I can hardly believe that we have reached the final day of our cruise. It feels like just yesterday that we boarded in Tahiti, exploring our cabin and the ship, and meeting the guests and crew with whom we would be spending the next two weeks. Our last day at sea started very similar to the previous seven, by sleeping in and enjoying breakfast from the Panoramic Buffet. As we are now in the western part of the Tasman Sea, the waves have picked up to their strongest levels of the cruise. If today was our first day on the ship, I think that the movement would bother us more, but we have surely achieved our sea legs after fifteen days in the South Pacific. Ann Taylor had hoped to spend a bit of time in the sun on the pool deck today, but the clouds – and a bit of morning rain – have dampened those plans.
Instead of scoring some rays, we decided to score some trivia points, with the last morning session of the cruise. Our confidence has steadily increased over the past two weeks, and with a bit of luck – and a few more days – we may have been able to win a round or two. Still, I continue to be the only individual who knows all of the technological acronyms (e.g., URL, CAD), which gives us a slight advantage of the other guests who were all born before my parents. Also in the morning, we returned to the Cabaret Lounge for the last lecture from Captain Dale. Today’s topic was a little broader, as he shared stories from the Canadian Air Force, Air Canada, and the world of private luxury jets. Overall, I believe that we attended five of the eight aviation lectures, and we learned quite a bit about flying, which is especially reassuring with a couple of long flights home still ahead of us.
Our final lunch on the ship consisted of a cheeseburger and chicken sandwich from the Ocean Princess barbecue. The highlight of the afternoon was a crew talent show, which featured performances from the dining, bar, housekeeping, laundry, and gym staff. One crew member played the drums, while all of the other songs were sung individually by the crew. We found that there is some real hidden talent across the ship! At the end of the talent show, the Ocean Princess dancers and cruise directors sang a group version of “If I Were Not Upon The Sea”, with verses and costumes that highlighted alternate occupations such as tennis player, nurse, and taxi driver. It was definitely a “you had to be there” performance, but we thought that it was very funny, especially when the cruise director came out as a fairy ballerina, complete with pink tutu. He also sang a very impressive version of “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera (note: this was before he changed into the tutu).
After one last afternoon trivia session, we changed for our final dinner in the club restaurant. Quite a few “last” activities today! This also meant that this would be the only dinner when I did not spend the last few moments ordering my meal for the next evening. One of the nicest parts of cruising – on both Princess and Disney – is how well they treat people who suffer from food allergies. With a nut allergy, the head waiter and kitchen staff ensure that my appetizers, entrees, and desserts are all safe, which gives me a lot of peace of mind to be able to try new dishes at sea. As an added bonus, all of my tablemates also get a sneak peek at the dinner menu for the next day so that they can start salivating over the next set of tasty desserts. Tonight, I had the New York sirloin and deep dish apple pie (nut free!), while Ann Taylor stuck with the chicken and dark cherry sorbet. The last night of the cruise also featured the traditional – for most cruise lines – baked Alaska, although we were both too full to try any tonight. We bid farewell to the Canadian couple and the wait staff, then returned to our room to finish packing, as we needed to place our large suitcases outside of our room shortly after dinner.
Throughout the day, we have been sharing goodbyes with the other couples that we met on tours, through trivia, and by simply living together at sea for the past two weeks. Tonight was our opportunity to say goodbye to the Cabaret Lounge, with another performance from the Australian Dolly Parton impersonator – from a few days earlier – this time performing cover songs as herself. The second show was definitely better than the first, although less well-attended as the combination of packing and the rougher waters surely kept a few guests in their rooms. After the show, we bid adieu to Simon, the cruise director, who bonded with Ann Taylor over Grey’s Anatomy. It was also easy for him to remember us, as we were the youngest passengers on the ship, and the only couple celebrating their babymoon.
A third trivia session at 9:30pm would have been too much for us, so we returned to the room to finish packing and get to bed early. We will gain an hour overnight, but we need to be off the ship at 7:50am, so we want to get as much rest as possible. Even after recapping the day, it still feels unbelievable that we are actually disembarking tomorrow morning, but our room is reserved for a couple traveling from Sydney to Singapore, and we are eager to make the most of our day in Australia. Tomorrow we will say g’day, but for now, I say g’night!