Day is done...gone the sun

Today was not such a great day. The weather was beautiful, and there were plenty of fun things to do, but it's hard to enjoy them when the "real world" is looming. The best part about today was that we didn't have to be in a hurry. We slept a little later (like 8:30) and had a leisurely breakfast. We had planned to spend the day at the pool, but there were just other things we wanted to do.

At 11am, our cruise director hosted a meeting about the debarkation process and getting through customs. We finished up our last minute trips to the gift shop, went to the internet cafe to print our boarding passes and spent some time in the photo gallery. For those of you who haven't cruised before, there are umpteen opportunities to get your photo taken around this place. Every night before dinner, the photographers are set up in the lobby area with 5 or 6 different background options. Every night you can get your picture taken (no sitting fee and no obligation to buy!) then the next day the pictures are on display. They also take your picture at the dinner table, on the water slide, and coming out of the bathroom (j/k) etc. As you get off the ship at every port, there are also 5-6 opportunities for pictures. There is almost always someone in native dress (native warrior, native dancer, pirate) and there's always ship's wheel or life preserver/lifesaver ring with the name of the port. In hindsight, I wish I had taken every opportunity to have these pictures taken. At the time, you're just ready to get off the ship and get on with your day, but after seeing the pictures and the cool borders they put on them, I wish I'd done it. Of course, they are expensive if you decide to buy them, but some of them were really nice. Usually, Becky and I would get separated, so we weren't in the pictures together, so (note to self) next time I will plan better. We did end up purchasing two of the photos of us in the dining room.




We also went a class that taught us how to make the towel animals. It was always such a treat to see which animal we would find in our room in the evening, and not everyone would have the same animal each night. We would compare notes with the girls at dinner each night. I made a seal and an elephant in the class. They aren't as good as Sulwayan's (our steward), but they look pretty good for a first-timer.


Becky with Sulwayan, our cabin steward.


My towel seal

My towel elephant

Once we were convinced that we'd purchased everything on the ship, we went back to our cabin to pack. It's been like fitting a puzzle together trying to get all of our souvenirs packed. Becky and I both are having to check an extra bag to get everything home. It's sheer craziness! We have both packed and repacked to get the right weight distribution for our bags. Let's hope we're not too far off when we get to the airport tomorrow.

In the late afternoon, Becky took her last official vacation nap while I went on a tour of the galley. Here are a few statistics about the dining operations.


- Yousef, the Maitre d, is in charge of all food services. This includes Truffles dining room, the Lido Deck (Unicorn Cafe, etc.), special events such as weddings and catered parties, room service, crew mess, staff dining room, petty officer dining room, officer dining room, and captain's dining room.

- Truffles Dining room seats 1,316 (812 on the lower level and 504 on the upper level). There are two dining seatings each night.

- The kitchen is located on the deck below. The staff use escalators to bring the food up as it is ordered.

- There are almost 450 crew members in the food and beverage department. (about 950 total crew on the ship).

- There are more that 40 nationalities represented among the crew.

- The kitchen has one main chef and 120 sous chefs.

- All food supplies are loaded at the beginning of each week at the home port (in this case, Tampa). The supplies must be approved by the USDA.

- Food that is not eaten is put in a chopping machine and cut into very, very small pieces. This "mulch" is then discharged into the ocean when we are more than 12 miles for the coast. (Think fish food)


Here is the supply order for the week:

Prime rib - 2,200 lbs.
Chicken - 4,500 lbs.
Steaks - 3,500
Shrimp - 15,000 lbs.
Lobster tail - 1,000 lbs.
Veal - 400 lbs.
Hamburgers - 5,000
Hot dogs - 2,200
Baby back ribs - 13,000 lbs.
Ham - 600 lbs.
Salmon - 900 lbs.
Pasta - 1,000 lbs.
Pizza - 7,000
Tomatoes - 3,000 lbs.
Potatoes - 6,700 lbs.
Banana - 4,500
Apples - 2,500
Melon - 1,000
Pineapples - 1,000
Flour - 6,000 lbs.
Bacon - 36,000 slices
Danish - 20,000
Milk - 900 gallons
Coffee - 1,000 lbs.
Eggs - 50,000

On a daily basis, the chef's team makes between 10,000-12,000 meals per day (guests and crew) Amazing.

Here are a few photos I took on the tour.


Fruit plates ready for dinner


Watermelon carving

Deserts stacked and ready

Later in the evening, we headed downstairs tonight for our last dinner here. The food was good, as always. There is always such a variety. In honor of Halloween, they offered a couple of themed desserts. You could choose between pumpkin cheesecake and dark chocolate cake (this is what was hiding undercover in the picture above).

Vernon and Gusti were very sweet. Vernon was telling us that saying goodbye to passengers is hard on them, too, because they just get a chance to know you when it's time to say goodbye. It's hard to believe that there will be another 2,000 people here tomorrow. Becky and I would love to be stow-aways.

Here's our final sunset and of course, our final towel animal.