On most cruises you’ll find yourself with at least one or two days heading to and from your destinations or between ports of call. On Carnival these are called “Fun Days at Sea”, since they have designated their ships as ‘Fun Ships’. These also tend to be the first and last days of the cruise so newbie cruisers are learning their way around or passengers are packing up their luggage for departure the next day.

On this cruise it was Monday 1/16 and Cruise Director Steve had plenty of events to keep us occupied. These included bingo, trivia contests, special receptions for past guests, veterans and other things which would keep us busy when we weren’t going from one feeding to another. On this particular day we decided to take in one of the trivia contests in a lounge. If I had known then what it would lead to I might have decided that watching the ‘Hairiest Chest Contest’ was the better alternative.

CD Steve would announce the prize and then ask a movie trivia question. Since the game was simulcast to staterooms (something I’d never seen a cruiseline do before, but thought was a pretty clever use of the technology), one question would be asked of the live audience and the next of those in the staterooms who would call down with their answers. It was a lot of fun, with Steve only allowing a player to have one correct answer. If you won a prize you weren’t allowed to answer any more questions. This was a good idea, since I’ve been in games like this where you’ll have one person getting all the answers without allowing anybody else a chance. The particular prize announced for this question was a spa treatment in something called the “Alpha Capsule”, which involved massage and aroma therapy. As I have little tolerance for stuff like that I announced to the rest of the table that I wasn’t going to try for something like that. *sigh*

The question was “What actor replaced Michael Keaton as Batman?” The fanboy’s hand automatically shot up and the Val Kilmer came out before I could stop myself. I had just won myself a 25-minute introductory session in the Alpha Capsule. More on that special event later in this report.

I’ve already posted a photo of our dinner group at the Captain’s Gala that night (which you’ll see by scrolling down the page), so I don’t have much to add. The food was good and the wait staff performed a song and dance routine, as they did on five of the seven nights we ate there. Everybody was looking forward to Grand Cayman the next day so it was another early evening, especially since Fran & TLC were signed up for an early tour.