Friday was yet another gorgeous day, despite the way this picture makes it appear. (I have no idea why it looks so cloudy and gray...)
We got breakfast around 8:30 and lazed around the room, eventually (and accidentally) falling back asleep. I guess those 3 port days in a row tired us out more than we thought. When we woke, it was only a few minutes before we were supposed to be meeting Kyle and Amy at the Windjammer for lunch--oops. We made it there about 15 minutes late, but they were cool about it. The reason we'd all decided to do lunch was because the guys had been dying to climb the rock wall and try out the FlowRider, but since neither of their wives wanted to do it, they hadn't gotten around to it. But now that they had each other, and since it was our last day at sea, the 4 of us decided that Friday was the day.
After lunch, the rock wall was our first stop. There wasn't much of a wait. They gave you special sneakers to wear, so I got a picture of Tony putting them on...
And then, of course, The Wall itself. It was definitely a decent-sized wall, with several different "courses" to choose from. (And, there--look at the sky. I told you it was a beautiful day.)
Within minutes, Tony was getting harnessed up (I almost missed it because I was watching Kyle)...
... and then he was off.
Headless Tony (ha ha ha)...
And then, before I knew it, he was ringing the bell at the top. I was surprised how quickly it was all over.
Our next stop was the FlowRider--an attraction found only on Royal Caribbean's largest ships. Basically, it simulates an ocean wave, and you can surf or boogie board. They had different times for each activity, and this afternoon, it was boogie boarding. And they also split the FlowRider into 2 halves with that blue tarp you'll see, since it was so busy. Amy and I found seats in the bleachers and gabbed like girls while the guys waited in line.
Here's Tony's first run...
Starting to get up...
And up on his knees!
Both guys liked it so much that they wanted to go again. Tony did even better his second time around. See? No hands!
After the guys were done, the 4 of us headed to the pools. Kyle and Amy told us they preferred the kids' pool--there were all these sculptures that sprayed and squirted water, so it seemed to keep you much cooler, even when you weren't in the water. But as hot a day as it was, we pretty much just sat in the pool. All the pools were equipped with large areas where the water was only a couple inches deep--perfect for just dipping your toes in, or sitting down and keeping your legs wet. We literally spent hours at the pool, talking and talking and talking. We exchanged the typical "how we met" stories and shared our engagement stories, and talked about everything under the sun. It was the perfect way to pass away our last day on the ship. (And helping ourselves to the free ice cream didn't hurt, either.)
We finally dragged ourselves away from the pool, knowing we had to get ready for dinner. When we got back to our room, we had our gratuity vouchers waiting on the bed for us (we opted to do the pre-paid gratuities, which meant having a fixed amount charged to our SeaPass card). I took a moment to write a short personal note to our stateroom attendant Barbara, our waiter Davut, and our assistant waiter Jovenito, to enclose along with their gratuities. A few moments later, Barbara knocked on our door, delivering the bottle of rum Tony had purchased earlier. (Weird rule on the ship--any alcohol purchased in port or on the ship is held by the ship until the final night of the cruise. I'm sure there's some good reason for it, but I don't know what it is.) I thanked her, and then took advantage of the chance to personally hand her the gratuity envelope and verbally thank her for everything she'd done for us. Tony took a few extra minutes to pack, since we would have to have all our bags packed and outside our stateroom by 11 PM that night (standard cruise ship procedure, so that they can easily get all the luggage off the ship the next morning).
Dinner was fantastic, as always. Davut spent a lot of extra time chatting with us, answering our questions, and just generally making the most of his last night with us. The waiters sang again, so dinner ran a little later than usual.
We went back to our room after dinner, and it was my turn to furiously pack. Yes, we had until 11 PM to get it done, but neither one of us wanted to feel like we'd have to rush back to our room to pack after the evening show--not that we had any plans, but you never know. By some miracle, I finished packing and we set all our bags outside before leaving for the show.
Once again, we sat with Kyle, Amy, Steve, and Freyja, and took the time to take a few final pictures. First, one of me and Tony... (another favorite picture of mine--look how tan we are!)
Then, one of the other 4...
And then I decided we needed to take a picture of us looking sad because it's our last night of the cruise...
The cruise director, James, started off the show as usual, and they showed about 10 minutes worth of the 45-minute "Cruise in Review" DVD that was available to buy. We didn't see ourselves or any of our new friends in it, but it was still fun to watch. We both kind of wanted to get a copy, but the $30 price tag convinced us otherwise. Then the real show started--Chuck Gunter (the comedic juggler) opened again, and he was funnier than he had been the first night. Then came comedian Carlos Oscar. When the show was over, they showed a short video of all the crew members in each department waving good-bye to all of us. Then James came back on stage, joined by the Royal Caribbean singers who sang "Imagine." Then, they were all joined by a bunch of the crew--not everyone, but still a lot of people. I have to confess, it was a pretty emotional finale, and I got tears in my eyes. I just hated to see this perfect vacation end. This is a pretty horrible picture of the finale, but I had to get a picture...
When the show was totally over, we said our good-byes and exchanged hugs with all our new friends. We had all given each other our e-mail addresses earlier at dinner (which reminds me... I need to e-mail them!), and we all promised to keep in touch and send pictures. And then we all went our separate ways.
Tony and I took one last walk on Deck 12. It was pretty windy again, and we could see heat lightning and another cruise ship in the distance. Other than that, it was fairly quiet and uncrowded. There were even still birds flying around overhead--those same birds we had seen the previous night.
After our time on deck, we wandered slowly and aimlessly around the ship, not wanting to return to our room and officially end the evening. We took one more picture of the Promenade...
And then we ended up at the On Air Club for another night of karaoke. There was one girl who tackled Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"... and totally nailed it. She was awesome. We finally called it a night shortly after midnight, knowing we still had a long day ahead of us the next day.
Next entry... the final cruise entry, our day in Miami...
2 comments:
Tony looks like he's having lots of fun with the wall and the boogie-boarding. Josh would have tried those things with him if we were with you. Which reminds me, we still need to do our vacation to Disney together someday ;)
That finale show sounds nice, where they all said their goodbyes. It sounds like something I'd get teary-eyed at too.
Oh yes, and you are both so very tan--love it!
That promenade looks absolutely gorgeous! Of course partly because purple is my favorite color! You particularly, Sara look SO tan in that picture of the 2 of you. As you were sad to have the cruise end, I'll be sad to see the cruise entries end! :(
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