Monday, May 08, 2006

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

All of last week I spent on a cruise ship for my friend's wedding. It was a destination wedding taking place in Bermuda but it also entailed being on a ship for the weeklong journey. We left from the beautiful Port of Philadelphia on Saturday and on Sunday hit some rough seas--going about 9 knots/hour and hitting 25-foot waves. Veteran seagoers (average age 75) told me it was the worst they'd ever experienced in all their years cruising. Great.

That Sunday, April 30, turned out to be the longest day of my life and certainly the most physically trying. It was like being on a plane undergoing turbulence for an entire day. Dishes were crashing, trays falling, cupboards opening--not to mention the barforama either in bags or on the floor. At 3am we hit a 35-footer that knocked our cabin's TV right off the shelf. (A loud crash had woken me up and the thought of a real-life Poseidon Adventure. And, by the way, no one onboard Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas even remotely resembled the cast from the remake.)

Some recommend taking Dramamine or Bonine before setting sail. Others recommend consuming ginger, ginger ale, and crackers. Still others will focus on the horizon. My recommendation: blackjack. There's nothing like the possibility of splitting aces to take your mind off of the whitecaps.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahh, now this is galleyslaves blog of old!

I wonder if any of the other passengers had D-Day flashbacks?

Anonymous said...

If you want to take the other player's minds off the whitecaps, split 10s.

I recall the groans of the other players to this day when I did (against a dealer's 6) some 30 odd years ago, the kicker was I hit another 10 on the second 10 and split those too -- won all three hands against the dealer's bust.

After that, the other players threw up their hands (the palm type) and switched tables :-)