Going on a cruise is a great way to meet people. We've befriended many so far on this terrific ship, whose passengers comprise mainly Americans, but also Canadians, English people, and many Germans. On our third night, dining in the Moonlight Sonata on Deck 4, we got along so well with the Americans who shared our table - Ed and Rita, Gene and Vicky, Jo and Felicia (Jo is Canadian) - that we've maintained a running reservation every night for 6.30 pm ever since. But we've met others, like Jenny and Glenn, Monty and Don, Clay and Barbara, Steve, Kathy, Joanne and Ed, the latter four from England whom we've dubbed 'the Julies' because at one point we accidentally called one of them 'Julie'. And there are the folks we know from the Fortunes Casino - Phyllis, Susan, Norman and Melvyn, who hail from New York. They like to play Black Jack. When the croupier receives a tip, the croupier is supposed to ring a bell. But Norman has adopted that role instead, banging the bell several times enthusiastically. It's now Norman's job.
We also know many of the crew. At dinner, our wait staff include Yasar from Turkey, Dimitra from Greece and Somjit from Thailand who likes people to use her nickname pronounced 'tseeapp'. Tseeapp is awfully sweet. Dimitra got off at Aruba to act as translator for a very sick crew member who was hospitalised. She'll reboard the ship soon. Yasar and Dimitra are engaged to be married. Every night, Yasar gives us his recommendations from the menu. He'll advise Chicken Kiev, his second choice the pork schnitzel, but the Moroccan Lamb is also outstanding. (On the menu, the left page remains constant throughout the voyage, while the right page changes nightly.) Yasar likes to tease his guests and make jokes. Èd will remind him he'd told him not to put peas on his plate. He doesn't eat peas. Period!
We know other crew. Jean thinks Larysa from Ukraine is the most fun croupier in the Fortunes Casino. Katherina is also from Ukraine (specifically from Crimea), James comes from England, and Lerota is South African. All crew wear name badges which includes their nationality. The crew hail from the far flung corners of the earth. Those we've met come from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, South America and Africa. Countries strongly represented include Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Crew also come from Greece, Peru, Guyana, Namibia, Kenya, Turkey, Mauritius, Mexico, Honduras, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. All the South Africans we've met bar one have been young, female and black. The one was white, but also young and female.
Then there are the numerous folks whose names we can't remember, but we greet when passing. We'll smile to each other at breakfast or bump into each other at the lifts. They'll say "Did you go ashore yesterday?". We'll say "Yes, did you?" They'll reply "Yes, we went on the x tour, what about you folks?" There are also those folks who say hello, and you think "Oh, when did we meet them?" It occurred to Jean and me you could say hi to anyone, and they'd assume they'd met you at some stage, but now can't remember. So, Jean and I have taken to enthusiastically greeting everyone we pass. They greet back, animated, but haven't a clue...
We've assigned names to some folks we don't know. One woman is the spitting image of a former Australian politician called Amanda Vanstone, so I refer to her as Amanda Vanstone. But her name might be Hillary. Another woman strongly resembles my cousin, Janet, but maybe her name is Barbara. One large bloke looks a lot like an Australian political commentator, Laurie Oakes. We refer to one keen American cruiser as 'Booze Package'. We met him at the Martini Bar, and he kept telling us "Yer garda get a booze package." We just buy alcohol whenever we want it.
Another bloke we refer to as "Ocho". Ocho is an ostentatious, drunk, loud mouthed, large man who's fond of playing roulette, and wants the little white ball to fall on number eight, which is why he yells 'ocho' at the top of his voice. Jean was surprised they didn't throw him out of the casino because at one point he returned from the toilet with a large wet patch around his groin. He repeated this the next night, but has not been seen since.
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