Cruise Day #23: FINAL Day at Sea

Well, while we were trying our very best to be in complete denial about it....our FINAL sea day had arrived.  Because it was our last day to enjoy the ship, we decided that is exactly what we were going to----we basically didn't even LOOK at our personal navigator for the day....just skimmed it to make sure there was nothing really super exciting that we'd miss (there was not)...and made the decision that we would just E-N-J-O-Y!!

(Note:  I know I've put this disclaimer in here several times for sea days...but why stray from my pattern now, right? LOL  Anyway...don't expect a lot of pictures...because there won't be many!  While we were actually both really, REALLY happy with our decision to not do too much "planned" activity...and just be lazy...that also meant not a lot to photograph...so you'll have to just create pictures in your mind from my fantabulous descriptions! LOL)


OK....so our day started by sleeping in just a little bit.  We have been getting up before 8am almost daily (sometimes earlier), but this day we slept until about 8:30am.  I think we partly slept in because we were being tired and lazy, but also partly because the room wasn't as bright as it had been most other days.  We slept every night (much like we do at home) with our curtains open so that the sun could wake us up in the morning.  Unfortunately, this day was kind of cloudy and not very bright (although, considering the only other "bad" weather we'd had this ENTIRE trip was that it was cloudy and a little bit rainy for a few hours on two other days---our 2nd day in Barcelona and our day in Gibraltar), we could hardly complain!!  So we got up and got our day going with a very quick breakfast and then off to the rainforest room.  We'd purchased a 7 day package and I think this was our 6th day there...and we probably wouldn't get to use the 7th day unless we got up really early before Castaway Cay the next day---but it was all good, because once you'd both used it on the 3rd day, the package had basically paid for itself....and even so....there's still nothing quite as nice as the rainforest room to start the day! (And, we were VERY fortunate in that every time we went in to use it in the morning it was almost NEVER crowded.  In fact....we most often just saw our table-mates, Johanna, Kimberly, Michelle & Jim there!! LOL).

After getting really hot in the steam rooms and saunas of the rainforest room...we decided to take a dip in the pool and the hot tub.  Kimberly was sunning herself by the pool and writing (Very much like my blog, she and Johanna have both been keeping a journal of their vacation...so you can often find Kimberly sitting by the pool or in some other quiet spot writing), so we also visited with her for a while.

Then we headed over to Cove Cafe, the "coffee shop" (also in the adults only section of the ship) onboard to chat with another couple we'd met on the Disney boards online before coming on this trip.  Their names are Michael and Marc and they, too, are big Disney fans and they had recently retired and moved to Mexico.  They'd sent us an email before coming on this trip, but we hadn't had much chance to connect with them while onboard because we were so busy (you'd think that being on a ship for 14 days, you'd have ample opportunity to run into everyone...but the truth is that one of the few things we actually DO regret about this trip is that we didn't get to spend nearly as much time just spending time with some of the many people we know and love as we'd thought we would!).  Anyhow...Michael and Marc had left us a note on our door earlier in the morning to join them at Cove Cafe because they are offering to help Jason and I have a very exciting Disney experience this coming spring!!

We are already booked on another cruise in late April and early May of 2011 (I know...for those of you who aren't avid Dinsey cruisers, you think we're nuts...and maybe we are...but I've often said that there are a LOT more unhealthy things to be addicted to than Disney vacations...so if that's my primary vice, I'm willing to live with that! LOL).  This cruise starts in Los Angeles and sails north to Vancouver before doing a trip around Alaska.  At the beginning of that trip we're planning to spend a weekend at DisneyLand in California (we've only been there once before).   Within DisneyLand there is a members-only restaurant called "Club 33."  A website about the restaurant I found online states that the total membership of the club is under 500 people, that there is a lengthy waiting list for new members (a list that is, apparently, closed at this time because it is so long) and that some people have waited on that list for more than a decade to be accepted as members to Club 33----so it's obviously a very exclusive and very highly sought-after experience (especially for people who are really into "special Disney touches").  Club 33 is closed to the public and the only way to get admission is to be a member or to have a current member make a reservation for you.  So, why am I sharing all this?  Because Michael and Marc are members---and when we met them online prior to this vacation, they offered to make a reservation for us so that we could experience Club 33 when we're there next year.  As you might have guessed, this is an extremely generous and special offer to make to us....so Jason and I spent a little while talking with Michael outside Cove Cafe about it and then we sat with both Michael and Marc at lunch.  They are just a lovely couple and we were blown away by their hospitality and generosity----we agreed to be in touch as our trip gets closer so that they can help make this very special experience happen for us!!

Once we were done with lunch with Michael and Marc, we went back to being lazy and lounging on deck.  While we were out there, a couple of characters were out..so we hopped over and took a picture with them:

...they were playing Aladdin on the jumbo screen above one of the pools (on this ship they call it the "Ariel View" screen LOL), so we laid on lounge chairs and started watching the movie (singing along, of course! LOL).  About 30 minutes into the film, they came over the intercom system to make an announcement:  "Attention all passengers, this is the bridge.  We regret to inform you that in the next several minutes we will be experiencing some rain showers.  We apologize for any inconvenience."  Clearly, the ship had been intentionally trying to avoid spots of rain throughout the day...but now we were going to have to go through one.  This announcement struck me as funny because only Disney would actually apologize for something as random and uncontrollable as the weather!! LOL  We stayed out on our chair watching the movie in the mist and then in the sprinkles...but when it got too rainy, we had to duck to a covered deck for shelter!  Here are some pictures of the "bad weather" (which couldn't have lasted more than a few hours itself, either, to be honest):

...I know these images certainly don't look like a hurricane or anything...but hopefully if you have been looking at some of the other pictures we took off the ship on our sea days (and posted in previous blogs posts), you'll notice the sky is a decidedly different and darker color and that the haze and rain in the air makes it almost impossible to even see where the water ends and the sky begins off in the horizon----very different weather than we'd experienced for almost the entire month prior...but, again, by NO means the worst weather on earth!

The weather didn't even cramp our style for very long, however, because the one thing we HAD planned for today, was that Jason scheduled us for a tour of the ship's galley(s) in the late afternoon.  This was an event you had to go and make a reservation for to attend and, as I said back when we got to tour the engine control room(s), Jason loves this kind of stuff.  Here are some pictures Jason took while we were touring two of the main galleys onboard----those for Lumiere's and Parrot Cay (two of the main dining rooms in which sit-down meals are served).

(Jason really enjoyed this tour because he loves to see the behind the scenes and technical stuff----he's also a fan of that TV show "How It's Made" on the Discovery Channel.  I was less enthused---as you might be able to tell from my face in the picture LOL---about it once we were on the tour since the kitchen was basically empty of both staff and food and just looked like big rooms full of sterile silver furniture...LOL...but I was happy to do it because Jason really liked it----AND there were free chocolate chip cookies! hehehe)

After the galley tour it was time for more laziness, laying around & relaxing----I'm telling you...it's a very, very tough life on that Disney ship! LOL  This was also our last night to get nice portraits taken...so being the picture freaks that we are, once they started taking photos at around 5pm, we ran down to get a few, then up to our room to change clothes, then back down to get a few more, THEN up to our room to change into our dinner clothes....so that we could go the show and then get MORE pictures between the show and dinner!! (I'll share some of the pictures in a later blog once I've gone through all the ship's photographers' pictures from our CD).

Our ties tonight, which was semi-formal night, were Little Mermaid ties.  Here are some pictures:

The show this evening was Disney Cruise Line's signature show, "Disney Dreams." (I've attached a stock photo/image of the cast of the show here for you to see).  If you have been reading this blog you won't be surprised to know that I have a lot to say about this show, as well! LOL  This show is featured on both the Disney Cruise ships (and will probably, I'm assuming, be put on the new ships when they're launched in 2011 and 2012).  It remains a cornerstone show for the cruise line and was, apparently, been voted the best show in the Cruise Line industry----and any musical theater and/or Disney fan can easily see why once they've experienced the show.  It has a cool set and a great story:  a young girl, Anne Marie, with the help of Peter Pan and some "faith, trust & pixie dust," must learn to fly with Peter by learning to believe in her dreams and in Disney magic.....and she does so with the exquisite staging of some of the best Disney songs and moments throughout the show.  It's really an endearing and wonderful show and is always a sentimental (as if I need more reasons to cry on a Disney ship LOL) experience for any Disney fan.

After the show and dinner, we went back to our room (We had quite an elaborate towel animal this day...pictured to the left.) We wanted to try to get a little head start on packing AND watch The Last Airbender, which was playing on one of the movie channels on our stateroom TV.  I can't say much about the movie----it seemed alright but I didn't see the whole thing because we packed a little bit and then laid down to watch the movie in bed...and I was out like a light way before it ended! LOL

We did make a little headway in packing, though.  We starting folding up the clean clothes in our closet we knew we weren't going to wear again on the trip....we set aside the things we knew we wanted to wear the next day on Castaway and wear off the ship on the last day when we had to disembark (*frown*)...we started pulling out the suitcases.....and we started going through our fish extender gifts and goodies we'd gotten throughout the cruise....

....now I know I posted a picture early on of our fish extender----basically a mail pouch you hang outside your door and your DISboards friends come by and put little gifts and treats and souvenirs in it for you....it's kind of a cross between a secret santa exchange and your 3rd grade valentine's day party where you went around and put valentine's in all the other students' paper bag mailboxes on their desk! LOL  It's a silly...but very fun tradition...and some of the things that people make or get for you are just darling----some yummy food treats, some cute Disney souvenirs, and LOTS of amazing home made things to use and/or remember your trip.  Throughout the cruise, we were basically looking at our gifts and then putting them in a drawer.....well tonight was the night we took all that stuff out of the drawer and started sorting it all out on the bed so we'd know how to pack it all.  Once we laid all the goodies we'd gotten from both our the Cruise line and our DIS friends...we were amazed...so I'll close this post with a picture of all the "pirate's booty" we got from this voyage:

A HUUUUUUGE thank you to all our fish extender friends who went above and beyond to make and give us so many amazing little remembrances!!