Steve and Cathy's Blog

Well, this is Day 180 according to today’s Currents.  Steve gets up at the regular 5:45 and Jay brings coffee, milk and croissant.

He heads for the Fitness Center around 6:30 and spends 30 minutes on the treadmill.  This is been a really beneficial exercise plan and he promises himself he will continue when we get back home.  Hmmm.  We shall see.

We have breakfast in the Grand Dining Room one more time.  We will certainly miss being served three five-star meals a day, so we take full advantage of it on our last full day in Insignia.

After returning from breakfast to our stateroom, we first say good-bye to Jega, our steward.  We will miss not only his work but also his wit. He is a fun guy with a great sense of humor.

We notice that Carnival Miracle, the ship we shared George Town harbor with yesterday, is sailing with us.  I look up its destination and it is Tampa, so at some point we will separate, but it is fun to see.

At 11:30, Oceania Cruises presents one last Around the World event, a thank you Mimosa and Champagne get-together in the Insignia lounge.  Steve goes around and takes photos of some of the people we have made friends with these past six months, and both of us say good-bye to several others. Then a quick presentation begins. First up is one of the guests, L J Weiner does some standup comedy about the voyage. Some very amusing stuff.  Well done, L J.

Then Captain Maroje Brajcic, General Manager Damien Lacroix and Cruise Director Ray Carr all speak.

It is all very upbeat. Ray says that there are a couple of things that we all should remember.  First of all, that we should look at this 180-day adventure as an accomplishment, something that very few people have done.  Cathy and I aren’t so sure it should be labeled an accomplishment, but there is no getting around the fact that it was a significant undertaking.

The other remark Ray makes is this: “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.”  We both heartily endorse that sentiment.

The rest of the day consists of packing and preparing to leave.  We are one of the fortunate ones that only have one suitcase to pack because we went through the packing process prior to Los Angeles where we shipped four full and heavy suitcases home, while most of the ATW people are packing many more pieces of luggage.  It only takes us an hour.

At 4:00pm, we go up and enjoy our last “cigar time” so we can say good-bye to a few of the stalwarts. We don’t stay long.

At 6:30pm, we join Brian and Barbara in the Polo Grill for our last dinner.

Here we are waiting in the library for Polo Grill to open

By mutual agreement, we and they wanted to spend the last dinner with just the four of us.  We have become very good friends and look forward to many years of sharing experiences and time together, despite the fact that we live on opposite sides of the country.  Brian has his signature dish: a 32-ounce steak.

BEFORE

AFTER

There really aren’t very many people that could handle such a slab of meat, but Brian makes quick work of it.  Cathy and I have our usual 7-ounce filet mignon steaks with béarnaise sauce, Barbara’s selection was grilled pork chop.  And here are two photos of the fabulous desserts.  Cathy’s is on the left.  It is a great meal with great friends.

Being in Polo Grill also gives us a chance to say good-bye to one of our favorite staff members, Militca (pronounced mil eet’ sa) from Serbia (her photo is at the beginning of this post).  During the past six months, we have seen her grow into a very polished and friendly professional.  Another person with a beautiful smile who we shall miss.

Day number 180 ends as all the previous ones did.  Cathy and Steve hit the sack.  We will be up early, all kinds of anxious to get the trip home underway.  We have agreed to meet the O’Dells at the Grand Dining Room for breakfast at 7:30am.  Wow, it’s hard to believe our ATW trip is almost over.