white buckskin shoes polish multiple bistros on-board the Crown Princess
“… simple, Dan. There are no limitations on size or weight, so we will have.”
“More than enough,” I replied. “Everything we own,” I thought, eying the enormous suitcases arrayed in the bedroom.
“There is no need to be unprepared.”
“Of course not, my dear,” I replied thinkng: “But it isn’t necessary to bring our own lifeboat,”
“We need to get some new clothes,” Nazy noted.
“Excuse me?”
“We need to wear white. White linen, white shoes, white silk. Everyone wears white on a ship.”
“I don’t think that’s..”
“My Dad, Dan, was on a lot of big ships and he wore white.”
“Your Dad was in the Navy, my dear.”
“Where are your white shoes?”
I thought back to High School when I had saved up earnings from my paper route — even collecting substantial arrears from the hostile Mrs. Cooley on Sycamore Street — in order to get a pair of white buckskins. (I wanted the ‘Princeton look’.) The whole thing had gone sadly awry when my Mom, unaware of my suede brush and instruction manual, decided to ‘polish’ the suede with liquid shoe polish — the same stuff she used on my sister Wendy’s baby shoes. Those were the last white shoes I had until..
“Remember the white loafers we got at the Ferragamo outlet in Mendricio?” Nazy asked.
“Of course I remember,” I replied. “My sister reminded me that only grandfathers wore shoes like that.”
“Ah ha! Now you are a grandfather.”
“You don’t have any white shoe polish do you?” I replied, conceding the point.
“By the way, Dan,” Nazy continued, “We need to buy another suitcase.”
“Of cour$e,” I replied thinking about the baggage pile. “I wonder if we can borrow Melika’s SUV to get to the port in Los Angeles?”
We met Stefan and Mitra in Los Angles for a very nice lunch. Later at the port, we saw our ship, a petite leviathan …
“.. as big as the Empire State Building,” I explained, “But the Empire State Building doesn’t float.”.
“The Crown Princess also moves.” Nazy replied.
“Now I’ll never be able to think of a 747 or an Airbus 380 as big.”
The Crown Princess, has a zillion restaurants, a shopping mall, snack bars, exercise facilities, food courts, a casino, a plethora of finger food stations, a photo studio, several cafes, multiple swimming pools, a cafeteria, a live performance theater, a few bistros, multiple swimming pools, a pizza parlor, an art museum, a grill, many ice cream stations, an outdoor movie theatre..
“I understand that they’re showing ‘Titantic’, ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’, ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ …”
“Now you’re being silly, Dan.” Nazy complained. "But we do need to be careful about what we eat. It would be easy to gain weight.”
“Yeah, I know. Too many opportunities for overdosing on lettuce and tomatoes,” I replied. “I’ve found some good alternatives at ‘Calories Are Us’.
While we were cruising, Melika, Tom and young Tiger were in Miami celebrating Mel’s birthday. Nazy and I knew that it would be complicated to carry luggage and the baby through the airports. We also knew that the grand(est)son was not a general fan of strollers. So…
“We got him a ‘special’ stroller,” Nazy said. “A blue car stroller with a steering wheel.”
“I don’t want to let him steer,” Melika remarked.
“You don’t have to worry,” I interrupted. “It’s just like the steering wheel I use when Nazy is shouting instructions from the passenger seat. In short, it has nothing to do with moving in the direction desired by the ‘driver’.”
And, while we’re on the subject of cute babies: 
On the cruise ship, Nazy and I are getting our sea legs and learning our way around. We dawdled getting ready for the first dinner and ended up in a rather long line. They gave us a buzzer and sent us to the bar where Nazy, naturally, made friends with everyone who was in speaking distance. Over time we noticed that …
“… all of those people arrived after us and all of their buzzers went off before ours.” I noted. “Something is wrong.”
“The hostess said it was because we didn’t want to share a table,” Nazy replied. Patiently.
“I understand,” I said insincerely and inaccurately.
After a while, Nazy tried again. This time, she bypassed the hostess and went directly to the Maitre de — who noticed that the buzzer’s battery was dead. We were seated immediately and given a couple of glasses of Cabernet. Gratis. A couple was seated at a nearby table a few moments later.
“Isn’t this great!” They exclaimed. “No wait whatsoever.”
Their waiter arrived instantly with a bread basket and a menu. Our waiter waved from (way) across the room. They ordered. Our waiter dithered. Their appetizers arrived. Our waiter, having attached crampons and a lifeline was working his way in our direction. Their waiter bashfully brought the main course. Our waiter brought the menus.
However… when our food arrived it was excellent. We had a wonderful dinner and then went to the theatre to watch a very funny comedy show. So far, we are having a great time.
For last week's letter, click here
Sunset from the ship