Last Week of 2009....

Day 1. 12/27/2009

We started from home around 1:30pm in our car. I was feeling sick since morning with severe allergies. Popping a couple of anti allergic pills: was no relief {which we later discovered – had expired – thanks to my wife} I think that aggravated the problem. A stop at Walgreens for some stronger meds and another stop at our bank’s ATM we finally started moving towards Long Beach. My nose was running wild as if protesting this trip. It wanted me to stay at home and kick back the rest of the holidays. After utilizing a whole box of facial tissues and suffering whole of recent Kailash Kher CD we landed at the docks. I had an urge to go to the loo which I fulfilled after leaving the whole jing-bang wondering at the reserved spot in the Cruise terminal parking lot. The check-in was very tricky as we have to sign a declaration saying that …”none of us suffers from ‘running nose’ , ‘fever’ , sore throat etc etc ( a precaution supposed to guard the 3500 cruise passengers and 1700 staff against H1N1 virus … I wonder the possible connection with the term H1B1 – the latter being the type of visa I was given in order to work in US – 12 years back. A quick consultation with my better half and we decided to ignore certain items of the questionnaire with a logic that …..you should have ALL the symptoms listed in order to qualify for quarantine. After using dark glasses, a skull cap and a muffler around the neck in order to disguise my rose hued nose we cleared the check- in formalities, only to be told that some of our member’s date of birth did not match with their records. I often mix up these dates since my wife was born on 6/25 and daughter on 6/17. I am not sure why this happens.

Finally we were allowed to proceed to the dome which leads to our ship – Carnival Splendor. This ship was supposed to be a newer one with a ‘class of its own’ so says the brochure. Our stateroom as they say was not deep in the bowels of this gigantic ship but very near the entrance. I was still dazed by the powerful antihistamine / diphenhydramine combination ‘kapgel’ I had ingested about two hours earlier. My

stomach was churning fire begging for some soothing retardant. With substantial will power I allowed myself to be present at the Ship’s introduction lecture and a brief tour. I could hear the words being spoken by our guide in heavy British accent but I was not ‘present’ a hundred percent. I excused myself from the clutch and went wandering around searching for my oasis. Relief came in the form of an exotic looking tequila presenting itself in an elegant carafe with an umbrella stirrer and with a tab of $10.57 (this included a mandatory 15% gratuity) – no wonder the bearer of the drink had a wide smile. That along with some lightly breaded prawns did the trick in calming my ruffled stomach villi.

I set my sights on the 3 card poker table – the only table which is always crowded - and squeezed myself between a heavily made up old lady and a college kid. I put on my reading glasses and looked at my wristwatch ….. darn !!! I only had 25 minutes before our designated dining time. As a result I could not concentrate on the game (not that the game requires concentration) and within that time I was down $200. That would work wonders for my appetite but somehow I found myself ordering only the LOW – CAL items which resulted in a comment from my Maître D - “you don’t diet on a cruise ship”.

I excused myself after dinner and made a beeline towards the 3 card poker table and I was ready for my

revenge. It was our first day aboard the cruise ship carnival splendor.