June 1, 2018 (Flashback) – After departing Anchorage, I watched the Alaskan scenery on a bus ride to the cruise port in Seward. No mountain goats but one moose and plenty of avian wildlife. After a shockingly short check-in process (no lines!), it was all aboard and bon voyage. And to my great surprise, my ship, the Celebrity Millennium, was not without puzzles of its own!
One nice surprise was that the ship conducted 4-5 different trivia sessions per day, covering a wide variety of categories. For some of them I was plumb out of luck (Michael Jackson trivia, anyone?), but it was always fun to try. As the voyage continued I connected with a variety of colorful passengers, and together we were able to place highly on categories I never would have expected.
A highlight for me was the riddle contest in which the trivia questions were replaced with riddles. It was a blast and I had quite the challenge figuring out the new ones I had never heard before. What word starts with E, ends with E, and usually contains one letter?
Envelope
At the end of the trip, I walked away with two medals, a T-shirt, a hat, a USB drive, a deck of cards… pretty much one of each item I could redeem the trivia points for. I was glad that Celebrity had plenty of activities designed to keep the mind active on a long voyage.
Also worth mentioning is a small adventure I had in the ship’s library over the course of the cruise. The library was one of my favorite hangouts in the late evening- its quiet atmosphere and comfortable arrangements made it idea for reading and writing. Near the end of the cruise, I noticed something interesting about the library.
Some kind of narrow doorway with a sign on it. On its own, this wasn’t particularly unusual. But upon closer inspection…
“Around here we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
I later found that this is a quote by Walt Disney. By itself it’s a neat quote, but when it’s plastered on a mysterious narrow doorway…? It HAS to mean something, right!?!? Could Celebrity have set up this as a challenge to see if any passenger would ever be curious enough to live up to Disney’s quote?
So I bide my time, waiting for the right time to examine it without drawing too much attention to myself. Finally, late one evening, the rest of the ship either sleeping or attending the late night specials, I made my move. I went to the library, practically tiptoeing as I checked to make sure the coast was clear. When I confirmed there was no one within shouting distance, I wedged my ship ID card into the gap and pulled. The door came loose.
Behind it, I found…
Nothing interesting. Just a bunch of pipes.
And thus concluded the Adventure of the Millennium Door.
All in all, I had a great time on the cruise. I’ve done the Millennium a disservice by failing to mention the scenery and wildlife in great detail, and I’ll provide later summaries on the adventures I had in port. But for someone who loves puzzles, the Celebrity Millennium provided plenty of mental stimulation to keep the journey interesting.
I love reading your blogs. I never knew about the library door. Interesting!