Sunday Morning-We get off the ship!
We all know what is coming. Even though this is our third
DCL cruise, it is still amazing to me how quickly and efficiently DCL gets everybody off of the ship.
No matter how you approach it, the last morning of a cruise is tough. You can't sleep in, and you have to get up, get ready, and get packed up and out of your cabin before breakfast.
The Welcome Home sheet tells you where and when to report for breakfast. If you have early seating, that means you might have to be at breakfast by 6:30. We had late seating, and were scheduled to be in Animator's Palate at 7:45. Early, but better than 6:30.
As previously reported, we were up past 1 am on Saturday night, so I set the alarm on my watch for 6:30. That would give me time to get up, get some coffee, and get everybody going in time to make it to breakfast.
Turns out, I didn't need to set my alarm. At about 5 am, our cabin started shaking like someone had taken a jackhammer to the ceiling. Our bed was shaking like one of those vibrating beds at a Holiday Inn. This went on for about 10 minutes. And then it stopped. We must have been pulling up to the dock. I was up top during our two previous dockings, so I don't know if that happened every time, but it sure shook like crazy on our last morning.
So, it was 5 am, and I was awake. I could go back to sleep for a while, or I could get up and see what was going on. What do you think I did? You got it! I can sleep when I get home.
So, I headed up to Deck 9 for some coffee. We were in Port Canaveral, and the sun wasn't even up yet:
There was a Carnival ship in port with us, and a
Royal Caribbean ship was heading toward us in the canal:
I got to watch the whole docking procedure. It is amazing that those huge ships can stop, and smoothly back up the way that they do:
I got to watch the sun rise:
Looks like it is going to be another perfect day. It is hard to believe that in a couple of hours we will be off the ship, and just a couple of hours after that, a whole new set of folks will be on board ready to start their cruise.
It is quite easy to see the Kennedy Space Center from Deck 10. This is the Vehicle Assembly Building off in the distance:
This is the building that you are looking at. It is a huge building, although it doesn't look it in this photo:
Wouldn't it be something to watch a shuttle launch from here?
After spending some time looking around, I go to head back down to the cabins. I notice that Beach Blanket Buffet is open. The Welcome Home sheet did not say anything about this, but it was open and serving a buffet breakfast. It opened at 6:30. This would be a great option for folks needing to get off the ship as early as possible, and there were a few people in there eating breakfast. I don't think I could ever get my gang up that early, but it probably would be a lot more peaceful option than dragging in to the dining rooms like everyone else.
So, my last tip:
Tip # 25. Beach Blanket Buffet is open for breakfast at 6:30 on the last morning. Consider eating there instead of your assigned dining room.
I head down to the cabins for the last time. I had taken our magnets off the night before, and walked right past our doors. See? Those magnets do come in handy.
We all get ready, and do our final packing. The empty rolling cooler is the perfect place for our wet suits.
We get to breakfast on time, and see our servers for the last time. This is hard. These servers are always stressed on the last morning. They have two breakfast seatings to handle, and a whole new group of cruisers will be boarding at noon. Our assistant server tells us that she will be working non-stop until 11 pm. Breakfast goes really fast. Before we know it, we are in the atrium, and we are heading off of the ship
Our last photo aboard the Wonder:
We head down to claim our bags, and go through customs. Crazy and fast. We always use a porter. Well worth the money. We are in the car and heading west by just a little past 8:30.
It was a great cruise. I was afraid that it would seem to short, but it didn't. It was just right. We got to do all of our favorite things to do on a DCL cruise. The nice thing about a three night cruise is that you don't have to hold back- we went full speed for three days! On a seven night cruise, we could not have kept that pace. We would have been exhausted.
One thing we really liked about the three day cruise is that despite the pace, we were not wiped out when we got home. Also, the sailing was so smooth on this cruise, that I never got that "still on the boat" sensation when back on land. Mrs. TCD was happy to not have the mountain of laundry that we had after our seven night cruise.
So, that's it.
I have a few random photos to post, and I will post the complete list of my tips, but that's my report.
I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If anyone has a question, please ask.
Until next time,
TCD
I am so excited for our Sept 4 day Wonder cruise. Would you get upset if our family cartwheels in after they call our name, lol. I think that would be hilarious!! 
What an AMAZING TR! 
