The Great Egg Drop Contest - Stories from the cruise

Many of the Princess cruise ships have a multistory open area they call the Piazza. It's a mall-like area with boutiques and cafes, and a stage for entertainment on the lowest level. One lunch we stopped at the International Cafe located in the Piazza, and the only open table was located very near this entertainment area, and that's how we became accidental participants in the Great Egg Drop Contest. Well, Barb did.

The contest features teams who had signed up to construct devices that hopefully cushioned a raw egg dropped from three stories up onto a hard (plastic sheet covered) floor. All the devices were cobbled together with whatever the contestants could find on board, or brought with them; a lot of shopping bags, tissue and toilet paper, and wearing apparel, such as socks, tennis shoes and even panty hose. 

The most inventive package (and the most disastrous) was a container filled with peanut butter as the cushioning agent. It burst open upon impact and peanut butter went everywhere! So did the egg. Some had parachutes to slow the descent, and that's where Barb's participation came in.

The parachute for one entry actually worked, but it drifted away from the bulls eye...and landed on Barb! The egg was safe, but the entry was disqualified because it didn't land in the target zone. The guy providing all the patter, and checking the eggs, asked Barb if she wanted to keep the egg, since she was already "intimately familiar with it." She declined.