MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!
Day 8: Sea Day
Day 7 on the ship: Sea Day
No alarm day...and I'm up at 7:30am. What the heck! I guess my body has adjusted to this new schedule and I just couldn't go back to sleep. I headed up to the buffet for my morning caffeine and yes, they were open since it was after 7am. Then back down to the room and I decided I would do both assignments for school that were due today and get that out of the way.
The fam squad was finally awake and we headed to the buffet where we would meet up with Kia for breakfast.
I had my usual HOWEVER....
Notice there was something missing from my plate? The eggs....
WELL...here it is, the last day of the cruise, and I just discovered that you can go on the OPPOSITE side from where we normally ate (you know, the side that has the hash browns instead of potatoes) and order an actual omelette the way YOU want it. Ugh! I've missed this all week. BUT, it's different than NCL or Carnival. They have a sheet you fill out with everything you want on it and you hand it to a lady standing there and she gives it to the cooks.
They give you one of these....
Then you are on your merry way to go get the rest of your food.
So the hubby was 3 people behind me in line. We sat down to eat and what do you think happened? His buzzer went off before mine. What the heck? I went up after he came back with his omelette. I mean I figured I'd give them at least that amount of time to make mine ring, but it never happened. Once I got up there, they checked with the cook and yep it was ready, but my buzzer never buzzed!
I think I had a bit of a sweet tooth that morning.
After breakfast, Sakari went off to play with other munchkins her size and we walked around the ship taking pictures.
We went back and picked up Sakari and headed to the room to do a little packing. I love when the last day is a sea day and you can pack a little throughout the day and not feel rushed.
Around 1pm, we decided to try out the MDR for lunch since we hadn't done that yet. I know on other cruise lines, we have been pleasantly surprised by the offerings and enjoyed it there.
Sakari decided to bring her drawing book with her to work on some drawings. (This is normally what she does at home...everywhere we go, she brings her book).
Her face painting was looking mighty chic this morning and smudged down the side of her face.
I honestly didn't see much that was too appealing to "me". But, decided I would try out the chicken sliders on the menu.
While I was waiting, they had a very impressive salad bar. You told someone everything you wanted and they put it in a huge mixing bowel. When you got to the end, they used a pizza cutter (I've never thought of doing this before) to chop and slice everything up. Pretty cool and it was pretty good!
The "chicken" sliders came. Hmmm....Ok, I really don't know how to describe these. I really don't think they were chicken. They reminded me of some type of fake meet burger, but only chicken I guess. I can't even describe the taste OR the texture. I'm sorry...it was just nasty to me. I took one bite and just couldn't do it. The fries were good though and I really enjoyed my salad and the rolls and it was good enough for me.
After lunch we headed to the photo area to pick out the rest of our pictures and try to limit them down some. The ONLY reason I buy these things are for my scrapbook and memories for Sakari for once I'm gone. Otherwise, I'd never buy them because we all know I take enough pictures!
So pricing....
8x10 was 19.99
5x7 was 14.99
6 pictures for $99
10 pictures for $149
20 pictures for $199 (I think). .
ALL pictures for $249
I ended up with a deal for 10 pictures AND it included a free photobook...which I have no idea what I'll do with. It actually made the package cheaper for some reason. I had to buy the book and got pictures for free or something like that.
No the sand all over the book did not come with it. That sand could have came from Bermuda for all I know. My suitcases seem to be loaded with it and no matter how much you flip and turn it when you get home...there's no getting it all out.
And btw, it's not fun dealing with buying pictures on the last day of the cruise. It was a mad house (even during the day) and just not enough help. There were only 2 people and 2 registers open. It was crazy and very slow. However, if you are someone that buys a picture from ever port...remember how I said they don't get the pictures out the same day and you have to wait until the following day? Yea, RC could use some improvement here.
Oh, they also gave me a coupon for shutterfly.
We headed off to do a little bit of shopping. I had to get a tee shirt from the ship and Sakari always collects these ship ornaments.
Back to the room to do a little more packing and then Sakari wanted to swim some. When we arrived up to the pool deck, they had just drained the pool. Accident? I don't know but I just heard someone say they had a volleyball tournament...which has nothing to do with needing to drain the pool, but that's what the word on the street was.
After the pool was filled, Sakari swam and then got in the hot tub, rinse and repeat. I just hung out with Kia and we chatted the rest of the day.
The live band was playing and he was actually singing all the line dance songs!!! I was impressed. Any other ship I have been on only played them by using a recording of the song. Everyone was up and dancing...even the guys.
Then there was a VERY small kid and I watched his dad go up to the band and before long this kid was in front of the mic and playing his guitar and singing. It was so adorable and he was so good.
We decided to give the theater another try because we heard that there would be a comedian that night AND the RC singers and dancers....oh my. The comedian was from Ohio and he was funny, so it was a decent show minus the off beat singers and dancers. But hey, it was some entertainment that I felt like this ship was missing out on.
After the show we decided to head to dinner at the MDR. Kia said she had reservations, so she walked in on one side and we went to the other. This would be the first time we had an actual wait. It wasn't long. Maybe 10 minutes or less.
What do ya know...they were sitting us at the same table with the same waiter. But, we seen Kia walk in with Michaela and she told us to see if the waiter would let us all sit together...and he did.
I started out with the yummy french onion soup.
The hubs had a lettuce wedge. LOL...what the heck? Someone in the back needed that pizza cutter from earlier today.
Kia had the Salmon Tartare. I can't do salmon and I tried caviar once and it's just not my cup of tea...or food.
My main consisted of Garlic Tiger Shrimps
Possibly the Chicken Parmigiana? I don't remember but I see Sakari's hand there so it must have been her plate.
Hubs had the Roasted Rack of Lamb
Then we started hearing music and all the waiters dropped what they were doing and here they came...singing and dancing. I didn't realize that RC did this.
I had ask for a pop prior to this and don't you know that our waiter was signing and dancing down the line and had my pop in his hand to deliver it to me as he went by? Like they don't leave you hanging...ever. This had to be the best service at any MDR that I think I had ever had on any ship. Seriously!
Here they are signing and dancing. (video)
Desert time!!!
A cookie fit for a queen.
It was getting late and I knew I had to finish up some last minute packing and get my luggage out. The last thing I wanted to do was lug around our luggage in the morning...especially mine with only 3 wheels.
Those dreaded papers were in the room giving us directions on how to get the heck off of the ship.
I think I fell into some form of depression after putting my luggage out for the night and I really didn't want to face having to be booted from the ship the following morning.
One last check to make sure that Sakari had actual clothes to wear the following day (referring back to the time I actually packed ALL of her clothes and she was about to be naked the following day getting off the ship...yea that was a fun cruise).
I checked in with Kolin to make sure the fish and Loki were still alive.
Everyone had everything they needed for the following day and we headed to bed and set the alarm.