June 9 June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18	Sunday June 17, 2007 Last night started well. Beautiful sunset. But then the rollers started. The ship, despite stabilizers, was rolling from side to side sufficiently that the bathroom door swung back and forth and back and forth and... Mom and I both went to bed early, deciding it would be easier to ride out the roll laying down than standing or sitting up. I think it rocked me to sleep.... I woke up about 2:30 to find that it really did get dark in the middle of the night - we're far enough south for that. I went out on the balcony for a few seconds and saw that the ship was lit up. Looking up, however, I could actually see stars. I think this was the first night to actually get that dark since we flew north... After breakfast and email, I went on to the Wheelhouse Lounge, where they were meeting for the "On Deck for the Cure", a fund raiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research. I had registered for it earlier. For a donation, you got a ball cap (left) and participated in the non-competitive 5K walk around the deck. It took almost an hour and involved 8.71 times around the deck. It was a little chilly, but I made it and it was fun. The ship provided water, juice, and sliced fruit at the end of the walk. After the walk, I went back to the room to start working on the disembarkation paperwork... Forms to board the ship and more forms to disembark! The world will drown in paper!!! Actually, it wasn't too bad. There's a form for each of us to fill out for Canadian passport control, two surveys, and two "You made a difference" forms for making nice comments about the staff. I filled in the surveys from my point of view and, while Mom agreed with me on almost everything, her demographics (how many cruises have you taken, where would you like to go next, etc) were different from mine, so I picked up a second copy for her to fill in. Our "You made a difference" forms went to our room steward (Chris) and our two servers (Nelson and Tatiana). Chris was always there when we needed him, even the couple of times that we unknowingly paged him during his afternoon break, always cheerful, and bribed us with chocolates.... Each night, there would be more little chocolates on the pillows than there were the night before. I think Mom wound up taking most of the last batch home with her... We tried, but just couldn't eat them all! And our servers were great - always cheerful and pleasant, despite the "one man who insisted on making an ass of himself at our table" - that's just what I put in the comment section. I found out later that they had both talked with J and C (after J & C left our table), so that Nelson and Tatiana knew why J&C switched tables. C told me that Nelson told her that there's just no pleasing some people. So true. Unfortunately. So the afternoon passed pleasantly. Mom and I went to afternoon tea on this day. The tea was supposed to honor the Red Hat Ladies. Mom's a card carrying member, so she put on her purple shirt with Red Hat insignia all over it and we went to tea. There were a couple of others who were Red Hat members, but most were just there for the tea. Good tea! And little sandwiches. Then they brought out the good stuff... Cookies, scones (with clotted cream and raspberry jam - YUM), and desserts. Tea was from 3:30 to 4:30 and dinner was at 5:45, so we tried to resist taking one of everything.... A little after four, we excused ourselves and went up two decks to the Wheelhouse Bar to meet M and G for drinks. This was at our invitation - Mom planned to share her bottle of champagne with them. She had forgotten her voucher for the champagne (a gift from her travel agent) so I went back to the room to get it. I couldn't find it. I found the voucher for the on-board credit, but not the champagne bottle. When I returned empty handed, Mom decided she must have thrown the wrong one away. The on-board credit had already been recorded, so she didn't need that voucher any more. So, we had other drinks - wine and a margarita. It was a pleasant afternoon. We soon returned to the cabin to change for dinner and found some more paperwork had arrived in the meantime. My onboard check-in for the airlines had been approved, but Mom's was denied. That left us leaving the ship on different buses for the airport, which was unacceptable. A quick call to the purser's desk, and a nice long chat with Florin, left the situation unchanged, but he had some red tags there at the purser's desk and details on how Mom and I could travel together the next day. Please stop by to pick them up. So, we left for dinner. We were looking forward to a dinner for just the two of us - I had encountered M and K earlier and they had informed me that they would be eating at the buffet that evening so that they could catch the 7:00 show. M muttered something about the slow service... So, Mom went on into the dining room and I joined the short queue at the purser's desk. There I got the red luggage tags for Mom's suitcase and walker and got a credit to her account for the unused champagne voucher. Florian muttered something about it being for Korbel Brut and that that wasn't a champagne. Well, maybe not, technically, but it is a sparkling wine. Same difference. So, feeling proud of myself for getting all that taken care of, I charged into the dining room. Hmmmm. The tables in our section sure look different. Wait a minute! I'm in the Bordeaux Dining Room (deck 5), not the Provence (deck 6). Red faced, I reversed my course, went up one level, and found the correct table. And found M and K sitting there with Mom. They had changed their minds. I came close to slugging M before dinner was finished. His complaints and sarcasm were really getting to me. I had to keep reminding myself that this is the last time I'd ever have to look at either of them, which enabled me to remain civil for the remainder of dinner. And it was another good dinner. I had the scallops, which were fixed in an Italian manner, with tomatoes, onions, and sweet pepper. Absolutely delicious! We left tips for Nelson and Tatiana on the table when we finished. We were the only ones at our table to do so. And I took a moment with each of them to tell them how much we appreciated their service and their smiles. So, Mom got her Ferrari back out. Nelson had christened her walker a Ferrari at the end of our first dinner at their table. The table just below us had four Japanese tourists at it and Mom had had breakfast with one of the couples one morning, so they knew about the Ferrari also. As we passed, they admonished her not to speed... About half an hour later, when Mom was stopped in a corridor talking with someone else, the Japanese couples passed again and asked if she had run out of fuel. Just about everyone who talked with Mom knew about her Ferrari . On the way back to the room, we stopped to see if the pictures from the dining table or from the Captain's reception were posted yet. The dining room photos were terrible, as was the one they took at the end of the On Deck for the Cure walk, but the Captain's reception ones weren't too bad. We each bought one of those, then chatted our way back to the elevators. Then the serious packing started. I had emptied everything from the drawers and closet before dinner and had piles of stuff all over my bed. Fortunately, Chris knew better than to move any of it , so only Mom's bed was turned down. We also got a letter from the cruise line telling us exactly what Florian had outlined on how to stay together even though only one of us had the onboard check-in. And it agreed with what Florian had told us. So, we finished packing and folded up the walker. Tagged everything and got it set outside of our door. Mom was concerned about getting out the door later (she was going to make one last run by the casino), so we made sure she could get in and out and still reach the key slot. Not a problem. In fact, it wound up being no problem at all. By the time she was ready to leave for the casino, our bags had already disappeared! So she headed off to the casino (using her cane) and I went to bed to read for a while. She returned earlier than I expected - she had won $57 and decided to quit! Next...