The seas are not there to separate the continents. They are there to connect them.
Captain Costas Nestoroudis, on cruising
Got up this morning as usual at eight o’clock, and went up to the Ocean View for breakfast. Going out on deck afterwards, the weather was mild but slightly windy. We would have to do our packing today, as our cases had to be outside our stateroom door by 9.00pm, but in the meantime we determined to make the most of the Edge and enjoy our last day at sea. 🙁
Although it may have been our last day on the ship, it certainly wasn’t yet the end of the holiday. When we realised we still had quite a lot of onboard credit to use up, Trevor went along to the excursions desk and booked an all-day tour in Sydney tomorrow. It would fill in the day as well as take us to the airport once the tour was over.
After breakfast we dragged one of the suitcases out from under the bed, and started putting clothes and other stuff in; the more we did now, the less we had to do later on.
We then went along to the theatre for 10.15am, where Captain Costas was doing a fascinating presentation about ship navigation, followed by a Q and A session.
Unfortunately we missed the last five minutes as we had to hotfoot it along to the Normandie restaurant for a complimentary wine tasting session at 11 o’clock; this is one of the perks of the Select tier of the Captain’s Club, Celebrity Cruises’ loyalty programme. We tried a sparkling, a dry rosé, a crisp white and a full-bodied red. You didn’t get much, just a couple of mouthfuls of each.
This brought us nicely up to lunchtime, but we weren’t really hungry, although tasting the wines had whetted my appetite for a glass of chilled prosecco. We therefore went along to the Grand Plaza and enjoyed a glass each.
At one o’clock they were holding another Street Curling knockout in The Club, so we went along to have a go – these games are usually very good fun. Our names were drawn out of the hat in pairs; I found myself playing against Trevor, and he scored more points than I did, so he went through to the next round.
The game progressed, with Trevor being called up for his next round, which he won again. So the game continued, until Trevor found himself in the semi-final against an Aussie bloke called Scott, who had been on the winning team with Trevor in the Baggo competition earlier in the cruise. They sent their stones up the rink and the result was a draw, so they played a tie-breaker, which was also a draw. It needed another two tie-breakers before a winner was decided, and it ended up being Trevor – by one point. He was now through to the final. 🙂
Trevor scored a convincing win against his opponent and won a Celebrity Cruises baseball cap as well as the bragging rights. 🙂
We then returned to the Grand Plaza to make the most of the scrumptious piña coladas and the all-inclusive drinks package. While we were in there, enjoying the live music of the Essence Quartet, the music suddenly came to a halt as the Captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker, apologising for interrupting our day. He gave us the concerning news that a member of the crew had had a nasty accident (he didn’t specify what) and could any male passengers who carried a blood donor card make their way to guest services to give blood. Must have been pretty serious if the bloke needed a blood transfusion! As Trevor is a donor and had his card with him, he went along to see if he could help.
I am also a blood donor, and we were quite baffled that the request had specifically been for male donors. Surely blood is blood, no matter what the sex of the person it comes from? Maybe there were personal or religious reasons behind it.
After a while Trevor came back; he was the wrong blood group so they didn’t need his blood this time. Soon afterwards, the Captain’s voice came over the PA again to say that the crew member would need to go to hospital and, as a result, the Edge would be steaming to Sydney with all speed, and our new estimated time of arrival would be 1.30am rather than the 6.00am we were scheduled to arrive.
We remained in the Grand Plaza for a couple more drinks before returning to 3142 to do some more packing, putting most of our stuff away and only leaving out what we would need tonight. We then settled down for a half-hour power nap before getting ready for dinner. We pondered whether or not to go into the Tuscan Restaurant for our last dinner, but we hadn’t been terribly impressed with either the food or the service in the restaurant so we chose to go to the self-service instead.
I enjoyed a selection of everything. I had some beef stew, some chilli con carne and some pork fajitas – a proper mixture! It was washed down with cold water and chilled rosé wine before we left the Ocean View and made our way, in good time, to the theatre for tonight’s final show.
The production was called “Colours of Life” and featured the amazing 15-strong show cast of singers, dancers and aerialists. The sound and lighting effects were brilliant, as were the ever changing backdrops, and we really enjoyed the show immensely.
After the show, we returned to our cabin and did the last of our packing, also getting changed into what we would be travelling home in tomorrow. Then we locked and labelled our cases and placed them outside 3142. Looking along the corridor at all the luggage lined up for collection is one of the most depressing sights you can see on a cruise. 🙁
We then went to The Club, where Giuseppe and Dom were hosting the Yes/No game due to popular request. Several people volunteered, and had to sit in the chair, with the spotlight on them, and avoid saying “yes” or “no” for three minutes. Giuseppe and Dom then tried it on each other to everyone’s amusement; only Dom managed to last the duration. 🙂
We enjoyed a few drinks in the Club and listened to the music. At half past 10 there was a live-band karaoke on, and several singers got up and sang to the backing of the ship’s talented musicians. You could tell that some of them were either professional singers or had sang the song many times before. I didn’t get up to sing; it’s completely different doing karaoke with a live band than it is singing to the backing that you’re used to.
We returned to our cabin around 11.30pm. Our cases had already been taken away, and we had to be up very early in the morning, at 5.45am. This was because we had to meet for our excursion at seven o’clock, so we didn’t want to have a late night. In any case, the clocks would be going back another hour tonight to put us 11 hours ahead of the UK, and in line with Sydney time.
We settled down for our last night on board Celebrity Edge, and slept well.