The Princess Patter – a daily newsletter delivered to your stateroom – really got down to business in terms of activities today.  Yesterday’s served as an information clearinghouse for the cruise, overall, indicating nightly dress codes and how the dining works as well as the names of key crew members….you get the idea.  Today there was a full schedule of events, including morning and late afternoon trivia, where I met a group of about seven people who would, along with myself, make up a team of six in various concatenations for all the rest of the trivia events during the cruise.  There are at least two basic trivia contests daily, and then they throw in others, like Jeopardy-style trivia, as well as other games.  No matter what else was going on, no matter what the port of call, our group attended trivia events religiously.  Dinner was nice, though an annoying couple joined us at table 133.  They were nice people, don’t get me wrong, but the man was clearly high-maintenance, needing to hold court, and the woman somewhat pretentious, talking about the merits of her jewelry, particularly how some of it was designed by her husband, no doubt looking for “oohs” and “ahs.”  My guess is that they don’t have a pot to piss in.  They also gave off a bit of a religious vibe, and not in a good way.  Steven and Jill, our Union City folks, were there, which was great because they are not only nice people, but down to earth and fun.  Jill is a smoker trying very hard to quit, so she and my Mom have something in common.  They both rushed out of the restaurant when the last fork was set down – which was to be repeated many times over the course of the cruise.  This evening we saw the better of two excellent performers, Tony Pace, a singer who also does singing impressions.  He has a rich voice in the lower registers and performs ballads skillfully chosen to make the most of his range.  He has a bit of a schmaltzy style, but it works because he comes across as a sentimental guy.  His impressions were spot on and hilarious.