So here we were – the last day of the cruise. How the last fortnight had flown. 🙁
Got up at 8.00am and went up to the View self-service to enjoy a tasty full English breakfast. Going out onto the rear decks afterwards, we saw that the Borealis was steaming along at a good old pace, and the weather was decidedly colder and windier as we headed north.
We looked at the Daily Times to see what we fancied doing today, and saw that it was our last chance to participate in the Carpet Bowls at 10.30am. In the meantime, Trevor dragged one of the suitcases out from under the bed and we started the depressing task of starting to pack, placing dirty laundry into bags and then into the case and packing away anything we wouldn’t be using/wearing again this cruise. We’d fill the other case later on.
At half past ten we made our way to the Oceans Bar for the carpet bowls. All the regulars were there (it certainly seems popular!) but Trevor and I were knocked out in the first round, which we weren’t really bothered about because we wanted to be at the Neptune Lounge for 11.00am for “An Audience with the Captain”, where cruise director Simon was doing a Q and A session with Captain Rommel Pineda, and audience members had the chance to ask questions. It was all very interesting.
Afterwards, we went off to the shops to buy some small gifts to take home; we ended up with three tins of ‘Borealis’ shortbread, before returning to the View for some lunch, which I washed down with a chilled glass of cava. I do like the cava on Fred ships; I tend to drink cava or prosecco anyway at home (and champagne when I can afford it or when there’s an excuse to celebrate!) so it’s good that it’s included in the drinks package. In any case, even before Fred Olsen started doing all-inclusive drinks, they gave away a fair amount of free cava anyway. 😊
We then spent the rest of the afternoon just pottering about, enjoying a post-luncheon 30 minute power nap before chucking a few more things into the suitcase.
On a cruise ship you can do as much or as little as you want, and even just sitting around with a good book or looking out of the window or surfing the internet with a sea view is a pleasant way to pass the time. 😊
At three o’clock we went along to the Neptune Lounge where the “Singing for Fun” passenger choir were putting on a performance of the songs they’d been learning, In addition, there had been ukelele lessons for the duration of the cruise, so the old and new ukelele players performed for us as well. They did really well!
That’s something else we love about cruising – you can learn something completely new. Singing, dancing, painting, playing a musical instrument, handicrafts – you can learn all of these things from scratch. Every day’s a school day. 😊
After the concert we went into the Morning Light to take part in the afternoon trivia, which we didn’t win. We enjoyed the cocktail of the day and another drink each while we were in there, before returning to 6227 to do some more packing and start getting ready for dinner at 6.15pm.
At 5.20pm the guy arrived with the canapés which whet our appetites nicely before our dinner. We looked around our pleasant junior suite with its big aft balcony and wondered who would be enjoying the canapés in here tomorrow night. ☹
Getting smartly dressed, I decided to wear my patriotic boots as today is King Charles’ 75th birthday. As ever, those who made a point of coming to look at my footwear thought they were amazing, and likewise those who’d never seen my shoes before. I could barely go a few steps without someone stopping me to have a closer look. 😊
In the Borealis Restaurant we made our way to table #222 for the final time. We enjoyed an excellent dinner as ever, along with good conversation; however, June was still not well so she didn’t put in an appearance.
The show tonight in the Neptune lounge featured the Borealis Theatre Company and their version of “Legends of Las Vegas”. The set on the stage was very good, as was the music, singing and dancing. I must say that we really enjoyed all the entertainment on this cruise; we never saw a duff show at all.
Then it was along to the Morning Light pub one more time to try our luck in the quiz. We changed our mind about one or two of the answers which cost us a place in the tie-breaker! Never mind, we’d had lots of fun doing the quizzes and we would be back on the Borealis in January to try our hand at them again, with a new team. 😊
We finished the evening up in the Observatory, where one of the lead singers, Tom McGarrity, was singing a selection of floor-fillers. What we like about Fred ships (we like a lot of things about Fred ships!!) is the fact that your cases don’t have to be outside your cabin until 2.00am, unlike Cunard or P&O where you have to place your luggage in the corridor at the ridiculously-early time of 10.00pm. This means that you don’t have to interrupt your evening of entertainment by going back to your cabin early and changing into what you’re going to be travelling home in – you can wait until you’re ready to retire for the evening and put your cases out last thing.
It was therefore after midnight when we left the Observatory and returned to 6227 to finish off our packing. Then we placed the cases outside the cabin door and had a look outside on the balcony, where we could tell we were getting close to Blightly as it was blustery and fairly cold.
Then we settled down for our final night in 6227 and slept soundly. When the alarm went off at 06.45 the next morning, we were already docked back in Liverpool. Another really enjoyable cruise had come to an end, but we only had another 53 days to go until our next one! 😊
