64) Last Day

Last Day                             73 F (23C)

Jean and Ross gave us the pictures I spoke about yesterday.

Thank you, J&R!

We are finishing our packing today; the suitcases are to be in front of the cabin door by noon.

Having the suitcase out early means the crew can be more efficient in collecting the luggage, have it ready to go off ship when we dock. 

As we remember, embarking and disembarking is always a bit of mayhem. Coming back from a foreign country into the U.S. (Fort Lauderdale, FL) means we have to deal with Customs, too. 

We are good, Carol and I. We were packed before noon, put our cases out and then walked around, saying kind of a good bye to what we lived with the last 2 months.

There were raffles, give-a-way’s and last minute deals to be had. We did not win anything at Effy’s. We missed their evening draw because we were at supper.

The trip’s final BINGO was up for grabs with $1800 in the pot. Well, I never play Bingo but why not try this one… no, I did not win, and I can now say, I don’t like Bingo, either.

It was our last dinner in the dining room; goodbyes to the crew. 

Lots of hands shaking, keep in touch, note taking, promises of emails, etc.

We went to the last entertainment feature, it was Derek Floyd, who gave a tribute to Lionel Ritchie. He was a good guy, this Derek, just not my kind of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEF3yKwv_Zw

When we went to our room our suitcases were still standing guard next to our cabin door. Nobody had picked them up; I hope they will be off the ship tomorrow.

63) Our Last Formal Night at Sea

Our Last Formal Night at Sea.       

77F (25 C)      Day 59 of Cruise.

I was just leaving our cabin to go for breakfast when I caught Levi, our room steward, sticking blue and white balloons on the outside of our cabin door.

He meant well, but I took them off immediately and brought them inside the room, I hate it when people make a big fuss about my birthday. I don’t really want to get older.

Carol had prepared a birthday card for me and seeing that Levi got caught she remembered the card and ran back into the room and gave it to me. With a smile she gave the card to me, which I looked at and with a smile gave back to her. 

I read on the outside envelope…Happy Birthday Gillian… it was not for me… 

Carol had packed the wrong card…

I had Champagne and Orange Juice at …. Effy’s this AM. Carol wanted to see what was on sale… and yes, everything in 4 cases was 60% off, but it was also visibly ‘old’, dated merchandise.   Smart folks, those Effy employees but she bought nothing!

There were a lot of activities for the end of the cruise.

The captain gave us all a farewell party, but we skipped that one, it was a too shallow affair, it did not mean anything, really.

We tried to listen to the amateur drum band performance, but it hurt my ears, it was as advertised, amateurish. 

Our Friend Jerry In the Middle

The passenger choir gave its last performance and Jerry, a fellow passenger we met, sang his heart out. The choir was good; the singers were totally immersed in their singing. Good for them!

Tonight is formal night and Carol was busy getting the last formal night just right. It’s the last call for the Spa onboard too.  You know the routine, wash, trim, nails, etc. but Carol looked gorgeous after her treatments. 

Birthday Dinner

We had arranged a special dinner this night at the Bayou Café with Jean and Ross. We took along a bottle of Champagne we won someplace; J&R bought a bottle of wine. The dinner was wonderful. I convinced all the people to NOT bring a cake with a candle on it, NOT to sing Happy Birthday, etc.  I would have walked out had they done it, I guess just the idea of me walking out of this, stopped them from even daring to do it. The ship gave the BD guy a small, cupcake sized chocolate cake as a present…I shared my BD cake 4 ways, and it was our dessert.

Ok, ok, I turned 71, in case you wondered.

During our special dinner that evening J&R had ordered a photographer to take pictures of us.

It was their gift to me for the BD.

Such nice folks!  Nice to have good friends! 

In all the days on board, we did not see that much of J&R but when it counted they were there. I like that arrangement.

We had to finish packing; we need to have our packed suitcases outside our cabin tomorrow.

We kept quietly busy for the day before the final day.

We did not go to the entertainment theater, since we had my BD dinner.