The seas have continued to be rolling with 15 foot swells, and on the horizon, we could see showers. It did not stop us from doing several outside walks during the course of the day, as it was not cold, just windy. The lower promenade deck was nearly empty of customers, since the majority of the passengers are packing. Those that were relaxing on the lounges were wrapped with blankets. There is a possibility some of them were a little seasick.
There was only today and tomorrow to earn those Grand Dollars before the 24th, when there will be the final redemption. We wonder if this program will continue on next year's world cruise. For some reason, we feel its days are numbered.
Also on display, were the blankets that many guests made for the Linus Project, a charity located in Seattle we believe. They were not all created by the ladies either, as we have seen a few fellows crocheting on the promenade deck as well. "Busy hands, happy heart", the old saying goes. The yarn and the knitting needles and crochet hooks were provided by the staff onboard. And there was a reminder announced yesterday to please returned those borrowed tools today.
We met Barb for lunch, and we all ordered the philly cheesesteak half sandwich for our entrees. Quite good, they came with hot and crispy French fires, the plain kind we all like so well. Each of us tried a different dessert, because someone has to do it…..might as well be us.
With all these time changes, we thought watching a movie at 2pm was a great idea. That happened to be a sci-fi flick called Passengers. Basically, there were three actors in this movie, but the story line was good. TV reception has been really spotty during this crossing. Several times throughout the day, we lose the network feed. So there has been no news stations, and ESPN has been mostly missing for weeks now. We have been told that the direction we take sometimes interferes with the signal. Famous last words are the ship's stacks are in the way. Logical or not, there are always HAL stations, lectures, and movies to watch.
Two Mariner Society Reception cocktail parties were held in the Queens Lounge ……one at 4:15 and the second at 6:45pm. Medallions were handed out to those who reached the levels of 100 (bronze), 300 (silver), 500 (gold), and 700 (platinum). These are pure sea days, by the way, not earned days. The ultimate level, not advertised, is 1400 days (President's Club pin).
We attended the second party, but entered on the port side of the lounge with other fellow President's Club buddies, most of whom we know. We call it the "Best in Show", or the cage, since the area they seat us is cordoned off from the rest of the seats on deck four. This area has grown since the last time we sat here. Now there are so many guests, that most of the dance floor is taken up with our seats. The upside to being confined is that we have special appetizers and all the cocktails we want……the good stuff. Without even ordering, Manny had our cocktails for us within seconds of sitting down.
Starting off this event, we were called up to have a photo with Captain Jonathon and Henk, the hotel director. If we recall, this photo should be gifted to us tomorrow. Then all of the new medals were handed out, taking up the rest of the hour. There were many more guests getting medallions on this cruise, than on the previous South Pacific cruise we took last fall.
The dining room was decorated with several of the HAL blue and white striped flags with the ship logo in the center. The theme for this evening was The Masked Ball in conjunction with the dance that would be held in the Queen's Lounge at 9:30pm. Each person got a black or pink lace mask with satin ribbon ties. Some folks really do put these on during the meal, a bit odd we think, but whatever floats your boat. These balls last for one hour, but we seldom go, if ever, because we are in the middle of our meal service at 9:30pm. Hard to do it all…….
We were invited to dine with friends Bill & Leta. This was the highlight of the evening, although we did have guests at our regular table. The future cruise consultants, Thom and Tina, were the hosts for this final formal evening. This worked out better for our tablemates, because 10 is really too tight. Sometimes it is nice to have just four of us. The food is always hot, and we don't have to wait for two hours to eat. And it is a good opportunity to have private conversations. Although, we have to admit, we always find so much to talk about, we ended up staying beyond 10pm.
And as expected, we had our last gift of the world cruise……a pretty platter, custom-made by Royal Goedewaagen in the Netherlands. It was as close as it could be with the 2017 ports we did listed on the plate, but with last minute deletions and changes, some of the places listed were incorrect or omitted. But it is an improvement over the year that the entire itinerary was wrong, since they printed the itinerary of a previous Grand Voyage. It was rectified when a replacement plate was sent to our homes during the summer.
One more hour back on the clocks this evening, and now we are finally back to eastern time in the USA. At least we will have four more days to adjust to these numerous clock adjustments.
Bill & Mary Ann
