Deliciously Me

The Star Cruise Pisces leaved the Penang famous Swettenham Port at 8.30 pm. We were supposed to go up at Deck 11 to see the ship moving away, but we were at the Mariners having our dinner. We only remembered about it when we FELT the ship moved. Haha.

By 8.45 pm, we decided to make a move and walked out of the Mariners. Unsure on what to do next, we asked the ladies at the reception counter on the activities available on board. Then she pointed me to the itinerary pinned at the public board next to the lifts.

Ah, we weren’t observant at all.  Haha. We checked out the itinerary and found that there’s a live band playing at the Lounge of the Galaxy of The Stars. With nothing to do, we decided to do a little exploration. From the reception counter at Deck 7, we walked straight to the Blue Lagoon and reached the entrance of casino, where they call it Club Royale.

Sat was super eager to check out the casino, while I was more to explore the ship! Thankfully the casino door isn’t open until 9-9.30 (can’t recall) so we went up a deck to Deck 8 and found ourselves to be coming up to the entrance of the Galaxy of The Stars. There were 2 big groups of people standing at the counters located on both sides of the entrance. We walked past the counter and took a peek into the Lounge. The place was full of people, quite happening place to be.

But we walked out.

Curiously, we were wondering what caused the people to surround the counter; we walked up to one of the counters and asked, “What’s this?”

The male crew answered – “Oh, we’re selling the Bingo strips. Do you want to buy some? One strip costs RM4, half of the page consists of 3 strips costs RM12! Come try and win yourself a Jackpot worth RM18,888!

As we never play the real Bingo before – except for the square boxes that consists of 25 numbers we used to play during secondary school, we asked them on the method of playing.

“Easy! One strip consists of 15 numbers. When the machine randomly calls out a number and that number is in the strip, u cross that number. Once you’ve crossed all 15 numbers, then you have to stand up and shout BINGO!”

“That sounds fun” – we said, “but how many times will the machine calls?”

“The machine will call 40 times and if you got Bingo before the 40^th number, then you’ll win the Jackpot of RM18,888!!!” the male crew said.

But – the female crew added in; if nobody shouts Bingo after the 40^th time, then we will continue the game until someone got Bingo. However that person will only get consolation prize,” she said with broad smile.

Well, 15 numbers out of 40 times… that seems do-able. As both of us were discussing on how many stripes to take, the male crew spoke.

“Why don’t you take the whole page, sir? You increase the chances of winning as you get all the numbers from 1-90.”

Curiously we asked if the numbers would appear twice on the page.

Both of them laughed and assured us there are only 90 numbers per page, and 15 per strips. Then he said different page will have different set of number arrangements per strip, and even showed us the few pages.

Oh well, since it’s just RM24 per page, we took the whole page where female crew took my cruise card and swiped for payment and the male crew tore one whole page and passed it to me. I thought of choosing the page myself, but since he had already tore it, I just take it la.

“Remember to come back before 9.30! Bingo will start at that time” – the female crew said with a smile.

After ‘paying’, we went to another counter. That counter is selling scratch-and-win tickets. Sat wanted to get few, but I didn’t allow him. Haha. Then we walked past the open karaoke pub where people would just sing out loud with microphone in their hands from their table. We then ventured along the Sunset Boulevard and entered the duty free shop to look around.

Surprisingly, the price of the goods there aren’t that expensive. I wanted to get a T-shirt but their T-shirt’s design is too simple. So I bought 2 lanyards for RM15. Similarly, the female crew at the counter swiped my cruise card as payment.

At the end of the Sunset Boulevard, we arrived at the Ocean Palace – another restaurant where we can have our meal. But since we’ve already eaten at the Mariners (can only claim once), we decided to go for breakfast there.

Since we got nowhere to go, we went to the Lounge to look for a spot where we can see the stage clearly. We found one, though there’s a pole there. But still, it’s better to have a table than stand. Haha.

We were entertained by the live band that belted out all the famous oldies, making us sing along with them. Luckily the casino didn’t open their door yet because if they did, we wouldn’t have enjoyed all these.

Occasionally Sat took out his iPhone to check our coordinate. We found ourselves moving from the port to somewhere above Esplanade.

Then it was time for Bingo! The same crew (that sold us the Bingo strips) took off their coats and went to the stage with a screen board and a table. On the screen board, there’s a big screen bearing all numbers from 1-90 and a smaller screen showing 2 digits. The table was put on the side with a machine on top of it.

They started the show by greeting us, explaining all the methods, rules and regulations in dual languages – English and Mandarin, coaxed us on buying more stripes to increase our winning chances, and made the crowd cheered even louder.

Then it started. The female crew pressed the machine and a number appeared. Then we crossed it on the strips we got. Then the female crew asked, “you mei you?” (got or not?)

And the rest of the crowd roared “MEI YOUUU”

It was really fun and adrenaline rushed game as we kept calculating the amount of numbers left per strip. When we realised that two of the strips has only 8 and 9 numbers left when they’ve only called up 24 numbers, we were ecstatic… until one group jumped up and shouted BINGOOOOOO!!!! and screamed nonstop.

Everyone was stunned – as to get Bingo after 24 numbers being called is super duper lucky! We could see that the two MCs were stunned too. They have this disbelief looks on their faces; they didn’t congratulate nor walk to them. They just stood at the stage, looking at the group who were jumping with joy.

Then male crew walked to them, asking for their winning strip. After that he walked to the stage, counted the numbers and then threw the strips into the air.

We were shocked upon seeing that.

He drew a deep and long inhalation and then said, “You need to cross all 15 numbers on the SAME strip. Not 15 numbers on 3 STRIPS. If on 3 strips, those who bought one whole page would have shout BINGO after we called 15 numbers.”

Then everyone laughed and booed at them. We could see the girl who held the strips looked embarrassed and almost wanted to cry.

Then the male crew spoke in softer tone and repeated the method of playing Bingo again. The female crew repeated in Chinese. Then both of them asked, “Now do you all understand the ways of playing Bingo?”

And the rest of the crowd roared, YESSSSS and the game resumed.

Somehow that girl ruined MY Feng Shui. Before she shouted Bingo, the machine kept churning out the numbers that fall in the last two strips, which made them left 8 and 9 numbers. After that, the machine gave the numbers which were ridiculously random and even spread on all strips. This made me feeling a little mad at her stupidity.

Blah. The umph was gone and we weren’t that eager anymore.

Since nobody claims Bingo after the 40^th number, the crew announced that we were no longer in running for the Jackpot, but for the consolation prize instead. So we proceed playing the game.

Until we left only 3 and 4 numbers…and some of the crowd were only waiting for 1 number. That time, thought we knew that our chance was low, but still we were hoping for a little miracle. Haha.

But miracle didn’t bestow upon us. Two person shouted Bingo at the same time and both of them went to the stage to claim prize. To claim them, the crew made them danced on stage, where they’ll increase the prize money from RM50 to ‘higher’ amount. The amount ended at RM550, where they shared the prize money.

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