Thankfully, probably due to my rest day yesterday, I finally started showing some signs of significant improvement today, and just in time, too. Starting tomorrow, there are no rest days in sight.
We slept in today; G had been out and about listing to live music and attending the Love Boat Disco Deck party (I really wish I had set up a keyboard shortcut for that!) until well after I fell asleep. I feel a little like I've abandoned him this cruise, but, except for one night, we had dinner together and I have made to the (to him) all important MTP and Captains Circle parties. That's life.
We went to breakfast together in the Horizon Court Buffet and the first person we saw was our waiter, Victor with a huge smile on his face. Victor had confided in us that his wife, Marisol, and two of her girlfriends (all from Mexico) were on this cruise, as a goodbye to him before he leaves on the Emerald Princess to Europe on April 2. We found out that Marisol and her friends were having dinner in a specialty restaurant last night and had a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne sent to them. We knew immediately from Victor that the champagne had been successfully delivered.
Marisol happened to be in the Horizon Court Buffet when we arrived, and Victor took us over to introduce her to us. She doesn't speak English and beyond 'mucho gusto', my Spanish is almost non-existent, but Victor translated and it was all quite fun.
I like when things like that happen. We do tend to get close to our waiters when we're on a ship for long periods of time.
We were still sitting in the buffet at 11:45am when I uttered those words that seem to get said at least once a cruise season..."Hurry up and finish eating so we can go to lunch". Ah yes, that's a sea day on a cruise ship! ;-)
We did go to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room around 12:45pm. I had just a calamari starter but G had a chef salad and ice cream for dessert. It wasn't that we were particularly hungry (my appetite had left me altogether this cruise), it was simply our last opportunity for lunch in the dining room, and we didn't want to miss it.
We walked up the stairs to the Promenade Deck when we were finished eating, and strolled (really, it wasn't even as ambitious as a walk) around it a few times. I think I was expecting my usual lethargy of late to hit me, but it didn't (that's when I knew it was going to be a better day). On our fourth time around, we saw a small power boat pass behind the ship. That's quite an usual sighting on a sea day! Coming around the ship, we saw a sailboat. We knew we had to be close to Florida.
Sure enough, we were, about 20 miles off then Florida Keys, and we automatically tried for an AT&T signal. Oh happy day, we had one. G immediate placed a call to our insurance company to get the insurance started back up on the cars on Saturday; I called Mom to let her hear how well I sounded, and we both internetted for about 30 more minutes until we lost the signal as we reached the northern end of the Keys and headed east toward the Bahamas.
How addicted are we to this cruising thing that G was finding cruise deals for the next two months and I was checking airfare for them? From the promenade deck of a cruise ship. After almost five months at sea. We are hopeless cases. (For those interested, the March 20 Caribbean Princess and the April 2 Emerald Princess are heckuva deals).
AT&T territory...yay!!!
By 4pm I was starting to get cleaned up for our 712th and final formal night of the winter. Hallelujah!! As G was putting on his tuxedo, he said "Let's don't ever dress for dinner at home". ;-) No argument here. I will miss this ship, I will miss this crew, I will miss fellow passengers and beach-y ports. I will miss the food and the service and the entertainment, but, as God is my witness, I will not miss dressing for formal nights in the least little bit!!
We weren't especially hungry tonight. In a real change for us, we skipped the lobster and the beef Wellington and both had just the veal ravioli. It was really delicious, and I don't know why I've never tried it before. We had mandarin sorbet for dessert, and scooted out to the Captains Circle party in Club Fusion at 7pm. We finished this season as #3 Most Traveled Passengers again, with #1 and 2 staying on from last cruise. Although I have given some of the award crystals away, I am going home with six of them. Lucky for me that Southwest doesn't weigh our carry ons!
G is still out socializing, but I could feel myself finally starting to fade by the end of the party. Poor Captain Forteeze; he is going home to Italy on Saturday and has just come down with something, too. I was so careful at the MTP party not to shake hands or get too close to anyone, but there are a lot of respiratory infections going around right now.
I am tucked into bed with an alarm set for 7am tomorrow. We have one last hurrah planned for tomorrow, a final big day on Princess Cays. On one hand, it's hard to believe this season is almost over; on the other, it feels like a lifetime since we've been home. G admitted today that he was ready to go home, but said that, as soon as we are, he'll want to be here. We are kind of balanced between the two worlds right now, not totally convinced that either is the better one.
But what a quandary to have. ;-)