Construction Woes

I have been on many cruise Inaugurals which are often shake down cruises.  Things are not always finely tuned and there are always some surprises . . . some happy, and some not so happy.

I was on a Royal Caribbean travel agent preview cruise and literally as we walked on board they were finishing tacking down the carpet in the hallways.  That evening they fired up the casino for the very first time and I thought I would give it a try.  What the heck: the cruise was free, so why not donate $20.  The problem was, I kept winning!  And winning!  But I figured this couldn’t continue and that a good gambler knew when to walk away.  Besides, it was time for the gala dinner.  So I left for a fantastic dinner, but afterward could resist going back to try my machine again.  Unfortunately it had a sign taped onto it reading “Out of Order.”  Later at the gala entertainment presentation, RCCL then-President Richard Fain announced, “And by the way, we found the slot machine that was broken!”  Heck, I should have just stayed there the entire cruise and bankrupted the ship!

A not so pleasant experience was on one of Holland America’s new ships . . . now it would be one of their old ships that they’ve gotten rid of . . . anyhow, it’s another travel agent function . . . black tie, lots of glitz, and lots of free booze.  Walk into the men’s bathroom, do my thing, flush . . . and the urinal shoots water all over me!!  Then I hear all these guys with wet pants standing in the background laughing hillariously.  You had to have been there and had about a dozen drinks to see the humor, but it was funny.

Tuesday Holland America christens it’s newest ship the EURODAM in Rotterdam where it all began and the godmother is none other than the Queen of the Netherlands.  You can see it live on the www.EurodamNews.com Web site.

Carnival has just taken delivery of another new ship, the CARNIVAL SPLENDOR, and John Heald, the Senior Cruise Director of Carnival, will be the cruise director on the SPLENDOR.  John writes an often amusing blog about his adventures – http://johnhealdsblog.com/ - that I enjoy reading.  He has a British sense of humor, which Americans sometimes find bewildering.  But, speaking of “Construction Woes” and knowing that even on cruise ships things don’t always work as planned . . . consolation to me in my little building project . . .  I thought you would find this funny . . .

Correction

Jeff has corrected me that the price of cement since we started construction has gone from $5 a bag to $9 a bag, and the price of steel has doubled!