We are the champions—of the ship!

Poor John, me, Marian and Steve with our smiles and our winnings

Sorry but I can’t resist being a bit of a braggart here.

For the last 18 days, we’ve been on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, travelling from Valparaiso, Chile (near Santiago) to Los Angeles.

I have to admit that cruising is kind of a weird way to travel. At least it’s weird for Poor John and me, who are used to overland trucks, camping or hostels, cooking for a group and never knowing where our next roll of toilet paper is coming from.

On the ship we’ve done nothing but eat, go on excursions, eat, visit the gym, eat, look at menus for the next meal, eat, change clothes for dinner, eat, watch endless cycles of news on the BBC, eat, walk up and down the stairs (usually seven flights from our deck UP to the food trough), eat, lie in the sun for a few minutes, eat, do laundry in our tiny bathroom sink, eat AND participate in the daily rounds of activities.

Activities are meant to keep us busy and entertained, especially on sea days when no port is in sight. I haven’t done most of these activites, but the choices have been constant and diverse.

Think art auctions (who goes on a ship to buy art?), cake decorating, towel folding, ring tossing (I performed rather well today but didn’t win), bean bag tossing, best leg competitions (I didn’t enter), shuffleboard contests, karaoke, bingo, arts and crafts, dance lessons (no thanks, said Poor John) and more.

And then there’s been the trivia—several times a day. Most sessions cover general knowledge, but there have been forays into super heroes, Disney characters, airports of the world, gems, name that tune, name that dance genre, movie posters, monuments of the world, geographical features of the world, flags, and on and on and on.

The trivia obsession (especially for me) began on Day 1 or 2 of the cruise. Poor John and I rocked into Dazzles (the scene of most trivia events) and were waved to by a group of four people—Marian , Steve, Anja and Jana.

‘Where are you from?’, they asked, and our answer of ‘Australia’ was enough for them to recruit us part as of their team. Teams can have up to six people and as Marian said, ‘it’s always good to have a mix of nationalities.’ Together we covered the USA, Germany, Canada, Ukraine and Australia.

We did quite well on the day-to-day trivia questions, which bode well for the progressive trivia (six sessions held on six of the seven days solely at sea). The scores were cumulative and while Poor John was excused from all other trivia events (sometimes as many as three others in a day), he had to turn up at 5:15pm for the Main Event.

Frankly, everyone contributed their best knowledge to the competitions—I mean no one had all the answers—but Poor John was our true brain’s trust.

We dock in Los Angeles tomorrow, so tonight was the sixth and final progressive trivia. We were down to four players. Jana had found a fella and Anya had jumped ship in Mexico. So it was down to an American (Marian), a Canadian (Steve), an Australian (Poor John) and an dual national (me).

There were 25 questions tonight, instead of the normal 20. Daria (trivia mistress) announced that only 1.5 points separated the first and second-place teams. So far the crowd had voted against knowing who was in the lead but, based on our scores, we figured we were in first or second place.

And the questions began.
What’s the most common colour on world flags?
How many millimetres in a kilometre?
What’s the traditional colour a bride wears in India?
What’s the collective noun for cats (not lions)?
In Nintendo, who is Mario’s brother?
What is the largest waterfall in the USA?
and so many more!

And miraculously, WE WON.

We got 19.5 points tonight and won with an overall score of 104. Turns out the second place team got 17 points tonight and an overall score of 100. So we started the night in the lead and finished with victory. Poor John gets a gold star for knowing the answers to the trickiest (most obscure) questions.

And our prizes—a cup, a pen and a key chain—and the honour of saying
We Are the Champions—of the Ship.

P.S. Feel free to answer any of the above questions. I’ll let you know if you’re right.

P.P.S. More coming soon on all our other travels, but I just had to interrupt with our victory tonight.