Day 2 at Sea

After spending 26 hours in bed and not eating for 24 hours, Michael woke up feeling much better.  Phew, it’s a good thing he got back in the saddle because I cannot run a bridge game due to the fact I am not certified, and because I have no clue what to do.  I am a great helper – I open the bidding boxes, make sure the pencils are sharp, collect the registration slips – you get the idea:  an ideal gopher!  I will put bridge aside for the moment and get back to the morning events. 

How many days in a row can we put together without something happening out of the ordinary?  At the current pace, it looks like one.  I woke up this morning with swollen, red, and puffy upper and lower eye lids.  The skin on the side of my nose was tender to the touch and the bag created under my eye would hold all the stuff in Herminie’s purse (reference Harry Potter).  The corner of my eye itched like crazy.  The puffy, swollen bag under my eye didn’t worry me too much, but the redness did.  So off to the ship’s doctor I went.  I have an infection in either the tear duct or an eyelash.  The ship’s doctor is a tiny Chinese lady from the Philippines.  She prescribed Amoxicillin and heat compresses.  I hope she knows what she is doing as she didn’t even touch my eye.

Back to bridge.  Today we had to gently direct one bridge player away from the game.  He has early onset Alzheimer and cannot play.  He can hold the cards, but gets confused as to bidding and playing, and it is not fair to the other bridge players for him to play.  I shadowed him yesterday, but Michael and I decided we could not do this again.  He has a right to play as he is a paying passenger, but we also have to consider the other players.  This is a difficult and sensitive subject for us to handle.  I feel really bad for him as he is such a nice fellow.  

I wound up playing – playing with a, gulp, expert!   She is a club director and her husband runs and directs in major tournaments.  They also work on cruise ships like we do, but this time decided to be passengers.  For my bridge playing readers, I WAS ON FIRE!!!!  I played most of the hands and we had a 61% game!  I even got master points!

We finally got our wi-fi up and running and were able to FaceTime with Deborah and Isabelle.  Woo hoo! 

Tonight was the captains welcome party.  We all congregate in the main show room to listen to the ship’s master tell some jokes (he has a great sense of humor and is pretty funny), eat caviar and drink champagne.   We learned that the current passenger complement of 341 (the ship holds 450) are from 18 different countries.  There are 357 crew members on board, and thus the terrific service on Seabourn.  Afterward, we repaired to the dining room to feast on lobster tail and crème brulee.  The show tonight featured grammy award winning singer Patty Austin, a blues singer. 

All and all we had a nice day.  But once again, I have to deal with the late dining problem.  The dining rooms do not even open until 7pm and sometimes 7:45pm, and the shows don’t start until 10pm.  I have to order food even if I don’t want it because people you are dining with become very uncomfortable with a person who doesn’t eat.  The staff get concerned that you are not ordering enough food if you don’t order a soup, salad, appetizer AND dinner.  Who can eat that much????  I cannot eat too late in the evening, and still get to bed at a reasonable hour so I can get up in the morning for the first bridge lesson at 9am and have a happy digestive system.  So far it is cooperating and I want to keep it that way.