Day Eight???

Last Day of Cruise One,

Because it is a sea day and there is no rush to be anywhere or do anything we all decided to meet for a dining room breakfast. We met at the international café and after getting a good coffee and laughing and joking a while we proceeded to the Island dining room.

 The Island dining room is open for breakfast and it is a new one to us. We were directed to our table and much to our surprise and pleasure the waiter was Caesar, the waiter we had in April when we went through the Panama Canal. He remembered us and remembered that we had been a group of eight. He also remembered that Fred always has one scoop of Sorbet for dessert and that they like lots of ice. It was a great time of laughing and visiting. Breakfast was great and filling. We won’t need much for lunch.

Next we headed for the theatre. This morning was the cook off competition between the head chef and the Maitre d. It was really a comedy sketch with lots of silliness. Ken and Mary did not attend but the rest of us did and we sat together. It was a fun hour.

Next Janeen and I went to the Holiday sale. This is really a three ring circus where they try to get rid of a lot of merchandise from other cruises. I got 2 pins from the Caribbean Princess. The usual price was 5.95 and they were on for 99 cents and because of the black card I got them for 90 cents. They had lots of “stuff” but not much that appealed to me.

By then it was lunch time and because we had had a big breakfast we ordered room service. We got a clubhouse sandwich to share and Ken got a piece of their wonderful chocolate cake. We also got 2 glasses of iced tea. Just enough to be able to take a pill.

This is the day they have the Grape Vine Wine tasting. It is free for Elite members. So we headed out around 2:30 . There were a lot of people in attendance. There are over 400 Elites on Board and a good number of them were there. They served 5 wines as is the norm and there were lots of cheeses and crackers available.

By the time the wine tasting was over it was time to get ready for the Happy Hour at Fred and Mary’s.

We had an extra ten minutes before changing so we went up to deck 17 to check out Sky Walkers. We have been told they will be removing in during the next dry dock. That is too bad because it certainly is a grand place with scenic views.

 We dressed more casually tonight because those getting off in the morning will be in their travel clothes.

When Janeeen arrived she was beaming!! She had gone to the EFFY amolite presentation and she had won the pendant they were giving away. She was so excited because it was something she always wanted. It is in a lovely silver setting.

We had our usual visit and Fred asked if we had heard what had happened at C-Pac today. (C-Pac is the broadcast of the happenings in congress.) Apparently there was a ten minute time period when the broadcast was from Russia. The expressions of shock, surprise and indignation was ended in roars of laughter when Randy suggested that perhaps if Trump had sold them some airtime. All 4 of these people agree with us that the US political situation is currently unbelievably absurd.

 I wonder if the creators of twitter ever realized that it would become an arm of government which would replace the Fifth Estate. Government in 44 characters or less.

Just before dinner we had an interruption by the captain telling us that there was a gravely ill passenger that would have to be airlifted by helicopter. During the meal it was announced that the passenger was now stable. We never did find out if there was a helicopter arrival. More excitement for this trip.

Because this was the last night for some of the travelers we expected to see the Parade of the Baked Alaskian. But it was different this time. The parade was by the galley staff instead of the junior waiters. They had lighted wands instead of baked Alaska. Baked Alaska was still on the menu but it was not paraded around.

After dinner we three ladies went topside to watch Florence Foster Jenkins showing on the big screen. We had a difficult time finding towels to use as blankets but we did eventually find some. Usually there are blankets but they were absent last night. There were lots of seats so we had a very good view. We had some good laughs but at time it was very sad. Meryl Streep did a fantastic job. When the movie was over we realized that each of us had wet behinds. The lounge chairs we were sitting on were damp from pool use and the moisture found its way to our backsides. Shame oh shame there was NO POPCORN.

We separated and headed back to our rooms. Ken and I decided to have breakfast in our room to avoid the crush of disembarking passengers in the morning. Except for the occasional shimmy the sea was calm and we looked forward to a rest filled night. Ken has developed a cold and I got out the cold tablets and gave him a night time one to help him rest.

Tomorrow we are in Fort Lauderdale and Cruise number 2 begins.