So you all know what a trivia buff I am, well every sea day is Trivia Day here onboard Symphony. Cindy and I are teammates with The Barefoot Contessa and her consort and the Trivia Snob and her patient husband. We initially worried about just how difficult this trivia would be, as TS seemed overly concerned that one team had 7 members (including 2 young children) and six was the “official maximum number allowed on a team. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1981? What comic strip character leaped from the page to the silver screen in 1920? What plant does vanilla come from? Who is the youngest Beatle? Who directed “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? We got a million of ‘em!! We have played every sea day, and our team is always, and I mean always, one correct answer short of winning – always the bridesmaid and never the bride.
Separately, and much more importantly, because Crystal is celebrating their 20th anniversary, the night of July 20 was a super-duper-big-deal-of-the-century trivia contest. Subject matter would be Crystal Cruises history and First Prize for the entire winning team would be an Executive Chef specially prepared six course meal in Symphony’s Vintage Room, complete with vintage wine pairings from 1990 (20 years ago, get it?). The oenophiles were drooling ala Pavlovian dogs. (Me, I think one can of Diet Coke tastes about the same as the next.) Printed rules included the role of official monitors, the warning that PDAs and books would be confiscated, the instruction that if you left the room (for any reason) during the question period you’d not be able to return, etc. Good grief! Two of our table mates, Mary and Jim (10 cruises), really wanted to form a team. They scouted the ship and discovered Dr. and Mrs Arturo Fortuna. Dr, JD, PhD (of Buenas Aires and Sao Paulo) ( 49 cruises) – join us, they pled! Then came the difficulty of finding others to form their official team of no less than five, no more than six. I (6 cruises) was enlisted (to provide comic relief, I suppose), Cindy demurred. The first seating final game was due to begin in 10 minutes. Cindy had glanced through the brochure in our cabin and at the very last minute decided she’d join us as our sixth member. That ½ a cruise she now had under her belt was making her feel like one of the crowd!
We were escorted to our official table as Team 3 (of 14 for that final round). Our official monitored hovered over us, making certain we did not have crib notes, books, or iPads handy. The questions began:
1. Who is the Godmother of the Symphony? We knew that!
2. Where was the Symphony built? The brain hamsters begin their run in our brain wheels - Harmony was built in Japan and christened in San Francisco; Serenity was built in France and christened in New York; Symphony was christened in London and WAS BUILT IN FINLAND the brain yells out.
3. What is the cruising speed of the Symphony? Cindy quickly scribbles down a number for us.
4. What year was Crystal Cruises Inc formed? Tricky question, as we are all here celebrating the 20th anniversary, but wasn’t the company formed before the first ship sailed?
5. Who is the President of Crystal Cruises? Correct spelling required! Yikes – is it one g or two?
6. What year did the Symphony have her maiden voyage? Yuck – was that 1996 or 1995?
7. Where are Crystal ships registered? Ahhh. An easy one.
8. Of the following, who has NOT appeared on board as a guest lecturer – Barbara Walters, Caspar Weinberger, Walter Cronkeit, Gerald Ford? Good grief! Who even knows this? Take an educated guess.
9. My pea-sized brain cannot remember what this question was!!
10. What two magazines consistently list Crystal Cruises as the number one cruise line in the world? I got it, I think I got it.
OMG! We were done with the questioning and we think we did well, but, as the monitor snatched our answer sheet from us, we were prepared to sit back and wait as to whether we placed or showed.
The questions are reviewed as the answers are given….
1. Who is the Symphony’s Godmother? Angela Lansbury. Hooray!
2. Where was Symphony built? Finland! 2 for 2.
3. What is Symphony’s cruising speed? Cindy’s scribbled 20 knots/hour was exactly right on!
4. What year was Crystal Cruises Inc founded? We had had some conversation about this, but eventually wrote down 1988. Woo – we are correct and are now 4 for 4.
5. Who is President of Crystal Cruises? We had the correct number of g’s – 3. Gregg Michel.
6. What year did the Symphony have her maiden voyage? Gosh, we had argued about 1996 or 1995, but eventually went with Jim’s guess of 1995. A great guess, as it turned out.
7. Where are the Crystal ships registered? Easy, peasy – the Bahamas!
8. Of Barbara Walters, Caspar Weinberger, Walter Cronkeit or Gerald Ford, who has NOT appeared as a guest lecturer? Things that make you go “hmmmmm”. Aloud, I said I didn’t think a former President would appear as a cruise ship lecturer, so we wrote down Ford. Turns out that no President has ever lectured about a Crystal ship!
9. Who knows what the question was….but we got the answer right!
10. What two magazines consistently list Crystal as the number one cruise line in the world? It’s all I can do to rapidly scribble out Conde Nast and Travel & Leisure. I’m sure of it!
My teammates and I stare at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. Did we really just get all those answers correct? Is this possible? Well, if we did, that means the answers were really easy and all the other teams got them right, as well. We look at our monitor. He looks at us. He walks to the Cruise Director with a question, returns to us and gives us a thumbs up. For some reason, the team seated directly behind us begins to realize that we are 10 for 10 and begins to raise a dispute. (After all, vintage wine is involved here.) One woman is so upset she is having kittens, but our monitor reaffirms our 10 for 10! We are the champions! Congratulations abound! Bring on the wine! (I feel like I have been granted admission to Yale with exceedingly low SAT scores!)
The Crystal Cruises 20th Anniversary Vintage Room Executive Chef Prepared Dinner With Specially Paired 1990 Wines is ours! (What a waste on my poor uninformed palate (They sell this dinner for $499 a head – let’s just see if it’s worth those big bucks!)
So the big dinner is tomorrow night! Wait til you see what we ate and drank!
