Shouty Happy People

Day 3 part 2 - The nap was just the ticket. An hour of blissful non-vibrating sleep.

I wanted to see the ship leave port first hand, so I hauled ass up to the 14th deck found a great spot to watch from.

There were a number of other gawkers up there as well, not making any bones about the fact that they were hoping to see some dock runners - people who were about to -or already had - missed getting back onto the Cruising Ship on time.

A Selection of Savvy Cruising Ship Tips

• In my opinion, it is impossible to shower on this ship without flooding the entire bathroom floor... unless you always stand between the shower head and the curtain. The curtain is short, and fortunately, the shower drain extends a few inches into the bathroom area.
• The faucet is a bit different. Left handle is water on/off. Right handle is water temperature. Be careful with your buoys and tackle!
• Leaving the fridge cabinet door open made the difference in getting the fridge interior cold! Thank you savvy readers!
• If you have your Sign and Sail card on a lanyard, store it on the door handle. Don't you be like me and forget it in the room!!! This essentially prevents that, because it's almost impossible to open the door and not notice the lanyard. I suppose the ultimate solution is to just keep it on you at all times no matter what.
• A gallon ziploc bag can transport a day's ration of chocolate chip cookies from the buffet to the comfort and safety of your Cabinette.
• Today and only today I remembered reading that if you have the drinks in the casino on us superpower, you can go up to the casino bar and request a free drink at the drop of a hat. I planned a rant on the casino drink service, which will appear below - then I remembered this. It should mitigate the thirst situation.
• The bar has bottled water. Where you take that water and what you do with it is totally your business.

We weighed anchor, set sail, and hauled ass out of Cozumel. It was pretty cool to watch it all from high atop the ship.

It was a fun time, but not a winning time, and then it was dinner time.

There are all kinds of people on this boat. There are people like me, and then there are people not like me. And then there are very loud, shouty people. I don't enjoy shouty people unless I am tipsy and one of them.

At the restaurant, I spied the table I was about to be led to and it was festooned and surrounded by shouty people.

I requested a table in a different section, which was quiet and largely unpopulated, explaining I'd experienced noise trauma from being next to the stack when the horn blew this morning (true) and I could use fewer blowhards around me.

They accommodated me very willingly and helpfully.

Behold, the menu, and the environs.

I opted for the Smoked Poblano and Corn soup, and attempting to erase the memory of the steel belted ribs from lunch, stubbornly ordered the pork spare ribs entre. Dessert... the melting chocolate lava spew cake. It's de rigeur when At Sea to have a volcanic dessert at some point in the voyage.

I enjoyed the soup deeply in the peace and quiet of the non-shouty section, it's poblano and corn overtones blending perfectly with each other, because that's what it is made from. The cumin was just so, and it was to my palette a little spicier than expected, which was a delight.

The Flavourful Soup. Ignore that it looks like baby shit.

The ribs arrived, accompanied by a smiling server. They looked alllll right, and they were. Nice and tender, as promised.

OK, not the super greatest, but I enjoyed the hell out of them.

Until some buffoon commandeered the pubic address system running 108 dB straight outta the devil's hairy triangle.

"ARE YOU READY FOR SHOWWWWWWWW TIME?!!!!!!!!"

This is my fault. My friend Jennifer warned me about this specifically and in detail! Beware the awkwardness of the fake happy dancing restaurant staff hi-de-ho clapping and prancing shit show cringe parade!

I forgot all about it. Occasionally I faked up some enthusiasm by clapping two or three times (on the downbeat, not the upbeat, just to show them) but I refused steadfastly to join the loud shouty people and wave my napkin in a circular motion, hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mudshark in your mythology, here it goes now, the circular motion.

Damn, what I put up with for you people to read about!

Save me.

Mercifully, this display of soul-killing dance moves lasted only about 7 minutes, just long enough for my choco-lava spurt cake to get cold.

It was ok, not spectacular. And it didn't ooze out of the ramekin like real lava either. Sadness.

And with that, I thought I'd hit the casino and have a few drinks.

Now, I have to address the cocktail situation in the casino. It's completely out of control. First of all, the drinks are tiny. Miniscule. I haven't even gotten one or two sheets to the wind, let alone three, this whole trip. I could never succeed in getting Maile Room drunk on this boat.

I started playing and it was 45 minutes before anyone showed up. I ordered a double vodka rocks. Fifteen minutes went by, and a different server showed up, so I ordered a vodka rocks from him. Then the first server appeared with a large very melted drink, and two chits to sign. She explained that they can't server doubles, so she ordered two drinks, and combined them.

Then the other drink arrived. I downed the "double" and handed him the empty and started work on the drink he brought. I felt almost nothing. I think they are pouring single ounce drinks or maybe even less than that.

The other weird thing about the servers is they are completely disorganized. They don't have sections. They all just serve the entire floor. I've given an order to a server only to have another one ask me no less than a minute later if I want anything.

It's all very odd.

Anyway, oh boy, I played hard, and had some success, but also some incredible disappointments. Witnesseth below, a set of Pointies without kicker which would have been $1000 instead of $200 if I'd got it, and a four to a royal misfire.

Pointies for $200

Failed Royal draw.

Only my fourth quad of this voyage.

Failed draw on a possible $2000 hand. $5 instead.

The gambling has not been good at all on this trip. I'm short a bunch of quads, and the terrible paytables aren't helping.

After losing back all the Pointies money, and then some more, I went and watched a band for a while, and then packed it in for the night.

One more day at sea, let's hope tomorrow brings some wins!