At Sea today . . . Last day

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this up but as always . . . life has been way too busy and many outside things are happening to keep me from writing regularly. We have had family in town, car repairs, sick kids, and weather changes as we progress into winter. Snow has fallen . . . the birds are heading south . . . the moose are coming down off the higher elevations back into the city . . . and the light of day is quickly fading over 5 and a half minutes a day now. It’s almost into November by the time I finish these stories so I’ll slow down on the pictures as it takes a long time to load the pages.

Cruise Day 7 – September 22, 2007

It was another warm night as I tried to sleep with balcony door open. I could see the flashes of lightning off in the distance, and hear the waves slapping against the ship’s hull as I laid there hoping to quickly drift off for a night of uninterrupted sleep. It did not take too long and I like everyone else on board but the working crew found the blissful sleep of another night at sea.

I slept well this night but in the early morning I continued my routine of coffee and a light breakfast with a two lap walk around the ship. This is our last day at sea so many people slept in without the need to get out of bed for any reason other than not to miss out on any activities on board ship.

It is still warm this morning with some clouds overhead so it is not as bright as the past few days. The top of my head was sunburned several days ago so I was actually glad that the clouds were helping to keep me from getting sun burned more. I did buy a nice looking white Panama Jack hat in Cozumel that helps block the sun. It will do me little use for the remainder of this trip since I did not find one that I liked until the last port before returning to Miami but my “Colonel Sanders” hat will come in handy next season when I’m fishing in Alaska. I can also grow back my goatee and use it as my Halloween costume along with the white jacket in my closet from the ‘staying alive’ days of the early 80’s.

I dropped by Scott’s cabin to see if they were ready for breakfast and decided to head on up for breakfast at the Windjammer Café. The order of the day seemed to be waiting for the ‘gang’. They finally showed up after about an hour wait and 5 cups of coffee. The lateness of this breakfast seemed to bring out those who had slept in this morning.

The different pool areas and the adult spas were quickly filling with people even with the lack of sun but one thing could be counted on . . . warm breezes and festive music. We hung out by the pool for awhile but wanted to spend our last day at sea doing things that we had either not been able too or having fun doing some things we really enjoyed.

Deb and I decided to have a late lunch and found a table next to the windows where we could enjoy the view and have a quick bite to eat. We had been sitting there for about five minutes when this little old lady came over and without saying a word plopped her tray down beside us and walked off. We were thinking without saying anything at that moment that this lady had invaded out ‘space’. A minute or two later she comes back with another lady and both sit down without saying anything and start to eat their lunch.

We both looked at each other at first like it was a going to be a big bother but after a few minutes my wife started trying to talk with the two older women. One spoke no English whatsoever and the other broken English but we found out she was a school teacher in São Paulo, Brazil. She must have been in her mid to late sixties.

We started the normal “where are you from?” conversation and quickly found it interesting as we shared our very different worlds that we lived. We found out her city had 11 million people living within the city limits. That was way too many people to us and she asked if we lived in an igloo. Deb broke out her camera and started showing her pictures of Alaska, our grandkids, and the moose that usually hang out in our yard. It turned into one of the nice surprises of this trip as we shared our time and lunch together.

Two nice little old ladies who barely could speak our language reminded us how we need to be open to what might come our way as it might just brighten your day. They were nice women and were having a great trip even though they had a hard time communicating with everyone since no one spoke Portuguese on board ship.

After lunch there was the near riot on deck 11 as the 24 hour ice cream machine ran out of sprinkles. People were scurrying around trying to make their ice creams but without the sprinkles the ‘happy factor’ was sinking fast until the crew brought out more.

The afternoon found us at “The Climbing Wall”. This 40 foot high rock wall with several places to ascend with various difficulties had been a busy place all week with people of all ages, sizes going up, up, and away. It was fun but could be difficult if you did not pay attention to how the outcroppings changed as you made your way higher and higher.

Kim and I were the only ones from our gang that played on the wall during this trip.

I enjoyed the climbs and had Deb come to take a couple of pictures as I made my way up. She was thinking I would be really slow and was looking around at the different people playing basketball and mini golf and turned to see that I was halfway up before she took the first picture.

I made my way to the top and enjoyed the rappel down with the crew guide telling me how fast I was going up. She told me I should enter the climbing contest as I was one of the faster ones to make it to the top.

Our last night on board was hard to decide where to eat dinner. Should we go to the main dining room and see our staff for the last time or try one of the restaurants we had not visited yet. We decided to drop by the main room to say our goodbyes and tip them for the great service before heading to eat dinner.

We decided on Johnny Rocket’s Café and have a great milkshake, hamburgers, and onion rings. We spent time enjoying the music from the jukebox that we had selected. This is one of the places that charge an additional cover ($ 3.95 per person) which in some ways makes no sense as these same items except the milkshake were served in the Windjammer Café. It didn’t really matter as we had a great time talking with the nice crowd who also dropped in for dinner.

The entertainment tonight was a farewell show. It was great with an opening number that had the cruise director dressed as . . . Austin Powers . . . with a video of the crew spoofing the movie. It was a hoot and everyone in the theater was laughing in stitches.

The next act was sheer beauty . . . two aerialist who were just amazing . . . working from ropes fifty feet above the stage floor with no net. It would be hard to describe but was captivating watching them do their turns, spins and stretches just using their upper body strength.

The show ended with various members of the crew from all of the services coming down the aisle and onto the stage while the John Lennon song, Imagine was being played. We were told that on this voyage (#68) there were a total of 5,500 people from 70 nations on board together.

During this week the influences of the outside world on hold while everyone is having a great time . . . learning about each others culture and sharing a smile or two. Not bad for the price of a ticket.

We wanted to hit the movie theater for the Denzel Washington movie,

Deja’ vu but there was no popcorn so we said no thanks and headed back up to the Bull & Bear Pub where the singer continued his tunes while I drank a Guinness or two.

We decided to head to the picture court to find our pictures and get the DVD for coworkers to see before heading back to the cabin. It was around one thirty in the morning when we arrived in our room and it was not long after that we could hear “noises” coming from the room next door.

No it was not those ‘noises’ but the couple were fighting and throwing things against the wall. It went on about 15 minutes but after we heard it get physical we called security which quickly came down to talk with them.

It was like being at the Saturday night fights but for the rest of the night it was very little if any sleep as we were waiting for the “other shoe to fall” when the male came back to the cabin. At least the sounds of the ocean helped us sleep for a short time.

Ice