Our Last Sea Day

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

A sad day...tomorrow our cruise will come to an end. 😢

With no notes and few photos, I don't have much to go on for details of this day. I do know more time was spent in the cabin packing than what I would have liked. Also I think we were probably in the gift shops more than once trying to use up that last little bit of onboard credit. So how did we spend our credits on this cruise?

Usually our daily gratuities come out of our onboard credit, but thanks to a Black Friday special, our tips were covered. We had calculated our spending well because at the end of the cruise we had less than a dollar left of the non-refundable credits. And we actually got a little bit refunded to our credit card from adjusted port fees.

These t-shirts were 2/$30 but with our HAL Mariner discount we paid $27.

This isn't the greatest photo, but the blanket is large and very soft. 

Blue Opal Ring

When we weren't packing, we did spend some time on "our private deck" enjoying the scenic views on a beautiful day! Our cabin location really did work out well for the four of us. A standard balcony would have been too small for all us to enjoy together but this aft deck had plenty of room, gave us a fabulous view from the back of the ship AND was just steps from our economical ocean view cabins!

Our waiter for this part of our cruise, Wijaya, was especially personable and we had a great time with him each evening at dinner. Even though our dining time was a touch too early, I much preferred having a fixed dining time with the same wait staff each evening.

Jon being weird.

I was so happy to see that the sweet & sour shrimp was on the menu for our last night. Bob had ordered this on our Koningsdam cruise on the night I paid the surcharge to get lobster and I thought it was better than the lobster! I made sure to order the shrimp this time!

Another crew member that made our cruise a little more fun was JonJon, the ice cream man at the lido buffet. We usually played cards at the same table each evening which was right by the ice cream station. JonJon was one of those guys that in spite of the long hours he worked was always happy and so friendly! (We gave him a hard time though because the ice cream wasn't available later in the evening!)

And while I am on the subject of crew members, one day we ran into a waiter that we had in 2019 on our 22-day Zaandam Antarctica cruise...Zulfin! He was delivering room service to a cabin in our hallway and I did a double-take when I saw him. He didn't remember us and wasn't even sure he had been on the Zaandam in 2019. We saw him another time or two and Bob was able to get his photo. I know these guys must meet so many people and switch from ship to ship so I understand how they can't remember. (I had hundreds of students over my career and I mostly remember the trouble makers or the extra special ones. Average kids tend to be forgotten just like average passengers do on a ship.)

Zulfin in 2019

 

Ifin (according to his nametag) in 2024

                     
A beautiful sunset to end our last day...