November 2 2012 At sea

Feeling Blue

Our last day at sea and the weather is reflecting the mood on board – or at least mine – dismal. The final Good Morning Westerdam featured Jason, Ron (the Hotel Director) and Captain PJ and as always it was informative and entertaining.

Following on straight afterwards were travel trivia, team trivia and then the talk regarding departure procedures tomorrow morning. All non US citizens will be going through Immigration on board, starting at 7am.

A few months ago I came across a tip in a travel journal: as it is such a letdown to arrive home after a holiday and have to face unpacking, it was advised to have a bottle of bubbly chilled in the fridge with a few little treats like cheese and crackers, pate, etc. I thought this was great advice as I hate unpacking after my return, but as I was feeling down about having to pack today I also thought I might put it into practice here and now, especially as I still had some wine in my cabin’s fridge. So, with some brie and crackers to accompany the wine I packed up all my belongings in preparation for tomorrow’s departure. I must admit that it made the packing slightly more bearable!



The end of the cruise and the aft of the Westerdam
 - I got this idea from someone else's photo



At dinner tonight I shared a table with 5 others – two Canadians and 3 Germans. Although the German ladies spoke English, they conversed in German and excluded the Canadians and myself throughout dinner, with one odd exception. Towards the end of the meal when the dessert menu was presented, one of the dishes had a German name and one woman asked the Canadian lady to pronounce it, obviously hoping she would make a hash of it. The Canadian woman could speak Dutch so had no problem with the pronunciation which caught the Germans by surprise so they resumed talking amongst themselves and ignored us. As I said, odd! Fortunately for me, the Canadian couple were amiable dinner companions.

After dinner I saw the last guest talent show and then went onto the Farewell Variety Show with Mike Robinson, a comedian, and Dale Kristien, a singer, both of whom had performed earlier this week.  

I haven’t seen all the evening entertainment on board as some didn’t appeal to me. Often I would sit up the back in case I wanted to leave early but except for one occasion I found myself enjoying the shows and staying until the end. Quite a few others obviously have had the same thoughts as me and at some shows, especially Darren Williams’ performances, the people who were standing at the back of the theatre ended up finding seats after the first few songs until in the end there was only standing room in the theatre.

My luggage is now out in the corridor which is lined with suitcases of all colours and sizes, and the cabin is looking a little bare. I’ve really enjoyed this cruise so am feeling sad about leaving the ship. At leave I have put an open deposit down for another longish cruise.