Day 10 - Monday, September 28th
Final Sea Day...
My original plan for the cruise had been to look at the navigators and decide on what to do. If something didn't sound interesting, I probably wouldn't bother.
However, each night at dinner my tablemates would talk about the things they'd done that day, and they made some events/activities sound really interesting. That inspired me to try some things I wouldn't have otherwise.
One of those things was "Anyone Can Cook." Today was the final segment, and it was a competition between two chefs and I think the cruise director and her assistant. They had 3 audience members go up and judge the food that the two teams made. I was a little distracted because... THEY GAVE US CHOCOLATE CAKE! They also served us cheese on a cracker with a little strawberry. Nice. If I had known you got to eat delicious food, I'd have gone to more of these events!
At 12:15, I went up to Deck 9 to watch the "Boat Building Bash." Individuals and families had built boats out of whatever they could find aboard... I saw plastic bottles, pirate bandannas, food cartons, even some pieces of clothing. The competition involved seeing if the boats could float (most of them did) and I believe there were awards for most creative, etc.
I stayed just long enough to watch the boats all float. It was starting to get too warm for me up on deck and besides, the Gavin Lee Q&A was starting in Fathoms at 1pm...
In my last post I mentioned that I had neglected to go to Gavin Lee's show the night before (sad), but I still wanted to hear him talk. It was an enjoyable hour of him talking about theater and dancing. People in the audience then asked questions.
At 2:00 I went to the "Friendship Rocks" show in the WD Theater. I didn't know any kids on board, I just wanted to see what it was all about. It was cute. They brought up the kids from the clubs, and they did a couple of numbers. They showed a montage of kid photos from throughout the cruise. One thing that surprised me -- there were a LOT of kids there! Where did they all come from? It never felt like there were THAT many kids on board. (And that didn't even include the toddlers, tweens, or teens.)
At 2:45 I went to the "Art Of The Theme Show Tour." This was recommended by one of my tablemates, and it recurred throughout the cruise (although I think this was the last opportunity.) It began in Palo...
A crew member took our small group around the ship, pointing out different design elements on the walls, floors, ceilings, doors... everything. I really enjoyed the tour, and I'm actually glad I waited till the near-end of my cruise to take it, because it made me realize how many things I'd walked past 30-40 times over the past 10 days and never really noticed or thought about! Like, I'd been in Keys, but I hadn't noticed that the piano keys near the ceiling are spaced incorrectly. We also saw some Hidden Mickeys.
I learned that there used to be 2 staircases in the atrium on the Magic, but they removed one of them.
Later that afternoon, I ordered room service for the third (and final) time. This time I got pizza, and let me just say, room service pizza is GOOD! (I didn't care for the pizza they serve at Pinocchio's Pizzeria.) I also got the cheese/fruit tray, which I put in the fridge and snacked on later.
At 6:15 I went to the show in the WD Theater, which was the Crew Talent Show. It was funny and entertaining.
Afterwards I went up to the vacation planning desk and
put a deposit on a future cruise! Yes. It's crazy because the first few days of my cruise, when I was feeling so miserable, I thought, "Cruising isn't for me. Never again." And now here I was on Day 10 putting down a deposit! I hope to sail in 2017, either a Transatlantic again or maybe the Panama Canal.