Last Day and Disembarkation

The last day is always sad.  Especially after such an amazing trip.  

It is hard to believe we left home and have been to three countries and three very different types of holidays. Peruvian journey, Disneyland, and Mexican Cruise.

The last day is spent first sleeping in!  Bernie and I head to Horizon Court for lunch and again the buffet is exactly the same as the day prior.  I have never seen this before like it is on the Ruby.  This happens only during lunch and there is still a lot of options to choose from but it surprises me.

We make the rounds of the ship stopping to chat with people we know - passengers and crew.  

Bernie is feeling quite melancholy as he knows that some we will never see again and those that we will see again won't be for a long time.

Barb and Craig have us over for drinks and we sit and chat for quite a long time.  Great cruise friends that I have a lot of respect for.

Tonight is Mongolian Stir Fry at the Cafe Caribe tonight.  Each week this theme has gotten more popular.  Tonight it doesn't disappoint.

Be warned though that they obviously don't clean the fry pan between each person's dish as I got corn kernels when I did not put in any on my plate, also got two pieces of chicken but I wanted vegetarian.  So if you have an allergy to something make sure to let them know.   

After dinner we consider going to see Magic to Do again tonight but we are both a little sad and just want to go back to the cabin and pack up.  

Note they did Magic to Do the last night mainly because the new singers and dancers required more time to rehearse, but normally it is not on the last night.

We are doing walk off - group one tomorrow and our meeting time is 8 am.  We already have one bag packed with our Peruvian clothes.  We pack up the other two bags quite efficiently.  All bags are way underweight (surprise).

The next morning we dock at 7 am and we are cleared around 7:30.  As soon as we head down (7:45) to deck 7 to go to our lounge they have already called our group so we just join the queue to get off.

There is a couple in front of us who clearly are not doing walk off as they have no bags at all.  I am sure they are sneaking off early.  We comment wow you sure packed light. The guys says yeah they accidently took our bags last night.  

Right I think.... I tell him you know they won't have your bags out ready for you when you get off you know.  His wife is telling him "i told you"!  The security asks them what group they are and they can't answer and when they finally confess Aqua 2 security tells them they can't get off yet. They are directed back on.  

We are off quickly, thru customs within 5 minutes and outside by 8:15.

We are heading to LAX and we see a PrimeTime Shuttle that needs two so we join the group for $17 per person to the airport.  Effortless.

Our flight with Air Canada is noon and we arrive in plenty of time.  We splurged with air miles and are flying back business class.  

Once in Vancouver we quickly clear customs and the wait for the bags begins.  Vancouver is really bad a baggage delivery - I know they don't have enough staff.  Our bags are tagged priority but it still took almost a half hour just for the bags to arrive at the carousel.

We are home by 3:45 and unpacking begins.

Stay tuned.  I will be tweaking the blog posts and adding more pictures from the Ruby now that I have my computer and free wifi.  But work comes first so will try to do a bit each night.

Thanks for following.

Second Day - Evening Activities on the Ruby Princess

Pre dinner drinks in Vines where Dana meets up with us. We really enjoyed catching up with her over a great glass of wine.

Tonight is Italian night.  Originally Dana was going to join us for dinner but ten minutes into the dinner she is paged to deal with the large corporate group's issues.  Again that large group is interfering with our voyage.

Daniel and Alla welcome us.  Today we open up a bottle of champagne we received.  That was the start!

For dinner I start with the eggplant Parmigan- a favorite of mine. However, it is overcooked and dry. The top is dark brown and crusty and very dry.  I take only a few bites and push it away.

The salad course is one of my favorites on board.  The spinach with pine nuts, cheese and bacon.  Oh my that is so good.  Should of ordered three of them and that as my meal.

Entree for me was the veal scallopini which was very flavourful but very chewy and tough.

The food tonight is really hit or miss.  Those of you who have followed my blog for years know we are not picky eaters but the food so far this trip is below standards we are use to and certainly below what Princess expects.

The one great thing is the service we receive from Daniel and Alla.

More champagne - more toasts - after dinner drinks - well you get the theme.  All this equals leaving the dining room later than we had planned.

Our goal tonight was to see the new production show -- Magic to Do, but our time with Daniel and Alla went long and the show started at 10 and it is now just after ten.  We peak in the theater but it is packed and I don't want to see only part of the it and don't want to disturb others by getting to available seats.  So we will have to try and see it on a different voyage. 

We stroll down the Promenade deck and head to Club Fusion where the band Nexus is playing.  This is one of the best party bands on Princess in our opinion.  We dance in Club Fusion until the band breaks at around 10;45.

Both of us still want to dance so we head up to Skywalkers!  A rare spot for us but we are in the mood for more.

Skywalkers is hopping.  I can't remember the last time the ship was this busy.  Guess the demographics warrant a good party/disco atmosphere up here.

I finally confirmed that Jan Schwartz (President of Princess) is on board.  I thought I had seen her but wasn't sure.  But it has now been confirmed.

After an hour of dancing we head back to the cabin all hot and sweaty and tired.  What a great night!