27 May
Tonight is the 2nd (and last) formal night. Time to wear the black beaded! Hopefully after a week on board, I can still fit in to it.
Since today (and tomorrow) are sea days, we’ll likely not do too much except hang out by the pool, visit anyplace on board we’ve not been to yet and start the packing process (ugh). I’m sure, too, we’ll have to figure out the whole gratuity thing (they are pre-paid, so, how do we ensure our folks know we’ve got them covered?), maybe buy a souvenir (e.g., a Christmas ornament or some such) and some booze if the deals are right.
Later
Spent the better part of the day at the pool; maybe too long, as we are now both sunburned in some strange odd spots (back of thigh, side, knee, etc.) This time, we stayed at the main pool for a change of pace. From our vantage point, we had an excellent view once again of the line dancing class
and the belly flopping contest. Quite silly but definitely amusing; two contenders tied so there had to be a “flop off”.
People up on Deck 10 watching the Belly Flop Contest in the pool below
Drink of the day was an Ocean Breeze; Placid was out there serving drinks, which meant they were extra strong.
Nice sunny day at the pool
Clear blue skies
I wandered into the Windjammer Café without my cover up on and was told (politely) to go cover up, which I did. Hey, I didn’t mind being reminded, I only wish they were a bit more consistent in enforcing their dress code policy since we have, on several occasions, seen shorts, tank tops and jeans in the main dining room at dinner (including on formal nights). This will be some of my feedback to Royal Caribbean (be consistent).
Dinner was great as usual; afterwards, we went to a karaoke show (once again observing, not participating!) and then to the Viking Crown Lounge for an après dinner drink and cigar.
Cocktails at Table 86
View outside our dining room window
Dinner 27 May 2010
As we were walking down the hallway to our stateroom, we ran into Esther, who apologized profusely for not having had the time to fashion our nightly towel creature. Sure enough, there wasn’t anything on the bed when we entered. However, a few moments later, we discovered this little guy hanging NEAR the bed. I think he’s my favorite of the cruise. And, obviously, Esther has a sense of humor!
My favorite monkey!
28 May
Alas, vacation is winding down and, unfortunately, Mr. B isn’t feeling too well this morning, so, we’ll definitely have a low-key day. Time to go get (smaller) bills in case we want to hand out extra tips (turns out we got vouchers to give to the attendants for their primary tips) and maybe hang out in the Solarium before having to pack/get ready for dinner.
I’m sitting outside now on our balcony enjoying a lovely view of the water. It’s going to be hard to give this up (and I’m trying not to fret about my looming To Do List!)
Later
Took it slow today; just basically read and rested in the Solarium. Said good-bye at dinner to our great attendants and were happy to give them extra tips. I wonder how many people don’t tip at all? Probably far too many.
Placid from India: Our Personal Dr. Yummy
Edmond from the Philippines: Our Waiter
Clayton from Jamaica: Our Assistant Waiter
Esther from Nicaragua: Our Stateroom Attendant
Don't get stung!
29 May
In the car on our way home now. Disembarkation wasn’t too bad. We left our luggage (except for carry-ons) outside our room by midnight last night. This morning, we had breakfast in My Fair Lady (the first and only time!); sitting with a group of folks we’d not seen AT ALL the entire nine days on board, which goes to show that even the smaller ships are relatively large.
After breakfast, we gathered the rest of our belongings and went to wait in one of the lounges for our number to be called. It was a pretty orderly process, although some people were getting their panties in a twist about not getting off as soon as they wanted to. These are probably the same folks who were on first thing when we boarded (ok, present company excluded since I guess we were #3 and #4 on board!)
The main hassle was going through customs only in that it took longer than it should have because several of the passengers were bringing back items from Haiti that were on the “watch” list.
All told, we were in the car and on our way by 10:00 am.
GREAT cruise, GREAT time; hopefully, we can do it again relatively soon. Oh, and our final Sea Pass bill was not as much as we thought it would be (but it was still hefty enough, even with the $200 on board credit plus the extra $100 mystery credit).
But, hey, it doesn’t cost as much to go first class…you just don’t go as often.
Mrs. B
1 comment:
We could have been on our way at least 30 minutes sooner if the idiots had listened to the announcements, "Walking sticks from Haiti should not be brought back to the US."
Oh well. It still was a great trip.
TA
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