Day 81: At Sea

The last lunch. 

The last supper. 

Packing up the cabin and feeling temporarily displaced.

There is not usually much redeemable about the final day of a cruise; however, we got lucky today. Though we didn’t have a signal this morning (‘cause we checked for Bowl games as soon as we opened our eyes), we returned to the cabin after lunch to find the Rose Bowl on TV.  Now THAT was a game!!

We were glad, then, that we had been busy this morning, and were almost completely packed by noon. We had to inject some logic into the process, of course, because we’re not going directly home, but we had been gathering thoughts about that for a couple of days. We had pre-purchased 40kg for checked luggage each on our Jetstar flight (so, 176 pounds total), and, weighed individually or as a couple, we are totally compliant with a few pounds to spare. And our carry ons come in under 7kg each. We’d packed in October with this flight in mind. 

I also went online and booked a shuttle transfer from the airport to our resort in Honolulu. After another overnight flight, we’ll be running on empty again. It’s nice to have that covered. 

We pulled ourselves away from college football to attend this cruise’s Egg Drop Challenge at 4:15pm in the Piazza. G finally participated this time, executing a design he’s been planning for over two months. I won’t bore you with the specifics, but will admit that the Mentos gum container I almost tossed yesterday made a perfectly sized egg holder, and a plastic whistle removed from a New Year’s Eve horn made an awful lot of noise as the balloon it was stuck in intentionally deflated on the way down from Deck 7 to Deck 5. More important to G than the egg’s survival was that his design create a spectacle en route. It sure did. Plus, the egg survived, and we were proudly awarded a Princess lanyard, a Princess carabiner and a Princess wine stopper (which is really nice!). 

We went to dinner dressed casually; everything else was already packed. For my last supper:  a seafood starter with avocado, salad and barramundi over roasted peppers. Afterwards, Alona and Lydia appeared with a birthday candle in two scoops of orange-pineapple sorbet, and, along with several other waiters, serenaded me with Happy Birthday (six days early). Then Rodrigo sang me a Mexican birthday song. 

Seafood starter

Alona and G doing the chicken dance

Oh, I will miss them all!!! :-( :-(

We returned to the cabin to set out our three large suitcases, and, unless something changes, most likely won’t go out again tonight. This happens to us every year. Once we’re resigned to leaving, once we’ve packed up, and said our goodbyes, we are mentally out of cruise mode. We are now firmly in Hawaii mode.

Life is good. :-)