It's so hard to say goodbye

I really hate the last full day of a cruise. On one hand, you want to make the most of every minute and do everything you didn't get a chance to do. On the other hand, you know in the back of your mind that you need to get your stuff organized and packed, so there is a dark cloud hanging over the day.

Today started with our final breakfast in the Scarlet dining room. Our new friend, Leslie, joined us. We then spent some time in the photo gallery ordering pictures from the week. We also worked on making a photo book of "The Adventures of Flat Deana." Several weeks ago, Bib had come up with the idea of taking the photos. We had planned to find a Wal-Mart or CVS after we debarked to put the book together as a birthday present for Deana. We had no idea that the Dream would offer the service onboard!
She's laughing...she's crying...I think she liked it.

The afternoon went by in a blur. We had lunch in the Scarlet today, too. Since this was a Sea Day, we knew the Lido would be packed, so we took one final opportunity to have our meals served to us. It was wonderful...so wonderful, in fact, that we skipped the chocolate buffet on the Lido deck.

This cruise recap would not be complete without mentioning Bruce and Bea. They were onboard celebration 62 years of marriage. They were so adorable, and if anyone made the most of this cruise, it was them. They participated in a number of activities...and they loved to dance. It was not unusal to run into them on Ocean Plaza dancing to the Blackjack band. Bruce had some moves!

Here, they are participating in "The Game of Love." The three couples in the picture have been married 62 years, 25 years, and 1 week, repectively. Much like the format of "The Newlywed Game", Butch (our cruise director) would ask the couples questions, and they had to match answers. One of the questions was a fill-in-the-blank. "You haven't seen ugly until you've seen my wife's _____." Bea answered that Bruce better have said nothing. Bruce's answer? "You haven't seen ugly until you've seen my wife's sister, Janice." That's the most perfect answer ever.

When we got to dinner tonight, there was a lovely arrangement of paper flowers as our centerpiece. Our sweetheart, Jason, had made a flower for each of us. Aren't they pretty! Not only were they pretty, but they smelled good, too.


He had sprayed the flowers with his cologne. When we asked him about it, he told us it was called Dark Chocolate.

{Let me fast forward a couple of days. When we got home Sunday afternoon, my mom and I were talking about Jason to my brother and his family. Mom told them about these flowers and that he had sprayed them with "Dark Chocolate." My 14-year old nephew, Jon, piped up and said "Hey...I wear that...it's Axe." HA! He ran upstairs to get the can, and mom and I proceeded to sniff it the rest of the afternoon, while my brother sat and rolled his eyes. In the meantime, Kelley was telling us about the commercial for this product that had a chocolate man that gets torn apart. Check it out. My favorite part is when the girl on the bus takes a bite out of his biscuit.



Everyone has memories that are brought about by scents. We had so many laughs with Jason that the smell of this Axe body spray will forever be ingrained in my mind as the signature scent for this cruise. }

Back to dinner....tonight we celebrated Pat and Sarah's birthday. They showed up for dinner in style. Dinner took a sad turn at the end as we realized it was time to start saying goodbye to Tsvetan, Iputu, and Carolina. Tender-hearted Pam started crying.

Tonight was the Legends show in the Encore theather. This show is made up of fellow cruisers who have been participating in the karaoke shows throughout the week. They perform as their favorite superstar. Here's Butch as Dolly...

Here are two of the entertainment staff as Sonny and Cher.

And for one last time (this trip), we hung out at Ocean Plaza.

Jason hijacked the camera and took this picture of Tami, Linda, Agnes, Louise, Bib, Louise.

Jason and Mom.

It was so hard to say goodbye to our African Violet, Jason. We all wanted to take him home with us. If he ever leaves his job with Carnival, we've all agreed to find him a job in WV. We've tried our best to teach him "hillbilly" this week. Here are a few of the phrases he's tried to master.

"Kiss my crack, and don't come back"

"Don't let the door hit ya' where the good Lord split ya."

"Pert near, but not plumb"

"Up a crick" and "down the holler"

In return, he taught us a few dances. We'll never forget you, Jason! You spoiled us all week.