes he had made us all a sweet little star shaped paper box. Old film trivia was to start next so we all hung around for that. Unfortunately I’m not good with this category and only got 4 correct answers out of 21 questions even though I did answer every question, lol!

One of the ladies mentioned it was tea time and i said I’d love to join her so we went to the Garden Cafe and i had coffee and banana cake while she drank tea and we talked together for half an hour or more. She is from Switzerland and spoke mostly French and Italian and i forget what the word is for those who speak a combination of the two. Or maybe 3 including German too. Her English was excellent and she knew B.C. quite well as her son was born in Vancouver and she had lived there for awhile.
Later i returned to the room and enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine on our balcony for awhile repairing my manicure. Annie came back from the whale watching trip but they didn’t get to see any whales. She was very funny telling me about being seasick, I guess it’s funny once you recover from sea sickness but at the time i’m sure it was awful to be vomiting into a bag and i think she said a lot of people were in the same boat, so to speak, lol!

I took off to Chin Chins for my dinner of a spider roll sushi and also ordered soup and a couple appetizers. Maybe i wasn’t very hungry, as I didn’t enjoy it that much. I sat with another solo lady Sandie from Hamilton, Ontario and we had a nice little visit. I then realized it was time for the solos gathering in Spinnakers so I made my way up there where i met Margaret from Australia once again and we had a nice chat before the group left for dinner. Because i had already eaten i decided to go back to the room because i had forgotten to bring my camera. Before i left the fellow in charge of these gatherings reminded me to join them in the Stardust theatre as he was getting platinum seats for all of the group. But now that I’m back in my cabin i think I’ll skip out as it’s a long way to head back there and i’m not sure if I even want to go. Maybe i’ll go to the Lido and have some ice cream and a cuppa their nice tea. Not sure what else there is to do tonight but we have sailed away from Seward and we will be sailing for 6 straight days now before we dock for a day in Russia.

Well, i did get myself together and headed off to the show in the Stardust where i met Margaret and we were shown to the platinum seats which weren’t actually that great of a viewing spot.  The hypnotist show started and the guy asked for participants from the audience and about 16 people went up including Scott, a friend of my room mate. Very soon several people were hypnotized and the others were told to return to their seats. I guess if you don’t believe in hypnotism you don’t get hypnotized. The remainder did and said some very funny things and another batch was let go back to their seats. Annie’s friend was amongst the remaining 5 on stage. One of the women was asked to count on her fingers and she kept getting 11 fingers or maybe 9 and she was put into such a deep sleep she kicked off her shoes and sprawled right out. It was a lot of fun watching this show.

Later  Margaret and i went to the casino where i was blown away by her method of playing poker. I usually only play poker on a cruise because they never have my fav slot games from home and I’m not usually lucky playing some random game. Anyhow, Margaret is the fastest player i’ve ever seen, she had a style and a way of playing that seemed much more profitable than the way i play. However I don’t think i could be as fast as she was in a million years and i’m not even clear on whether speed gives you an advantage. I guess i’ll just play my own slow way and probably always be a loser. One thing that i will do now though after watching her is to go for the straight if you have 3 cards of one and that’s not usually the way i play and definitely not if there’s a pair included in the hand. I noticed that quite often the 2 missing cards will fill in the straight more times than she'd get 3 of a kind.

They announced a draw was going to take place and all you had to do was get 5 numbers right and you’d win over a million dollars in good ol.’ U.S. money. Well that would be something like over 1.3 million Cnd and because my husband plays Keno and often gets a 5 number win i was thinking how easy that would be. Four correct numbers would pay out a cool thousand and i forget how much for 3 numbers but at least $20. I think. So i go get a ticket and you could choose your numbers or take a quick pick so i chose my own. A few mins later the numbers were drawn and i was surprised to not get even one of them. WTH i thought it would be easy. Later i figured it out; this is way different than Keno and the chance of getting 5 numbers out of 5 drawn was impossible odds. In a Keno game there’s 20 numbers drawn so getting 5 correct isn’t that hard especially in view of the fact that they can tell you what the most recently drawn numbers were because they do have a tendency to repeat and if you watch closely a few games prior to your game you can make sure to include some or at least one or two of the most common numbers drawn to help your odds. So now that i know and understand this i prob won’t be buying into this lotto. However, afterwards when all was said and done they announced another draw was going to be held for the losers. Just sign your ticket and put it in the box. i did and i observed there was just 2 tickets in there, including mine! So guess who got lucky and had her ticket drawn and won a bottle of wine? Yes, i can get lucky when there's only one other ticket entered, lol.

Sept 21, 2018 Day 6 at sea

Woke up this morning sailing on a very big ocean; no land in sight, just water and sky and that’s what I love. We took our time getting going which was very relaxing to not have to rush off to something. I made coffee in our cabin and we hung out until it was crunch time for an origami lesson. With no time for breakfast we hurried off to the Fyzz Lounge and took a seat. In just a few moments the instructor started the lesson of how to make an origami butterfly and by step 4 I was already behind not understanding which way to fold it. In a moment of lingering over it the lesson proceeded onto the next steps without me being able to catch up. A couple of kind ladies in the class offered to help me and each one folded it in a different way so that made it interesting. In the end I had a beautiful fat, new species of orange butterfly which i will never be able to duplicate so that was cool.

Then one of the ladies mentioned that another class was about to begin in the Spinnakers Lounge and the class was on how to learn and speak Mandarin. It sounded good to me and as Annie was going to attend something else I asked another women if she’d like to join me; her name was Quin and she said ok. Eventually I found out this lady was from Vancouver and we had a lot to chat about after the lesson was over. The only thing I remember in Mandarin is shi shi for thank you. Quin and I both agreed that it would have been more appropriate if it had been a Japanese class since we’ll be going to Japan soon. However, a class in Japanese might be on the agenda already as its 8 or 9 days before we get to Japan so no point in suggesting it to management.

I then went to the Garden Cafe and had lunch with a nice couple who were originally from Beijing and now live in Washington DC. I chose pork roast with sauerkraut and a cauliflower dish with caraway seeds and garlic which was very good. It was cool to talk to them of the places I love in Beijing, the changes there since I had first gone in the 90's and all sorts of stuff. It’s no secret that I love the country of China and especially the city of Beijing and its people. I somehow feel like I’m home when I go there and I feel like I’m one of them when I’m in their company.
But I became so cold sitting there I knew I had to get to my cabin and warm up for awhile lest I end up with pneumonia again so I had to say goodbye but I hope I’ll see them again.

Then on my way out of there I pass the ice cream machine and I can’t stop myself from getting some. Yes, I was already freezing but I got a bowl of ice cream and beat it down to my room, cranked up the thermostat and climbed into bed to eat it!

Later I went for dinner and can’t remember what I ate now but I’m sure it was good. In the past I always remembered to take a pic of my food, this time although I’ve been carrying my camera everywhere I go I don’t always remember to take pics. Actually missed a lot of scenery shots as well and stuff going on aboard. It seems this is a totally different cruise for me this time.