Today is the last sea day and last day of the cruise before we arrive in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning.
Stephanie and I did not sleep in quite as long this morning, but it was not that early either when I headed down to the International Cafe for our breakfast sandwiches. After breakfast, and getting ready, we headed out so that our cabin steward, Michael, could clean the room.
Our plan for today was to try and do a little packing early so that we could enjoy the rest of the day without that worry. We headed to the Outrigger Bar to have our last Bloody Caesar and Peach Bellini for the cruise, and to say goodbye to Francis, the bartender there, and thank him for his service.
Afterward, we headed to the gift shop to purchase some Grand Marnier liquor for making Margaritas at home. We had looked for it on the islands, but liquor prices on these islands is not cheap as compared to St. Thomas or the Bahamas, so the ship’s prices, along with our Elite discount of 10%, was our best bet, still much less than at home. We purchased two one liter bottles for about $62.00 total, so they were $31.00 each. Prices at home are about $50.00 per one liter bottle, plus tax, so we saved quite a bit, and since we were driving, weight was not an issue. Stephanie found some Clinique make-up on clearance in another boutique, and, with the Elite discount, the make-up was also much cheaper than at home.
We headed back to the room and found the dreaded rubber mat protector laid out on the bed to protect the bedding from the luggage, a sure sign the cruise was almost over. We packed all of the dirty laundry on one side of the suitcase, along with some other items we would no longer need. We also packed up the dive bag with the dive equipment and anything else we could squeeze in, including the two bottles of liquor. With everything packed except for our clothes for tomorrow’s travel day, and dinner tonight, which of course was going to be in the buffet, we put on sunscreen for the afternoon in the sunshine. We got a call from Beth and Ryan, and planned on meeting them for lunch and then some time in the sun.
We had found out that Beth and Ryan had gotten a later time for their disembarkation a few days ago when the tines were assigned, so I was a little concerned that it might be too late to change to an earlier time, and we would not get off as early in the morning as planned. A little while after lunch, Stephanie and Beth headed down to the Pursers Desk to try and change their disembarkation to Group A. A little while later they came back and tried to fool me into thinking that we were together now, but in the latest walk off group, Group E. I was fooled for a second, but then I thought that there were not that many walk off groups, so I called their bluff. As it turns out, they had looked and Group E is in fact the last walk-off disembarkation group, but I was not aware there was that many groups, so I though it was bogus. In the end, it had not been an issue to change, but one never knows.
Steel Drum Music While Enjoying Tapas at Vines
We spent the entire afternoon sitting in the sunshine and enjoying the last sea day, of course having a few beverages through the afternoon. By about 5:00 PM, the area around the pool was almost completely abandoned, most passengers were either back at their cabins packing, or getting ready for early dining. If you do not take your luggage off yourself with the walk-off disembarkation, you needed to have it outside your cabin for collection by about 7:00 PM tonight, which is a pain.
Buffet Dinner
At about 6:00 PM, we headed back to our cabins to get ready for dinner. We planned on meeting in Vines for one last round of sushi and tapas, and then head to the buffet for dinner. The wine, tapas and sushi were great once again. We got a glass of wine to go and headed to the buffet. Once again, the food was good, nothing spectacular, but filling and relaxing.
Ryan’s Special Martini
We headed to Crooner’s to visit for the last time with Kelvin and Alona. We knew it would be an early night tonight with the early wake-up for disembarkation and drive home. Kelvin made Ryan a special martini, and we all had a good laugh. It was a fun group in Crooner’s and we thanked them for making our cruise time fun for us.
While we were there, Stephanie wanted to go and take a picture of some photos we had taken by the crew on the first night, that unfortunately, I was the only one who remembered having them taken. We had realized this a few days ago, and had gone down to see them at the photo area.
Anyone Remember These Pictures???
They were quite funny, but not enough to purchase them at $25 per photo. Of course, there are big signs in the photo area about not taking any photos of the photos. Beth went with Stephanie, and they took some photos, and only got scolded twice by the photo crew. I am not sure why they even care, photos of photos do not come out good, and these were marginal at best.
Last Night At Crooner’s
At about 10:00 PM, we called it a night, we were having fun, but knowing we have an early morning wake-up and long drive home was enough for me to want to head back to the cabin, avoiding the possibility of any hangovers from the last night. It had been a really enjoyable last day at sea.