Please pardon me while I temporarily divert from the challenges of daily life to talk about two completely unrelated and enjoyable phenomena.
First, I warned our head of marketing Betsy O’Rourke that I was going to take some license with our new marketing platform “The Sea is Calling. Answer it Royally.” My alternative version is “The Track is Calling. Answer it Early.” I realize most people wouldn’t associate a 5:30 a.m. workout session on the track with anything enjoyable. So I won’t go there. But I will say my evolution from rarely working out early in the morning to working out early nearly every morning has affected more than my running. I have found that the world between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m. is a different place and interesting in its own right. Even in a metropolitan area there are sometimes plenty of stars to see. Sometimes there are possums waddling across the street or raccoons racing across. My vision of the iconic newspaper delivery boy has given way to the reality of a madman in a pickup truck who drives on both sides of the road depending on where he is going to flip the next paper, making it nearly impossible to know where to run to avoid him. And once I get to the track itself, I encounter an element of humanity with little in common except they all arrived early at the track. This is a sufficient connection to cause some complete strangers to say hello to one another. In the dark. Where else are you going to find that?
Second, there is the annual Goldstein family NFL playoff prediction competition. This is a family tradition that is at least 40 years old. No money is at stake, just pride. I will explain how it works but first I’m going to explain something else. When we started in the early 1970’s, all of the five contestants lived in the same house and watched the games on the same television. Today, this tradition causes the most communication within the family during the course of the year and (thanks to the internet) mitigates the geographical spread of the 11 competitors whose places of residence encompass Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Seattle and Nagoya, Japan. While it is not the same without my father in the role of commissioner and scorekeeper, I hope the tradition lives for many more years. I also recommend something like it to the readers and would be happy to hear about whatever family traditions any of you may wish to volunteer. Here is how it works:
Over the Wild Card and Division play-off weekends (total 8 games), the scoring approach is identical for each game. Each competitor predicts an exact score. When a game is over, the game is scored on 4 criteria: win/loss, point spread, home team points, away team points. If you picked the winner, 20 points for you. If you picked the loser, no points for you. For the point spread, 20 points are awarded to the person who predicted the spread closest to the actual spread regardless of whether the person picked the winner or not, 15 to the next closest, then 12 – 10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2 – 0 – 0 – 0. For the home team points and the away team points, the available points are 10 – 8 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 0 in each case. So for any given game a person could score anywhere from 0 to 60 points. The only difference between the first eight games and the two conference championship games is the available points in the latter games are doubled. The Super Bowl is worth triple points. In other words, the first 8 games are worth 8/15 of the total points and the last three games are worth 7/15. That means you can mess up several of the first eight games and still make a dramatic comeback by nailing the last three. And what better way to nail a game than to predict the exact score of the game, which in addition to bringing major, major bragging rights comes with a 50 point bonus? My guess is there has been a perfect prediction about once every two years, none more impressive than my brother Ben nailing the Giants 20 – 49ers 17 NFC Championship score this year. Note – one year I lost a perfect 20 – 10 prediction when the winning team took a safety at the end of the game. Ouch!
All of the above may seem like a lot, but you have a year to get ready and there’s really only one rule. You have to make your prediction before the game starts. Enjoy!
I had the pleasure of working with your dad at Drinker for many years. Hoping to sail on RCCL in July of 2013 !
That’s amazing, Carol, thanks for sharing and we hope we can see you again in 2013.
Your method of scoring was as clear as mud to me but then you have to remember that i am originally from Europe, where real football is played!! But I have agree about the world in the hours between 4.30 and 7.00. The air is cleaner, there is a wondeful sense of peace and tranquility and with no interruptions you can get so much more done, whether it be work or just for you. Even on board I am up early and usually go to GS and see if the night person would like a coffee. Then go check email before starting a slow meander around the open deck.
Glad you agree Helen, thanks for your comment.
Adam I have some comments about our experience in Labadee this past week. My husband and I were on the Navigator of the Seas last week and one of our stops was in Labadee. We had been there 5 years ago for our honeymoon and loved it. Now, not so much. First of all when we docked the Liberty of the Seas was there at the same time as us. This island isn’t big enough for two ships at the same time. We waited in line for everything. Lunch was the wost as I waited in line for almost an hour only to find out that there was no vegetarian food for me to eat other than salad and some fruit. Was a veggie burger too much to ask? I would even have eaten fish if it was the only thing available. I got food for my husband and then we went back to the ship for lunch for me. Not exactly convenient.
Another problem was the marketplace. Get rid of this please. Every single person who walked by this area to get to the beach was heckled and catcalled by the rude people of Haiti. If I want to buy something I will approach them but if I am yelled at and called names to because I don’t want to buy their stuff then that really ruins my experience and I was really looking forward to Labadee.
The other thing that I saw was a health and safety issue. The kayak area runs right through the swimming area. My husband rented a kayak and I rented a stand up paddleboard and in order to take it to deeper water you have to paddle right through the swimmers. This is unsafe because the swimmers often don’t listen when you ask them to kindly move for the boat. We are experienced boaters but from what I saw the day we were there many were not and this was an accident waiting to happen. I remember on our previous visit the boats were in another part of the island. It should be like this again. Also after having to pay so much to go on a cruise why do we have to rent mats and kayaks? It should all be included in the cost of cruising. On this cruise we really felt nickle and dimed the whole time.
Another thing that bugged me was when we did the walk for The Children’s Wish Foundation, we bought the t-shirt did the walk and then they wanted us to pay for the group photo too. That’s really in bad taste. That should have been given to the group as a thank you for doing the walk.
I applaud your early morning running efforts, as I also run at 5:30am, in the dark, by the light of a headlamp. And in February when the temperature is 22 degrees, the streets of Asheville, NC have to be calling loudly so I can muster up the motivation to leave my cozy bed. I agree that the world is a much different place before the sun rises and my route is often dictated by which way the garbage truck is running so as to avoid the aroma and keep my path upwind! An early morning run is a great way to start the day and although I am ready for a nap by lunchtime, it feels good to know that I have “peaked” for the day before most people are even out of bed! Thanks for sharing your story!
Thank you as well for sharing your early morning routine, Terri.
Adam, we are very upset with the recent news from Royal Caribbean. Only the Splendour will be here, in Brazil, is it true? Because, it don’t make sense, your company said so many times, that with the crisis, it would be adding capacity in Brazil, China and Australia, and suddenly you resolve to pull out one ship from here without replacement?
It’s something that we are never going to imagine, if wasn’t announced by the brazilian team of Royal. We are really sad with the new, and I guess I can talk in the name of all brazilian cruisers. We love Splendour, but we want something new too. I think you understand me, don’t you?
Adam: Can you please confirm if the Grandeur is still scheduled to go on “dry dock” and when?
We are scheduled to sail on the Grandeur in August.
Hi Cecelia, Grandeur of the Seas will be dry docked prior to your cruise in June of this year. We hope this helps.
I find it interesting the reputed practice of many of your Criuise ship directors of taking bribes from some of the larger Caribbean stores to push their goods and services on your passengers…Don’t you find this unethical?
Hello Adam,
I have been pondering the possibilities and I wanted to share a great idea with you….My Name is Dorothy H. I own Paw’s Natural Pet Emporium LLC, a pet supply & gift shop in Richland, WA
I am currently a finalist for an independent pet store of the year award that will be presented at Global Pet Expo in Orlando Florida on March 1st….I am also I diamond Cruise customer with RCCL I would like to open a small pet gift/souvenir shop or kiosk on RCCL …..I know your thinking that will never work. there are some things to think about, a majority of your cruise passengers are Americans whom most of own pets. For many of them their pets are their children because their children and grand children are grown up. if they are on your ship that would mean that their beloved pet is being watched or in a kennel at home. The customer misses their pet and they also have a small sense of guilt for leaving them at home. I would like to offer the cruise customer a chance to buy a nice high quality pet gift, or a souvenir for them to take home to their pet who has been missing them, I have looked for gifts for my pets on your cruise line several times, they get a towel pet cause that is all I can find….
I would also like to extend the offer of when we or any of our employees are cruising with your fleet that we would be more than happy to offer a free pet nutrition seminar to any cruisers interested…..the pet industry is as huge as many other industries but many don’t realize that cause it is in our homes not on the news and in our faces every day…..
I own my current store, I work on it, not in it, so if your were to be interested in an idea like this, we would be able to run a test model or what ever it would take….please feel free to contact me and share your thoughts on this idea.
I have been calling several different departments of RCCL and with out much luck or answers, due to the nature that Im requesting information on something that does not exists on your cruise ships yet.
thank you so much for the opportunity to share this information with you
Dorothy H
Paw’s Natural Pet Emporium LLC
when are you going to bring a ship back to the west cost?
I love Royal Caribbean! Crew members are fantastic, ships are safe and clean, and when cruise fares for solo senior travelers allow, I cruise several times a year. What I can’t understand, though, is why, despite more than 10 attempts, I cannot get anyone to fix the problem I am have with receiving the C&A Monday email previewing “Special Offers.” I’ve tried everything, including one staff’s suggestion that I deletie my account and set up a new one. Thanks for listening. BTW, I like Labadee and find the vendors respect a simple but firm “No, I’m not buying .”
Hi Sherri, thanks for reaching out to us. Please contact our Crown & Anchor desk at (800) 526-9723 and they will help resolve this issue as quickly as possible.