Last full day of the cruise
I woke up to find that the weather conditions had taken an unexpected turn. The final full day of the cruise, to be spent entirely at sea, started with very thick cloud, a thunderstorm and a definite lack of proper daylight. On the plus side, the temperature felt positively balmy, and we decided that this really needed to be a 'shorts day'. This morning's breakfast was in the buffet restaurant: I had American biscuits - if you don't know what I mean, think scones minus the sugar - with sausage and bacon. We then spent a couple of hours reading on an outside deck area, and after a decent interval, ordered a round of Bloody Caesars - on this cruise more than ever, this particular cocktail had become a recurring theme, welcome at pretty much any time of day.
The new-concept buffet restaurant was once again in favour at lunchtime: I got a large slice of pepperoni pizza from Prego and dressed it up a bit with salad from the buffet. Then it was back to our stateroom to relax for a bit and watch Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again on the ship's TV system - nothing like a bit of ABBA nostalgia for passing the time! The weather started to clear up around 4pm, but with the latest time change, the daylight was starting to go already.
It was then time to face the reality of packing in readiness for the following morning: it would be especially important to get off the ship as early as possible, as Wednesday was to be Bruce's first day back at work. Our final cruise cocktails were in the Wheelhouse Bar and the final dinner was in the Palm dining room. I had shrimp cocktail and a chicken and leek pot pie, and we split a single serving of apple pie and ice cream. The final duty of the day was the distribution of tip envelopes to cabin steward Ding and waiters Exel and Queron.
