Last Day of the Cruise

It is only 2 pm and I figure I should write something about today while I can because normally once the evening starts and I get to travelling tomorrow and then settled back at home I often put off writing.

I do promise I will do a final summary of the entire voyage and my thoughts once I get settled back at home.

Quick funny from last night.  While leaving the Captain Circle Party we had two separate couples ask where the Palm dining room was.  You know the one that is aft on deck six that you can only access from deck seven aft and go down one deck.

We helped direct them as this is a common question and can be confusing as to why they can not travel on deck 6 midship to the aft (well mainly because there is a dining room and galley there and they will make you work if you go thru them).  

Now this is night 6 and I am just curious "where have they been eating all cruise and how did they get there".  Just my cruise observations.

But for today.

Last night when we got our Princess Patter we noted that there was no picture and small blurb of the Most Travelled Passenger.  

They are doing a new format so I am not sure if this is a permanent thing of just a one off as this is the first week with the new format.  However I will say I miss seeing who the most travelled is.  Although I do know it is Steve C with around 1,500 days (but could be off a bit as it is not printed).

We wake at 7 am and I say I really want to dine in the dining room for breakfast today.  So we throw on some clothes and make ourselves presentable as best we can.  

I am going to miss having breakfast prepared for me each day.  That is the hardest meal for me to get motivated and made.  But I will say at least at home my breakfast is usually oatmeal with almond milk and fruit.  I can admit that on board the breakfast has been substantially larger and usually consists of eggs.

On the way back to the cabin I grab a latte and throw back on my pjs and crawl into bed where I proceed to shop on Wafair.com for two bed frames.  Have I told you how much I love this high speed wifi.  I place the order and the frames are scheduled to arrive at the new house on Friday!  

Next I go onto my rewards card and use up some of my miles.  We need a lot of things for the house and so I use my points to buy a lawnmower, heavy duty drill set, and two gift cards to Home Depot (I think those will come in handy).  Again love the high speed wifi.

I even take the time to change our address with a few places.  Why not take on all these administrative tasks while at sea and no time limit.  Saves me from doing it later.

Even though I am hibernating, there is a lot happening on board today.  I took a picture of the Princess Patter for just a taste of what is happening.

I do shower and dress and figure I should come out into the land of the living for lunch.

Lunch is in the dining room and we both are very impressed with lunch.  I had the beef goulash and Bernie had the chicken scallopini.  

After lunch Bernie goes to the front desk to get some change and smaller bills so he can hand out extra tips.  We also always leave our auto tipping in place and tip out extra throughout the week but we also make a point of tipping a bit more to those that really went over and above.

My thought is if you take the auto tipping off you are robbing so many people of the benefit of providing extra service.  Note if you do take the tips off and hand someone like your waiter cash they are obligated to put it into the pool if you removed the auto tips.   This is because no matter how many you tip with cash it never covers all that serve you.  The International Cafe staff, the buffet stewards, the pool attendants, the people who clean the public washrooms.

Note if you don't remove the auto tips they get to keep the cash. 

So keep the auto tips on.  If you can't afford to do this then you should not be travelling.  It is just the cost of travelling.

Of course added tipping is not necessary but it is a nice perk.

Oh that sounded harsh, but I am passionate about this and how hard the crew work and how much they depend on being rewarded by the passengers for extra good service.

Okay back to our regular scheduled blog.

This afternoon is the Shark Week Festivities again.  There are a lot less children on board this sailing so I am curious to see how it goes.  All I want is one of those shark cookies.

Tonight we are heading up to Skywalkers Elite lounge to say goodbye to everyone there.  Then we will make the rounds to say a final good bye to so many.

I am already feeling sad to say good bye.

Oh but I am so excited for the next chapter.

Stay tuned.