Day Fourteen (May 14, At Sea)
The last day of a cruise always makes me sad. I want to make sure I have fun, try to get to things I meant to do, and make it last as long as possible. This time I was lucky that I'd done almost all of my packing, so I didn't have to take time out to do that.
The boys and I slept until about 8. The darkness of an inside room does wonders for helping you to adjust to backward time changes! We got up and dressed and decided to hit the breakfast buffet one last time, by way of Goofy's for my final Mango Mountain Hike.
After breakfast Elliott was anxious to head off to Edge during open house, but we had time to get in a quick dip in the Mickey pool first. It was quite chilly this day, and there were only 1-2 other kids in the pool while we were there. Since there were also two lifeguards standing watch, I finally felt comfortable enough to wrap up in a blanket and read my book while the kids were swimming. Sort of. I mostly watched them, because I love to see them laughing and happy. But I tried to read!
After a little while I hauled them out of the pool. They were so cold! It took plenty of towels and blankets to warm them up enough to go back to the room to change their clothes.
Elliott went off to Edge for a little while, and then the three of us decided to wander the ship taking some photos and doing some last shopping. I had brought along a selfie stick, hoping to actually have pictures of all three of us for once, but I hadn't used it yet. I wanted to use it at least one time to make it feel like it had been worth buying/bringing!
We ran into Mari, Jeff, and the kids and decided to get some lunch with them. They were having another barbecue at Beach Blanket, a la the one on Panama Canal day. It was nice to get in one last hang-out!
After lunch we went to the pool to cheer on Ryan and Ava, who had entered Goofy's Boat Building Bash. They had to create a boat that would stay afloat holding a can of soda.
Elliott was right up front having fun, so when I needed to sneak out for Broadway trivia at 1:00, I asked Mari to let him know he should take himself to the Lab when the contest was over. I dropped Oliver off there on my way down to the Promenade Lounge.
I was by myself again for Broadway trivia, but I only lost by 2, so I was feeling pretty good!
I stopped by the room for a little while and I found our prizes for completing Anna's Chocolate Chase (rice krispie treats). I also found our luggage tags and debarking instructions.
We were in the Gray/Daisy group:
Also on our bed was a special lithograph that had been commissioned for the crossing (no photo, because there are warnings about reproducing it) and the photo mats I had dropped off at Guest Services on day 1. Here they are all finished up at home:
And a “don't steal our stuff” reminder:
PLUS, a commemorative Navigator containing all the information about our crossing.
I had been signed up to go to a mojito and caipirinha tasting with Christa and Ryan at 2, but we had decided to cancel that so that we could go to the “Talk Back” about the Frozen activities. Since so many executives and creative people were on the ship to watch the very first performances, they had decided to do a reverse Q&A to find out how real people felt about the events. A bunch of our new friends ended up there, which was nice!
We gave them our feedback, which hopefully will allow them to make some changes to make everything even better. They did tell us that they were having a second Maypole Swirl & Twirl that evening in the atrium, to see if it worked better there. I thought that was a good idea, considering the fact that they had the atrium decorated but no events scheduled there. Also, on cold weather cruises, people might prefer indoor activities. Some people mentioned how upset they were to learn that their non-participating friends got prizes for the Chocolate Chase. So, if you don't participate, you can blame those guys for the fact that you don't get a delicious treat on the last day!
After the Q&A I went to the Lab to see if any children wanted to come hang out with me for a while. Surprise surprise, Oliver wanted to stay, but Elliott actually wanted to come out! We went to get a slice of pizza (oh man, that was really good – it's probably a good thing I didn't realize how much I love the pizza until the very end of the trip) and then we hung out in the room for a while so that I could finish up all but our very last bit of packing.
At 5:00 we went to watch Oliver perform in Friendship Rocks, a show the kids in the Oceaneer Club/Lab do on the last night. I just love it. All of the kids get up on the stage in the Walt Disney Theater and do a little singing and dancing with Mickey and Minnie, and they show a slideshow of pictures that were taken through the trip. Elliott tends toward stage fright, so he didn't want to participate, but I think he regretted it when he saw the rest of the Stitch Club up there. We were joined by Kaitlin, a member of our cruise group.
It was already time for dinner, so we went to pick up Ollie from the Lab. We could hardly believe we were sitting down for our last dinner of our two week dream vacation, which had been more than a year in the planning!
The boys ordered their favorite, mini burgers, and I asked for an ahi sashimi for each of them. Anything that resembles sushi will be a huge hit with them (though they were having too much fun to leave the Lab the day I saw that there was actual sushi being served in Triton's!) They loved it.
I ordered the Goat Cheese and Potato Napoleon, which was so good. I want to try to recreate this one at home!
I also had the Cranberry Salad and the Lighter Note Offerings sirloin steak, with a baked potato. Very tasty, though I wish the last night had an amazing steak on the menu to finish off the cruise on a culinary high note!
Elliott made it through the international parade, where the servers carry flags through the dining room, and then he went to the Lab. Oliver stayed for one last Mickey bar and I went for the Baked Alaska, because it's a cruise tradition.
We said our (first) goodbyes to Joseph and Beata and gave them their tip envelopes. Deniz wasn't around at that time, so we decided we'd give it to him in the morning if we saw him.
Before we left, we were given our ticket for the final morning's breakfast.
Oliver and I walked around to take some more pictures and we ran into a bunch of Disney friends in the hallway.
Oliver was rather horrified to have a lipstick kiss on his cheek.
We saw that they were doing the Maypole dance down the lobby and stopped to watch for a few minutes. They didn't get to use their pretty graphics, but this venue did seem better. Plus, you get a really cool view if you stand up on deck 5 outside the Lab!
We went to grab Elliott from the Lab and we went to the Walt Disney Theater for the last night's show – Dreams. This is such a nice show, and a great way to finish up the perfect vacation. The only downside to the show was that there was something wrong with my seat! I kept feeling like I was being poked in the butt, and then I realized that something was broken and there was a sharp pointy thing stabbing me. After the show I verified that I wasn't bleeding, nor had my dress been torn (one good thing about something that sharp, it goes through like a pin!) I let a cast member know so that they could change out the seat before someone got really hurt. If a child, for example, had put their hand down and put their weight on it, they could have been seriously injured. It was that sharp.
By this time the kids had decided they were ready for bed. I was sad, because I would have liked to have stayed up late and maximized every minute of our last night. I just wasn't quite ready for it all to end. I put our last laundry into our suitcases and then stuck them out in the hallway. After reading for a while I drifted off, knowing that soon we would be home.