Spring 2015 - Day 92
Today is the
auction!!
I got up at a
decent time and then just killed time until 11 when the silent auction opened.
There was a lot
less in the auction than last time. Also done differently was the way the
silent auction would close. It was set to close in 15 minutes increments
started at 6pm. It was organized into categories like entertainment, travel and
leisure, home, and jewelry. I placed an opening bid on the party in Mom
Shelley’s room, but I was outbid quickly and didn't bid any more.
I also put down
a bid for an hour of resume and cover letter help because no one had bid on it
yet. But I ended up being outbid on that too.
There was having
your gym time permanently reserved, which was the only thing I thought was
worth bidding on. That was something that Stephanie needed. She would always
come back to the room and complain that girls would go up right at 5 and sign
up multiple people. Sometimes she would get up at 5am and go run in one of the
teachers spots. Yes, she would definitely benefit from having a permanent gym
time. So I put a bid down for it.
There was a
breakfast burrito in bed that was extremely popular. The Taromina brothers were
battling over it. It was up to 90 dollars in the middle of the day when I went
back to look. One of the Taromina brothers was there and I told him that a
burrito in bed was not worth 90 bucks. He got offended, he thought it was.
Then I told him
about how I won a full breakfast in bed for thirty dollars. And how I was
brought steak and eggs, french toast, and iced coffee. Then he was just mad
that he was paying 90 bucks for a deck seven burrito that he could have bought
himself for 3 dollars and then walked down to his room.
This all just
makes me laugh.
In the afternoon
I took part in one of the spa specials and got a full body scrub and hot stone
massage. I scheduled it for a few days after Namibia in the hopes that my sun
burn would be healed by that point. It wasn’t completely gone but it was fine
enough the scrub didn't hurt.
I had Mercy do
my massage instead of Rowena and she was absolutely fabulous. I recommend hot
stone massages to everyone and anyone. They are absolutely fabulous.
Right before
dinner I checked and was still the top bid on the gym time item. I wasn't going
to hover over it, I didn't want it that badly. But since I had held the top
spot since 1pm I figured I had a good chance of winning it.
For dinner I had
fancy dining!! Mom Shelley bought it for all of our family. She is so
wonderful. So ironic, that I had fancy dining on the night of the auction on
both voyages.
I had heart of
palm for an appetizer. It was not that good, but it was also was not what I was
expecting and was cold. Not my favorite thing. For my meal I had ravioli, which
was absolutely fantastic. Yes, there is always a pasta option on the ship but
ravioli is never one of them and so I went for it and was completely satisfied.
For dessert I had another banana split.
I was sitting
right across from Mom Shelley and halfway through dinner I looked down and saw
that her phone was ringing. We were in the middle of the ocean and her phone
was ringing. She answered it like it was a normal thing and walked into the
hall to take it. When her dessert came we had to tell Joel that she stepped out
to take a call, words I never thought I would say on the ship.
We finished
dinner a little before 8, which was when the live auction was to start. We took
family photos and then parted ways. I went up to the union in my dress and sat
on the floor on the right side. Jessi sat with me for a while until she left to
go work on her papers.
Halfway through
a kid that I call Ultimate Douche came and kneeled right next to me. As always
he lived up to his name and was just being so incredible rude that I got up and
moved.
There was an
empty seat next to Mom Shelley that I took. There were a few highlights of the
auction. The first was that they actioned off the ability to pie some members
of the administrative staff in the face. I think it went for a little under 200
bucks and they did it right there on the stage.
Then, they were
auctioning off a stay at someones house on Orca Island, which is off the coast
of Washington State. It was getting up over 450 when I looked behind me to the
girl who was bidding to find that she was on the phone. The auctioneer,
Michael, noticed this too and asked who she was talking to. It was her dad. He
had originally said no to taking it to 475 but then Michael took the phone, put
it on speaker, and talked to her dad for the entire union to here. He made a
pretty good sales pitch and he agreed to 475 and won it.
It was pretty
awesome. Again, never thought it would
happen on the ship but apparently there is a cell tower and people use it.
First off went
for 1,200. The girl that bid that seems to have all the money in the world and
just kept going up and up and up. They also auctioned off last off since this
was the very last voyage of the MV explorer. It only went for 200.
They also
auctioned off replicas of the ship that Captain Roman had commissioned
recently. There was a minimum that had to be hit per ISE and it was. Two of
them went for 600 a piece.
Some other
things they auctioned off:
-raising the
flag in southampton
-plan a meal for
the entire ship
-a SAS flag
that’s been hanging in a popular restaurant in South Africa for 10 years
-dining at the
captain’s table for the alumni ball
-a jar of peanut
butter and Nutella (which went for over 40 dollars, a bit ridiculous if you ask
me)
I love auctions,
they are a lot of fun. More fun when you have money to spend but it’s alright.
It was thrilling to see how high things got. The Taromina brothers took over
most of it. The library on the ship is named after them, it was donated by
their parents, so they have money to spare.
