I'm Back
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:14 am
My luck with the weather gods held up as Fay slowed down just enough so that our cruise could leave with only an intermittent drizzle and Gustav didn't show up quickly enough to cause a problem.
My luck at the casino did not hold up as well. I usually play blackjack at $10 a hand and won $100 the first night. From then on, the cards turned as cold as I've ever seen. I will buy chips in $60 increments and if I lose two stacks, I call it quits for the session. Four different times I dropped that first stack of $60 within ten hands. One other time, I watched the dealer get five blackjacks in a course of seven hands (all but one with an ace showing and none of which, naturally, I insured against). All in all, about $500 down for the trip.
Carnival also changed the blackjack rules in the last year but hadn't posted it on their website or in their promotional literature. The dealer now has to stand on a soft 17, which increases the house odds a bit and changes the basic strategy a bit (which I hadn't prepared for). I don't think the change in strategy would have affected my results any, though, but I do think they should have updated their website.
Other than that, a great trip. Mrs. SSS was mortified when I performed Macho Man and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy at the karaoke bar but the crowd was very appreciative. We actually had a table for six at dinner all to ourselves, after our first night companions, two sixtyish sisters traveling together, decided not to eat in the dining room after that night (it was before my karaoke performance so that wasn't the reason).
We stopped in Cozumel, where we spent the day at a beach club where they kept bringing us food and drinks (nine mixed drinks and three beers) all day and in Progreso, which is the port for Merida, the largest city in the Yucatan. The water is so shallow at this port that the ship has to dock at the end of a six-mile long pier where they have a shuttle to bring you to the mainland. Merida has a population of one million and is about a half hour drive away from the port. We got to see some of the old buildings that date from the 1500's there then went to a ranch where they put on a riding and roping exhibition.
All in all a good trip, and I know everyone here really, really missed me during the Democratic convention (most of which I managed to miss). The satellite reception for CNN was screwed up so we couldn't see it very much. Instead, we got to watch Iron Man, National Treasure 2 and Transformers on the room TV. After seeing bits and pieces of all three films during the course of various days, Mrs. SSS never wants to see any of them again for some reason.
My luck at the casino did not hold up as well. I usually play blackjack at $10 a hand and won $100 the first night. From then on, the cards turned as cold as I've ever seen. I will buy chips in $60 increments and if I lose two stacks, I call it quits for the session. Four different times I dropped that first stack of $60 within ten hands. One other time, I watched the dealer get five blackjacks in a course of seven hands (all but one with an ace showing and none of which, naturally, I insured against). All in all, about $500 down for the trip.
Carnival also changed the blackjack rules in the last year but hadn't posted it on their website or in their promotional literature. The dealer now has to stand on a soft 17, which increases the house odds a bit and changes the basic strategy a bit (which I hadn't prepared for). I don't think the change in strategy would have affected my results any, though, but I do think they should have updated their website.
Other than that, a great trip. Mrs. SSS was mortified when I performed Macho Man and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy at the karaoke bar but the crowd was very appreciative. We actually had a table for six at dinner all to ourselves, after our first night companions, two sixtyish sisters traveling together, decided not to eat in the dining room after that night (it was before my karaoke performance so that wasn't the reason).
We stopped in Cozumel, where we spent the day at a beach club where they kept bringing us food and drinks (nine mixed drinks and three beers) all day and in Progreso, which is the port for Merida, the largest city in the Yucatan. The water is so shallow at this port that the ship has to dock at the end of a six-mile long pier where they have a shuttle to bring you to the mainland. Merida has a population of one million and is about a half hour drive away from the port. We got to see some of the old buildings that date from the 1500's there then went to a ranch where they put on a riding and roping exhibition.
All in all a good trip, and I know everyone here really, really missed me during the Democratic convention (most of which I managed to miss). The satellite reception for CNN was screwed up so we couldn't see it very much. Instead, we got to watch Iron Man, National Treasure 2 and Transformers on the room TV. After seeing bits and pieces of all three films during the course of various days, Mrs. SSS never wants to see any of them again for some reason.
