20230427 Celebrity Silhouette cruise - Day 8/21 - another low key sea day

Celebrity Silhouette cruise day 8 - low key

Trip day: 8 / 21

It's another day at sea - the fourth out of six consecutive ones.  With the top decks closed due to weather and the pools closed due to the swells, everything has been happening indoors.  Temps remain in the mid-50s.  The winds have shifted to our back so if you do venture outside, at least you don't get blasted anymore.

It was another after 9am departure from the bed today, thanks to the last time change for a while. We’ll move ahead another hour before France and then move back the next night before terminating in Southampton.  Since we’re getting off the ship and heading to Paris, Arlona and I will flip forward that day, bouncing willy-nilly through time zones.

Trivia was brutal this morning.  We could only manage a 50% effort today.  Here are some of the tough ones.

• What game has the most books written about it? (specifically, a board game)
• We guessed Scrabble, but it’s Chess – makes sense
• What country has its map on the flag?
• Cyprus
• How many hearts does an octopus have?
• We’ve had this before but it escaped us – three
• Ernest Evans became famous using what name?
• Chubby Checker
• What country has the bible on its flag?
• We thought Vatican City, but it is on the flag of the Dominican Republic
• What fruit is also known as a carambola?
• Star fruit - we were split on dragonfruit or star fruit and chose the wrong one
• What is the most popular Mexican beer?
• We guessed Dos Equis (XX) – nope, Corona
• What is a baby rabbit called (it’s not a bunny…)
• Kit or kitten
• Where did the beer Stella Artois originate?
• Belgium
• Where were French fried potatoes invented?
• Also Belgium

At trivia, they also hand out daily puzzles like Soduko, crosswords, and such.  Today, they had a connect-the-dots.  Pretty simple, right?  Like for kids. But wait, this one has 529 dots! Can you guess what it is?

Keep reading to discover what it is

We attended a magic workshop conducted by last night's performer, Matt McGurk.  While I have seen (or performed) several of the tricks he showed, there were a couple of new things and it was fun to hear the "ohhhh..." noises from the audience as they finally figured out how a trick was done.

When we got back to our room, we received a note that we must appear in the theater tomorrow morning between 9:45am and 10am to clear Irish immigration.  Our Sea Pass card, passport, and the letter that was delivered are required.  We'll see how that process goes tomorrow.

We ate lunch and then headed to a putting class taught by PGA professional golfer, Steve Parry.  Steve is married to the singer Jayne Curry, who I've mentioned a couple times during this trip.  They have their young son with them as well and it's fun seeing them around the ship.

Steve offered his philosophy on putting and described the things that make a difference in his game.  The most interesting to me was his discussion of practice.  Most recreational golfers, if they practice at all, spend their time on the range with their driver or other long clubs. On a standard 18-hole course, you’ll only hit a driver 14 times over an entire round.  But, if you 3-putt or 4-putt each green, you’ll hit the putter 54 or 72 times.  By improving your putting so that you no more than 2-putt each green, you can take a massive amount of strokes off your score.  Even if you 2-putt every green, that's still 36 putts, more than double the number of drives.  Practice putting!

The second bit of advice was to stop trying to make 20, 30, 40-foot putts.  The goal is to leave the ball within a makable range and in a makable location for that second putt.  Get it close and make the second putt every time.  If you do that, you will occasionally make that first putt. Again, great advice.

Next up was afternoon trivia.  It was brutal.  Our many, many failures:

• What was the name of Don Corleone’s daughter who was getting married in the first scene of The Godfather?
• Connie
• Oberon is the largest moon orbiting which planet?
• Uranus
• Who narrowly escaped assassination in Windsor in 1882?
• Queen Victoria
• What Jamaican rapper released Bombastic in 1995?
• Shaggy
• In which UK city did the Battle of George Square take place in 1919?
• Glasgow
• What medical device was invented by Santorio in 1612?
• Thermometer - we guessed stethoscope
• What was originally known as the “Soundabout” when it was introduced in 1970?
• Based on the year, we guessed a boombox – the answer was Walkman which is odd since it didn’t come out until 1979 – another example of the poor questions on this cruise
• What movie featured the line, “If you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true.”?
• Cinderella
• What is the only rock that floats?
• We thought lava or gypsum, but it is pumice – similar to lava but solidifies trapping more gas and ash

Oh well, we came away smarter...again.

We enjoyed another nice dinner in Blu.  Nothing was particularly interesting to us tonight as far as live entertainment goes.  They were showing the 2022 movie, Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts.  A divorced couple teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago. We decided to make it a low-key night and watch the movie. It was predictable but still cute. 

We also did a little shopping tonight.  Since March 2020, over 18 months, we set foot on all seven continents.  On the ship, they had earrings and a men’s ring with depictions of the globe.  We decided to mark that achievement with jewelry and purchased the set.

When the custom earrings arrive at our house, the ring will be yellow gold and the continents will be white gold

The body of the ring will be yellow gold and the globe will be white gold

They are fun pieces of jewelry that will help us remember the wonderful travels we have taken together every time we wear them.

We hit up the Martini Bar for a nightcap and headed to the room.  It will be nice NOT losing an hour tonight.  Two more sea days to go before we reach Ireland.

For those patient readers, here is the connect-the-dots completed 529-dot image.

Did you figure it out from the original image?