"The Dapplebeans Rejuvenation at Sea" June 20, 2009 *TORTOLA/TONS OF PICS*

[RoyalVizier]

Day 2: Three Minutes of Suffering and The Sink

So there we were in the Cove area munching on chicken fingers and pizza and ice cream having a great ol’ time. When we’d had our fill, we got back into the pool, and… I sunk straight to the bottom. Nah, not really, but I felt like I should have! We hung out there lounging against the side. There were plenty of people in the pool. David, one of the cruise entertainment crew members, showed up at the pool and announced, microphone and all, that it was time for Adult Pool Games! Cheers! He said he needed two teams, men vs. women and then started to canvass the pool with his piercing eyes. This was my clue to slink away, hide behind my wife, or sink to the bottom! I am NOT a center of attention kinda person… at all. I do not want to get picked for things. So when David called for guys, I would have gnawed at the screws to the grate at the bottom of the pool to rip that thing off of there and swim down inside away from all eyes. Luckily… THANKFULLY, I was spared. The pool evacuated, the teams were formed and chaotic craziness ensued. It was a blast to watch, for sure! There was a dolphin nose relay, wet shirt relays, a gold coin retrieval game, fun and funny antics. David is an extremely entertaining host. He even jumped into the pool himself, fully clothed to try and keep the guys from winning.

So once the festivities were over, everyone made a mass jump back into the pool… I’m surprised the Magic didn’t dip a few inches! We were at the pool until about 3:45 pm then decided for a bit of inside time. We went back to the room, changed and rested for a bit, watched some TV… I bet I dozed, you’ll have to ask my wife.

My wife wanted to hit TV Tunes Trivia in the Promenade Lounge next so we went up there and were paired with another couple for some friendly team competition. I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to television, but I hardly recognized any of these theme songs! We scored 29/39. I wasn’t much help.

Now here’s where we veer off into madness and I make a complete booty of myself. My wife and I decided, weeks before this cruise, that we were going to make a point to visit the gym and have a healthier cruise experience exercise-wise (not necessarily food-wise if you’ve been paying any sort of attention). I mean, we wouldn’t want our muscles to seize up and atrophy with all of the lazy lounging we’re doing, would we? 2009 has been a year of weight loss for both my wife and I. As of embarkation day, I had lost 40lbs, and my wife 18lbs so we were on a roll and feeling good and feeling good about ourselves. About mid May I vowed that I would lose five more pounds before cruise day (which I didn’t hit, but almost) so that I could gain five pounds over the course of the cruise week. We were not going to “diet” on this cruise, but a little bit of activity and some visits to the fitness center were desirable for both of us. We had visions and intentions during the cruise planning stages of waking up every morning and going to the gym before breakfast and doing the elliptical or walking on the treadmill or peddling on a bicycle and then having a “lighter” breakfast at Topsiders focusing the majority of our food intake to afternoon and dinner.

Well… intentions are wonderful things. Intentions are like cuddly little furry caterpillars that nuzzle your nose and make you giggle and smile and see all of the beauty and possibilities of life and then suddenly through nearly supernaturally instantaneous metamorphosis they change into a vampire moth that swallows your head. Intentions are funny and scary things… you may have noticed that at the beginning of this day I didn’t say that I bounded out of bed and ran right up to the fitness center with glee. I am not a physical person. My cardio comes from walking up and down the stairs at my house and lifting fork full’s of tortellini to my lips. Sometimes motivation attacks me and gets me out for a long walk/jog in the morning, but that doesn’t really happen all that often. Surprisingly, all of my weight loss so far this year has come without any intentional exercise. So really… physical activity and exercise are not my forte. So I am not an expert on going to the gym which is where we were going to go now, after the annihalation of the trivia game in the Promenade Lounge.

There were only a few people in the gym which was good. My wife and I walked up to that front row of ellipticals up against the windows overlooking the front of the ship. What a gorgeous view, and unless you look carefully, it appears you’re going to walk right off the front of the ship, and walk right out onto the ocean. Well when I stepped up onto the foot platforms of the elliptical my head butted up against the ceiling! Uh yea… I’m 6’ 4” so this was the first of two times on this cruise that my height was not playing in my favor. The second time is coming up on Tortola day. So I had to move back to the second row of equipment where the ceiling was higher more in the center of the room. Well, I’ve never been on an elliptical in my life, and watching them in action in infomercials I think, “How the heck hard can that be? It’s just walking on air.” Uh… it’s not walking! It’s not walking at all. It’s some odd, unnatural movement that sets your thighs aflame with a fire that burns at 8,000 degrees. I felt like a complete idiot because just as soon as I began I was ready to give up. I was laughing, my wife was laughing, I felt that all on the ship were laughing, but take a guy with no real stamina, and throw him on an elliptical for the very first time and you get… well… pain… and suffering, and something to laugh at. Three minutes. I lasted three minutes. Then I moved over to the treadmill which was much better. Much more natural. And easier. And safer. So we were there for about 25 minutes forcing the calories we’d inhaled over the course of the day out of our pores.

At 6:00 pm we decided to head back down to the room to get cleaned up and get ready for the evening. My wife took one bathroom to shower, and I took the other to shave. I started running water in the sink and I lifted the sink stopper thingybob behind the hot and cold handles, and it kinda made this odd clunking sound and lifted up much further than it should have. I thought, “Dang! That trip to the gym bulked me up already and ripped my monster biceps to strength of unmatched glory. Look how strong I am!” The plug at the bottom of the bowl of the sink closed as it should have, but it just seemed odd. Well, once I was done shaving, I pushed the sink stopper bar thingybob down, and there was no resistance. It just fell right down and clanged against the base of the sink, and the plug in the bottom of the bowl remained closed. Uh oh.

There’s something about going on a cruise that causes me to be destructive I guess. If you read my trip report from two years ago, you know that I broke the bed and maintenance had to come give us a new bed. Now here I was going to have to call maintenance again! Hmmmm… do they keep records of who breaks what?

We tried to pry it open with various different things, but no, that wasn’t going to work. I stood staring down at the sink, full of water, trying to decide if the water was just barely trickling down the drain (again wishing I had telekinetic powers) but knew that it wasn’t. So I called maintenance, and the guest services lady told me that someone would be right up. While I waited I decided to fake that I may be able to be of some help in this matter, so I crammed myself on the bathroom floor on my back and looked under the sink’s hood. Those bathrooms are difficult to stand in let alone lay down in. So there I was laying half in the bathroom and half in the entryway to the stateroom, my long legs flailing every which way, and I may have kicked the closet door a few times, on accident of course. I am just not a handy person. I don’t fix anything. I don’t attempt to fix anything. I don’t hammer. I don’t saw. I don’t look under hoods. I call people and say “it’s broke”. But this time… miraculously, as I was crammed up underneath the Magic’s sink, I could see what was wrong with it. The rod doohickey gizmo had come out of the hole in the lever pulley thingy and it just needed to be shoved back in… and I did it! And I was king! Sink king!

(sorry, I have no pictures to document this afternoon’s antics)

Up Next: The Donkey on the Table

[RoyalVizier]

Originally Posted by DVC Mary

Ok, I've got to confess. I love Ollie, but he might scare the bejesus out of me at night. I'm easily disoriented at night. Could we have his whole body & not just his head? I can imagine myself going back to sleep dreaming of only Ollie's head.

Originally Posted by Disney Nana 4

Where are you Royal Visor??????

Sorry... I was busy posting the next part!

[Jennifer48]

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

Well… intentions are wonderful things. Intentions are like cuddly little furry caterpillars that nuzzle your nose and make you giggle and smile and see all of the beauty and possibilities of life and then suddenly through nearly supernaturally instantaneous metamorphosis they change into a vampire moth that swallows your head.

Best analogy EVAR!

for fixing the sink! Did you call back to Guest Services and say "your help is not required. I have fixed it!?"

[firstmickey]

You crack me up.

[gduvall]

Can't wait to hear the rest. Keep it coming.

[anetnmike]

you are a multi talented guy RV!
wordsmith and sink king
I am still trying to figure out how you fit a 6'4" frame under that sink in that tiny bathroom-that's almost a cirque du soleil move!
I have to say I admire all you good folks that do the workout thing on your vacation.

[Smileneyes]

It doesn't seem quite right for a post from RV to occur on any given day without the wonderful pictures accompanying them.

Also, a lot has been said to date about what a cute pup Ollie is...clearly the star of the family!

Third, a promise was made at some point to provide a certain "viewpoint" (if you will) from the jokesters of the DisBoards gang on the Tortola trip.

So, without further ado, I bring you a couple more "pups"!



Yep, DS finally came through, and proof of the flip-flops is now recorded for posterity!

[SSRJen]

We also watched the pool games, but from deck 10 (no chance of being called into the pool!). I agree that David was awesome. I loved that he really interacted with the guests (jumping into the pool), kept the adult areas he was running for adults only (saw him by the entrance several times turning away kids and teens. Last cruise there were quite a few kids at pub night and no one said a thing).

Talked to his Mom and she was great. He does hope to move up in the ranks and I think he has a great chance. He seems very dedicated and does a great job at entertaining.

[RoyalVizier]

Originally Posted by Jennifer48

for fixing the sink! Did you call back to Guest Services and say "your help is not required. I have fixed it!?"

I did give Guest Services a call back, yes, to tell them that their services were no longer required. I then ripped off my shirt, tied an oversized beach towel around my neck for a cape, and painted a "SK" on my chest with slightly melted turndown service chocolates.

Oh the visual...

Originally Posted by firstmickey

You crack me up.

I'll take that as a compliment!

Originally Posted by anetnmike

I am still trying to figure out how you fit a 6'4" frame under that sink in that tiny bathroom-that's almost a cirque du soleil move!

It required cramming... and crisco.

[Smileneyes]

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

It required cramming... and crisco.

Some things are just not meant to be visualized....

[anetnmike]

at last - the picture we've all been waiting for!

[DVC Mary]

Originally Posted by Smileneyes

Yep, DS finally came through, and proof of the flip-flops is now recorded for posterity!

THANKS SMILENEYES & SON! The proof is finally public. The next question is he still wearing them back home???

RV---Any response?

I too am & over how you fit under the sink. I'm surprised your wife didn't have to call maintenance to figure out how to remove you.

Have you secretly been doing yoga?

Pictures please!

[OlliesMomma]

Originally Posted by DVC Mary

THANKS SMILENEYES & SON! The proof is finally public. The next question is he still wearing them back home?

I can attest that RV is still wearing his flippies. The issue being that he refuses to drive with them on, which means that I have to drive all the time!! Guess that is not a big problem.....

[RLccweems]

I'm sorry to say this but this makes me laugh....that's a tight fit in those bathrooms. And to lay down on the floor under the sink......I'm you surprised even got out of there without any injuries!

What a man....you fixed it!!! It had to been the workout you had earlier in the day that helped you through this tough assignment!

[RLccweems]

Originally Posted by OlliesMomma

I can attest that RV is still wearing his flippies. The issue being that he refuses to drive with them on, which means that I have to drive all the time!! Guess that is not a big problem.....

I do the same thing...it's hard to drive with flip flops on. I always take them off and drive bare foot.