Antarctic Cruise Day 10/40 - Short post - sea day and no internet

Antarctic Cruise Day 10 / 40 - The internet officially sucks

Trip day: 10 / 40

Port days: 5
Sea days: 4
Countries: 2
Continents: 1
Ports: 2

Wow.  And to think I was going to write a post today about how since we sailed from Amsterdam, the internet, while not terribly speedy has been rock solid.  Good thing I didn't write that.

Today, the IT crew (I think it is one guy) had to re-beam our system, changing satellites from the ones that have been providing solid internet coverage to new ones that are supposed to carry us to Argentina.  It didn't work.  The internet went down this morning.  Then it came up a while later, then crashed, then came up, then crashed - well, you get the idea.

It eventually went south around 4pm and didn't resurface until 10:15PM.  I hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come.  But...I'm worried that it is.

Today was a sea day.  We started out getting absolutely humiliated by the officers in guest verses officer Baggo (cornhole).  As we went up the stairs, the stakes, and point values went up.  The officers killed us from the high levels. It was all great fun and we'll have a rubber match tomorrow.

We spent a little time with the travel consultant, Fernando, looking at possible cruise itineraries.  Of course, Fernando needs the internet to do his job properly, and he didn't have that today, so he didn't have the proper tools to work.

We know he'll get us information.  It is just a shame that Viking isn't providing the tools to let their crew do their job.

Next up was trivia. Today was another two-part trivia.  There were the 15 general knowledge questions plus the following six brain teaser questions.

We aced these.  The six answers are:

1. 12 signs of the zodiac
2. 26 letters of the alphabet
3. 52 cards in the deck
4. 90 degrees in a right angle
5. 18 holes on the golf course
6. 29 days in February in a leap year

There were eight players today, so we divided into two four-person teams.  Our misses:

• What river falls over Victoria Falls?
• We guessed Congo - it is the Zambezi
• Who was the first female game show host to win an Emmy award?
• We guessed Vanna White - it was Betty White for a 1983 game show, Just Men!
• What is the name of the British Egyptologist that led the discovery of King Tut's tomb?
• Howard Carter - we had no idea and Indiana Jones wasn't right
• What popular children's toy was originally made to clean wallpaper?
• Everyone guessed Silly Putty - it was Play-Doh
• What two countries share the longest international border?
• We had this before and guessed wrong - we did it again with Russia/China - it is US/Canada at 5,525 miles
• What was the last line in Gone with the Wind?
• Everyone answered, Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.  I was mad when we heard the answer as I knew this, and forgot.  It is, After all, tomorrow is another day.

The combined 15 points were still good enough for the win, so we are still undefeated in trivia on this cruise.  Yes, it is poorly attended and we couldn't finish worse that second, but we're still taking the win.

While in the Living Room on deck #5, we saw Madessa, another of the terrific crew from our world cruise that is now on this ship.

The afternoon was relaxing with sunny and warm weather in the 70s and light breezes.  We spent time on deck #6 reading and enjoying the weather.  As you can see, we had to fight to get deck chairs.

After the christening guests left yesterday, we are left with 62 paid guests on the ship.  There are a few others that will disembark in Cabo Verde as well as a few contractors doing last minute work on the ship.  But still, 62 out of a possible 378 means we essentially are on a huge private yacht.  New passengers will embark in Ushuaia, and as of now, we're hearing that we should hava a total of about 220 to Antarctica.

After dinner, we spent the evening in the Explorers’ Bar, enjoying spirited conversation with other passengers, enjoying a cocktail or two, and listening to the terrific vocal duo.  When the internet finally went live again at nearly 10:30PM, we headed to the room so I could write this blog.

Tomorrow is another sea day before we arrive in Cabo Verdo.