Steve and Cathy's Blog

Still we rock and roll on our fourth consecutive Sea Day.  As said before, this is a constant topic of conversation, and the reactions that people experience from the motion are various.  Some people love it.  Well, good for them.  But most people find it a bit exhausting to have your body constantly adjusting to the ship.  Some people look on the bright side and say it gives them a good excuse to do almost nothing.

Steve does find time for a haircut at 8:30am.  A woman from Serbia named Mila does a great job and it is fun to talk with her about her career.  How some people who could have the same career on shore find their way into the cruise industry is interesting.  My hunch is that most people like that, people that could work in a hair salon in their hometown, have a bit of wanderlust.  They take the job because they’re curious and end up staying because they get accustomed to the long work periods/long shore periods kind of life.

The next big event is the Ship Building Sea Trials at 11:00am.  Despite the motion of the ocean, we feel very committed to attending this event because our friend Paul Johnson and his wife Sherri have entered. Paul is a master mechanic and so is especially mechanically skilled and has been building one of the boats that will compete for some time.

Today are the sea trials. As today’s Currents states: “It’s time to see if they are seaworthy in the treacherous waters of the swimming pool.”  The boats are all built out of recycled materials, and they will be tested to see that they 1) float and can stay afloat and 2) can hold cargo, measured by how many cans of beer or soda they can handle without capsizing or sinking.

We head up to Deck 9 to the pool area and greet Paul and wish him luck.  The swimming pool itself resembles the ocean we are traveling through, so we wonder if they will actually be able to hold the trials in that maelstrom.

The Emcee is a member of the entertainment staff, and he calls the event to order.  He explains that there are four entries, and that they will be judged on 1) seaworthiness, 2) cargo holding capacity, 3) originality of design and 4) audience applause when the entry is announced.  Paul has a fair contingent of people, so he should do well with number 4. The judges for the event are the chief electrical engineer, the general manager and another member of the entertainment staff.

Indeed it is deemed too rough to use the big swimming pool, so the trails are moved to one of the two spas on the side.  The first contestant does well, and his boat can hold eighteen cans of soda and beer.  The second entry?  Not so much.  He is pretty much out of the running.

Paul is number three, with his entry he has named the Kingfisher, which is a popular beer in India.  Paul got a lot of help from a couple of staff members from that country, and wanted to thank them for that, so he named his boat after that Indian beer.  Beer is definitely the theme, as the primary buoyancy is provided by two empty plastic beer kegs that he has acquired from the Waves Bar (For that reason, Paul describes his boat as a “kegamaran,” a variation of a catamaran.  He has glued a piece of plywood on to those and built the rest of his vessel out of bottle caps, cardboard six-pack holders and other recycled material.  A Canadian flag (he and Sherri are from Vancouver, BC) proudly flies in the middle.

The boat floats just fine. The next test is the beer can cargo part.  There is plenty of room for the eighteen cans that match entry number one.  He gets a loud cheer from his Canadian and Cigar Time entourage.  He is definitely in the running.

The fourth entry is, unfortunately, a very good one.  That too passes all the tests.  Now comes the judging.

Paul ties for first! He wins a bottle of champagne plus 30 “Big O” points that he can cash in for Oceania gear like t-shirts, luggage tags, sweatshirts and other stuff with the Oceania logo on it.

We are delighted for Paul and enjoy the good time.  It is time for lunch and naps.

I have no recollection of what we do in the afternoon, but we do have a special dinner invitation. We are to have dinner with General Manager Damien Lacroix at 7pm in the Grand Dining Room.

At the appointed hour, we meet Damien in Barista’s.  In a few minutes, we are seated at a table for six.  A guy from Israel named Yoav Levy is there (the ship motion is such that his wife won’t be able to attend) as well as a couple named Rich and Sharon. Damien is a charming, very polished but relaxed host.  The dinner is very, very enjoyable and it is an honor to have this opportunity.

Dinner concludes around 8:30pm, and Cathy and Steve stagger (the ship is still rocking and everybody on the ship walks as if he/she were inebriated) back to the stateroom.