Looking over the Deck and Bridge at the Portofino

Testing the Safety of the Life Boats

One day Wyona and I stood at the window and watched the yellow life boats lowered into the water and then taken for test run.  Wyona said she heard the captain doesn't like how this wears out the lifeboats, but it is a safety standard and one that was fun to watch during lunch. 

There is so much to do on board -- much of it organized. There are presentations about land trips that can be taken; hour long instruction about what to buy at the markets; dance lessons occur every day -- practise the cha-cha, the tango, let your feet do the swing or line dance for a while.  I can hardly fit all of that in and get to the restaurants three times a day.

Wyona noted that there was a bridge lecture. we hadn't tried.

 ... a sailboat comes into view

Timidly we made our entrance into the Portofino Room, as yet unexplored by me for it is one of the specialty restaurants on board.   

In typical fashion, I took my daybook to take notes.  I always want to be prepared to read over my notes in the evening and see if I understood what I heard.

Carrying the book there was a waste of energy, since I had to listen.  

Really listen ... without even putting a pen to paper the man was going so fast with ideas that were new to me. 

The lecture was on Defensive Signalling.  I learned about the categories of attitude, what to lead on declarer’s lead, third-hand strategies, trump echos and suit preference.

The next day we learned how to count losing tricks in a hand and then we sat down to deal and then lay down our cards

A lovely way to end the day

The best part of the lesson was the visit afterward with the bridge master, Trevor, and his wife, Christine.  She said that they have cruised 30 times.  The first time they paid for the cruise.  Now they cruise and  teach bridge.  She added that it is getting hard to find new cruises they want to take.


Yet another reason for a person to really get good at bridge!


Arta