South America Blog: Day 10
Sunday, January 24 (Cape Horn)
Today is the only day during the cruise where we were at sea but not playing any tournament games. That's probably because we were passing by Cape Horn, the southernmost point in South America. Myself, I prefer the Spanish name, Cabo Hornos. Cape Horn is located on the aptly named Horn Island (Isla Hornos), and is actually located in Chilean territory. Borders are tough to keep track of in this area.
We were rudely awakened by the cruise director around 6:30 a.m. (although we were kind of expecting that, based on the cruise itinerary). He interrupted us 3 or 4 times and rattled on in 4 languages to explain what was going on. I groggily got up a couple of times and snapped a few pictures from our veranda. There was supposedly a monument with an albatross, but I never saw it. Perhaps I could have found it using binoculars, but it wouldn't have been large enough to be captured by the cameras, even at maximum zoom. We made a complete circuit around the island before heading off to sea. At one point, I made my southernmost fart, but Shelley did not appreciate the significance of the moment. At another point, we crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic, marking the unofficial halfway point of our cruise. There probably won't be anything of note to look at until we reach Puetro Madryn on Monday.
After all the commotion, we both thankfully managed to fall back asleep, at least until we were awakened by a call from Barbara asking if we wanted to participate in the tour of the ship's bridge. We were told at the beginning of the cruise that we would have the privilege of doing this (not everyone gets the chance), but were warned that it could happen at any time with little advance notice. It was 10:08 a.m., and the tour was at 10:30, so we politely declined. Sadly, I was unable to fall back asleep (and am consequently writing this now). If I remember correctly, I got a bridge tour when I went on a Mediterranean cruise as a kid. I will take solace in that.
Shelley spent some time in the casino, and actually won a bit of money, putting a little dent in her previous losses. I successfully Quackled my first game ever - the first game of the tournament vs. David Whitley.
We went to guest services to inquire about stateroom gratuities automatically charged to our bill. They charge $12/day/person, or $308 over the course of a 14-day cruise! That seemed awfully excessive for a "gratuity" When we inquired about changing the standard gratuity, we were told we couldn't - the only other option would be to remove the gratuities completely, and tip all of the staff in cash. The problems with that are (a) determining the appropriate amount for each person (there are at least 3 or 4 who service our room to some extent), (b) tracking those particular people down, and (c) having them know that you are giving less than the "standard" gratuity. So Celebrity more or less forces everyone to pay the standard gratuities. If that's the approach they want to take, they should just build it into the cost of the cruise, tell people that stateroom staff are fully compensated by Celebrity, and point out that should you wish to provide additional gratuities for excellent service, please feel free to do so. One reason our gratuities are as high as they are is we splurged for a Concierge Class room, which has extra services like daily hors d'oeuvres, perpetual fruit bowl, etc. But again, I feel this should be built into the room cost, rather than be expressed as a gratuity. To compensate for the high gratuities, we have decided to not be shy in using their services to their full extent, to try to get full value for our money!
Edit: We found out a few days later that the stateroom gratuities cover the various staff who serve us at dinner, making the $12/day much more palatable.
Soon it was time for karaoke again. This time I sung Yellow by Coldplay and More Than Words by Extreme, and then joined Shelley for a rendition of Love Shack by the B-52s (infinitely better than the version sung by another couple at the first karaoke session). Shelley also sung I Will Survive and Me and Bobby McGee solo. David Whitley even graciously allowed Shelley to force California Dreamin' upon him to close the session, after he had bravely sung his first ever karaoke song earlier in the session.
Today was the second formal dinner of the cruise, and we opted out yet again. Shelley was full, and not in the mood to dress up. Since I'm never hungry and never in the mood to dress up, she didn't get an argument from me! Shelley relaxed and did some reading and DVD watching, while I Quackled the remaining 10 games of the first half of the tournament. I made oodles of errors, as I expected, but was heartened to see that none seemed to fall into the overt game-losing category, largely because I've had no close losses.
Later, I grabbed some slices of za from the pizza bar in the 10th floor restaurant for Shelley, and went back to the pasta bar around 10 p.m. for my own dinner. There is food available at one of the many restaurants and bars on the ship between 6:30 a.m. and midnight every day, which is definitely a nice feature. I filled up a 1 L bottle of Evian with pass-o-guava juice, which I discovered early on in the cruise. It is truly the nectar of the gods! (Particularly when mixed with punch, lemonade, and iced tea, as any good drink should be.) As long as I have unlimited pass-o-guava, I do not need any sort of beverage plan on the ship! Another nice thing about the cruise is that you can take your food and drink anywhere on the ship. Shelley and I do it all the time, but for some reason we are in the minority. These people do not understand the benefits of nomadic nomming!