It is always sad when it is the last day of the cruise, and today is that day. Fortunately, it is a sea day, so we have all day to rest up from our port days, and to pack up our clothes. We will be doing the “Walk Off” Disembarkation with all of our luggage, so we do not have to pack up and have our luggage outside of the room for pick-up tonight.
We got up at a decent hour, probably round 8:00 AM. We are trying to keep a more regular sleep schedule now that the time change has stabilized at six hours, and we have been on the same time for several days now. We will be getting up early tomorrow morning so that we can be off of the ship about 8:00 AM, and take a taxi to our hotel in Copenhagen.
After getting ready, we headed down to the International Cafe for the yogurt parfaits, which has become our breakfast of choice over the past several days. We know we have gained at least a pound or two, and so we were trying to skip the breakfast in the buffet, opting for something a little more healthy. However, I offset some of that healthiness by having a cappuccino. I just needed a little lift this morning. Stephanie stuck with her Diet Coke
We did not have much planned for the day, other than packing. However, we did need to make a purchase at the on-board boutique so that we would use all of our remaining ship board credit. Stephanie had picked out a purse and matching wallet earlier in the trip, and unfortunately, I mean fortunately, it was still available. There went the Go-Pro I had picked out….
We made the purchase and walked around a little while our room was being cleaned. We did some computer work in one of the quiet lounges to try and catch up on the blog postings. We have done better than I had predicted, mainly due to the inclement weather, we just did not stay out as long as we anticipated on the port stops in Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. We still have not had the time to add pictures into the posts, or to add all of the photos into the albums. We are trying to at least keep up with the writing. Sometimes the days seem to run together, especially the port days, and if we wait too long to do the written parts for each day, we have a hard time remembering some of the details. This has absolutely nothing to do with us having the all inclusive drink package on the ship.
Stephanie read while I worked on the posts, and after a while, it was time for lunch. The sun was shining today, and although it was only a high of about 47 degrees, there were places out around the pool where it was fairly warm in the sunshine. The wind was blowing around 25 knots, but it was coming from directly behind the ship, so it was fairly calm out on the pool deck. Of course, not warm enough to sit out in the sun, but warm enough not to be cold.
NCL Ship Heading To Copenhagen With Us
We walked by the outside pizzeria, and Stephanie decided to have the special of the day, a four cheese pizza. We made the decision to sit outside and eat in the sunshine on the pool deck, it was actually quite nice if you found a protected area where it was not windy. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries from the hamburger grill on the opposite side of the pool deck from the pizzeria. We ate at the Calypso Bar next to the pool since it was in the sunshine, and we both had a glass of white zinfandel with our lunch.
Posing With Franz From The Seaview Bar
We met one of the Bar Supervisors when we stopped at the Seaview bar to visit with Franze, the bartender there. This bar has not been one we have visited much since the weather turned cooler, so we wanted to spend some time with Franze today while the weather was warmer. We ended up talking with his supervisor for a while, we all shared information on previous cruises and other bar personnel we have met and mutually knew from other ships.
Time To Pack – Bed Protector Laid On Bed By Our Cabin Steward
We decided to go back to the room to go ahead and pack as much as we could so that we could relax for the rest of the afternoon and evening. There was a Catholic Communion Service at 4:00 PM that we also wanted to attend so that we would not need to go to Mass tomorrow after we get off of the ship. They had given this same service last Sunday afternoon, but we had already attended Mass in Ponta Delgada earlier in the morning at that port stop. We got as much packed as we could, making sure we put all of the clothes we no longer needed, such as bathing suits, formal wear and warm weather clothing, on the bottom of our suitcases. We have done pretty well with maintaining a good supply of clean clothes by utilizing the free laundry service on the ship, our Elite Captain’s Circle benefit, along with the one load we did ourselves yesterday.
We got ready for the Communion Service, which was an interesting event, being held in the Princess Live Studio. It was being performed by a Catholic lay person, as part of a new program just recently approved by the Catholic Bishops in the USA. Sometimes there is a priest celebrating a Mass on the ships, and consecrating communion as part of the Mass. In this case, there was a lay person, who was not even a deacon, who had brought consecrated communion with him onto the ship in Ft. Lauderdale. He attends a church in the Archdiocese of Miami, and the Bishop had granted him special permission, as part of this new program, to conduct a Communion Service on the ship. He was part of a special group of lay persons from his parish, several of which were on this cruise. He explained the program to everyone at the beginning of the service.
Afterward, we went back to the room to change into more casual clothes and head out to the Vines Wine Bar for a glass of wine, and to give the Bartenders there, Ref and Gracie, some gratuities for taking care of us on the cruise. We were also planning on doing this later for Rupi, Inman and Svetca, bartenders at the Crooners Bar, all of which made our trip more enjoyable.
We talked with the same couple from Canada at Vines, who had been there yesterday during my wine glass event. We had a couple of glasses of wine and some Tapas before heading to dinner in the buffet. There had not been anything special on the menu for Dinner in the dining room, the last day is traditionally an American Menu, and nothing being served incentivized us to go. Many of the same items, such as roasted turkey, are also available in the buffet. The waiters always dress in some type of red, white and blue outfits for American night, and one of the big events for this dinner is the parade of flaming Alaskan dessert that is only done by the serving staff during the scheduled early and late dinner seating’s. During the anytime dining, it is just a dessert on the menu since they can’t do a “parade” when everyone is eating at different times.
The Crooners Staff
After dinner, we headed to the Crooners bar to say goodby to the staff there, and to all of the other passengers who hung out there that we had met during the cruise. It becomes sort of a local bar, the same people seem to hang out at particular bars during the cruises, and we had picked this one due to the great staff at Crooners. We had a couple of beverages, took some photos, and said our goodbyes to everyone. It was about 10:00 PM, and we are getting up at 6:00 AM tomorrow to finish our last minute packing, eat breakfast and be off of the ship before 8:00 AM. We are the first of four cruise ships scheduled to be in Copenhagen tomorrow morning, so we hope to avoid getting caught in a lot of cruise passenger departure traffic at the port by leaving early.
Saying Goodbye To Our Favorite Staff
We have really enjoyed the cruise portion of this trip, the weather was much better and warmer at the start, but a little cooler and rainy than expected at the end. However, even on the cold and rainy days, we always had some sunshine during the day and the weather generally improved by the late afternoon, so it was not an entire day of bad weather.
Hopefully, once we get to our hotel in Copenhagen with faster and free wi-fi, we will have a little time to post some additional pictures.