5 Sea Days

Sea days!  How lovely.  It gives us much deserved down time.  There are so many things to do on the ship, yet we do none of them.  George loves to stay in the room and work on his programming or his puzzles.  I enjoy playing stupid games and writing this blog.  My favorite spot on the ship is on our veranda.  In the mornings we get the sun and I the afternoon we get the cool ocean breezes. 

On our first sea day we spent the morning in bed doing nothing. We watched a part of a movie that we began the night before and we rested after all the activities we had been doing in French Polynesia.  During lunch Luigi came up to us for probably the third time to ask how to solve the bucolic cube.  You see, George had given him a copy one night in Toscana and he’d been fumbling with it ever since.  He did tell us he’d solved it once but didn’t know how and couldn’t do it again.  George put him out of his misery and showed him the solution. 

After lunch we played a game of Hand, Knee, and Foot with some new friends and I can’t even remember who won.  I’ll post the rules of the game at the end of this blog post in case anyone wants to learn how to play.  It’s rather easy and if you are on the ship and use a Mac, we can give you an automated scoring program that George wrote a few years back.  

That night we had dinner in the main dining room.  As we went up, George and I met a couple sitting at Baristas.  We sat and chatted with them for a few minutes, and as usual George gave them a puzzle.  The gentleman took a look at it in the box, said he’d solved it and went in to dinner.  What a funny thing. I was wearing the new sarong I bought in Bora Bora and George was wearing a flower print Hawaiian shirt.  The lady thought we were artists and wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Another funny thing to me.  Ah well, on to dinner.

We always ask for a sharing table so we can meet new people, and tonight we did. This night we were seated with the artist in residence and his travel companion.  Jack is Lebanese and Lana is Russian.  They were very interesting people who will be on until Barbados.  As luck would have it, this was the one night I did not bring along an extra puzzle. Oh well, we’d just have to sit with them again another time.  He did tell us all the water color workshops were fully booked on the very first day.  How wonderful for him.  We retired for the evening as tomorrow is another day.

In the evening we decided to go to the yellow fin tuna bbq in the terrace café. But first, the Capitan’s reception.  We ventured down to Martinis where we had a glass or two of wine.  As usual, we sat with another couple and had a nice chat.  It’s nice meeting new people almost every day.  

Around 6:30 we headed upstairs for dinner.  Tonight we had 2 puzzle with us and planed once again to sit with someone new.  Nope.  It wasn’t meant to be.  We saw Jack and Lana and decided to sit with them once again.  This time George gave Jack the puzzle to solve.  But first! The tuna!  This isn’t the biggest I’ve seen, but it sure was a nice one.  I was told that any food that is cut to be served must be used within 4 hours or it is mulched up and fed to the fish.  I hope this one wasn’t wasted like that.  

Jack started off by drawing a photo of the fish, and the executive chef.  When he sat back down, he began to draw some more.  Then Bam!   He showed George and I a finished picture of ourselves. It must have only taken him 5 minutes.  How I wish I had any bit of talent like that.  

We chatted for quite a while then went back to the room to start yet another movie the I wouldn’t finish.  Sure enough, within about 10 minutes of resting my head on George’s shoulder I was out.

Today we spend the morning being lazy again and at lunch sat with a gentleman we had meet early on in the cruise and had a nice chat about his finally getting out of quarantine.  Sadly it was too late to do any of the islands which they were looking forward to.  At 1 we left to go play cards again.

This time the game was 5 crowns. It’s a game of luck rather than skill, although there is some skill involved.  In this one, you can collect runs, or sets of 3 or more.  Each hand a different number is wild starting with the threes and working up to kings.  The deck has 5 suits and no duces or aces.  It was rather fun and I’m sure we will play again.  

This evening we were having dinner at Toscana so after 2 hands of the game, we retired to the room to have a bit of a nap. I wrote a bit more on my blog and played some stupid games.  At 5:30 we headed up to Horizons for another night of free drinks and had one.  On to dinner with yet another new couple who are also heading around the world.  It was another pleasant evening.

Can you guess what we did the next day in the morning?  That’s right, we were lazy and didn’t get out of bed until 5:30 am! God knows what caused that.  I had a rough morning.  The nausea is back.  I should have taken pills last night, but thought I would be ok.  I was wrong.  

After a while, we decided to play a game of EuroRails.  This is a favorite of George’s and has become one of mine.  It is a crayon rail building game made by Mayfair that first came out in 1990. We bought a carry tube and have put together a travel set for this game. Now when we go away, we take it everywhere with us. Neither of us won as we wanted to go hear about the future cruises.  

We went to the Insignia lounge and listened to the talk about the upcoming cruises, but to be honest, we were only there to hear about the 2024 Around the World itinerary.  I won’t tell what we heard, but it pleases us very much. We had already talked to Celia and said we wanted to book it and now we are sure.  The only difference?  This time we will upgrade to a larger cabin.  I mean we love each other and all, but we all too often bump into each other at the end of the bed.  

As a lark, when George was taking a shower I went in and joined him.  There is so much talk about not being able to fit one person in a regular shower let alone two, I went for it.  I will say it is tight but possible.  Had we been washing our hair, there would have been a lot more banging of elbows.  This time, it you drop the soap….leave it on the floor.  It would be impossible to pick up.  

From here we went yet again to play Hand, Knee, and Foot.  This is a funny game.  Some hands you win and win big and others you loose equally as big.  At 2 pm we crossed the equator and King Neptune was able to call in over the internet to chastise the pollywogs on the ship for behaving.  That is a change from the usual crossing ceremony.  Earlier in the morning my friend Stephen sent me a photo that I had posted on Facebook along with one that it reminded him of.  What do you think?  Is there a resemblance?

When we returned to the room there were equator crossing certificates waiting for us on the bed.  I never saw the red line over the water, nor felt the bump.  I'll just have to trust that it happened.

There was another special dinner in the café again tonight but we chose to eat in the Grand Dinning room.  We ate with two couples we had not met yet on the ship.  After all this time, it was a shock to all of us that none of us had met previously.  As usual after the meal was finished, George handed out the puzzles.  There was quite a bit of playing with them at the table and no solving. I took took out a 2-piece pyramid and handed it over.  This too remained unsolved.  As we were getting ready to go, I noticed one of the waiters hovering so I called him over and gave him the 2-piece pyramid.  Apparently he had gotten a copy of the bucolic cube and couldn’t solve it.  The pyramid was more up his alley.  

We all said our goodbyes and were heading up to the room when the two girls behind the counter stopped us and showed us a cube in the box. They were wondering if they had solved it.  When we assured them they had they let us know that about 5 of the staff had done so and asked if possible to get a few more copies.  Of course!  We will gladly hand them over at dinner tomorrow night.  This is what gives us pleasure in puzzling.  Passing on the joy of it.  

These are sea days for us.  Wake up, eat, play a game, sleep, wake up, eat, sleep and start all over again the next day.  It’s nothing to complain about. I’m completely enjoying it.  Tonight we turned our clocks forward one hour.  All the way out to Bora Bora and we didn’t even lose a day. 

This fourth day at sea started as usual.  Lazy, lazy, lazy.  I woke around 7:45 today.  After waking up today I decided to go sit on the veranda and have a bit of sun.  The waves are lapping today, they are not glass but I knew that from the rolling of the ship when I awoke. So far I am doing well and hope that the seasickness is FINALLY gone.  I would have thought by now I’d be fully over it but I’m not quite there yet.  

When diving and scooting around the islands I got a bit of sunburn on my arms.  I immediately put on aloe when retuning to the ship, but that wasn’t enough.  As I sit here in the warm sun typing that little bit of my arm and hand that has the sun on it is very hot.  The next time we do the Around the World I’ll bring some afterburn and remember to put on sunscreen.  I have plenty on the ship.  I just kept forgetting it on the ship when we went out.  I’ve no none to blame for this but my pure stupidity. On the bright side, I do have a bit of a tan.

In the mornings we 'fight' for the internet. George gets on first and checks emails, stock prices, and the news.  After an hour or so I get it and do much the same.  It is during my 2 am wake up that I load all photos to my blog because at that time there are few people online and it works much better for me.  I’ve gotten into the habit of writing everything up first in pages then migrating it to the blog interface and finally adding the pictures.  With the less than ideal internet, this is really the only way it can be done without losing everything I’ve entered when the internet goes out.  The stuff we are suffering with now. 

I spent the best part of the day doing 3D prints of various puzzles.  We have been giving some of the pieces to the crew and thought we should replenish a bit.  

After lunch we returned to the room to play Eurorails and have a nap.  That did not happen.  Instead we had another couple come down to the room and we gave them a lesson in 3D printing. George is in heaven!  He loves showing others the machine and getting them excited about 3D printing. After making a Bee pin on the printer for the lady, we spent a bit of time playing with some of the pyramids I had made.  It was a very pleasurable afternoon. 

Shocking!  Tonight is yet another free cocktails night.  This is the third in just this posting.  I van’t help but think that the captain and crew are not the ones paying for this.  Just roughly estimating that everyone drinks 2 drinks over the course of the 2 hours.  At $10 a drink (the price of a glass of wine) that would be over $6400 per night.  That is a monthly wage and then some. I’m guessing Oceania itself is footing the bill for this.  Not that it matters.  I guess if they keep us well lubricated they know there will be a lower chance of a mutiny. Come to think about it, isn’t that what captains of old did to keep the peace as well?

We sat and had a glass of wine and then were joined by another single lady that we have befriended.  She joined us for dinner and we had a lovely evening filled with laughter. As we went into the dining room we dropped off 4 more of the bucolic cubes and 2 of the 6 dogs puzzles for the dining room staff. We know they have been enjoying the puzzling so we hand over puzzles as we make them.  I think when I make a trip home next month when we land in Miami I will grab a bunch of puzzles from our treasure chest to hand out to the crew.   

I am disappointed. The ship has stopped the yoga classes as there is no longer a fitness instructor on board.  I was told that the entertainment team does a 7 am stretch and a 11 am spin class.  My knees don’t do well on bicycles and who is awake at 7 am?  I was enjoying the yoga.  It’s a shame the instructor left the ship.  Perhaps they will pick one up in LA.  

On Monday we woke around 8, checked the stocks and started another print job.  This time I am making a heart puzzle.  I’ll be posting about my recent creations later in the week. I wanted to go to the bracelet making class at 9:30 but George didn’t answer me so I missed it.  Perhaps I can go to the next one.  

Lunch was as usual in the Terrace Café and then we went to the pool deck to play cards again.  

OMG!  Day 4 of free booze!  This time it is a Oceania Club reception.  Not exactly the same thing, but my goodness this ship sure has a free hand with the alcohol.  I guess that is great.  I don’t need to worry about the corkage fee at dinner and it is stretching out our supply.  I may have enough bottles left to make it to our stops in Europe where we can resupply with some old world wines.  

This time there were some statistics given that tickled everyone.  Over 1100 bottles of wine are drunk per day, 40 bottles of whiskey, and 15 cases of beer.  There are over 260 Americans on board the ship.  Everyone here has been on the last leg of the cruise as well.   There are no newcomers.  The majority of the staff comes from Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.  There are 320 people on the ship and 415 crew.  The ratio looks good there, but one has to remember there are many crew members that we never interact with.  You know, the ones who run the ship.  

One of the joys of being married to my beautiful lover is that we don't really do cocktail parties.  He had all too many of them in his prior life and didn't enjoy them. In fact, over the last two years of our texting relationship before he moved to Hong Kong, I spent many a cocktail party with him on FaceTime.  We chatted while his ex-wife socialized.  So here you see him enjoying a sudoku while I enjoyed the singing.  I'm still very much a social person, but my love for him supersedes my need to go to parties and dance. 

We were also told that there will be 4 more nights of free cocktails!  They really are trying to stop a mutiny. Speaking of…tonights movie for us will be one that has Charles Laughton and Clark Gable in it. Anyone want to guess at the title? 

We spent a bit of time talking with Ray the Cruise Director about the ship and our experiences in other lines.  When we asked about backend tours, we were told this will never happen again because on one ship a passenger dropped anchor in the middle of the ocean.  No harm done, but that put an end to that.  The kitchens are off the docket for tours on Oceania because that is the place to kill everyone.  Which of course makes perfect sense.  

We had dinner in the Grand Dining room again with guests we have been with before.  We enjoyed the meal and the conversation and it was up to bed for us.  Well, we finished watching Mr. Jones (2020); a movie about the Stalinist famine and his move into the Ukraine (how appropriate) and The Age of Adeline (2015); a Dorian Gray sort of movie. Both were very good and we slept soundly. 

I’ll enjoy my next 4 days at sea.  And then LA yet again.  Until next time, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Sailing. 

As Promised, the rules for Hand, Knee, and Foot: 

HAND, KNEE AND FOOT...HOW TO PLAY

BEGIN:

Draw for deal. High card is dealer. Dealer deals 15 cards for “hand”. Player to the right of dealer deals 13 cards for the “knee”. And person to his right deals 11 cards for the “foot”.

The “foot” is placed in front of each player with the “knee” then placed crosswise on top of the foot. The packets of 15 cards are given to each player for their initial hand.

THREES:

All “HANDS” are looked at first for red 3’s which are placed in front of the player. Starting to the dealer’s left, 1 card is drawn from the draw pile to replace each red 3. In clockwise order, all red 3’s are shown and new cards are drawn to replace each one before play begins.

Decide which team member will hold the closed canastas for the final count and other team member will lay cards in front of him for melds. Red 3’s are given to the closed keeper. Red 3’s found later in “knee” and “foot” are not replaced with other cards from the draw pile. Red 3’s later drawn from draw pile are replaced immediately (do not put in hand, but are given to closed keeper). One team member will keep the closed books, the other will keep the melds.

PLAY:

The dealer turns the top card over. If it is a 3, 7, 5, or wild card, another card is turned and placed on top. Player to the dealer’s left begins by drawing 2 cards from the draw pile. He is looking for points to lay down the 1st meld (minimum 3 of the same cards). If instead of drawing the player wants to pick up the top card of the discard pile to use with 2 natural like cards in his hand to make initial meld he may do so. If he has the cards within his hand for the correct points to meld, he may lay down his meld (the first for the team) and then pick up the whole discard pile with 2 of the same cards to match the top card on the discard pile and play those cards as well. Before picking up the pile, the player must show the two cards in his hand that are the same as the top card.  

MELDS: 

A Red (clean) meld is at least 2 cards of the same face value. A Black (dirty) meld is a set of at least cards of the same value and wild cards.  There must always be more natural cards than wild cards in a  meld. A team can have as many melds as they wish.

After an initial meld by a team, anytime the top card of the discard pile is picked up (with two of the same cards in the players hand) the entire discard pile must be picked up as well. When the discard pile is picked up and cards played, the player must indicate that his turn is done (no discard is played). If a player picks 2 cards from the draw pile, he plays his cards, and then he will discard 1 card on the discard pile.

CANASTAS:

A Red (clean) canasta is a set of seven cards of the same face value. A Black (dirty) canasta is a set of 5 (or 6) cards of the same value and 2 (or 1) wild cards.  Note here: three wild cards can make up a meld of four or more natural cards, however, this can never, henceforth be considered a canasta.

Once the 1st seven card canasta is completed, it is handed to the closed keeper and the player picks up his “knee” immediately and continues to play those cards, as he chooses, until he discards. His partner may then pick up his own knee, but cannot play any cards from it until his turn.  If a player forgets to pick up his “knee”; he may not be reminded to do so by his partner.

As the BASIC BOOKs of canastas are made, any cards in the basic books may not be tucked (added to later). 

The cards that made up the Red or Black (dirty) canastas in the BASIC BOOKS can be restarted in another meld, and when completed, set aside as additional canastas.  At the next turn or the partners next turn, additional similar cards can be tucked. Wild cards, 7s and 5s can never be tucked. They can be restarted for another meld with the same original point count. Wilds can also be used to make Black canastas or discarded. 5s and 7s can never be dirtied or blackened.

When all cards of the “hand” and “knee” are played, the “foot” may be picked up and continue to play. If a discard was made, the “foot” will be played in the following turn.

If a player is in his “foot”, he may “go out” if he has the BASIC BOOKS completed, and can play all his cards or “tuck them”. Before “going out”, a player must ask his team mates’ permission. The team mate does not have to be in his “foot”, but will consider the possible point deductions of his un-played cards.

If all cards from the draw pile have been played and neither team can “go out”, then the point count will include partial BASIC BOOK and other canastas, red 3s, and deductions for un-played cards.

POINT COUNT FOR HAND KNEE AND FOOT:

PLAYERS:  Four players - play 2 teams of 2 each with 6 decks

                     Six players – play 2 teams of 3 each with 7 decks

GAME:  A game consists of four rounds.

POINT VALUES:

JOKERS……………………….…………..…….…50 POINTS EACH

ACES & DEUCES…………………………………20 POINTS EACH

RED THREES………………………….…………100 POINTS EACH

8 THRU KING…………………….………………..10 POINTS EACH

4 THRU 7……………………….……………………5 POINTS EACH

UNPLAYED RED THREES………..…..MINUS 500 POINTS EACH

UNPLAYED BLACK THREES …..……MINUS 100 POINTS EACH

SCORE OPENING MELD REQUIREMENTS:

UP TO 15,000 POINTS………………………….50 POINTS

15,000 TO 30,000 POINTS……………………..90 POINTS

30,000 TO 50,000 POINTS……………………..120 POINTS

OVER 50,000 POINTS……………………………150 POINTS

TO “GO OUT”, A TEAM MUST HAVE THE FIVE REQUIRED CANASTAS—“BASIC BOOKS” 

A) ONE CANASTA OF SEVEN 7’S (NO WILD CARDS)

B) ONE CANASTA OF SEVEN 5’S (NO WILD CARDS)

C) ONE CANASTA OF SEVEN WILD CARDS (DUECES AND JOKERS)

D) ONE CANASTA OF SEVEN CLEAN (RED, NATURAL, ALL THE SAME CARD)(NO WILD CARDS)

E) ONE CANASTA OF SEVEN DIRTY (MIXED NATURAL CARDS WITH MAXIMUM OF 2 WILD CARDS)

____________________________________________________

SCORING:

CANASTA OF 7’S………………………….…5,000 POINTS EACH

CANASTA OF 5’S……………………….……3,000 POINTS EACH

CANASTA OF WILD CARDS……….…….…2,500 POINTS EACH

CANASTA OF SEVEN, CLEAN OR RED…….500 POINTS EACH

CANASTA OF SEVEN MIXED ………….…….300 POINTS EACH

POINTS:

“BASIC BOOKS” ………………………….………..11,300 POINTS

ADDITIONAL BOOKS OF 7’S, 5’S & WILD CARDS SCORE AS ABOVE

TEAM GOING OUT………………………………………200 POINTS

7 RED THREES—(700 pts plus 300 pt bonus) …….1,000 POINTS

UNPLAYED RED THREES…………..MINUS 500 POINTS EACH

UNPLAYED BLACK THREES……….MINUS 100 POINTS EACH