Transatlantic – Day Eleven

This is the beginning of “lasts” on this cruise.  Today was the last sea day.  Tomorrow, we will be at Port Canaveral and Friday we will dock at Miami and disembark.  Most of us, that is.  Some will be leaving tomorrow at Port Canaveral.  They are cutting their cruise a day short since that port is closer to their homes.  Ironically, they had to pay an extra fee for leaving the cruise early.  Go figure…  Others will be remaining on board in Miami as they have booked back-to-back cruises.

The morning was rather interesting.  We had some beautiful colors reflected in the clouds and water from the sunrise from the back of the ship.  That sunrise was filtered through rain clouds.  The first picture is the front of the ship and the second picture was what was behind us, trying to catch up with us.  The original forecast was for scattered showers today.  We didn’t get any rain at all.  Nice!

After breakfast, I came back up to my room to enjoy the last sea day morning on my balcony.  The sights were really beautiful — wonderful blues in the sky and water.  My friends, Mr. Balcony Chair and Mr. Kindle, were waiting for me to come by.

The clouds even entertained me with all sorts of amazing shapes today.

After lunch, I went to the theatre to see the production show: Hairspray. You might remember that earlier in the cruise, my performance time was canceled because of the rough seas.  I saw why today.  They use a lot of props.  Not only do they use them; but, they are constantly moving them around on the stage.  Doing so in rough weather would have been an accident waiting to happen.

Kudos to the team who put this show on.  I’m glad my original show date was canceled.  This way, the show was left as my last major production seen on board and, as it turns out, my hands-down favorite one.

After the show, I came up to my room to get ready for dinner.  I took the “last” picture of the ship sailing in the open seas.  Tomorrow, it will not be open seas.  Tomorrow, it will be “land ho!”  We will be docked at Port Canaveral.

I really feel for the crew.  When we dock, the entire ship — crew and passengers — have to be screened and cleared by customs/ immigration.  The crew will begin disembarking around 2:30 to 3:00 a.m., clear customs, and then board to prepare breakfast.  The passengers will need to be cleared by customs between the hours of 7:30 to 10:45 a.m.  After we are cleared, we need to leave the ship so that it can be inspected.  We were told that we might not be able to get back on until Noon.  That is why they recommended that we book excursions.  I am taking the shuttle to Kennedy Space Center so that I can look around there.  It is an open-ended shuttle without a guided tour so, when I feel I’ve had enough, I will be able to return back to the ship instead of waiting for an entire group.

Well, that’s it for tonight.  Tomorrow night you will hear from a very weepy me as I will be packing and preparing to leave this wondrous ship.

g’night, all.  Until tomorrow.

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