The Last Post...

Saturday, May 13. 30 C. [89 F] No seas to worry about, back into the groove already.

It was indeed a long day but it went well, it was just long. Wally picked up up at the Vancouver Airport just after 9:00 pm Vancouver time. Midnight in Fort Lauderdale.

Wally left us and we walked into a different world with such a familiar and pleasant feeling. We stumbled around for a bit in a daze of trying to remember where things were and were soon in bed and did not wake up until 5:00 am, our usual wake up time.

Jeanette popped around quite early as we were having our first cup of coffee. She suggested that we walk around the garden as she had some ideas for planting, as she knew we are eager to get started on planting.

Below, you can see that it was planted six weeks ago! Granddaughter Annette and partner Joe, and Jeanette put in the garden early, which sometimes works and it appears to have been a good gamble. Fellette and I were Gobsmacked when we saw it. What a wonderful Welcome Home!

See you on another trip someday possibly folks Thanks for giving me a motive to write each day.

There Is No Place Like Home... 

Herb Garden was rearranged.

How are those for peas on May 13?

Radish, leeks etc.

Cabbage.

More cabbage, red and green.

A great variety of onions.

Potatoes.

                              

A Very Strange Feeling...

Thursday May 11. At sea, Fort Lauderdale in the morning at 4:30. 25 C.

Home tomorrow night!

Things seem so surreal! I am writing this blog, hardly believing that it will be the last of 131 Blogs that I have written since we left home December 30, 2022. I will publish it tonight before I slip into this very cozy bed for the very last time. When I/we awake, we will be docked in the Good Old USA! 

Within a few hours of waking tomorrow, Fellette and I will boldly walk down the Gangway to a big, wide, wonderful world.  There, in the Terminal, we are for the first time on our own! We are responsible for what happens to us, where and what we eat, and when! If we miss the plane, it's our fault, lose something? It's our fault. 

We are grown ups and have made it through life so far just fine. But we have been living in a Nanny State for 4 1/2 months, our minds has been conditioned to do what we are told. All that ends after we pass through customs and stagger out into the cold sober light of reality tomorrow morning.

The next blog, after this one, will be posted from HOME. It will be a very short one and at a strange hour to you, as it is going to be a very long and arduous trip tomorrow for us.

Our clock goes back an hour tonight and we will be on East Coast time, as we  were on when this whole adventure started, 4 1/2 months ago! Wish us well please.

Doug 

A Great Day…

Our Last Supper as a group. With Hergi and Prem, our Stewards.

Bags Are Gone...

Wednesday, May 10. Blue Sky. 24 C.

Two days to Home.   

Lots happening today. The bags are gone from our cabin and we are now down to slim pickin's for the duration of the trip. Plain and simple, it’s all over, except the Fat Lady Has Not Sung!

Fellette has done a wonderful job of packing, as usual. I did my usual that seems to work for both of us.

Wally is back at home after a week on a well deserved Golf Holiday in Arizona, then a trade show in Las Vegas. the Glass Studio is shutting down permanently after a few hectic weeks of winding down.

Believe it or not, I am a bit lost for words at the moment. I can hardly believe that the moment has finally come and we may soon be actually at home after four and a half months!

There was a Crew Talent Show this afternoon. Lots of good stuff there.

Quite A day…

Sunrise coffee on the deck.

Up comes the sun.

Last we see of our bags for some time.

The aisles were full of bags, but the crew took them below as quickly as they were put out.

Three More Sleeps...

Tuesday, May 9. Blue Sky. 20 C.

Home in three days!

As I write this, we are flying along at 20 knots per hour: that is the fastest we have gone this whole trip. [We will pass under Bermuda sometime later tonight.] This speed will consume more fuel than was scheduled, but that is as a result of the Captain making a conscious decision three days ago. He changed our more direct route home to avoid a weather system that would make for a rougher ride for us passengers. Good of him, but of course he would do that only under the direction of Home Office in Seattle.

Things are getting a bit hectic for most people aboard now. All sorts of activities related to disembarkation in only 60 hours, I don’t know about others, but Fellette and I are quite excited about this. We have never been away from home for so long in our entire life. 

Today is a rather full agenda for Fellette in particular. She had a Choir Practice at 8:00 in the morning for the Passenger Talent Show later today. Lunch at 12:00, Sound Check at 1:00 and the Performance at 2:00. We had Jim and Gail in for a drink at 4:15, then the Last Formal dinner at 5:00 where had a Guest Officer at our table. That meant ample wine for those so inclined. It went well but he was a bit  hard to hear with his Indonesian accent. Nice meal.

In the morning, we pack up our Formal Clothes, put them in our cases that are now partially loaded. Anytime tomorrow, after 10:00 am we can put out our five cases that are being shipped home by the Service offered by the ship called Luggage Forward. We will not see those cases until 10 days from disembarkation when they will be delivered to Wally at Canada Ticket. At least that is the way it is supposed to work. Let’s see how FedEx does on this shall we?

If you are interested, the ship comes into Fort Lauderdale around 4:30 am Friday, all current passengers will off by 10:00 am, the new passengers can start boarding around 11:00 am. All cabins will be cleaned, new bed linen etc., and about 12,000 suitcases off-loaded [and loaded]. The ship sails at 5:00 pm Friday, same day, with a new load of 1,500 happy passengers. Also, a goodly number of crew members will end their contracts on Friday with an equivalent number of new crew joining the ship!

During the day, the ship will be refuelled and re provisioned with enough goods for the next voyage which is the exact reverse of  where we have been the last few weeks: back to Rotterdam retracing the route we have jut come  from, starting with six days at sea!

Friday will be a masterpiece of logistics and very hard work by the crew.

A Busy Yet Very Good day...