Day 111 - At Sea (Day 7 of 7)

 

Date:  April 29

 

Location:  Day 111 – At Sea (Day 7 of 7)

 

Next Port:  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, April 30

                                                                  

Report: Day 111, Sunday, April 29:  This is it! Our last cruise day. What a glorious world voyage it has been. One that we feel very privileged to have experienced.

 

We enjoyed (maybe) our last breakfast on the aft deck, before attending the Protestant church service. There were about 25 of us in the Horizon Lounge. We all thanked Jamie for being our “pastor” for these 17 weeks. He certainly doesn’t need the extra pressure to prepare for these services, but he truly does it for his love of the Lord.

 

Captain Dag has told several of us on separate occasions that he believes Jamie is the nicest person he has ever met. That’s quite a compliment from such a leader and experienced worldwide traveler. That respect and admiration is mutual and really shows when the two of them are together. It seems that whatever creative idea Jamie comes up with Capt. Dag comes through and fully supports it. They truly make a great team.

 

Karen played Bridge for awhile and then joined Larry at the White Elephant Sale in the Atrium. Passengers had been invited to donate items that they decided not to take home – “why did I buy that?” Jamie had also collected some treasures from among the crew and from a special, early-entry buying trip to the America’s Cup logo store in Valencia.

 

Jamie, of course, was the auctioneer. If he ever needs a second job, that could be it. He did a terrific job…as did the passengers in their bidding. All the proceeds went to the Voyager Crew Welfare Fund. In just over an hour, Jamie raised more than $22,000!

 

We had a delightful lunch in the sun on the Pool Deck with Mary Lou and John. They live in San Diego, so we hope to see them occasionally as we visit our daughter and husband who live close by to them.

 

We then spent most of the remainder of the afternoon on the Pool Deck and Larry got in a final swim. Late in the afternoon, Karen played Bingo for about the third time, picked up our passports and provided the library with some books that we didn’t want to carry home.

 

We met Ken, and Shirley and Norman, in the Observation Lounge and then had a last dinner in Compass Rose with them. We had a table by the window and enjoyed watching the ships heading into Florida on similar courses to us.

 

After dinner Larry played 3-card poker for a bit…he also cashed in the chips he had accumulated during the cruise. All in all, he believes he just about broke even in the casino. He played his big $40 stakes a couple of times a week during the first half of the trip, but cut back during the last half due to the numerous smokers in the casino.

 

We retreated to the Observation Lounge to say good-bye to Frankie and were also able to see Jenny and Kevin from New Zealand who we’ve shared many good times over the course of the cruise. We could see the lights of the Grand Bahamas on the horizon.

 

Upon returning to our room, there was a note that we could expect to begin disembarkation at 10:00 a.m. We have an 11:30 flight to Chicago…so things could be tight!

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise