Last Sea Day

February 1^st

Last day and it is a sea day.  Much to do today with Terrie’s exercise and spa day on the top of the agenda.  For me, it is breakfast and thinking of packing and lunch and thinking of packing and a nap while thinking of packing.  Shipboard life is difficult.

We have lived in this room for two weeks now and everything has its place but today everything must jump back into the suitcases.  So thinking is hard work.

Actually about mid afternoon we actually started going though what we could pack once sending it home and what was needed in Singapore.  Luggage had to be out of the room by 1 am so all this had to be done alone with one more shipboard dinner.

We also had to close out our Casino accounts, which if taken together offered us a plus.  And we had to go pick out cruise pictures (which took more than our earnings).   One unusual thing had happen on this cruise but maybe a mark of my novice status as a cruiser.  They took our passports away from us from the first day so we now have to go retrieve them.  Didn’t like giving up my documents.  But getting all the business out of the way was a good thing and took me away from my first job of the day.  Thinking about packing.

Outside the seas were a bit rougher than we had come to expect but the dark blue water as highlighted by the ship throwing mounds of white foam back at the waves.

What we had been seeing were Vietnamese, Cambodian, or Thai fishing vessels before but today we began to pick up large container vessels north or south bound headed to or from Singapore.  We just gently rocked away occasionally meeting a wall of water that made the vessel surge a bit.  We all walked like drunken sailors bouncing merrily along our way.

Dinner was different in that our normal was to sit to ourselves but as luck would have it we encountered a table with 6 others.  Two other Americans, 4 Brits, and us.  We purchased a wine package when we made reservations and had carefully saved our last two bottles for tonight so we just invited all to join in.  Some others bought a bottle but it certainly got the party started on a good footing.

“Footing” you say.  Two Man U fans and two Liverpool fans at the same table always start a discussion.  Stories of Old Trafford starting coming out, as the Man U fans seemed to be regulars.  Golfing stories, travel adventures and talk of the about sports in general along with the impending Super Bowl teams were flying. 

Interestingly the other American gentleman was an oilman connected to an Exxon company, which had brought him to Baytown in the past.  All the time I could hear that Disney song “It’s a Small World After All.” ringing in my ear as dinner completed.

One by one suitcases were packed, sat upon, and tagged reaching their final resting place outside in the hallway.  We had completed the day on time and in fine style.