Day Seven - Sea Day

Sea day! Today was the only sea day on the cruise. This cruise route offered the sea day either at the beginning of the cruise or the end, depending on the dates. I will always pick the sea day at the end if I can. After 5 port days, it was time for a day of rest. Rest? Yeah, right...

I did actually sleep in a bit. I skipped breakfast in anticipation of a nice lunch later. First activity was to do some last minute shopping, I picked up a few t-shirts and purchased the obligatory "Inch of Gold." Well, silver in my case.

Then I headed down to the Centrum for the Officers Q & A Session. This is an opportunity to quiz the staff. Questions today ranged from, "Why are there no limes on the ship?" to "What kind of contracts do the different levels of crew have?". The session lasts about an hour and is very informative. My friends and I had a chance to chat with Staff Captain Kate McHue afterwards.

I then did a lap around the ship to scope out the deck chair situation. The pool area was packed, the solarium was packed, even the obscure parts where there are a few random deck chairs, everything was taken. Hmmmm, this could be a problem. But we'll worry about it later.

Time for lunch! The Jewel of the Seas has this hidden gem up on deck 12, the Seaview Cafe. It is above the Windjammer and I am pretty sure a lot of people don't know about it. It is never crowded. It is a small cafe where you can order a nice variety of fresh-made food. There is no surcharge for this. It is just a nice place to get out of the sun and have some great food.

After lunch I watched the "Sexiest Man Contest" on the pool deck.

At 1:30 pm it was time for the "Make a Wish Walk at Sea." For $10 you can purchase a t-shirt and the proceeds are donated to the Make a Wish Foundation. It is followed by a walk up on the jogging path. The officers of the ship were available to sign the shirts afterwards. A nice souvenir of the trip.

Captain Gustavo, Staff Captain McHue and Chief Engineer Petrovic signing t-shirts

T-shirt signed by all the officers

It was finally time for me to catch some rays. I will note, I am a bit of a chair hopper. I was able to find a single chair up on deck thirteen, full sun. It was very hot. I lasted there about thirty minutes. Then I meandered down to the solarium where I found another single chair. I spent most of my time here in the pool. Next I wandered out to the pool area, where at 4:00 pm, there were plenty of chairs available. After spending time in the pool, I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner and sadly, pack up my suitcase.

Solarium pool

Our last dinner was in the main dining room, again with excellent service. We lingered in there so long we missed the Farewell Show in the Coral Theater. There weren't too many activities going on this last night. We ended up where we started on the first day, in the Safari Lounge for Karaoke. There were a few more people than the first night, but it was still pretty poorly attended. Maybe the karaoke craze has run its course.

Time for bed, tomorrow we head home.