SPIFFY ... ELEGANT

January 21, 2016

Tonight is the second formal night of the cruise, and it looks like the last one for this half.  The Captain hosted a cocktail party for all of the guests, and we went and drank juice and enjoyed the hor d’oeuvres.  As we left I introduced us to the Captain and told him I was the guest speaker for this cruise and the next one.  We chatted a while and he said he would come to my talk tomorrow afternoon.  That would be neat.

One of the male members of the cruise director’s staff looked at my tuxedo and said I was “spiffy.”  Later I gallantly escorted a lady through to the lounge and she said I was “elegant.”  I’ll take elegant over spiffy.  Our gentlemen waiters, we have two, and a lady, fussed over Bonnie and her fancy cream/light brown outfit.  It did her good because she has a rumbly in her tumbly tonight.

Jordan, my “spiffy” contact, told me he wanted to give my name to the gentleman who heads up the speakers’ department and they would ask for me when they needed a speaker because the regular scheduled one couldn’t make it.  That was cool.

This is, as you know, our first cruise on Carnival, and we are enjoying it very much.   We’ve been making a list of the things we like on this ship.

1.    Hot chocolate – Bonnie’s favorite breakfast drink on board, very flavorful, and very, well, chocolatey.

2.    Shops on board – simple, not pushy, nice merchandise.

3.    The sink in our bathroom has a hot and cold water dispenser that dispenses, are you ready for it, hot and cold water.  I can’t tell you how many we’ve had who just gave our warm water.

4.    Big shower.  We are thinking this room may have, at sometime, been a handicapped stateroom, and the shower is bigger than normal.  Nice touch.

5.    Lots of elevators.  With 2100 guests, most of them older than dirt, it is important to have a lot of ways to transport the needy up and down.  Stairs are good, but frequently ships don’t seem to have enough electric conveyances.  The Carnival Pride does.

6.    Our location.  Stateroom 1111 is the last inside guest room on the starboard side, and just a few steps to the venue where I do my talks, and just two sets of stairs up to the theater where the shows are held.  Very convenient.

7.    The food is good.  Cruise food is supposed to be good, but some is gooder than others.  This is good.  And our waiters are great.

8.    At many island stops a lot of people stay on board, and frequently there is little for them to do.  This ship has arranged extra activities for those who have not gone ashore.

9.    Pepper shakers that work.  It is so annoying to shake pepper onto one’s morning eggs only to find that the pepper won’t come out.  So one must take the top off and then frequently the eggs receive too much of the black spice.  These have big holes that work.

10.    The internet package.  It’s $90 to surf and send email without time limits or download restrictions, but that is a bargain compared to some ships where we have to spend 75 cents a minute.  And the connection is reasonably fast.

And that’s the pluses.  Hopefully the first day’s bumps will be all the bumps.

And now off to see a ventriloquist.

TTFN