Around the World. Week 26 Wrap Up - The Finale

After 180 days at sea, we arrived back in Miami!

Bucket List Items completed on this Trip :

• Visit all 7 Continents

• Around the World Cruise

• Go to Boston for 4th of July (technically, we were there on 2nd July, but it counts since we saw the fireworks!)

• Go on a safari in Africa

• Experience the Midnight Sun

Schedule

• Day 176 / July 1: At Sea Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Day 177 / July 2: New York, New York Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• Day 178 / July 3: At Sea

• Day 179 / July 4: Charleston, South Carolina At Sea

• Day 180 / July 5: At Sea

• July 6 - Arrive and disembark in Miami, Florida

• What’s Next:

  
  

Day 176 / July 1: At Sea Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Happy Canada Day!

As you read in the Special Edition, we were in Halifax an extra night waiting on the propulsion system to be restored. The details of today are included in that post, so to summarize here:

Boat stuck; coffee shop; brewery; nap; bottle share; pizza; show; dance party.

Day 177 / July 2: New York, New York Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The Captain never told us, but we mostly assumed that even though we were back underway, it seemed that we were going slower than normal and therefore, didn’t get to Boston until 4pm. Since this was our first US port since Hawaii, we were all required to go through Customs and Immigration before getting off the ship, meaning even though we arrived at 4pm, it was going to take a while to process everyone; plus they dismissed by deck with Deck 7 (my deck) being last to be called. Thankfully, the process went fairly smoothly and I was off the ship by 6pm.

I had a mission for the evening - find 4th of July decorations because I was to be the Cruise Director for the Day on July 4th and wanted to match the level of swag that I had for when I was almost Cruise Director for the Day on July 1 (Canada Day).

As soon as I got off the ship, I headed straight for CVS, thinking that was my best option in the port area. Given that it was a BAZILLION DEGREES OUT, I still decided to power walk the mile.

Although, I got momentarily distracted by Harpoon Brewery. Per Google Maps, it said they would close at 9pm, but I was hoping that with the fireworks that night and cruise ship in port, maybe they would stay open later, so I stopped in to inquire. After confirming they had zero plans of staying open later, I continued my trek to CVS.

Once arrived, I was amiss when I realized they did not have any 4th of July decorations. I walked around and around to be very sure I didn’t walk by it, even asking a unhelpful clerk to confirm as much. Finally, I decided that I could not conjure up any banners, hats or headbands and headed to meet up with a group for dinner.

On my way to the restaurant, I continued to duck into any store that looked like it could possibly have 4th of July decor, but could not find a single item. It just seemed absurd because Boston was celebrating Harbor Fest that weekend, including kicking off with fireworks that night. But alas, there was none to be found.

Getting to the restaurant, Moxies, I gave up and went in to eat. We ordered way too much, likely because we have gotten used to the smaller appetizer sizes on the ship vs the large shareable versions at the restaurant. Following dinner, I convinced one other to join me for a beer at Harpoon just before they closed.

As we walked up to the bar, we quickly confirmed that we knew they were closing in 15 minutes, but we wanted to try one beer before heading over to the fireworks. While we were there, we got to watch a portion of a World Cup game. Not sure I had mentioned yet that on the ship, we were not able to see the World Cup or the Olympics earlier this year due to licensing limitations with the TV system.

From there, we headed back to the boardwalk area to hopefully get a decent view of the harbor for the fireworks. Surprisingly, there were not many people there and we were able to get a spot at the railing and have a clear view of the barge and all the little boats in the water. (Side note - our ship was in a different, larger port so these fireworks were not easily seen from the ship.)

After the fireworks, we made our way back to the ship and called it a night.

Day 178 / July 3: At Sea

Because of the extra port day in Halifax, the Country Fair event was moved to today. However, I already had signed up for Culinary Class, which was scheduled for the same time, meaning, I missed the very last Country Fair event and left the ship without ever winning a dang thing.

The Culinary Class focused on Chowder, where we made two varieties. Both included fish, muscles, shrimp, and scallops, but had different bases. While I very much enjoyed the outcome, I’m not sure I’d make either at home as there were quite a few fresh ingredients required. It was a bit bitter sweet finish to the cruise as I had taken many classes over the 6 months with mostly the same sous chefs. Even though I’ll be back on Vista soon, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take another class since the itineraries are so port heavy and the ones on sea days are already sold out. Time will tell at this point, but I’m hoping to at least take one more on the next cruise.

As normal after cooking class, I was ready for a nap, but instead I worked on finishing up the total Around the World Recap videos. I decided to finally purchase the Streaming Internet for the final 3 days of the trip in order to upload all the remaining Port videos and the total recap videos to YouTube, knowing that once I was off the ship, I would not take the time on my laptop as I traveled north to Michigan. (If you are reading this after I posted, you’ll already figure out that I’m almost a week behind in posting the weekly wrap up because I spend most of my days driving, shopping, or catching up with friends.)

For the afternoon, I went to the final Sing Out Loud Concert. These concerts are unique to the World Cruise because they are organized by the Around the World Hosts, Paul and Carolyn, who have background in musical theater. They meet with the Choir on each sea day to practice the songs and then, at the end of the cruise segment, perform the songs in the Vista lounge for the rest of the passengers. It’s always great to see friends on stage enjoying what they can do so well!

Also, because of the extra port day in Halifax, my Cruise Director for the Day was changed to July 4th, which meant that I got to record another Vista Today show. I had a lot of fun with the taping, although there is quite a bit to think about real time as we chatted about the events of the day. I’ve uploaded both episodes to my YouTube channel - Canada Day Episode - https://youtu.be/S3EtuozlMCI - 4th of July Episode - https://youtu.be/lDYy7KJ6xLo )

As the cruise is coming to an end, there was one more Production Show to go, which is always reserved for Our World, during which the singers and dancer highlight the songs and dances from the different regions around the World. Since I was running a bit behind, I ended up taking the very last front row seat available, which was right in the middle! I think this is the closest I had been to any of the performers for the full 6 months. It is a bit too close for photography as I couldn’t zoom out enough to get the full stage in view, but it was quite entertaining to seem to be in the performers faces every time they looked to the audience. Although, given the choice, I’d go back to the side wings instead.

Semi-thankfully, they did not end with the Crew Salute as I am not sure I was mentally ready for that yet, even though we would be disembarking in a few days.

Day 179 / July 4: Charleston, South Carolina At Sea

Hip Hip Hooray - I am Cruise Director for the Day! Also, referred to as Princess LeAnne!

The day started with the morning announcement around 9:40, which covered the activities going on around the ship up until noon. For this, I went to the Cruise Director’s office where the microphone / PA system is located. After a quick review of my notes, I was given the green light to go ahead with the official announcement, which was broadcasted to all Public Areas across the ship. There’s a chance Peter warned me about getting to close to the microphone, but I forgot about that and spoke loudly and clearly. Afterwards, I was told that it was great for most people to understand, but I may have damaged some hearing aids! (Note to self to back up for the evening announcement).

Next on the agenda was a tour of the Crew areas, including the Crew Mess ad Crew Bar. Both of these places are always talked about amongst the passengers, but rarely seen. Don’t worry, I took photos so you can see it too! However, during this tour, Peter received a call that he was required on the bridge to commence a Crew Drill, which was being required by an auditor.

Back in the main guest area, I decided it was time for coffee and to get ready for Trivia. Since I was supposed to be CD for the Day on Canada Day, I had already generated all of the questions with the themes of Canada Day, Independence Day, and British / Australian general knowledge to cover most of the demographics from the ship. Luckily, my new day was 4th of July, so the same trivia questions were applicable.

Getting Trivia started was a bit of a cluster because of the Crew Drill. In addition to Peter still being on the bridge, the AV guy who normally sets up the microphone system was also taking part, so the whole event was delayed until the drill was complete. But it did eventually get started! Apparently the first few questions were a bit difficult, but not all of them, so in the end, out of 16 possible points, I think the top team got 14 correct. However, there was an inside joke they played where when I asked if anyone got all 16 correct, they all cheered. Since I don’t typically go to Trivia, someone had to explain the joke to me after the fact since I completely didn’t understand what was going on.

Next up was an announcement from the Bridge! This was the one I was looking forward to most because I got to watch the Captain in action and follow his update with what’s next for activities. This microphone system was slightly different in that it was more of a hand-held CB radio instead of a microphone. I was also warned that if I let go of the button, we’d have to play the bing bong bells again to open the broadcast system again. Once the Captain completed his update, he carefully handed me the mic so I could keep the button held down. Then I got to make the updates. This time, the microphone wasn’t so sensitive, so everyone’s hearing was spared!

Next up was to finish the tour of the Crew Areas! Since it was lunch time, I got to see the Mess and Crew Bar in action as when we were there earlier, it was all closed up. It very much reminded me of a college cafeteria and lounge area. Not as exciting as I had hoped.

And finally, it was time for lunch! Afterwards, I was able to get a little quite time in to rest before the next round of activities.

With a pre-dinner show, the evening announcement took place around 5pm, but I needed to be there a bit earlier to chat with the entertainer about what he wanted for his introduction, which meant that I needed to be ready to get up on stage by about 4:45pm. Thankfully, he had his own introduction video and all I really needed to do was kick it off, but before then, I went back to the Cruise Director’s office for the formal broadcast. This time, I stood back from the microphone a bit so that people across the ocean didn’t hear me.

The time had come to perform the one activity for the day that I was most nervous about - being up on the big stage in the bright lights with everyone in the audience staring at me. In the prep time, Peter and I discussed if he should come up on stage with me and ultimately decided that we had a few funny lines that made sense for him to be there. He asked me what the best part of the day was so far and I responded with “You had to announce the Crew Drills and I got to announce Open Bar!”. As I type this out, it may not have been as funny as I thought it was, but the overall benefit was that I got through my bit of stage fright without anyone really noticing. After the show, I went up all by myself to send everyone off to dinner, so in the end, I did get my own time in the limelight! I should add that it is true what all the performers say, you really cannot see a dang thing when all the lights are in your eyes. It just looked like a bunch of black humps; I couldn’t even make out who was in the front row!

As soon as I was off the stage on Deck 5, the house band was kicking off the Deck Party on Pool Deck 12, so I needed to get upstairs quickly to introduce them. Typically after a show, the front elevators are packed, so I hustled to the back elevators. As I got out to the pool area, they were ready to get started, so I did the introduction and realized how hot it was outside! Since the next event was the Red White and Blue Dance party, which would be outside, I took a quick break to change into a lighter dress, still blue, obviously!

For the Red, White & Blue Dance Party, they also had special food stations set up at Grills and Aquamarine along with typical American foods in the Terrace Cafe. The other perk that I mentioned was they were offering Open Bar from 8-10pm on the Pool Deck. Since I was technically still Cruise Director for the Day, I didn’t quite get to take advantage of that until the later hour. But the party itself was great fun! We started off with the Jaxtones band, followed by the Production Band with the Singers, and then back to the Jaxtones for the remainder of the night. Surprisingly, the band played way past 11pm. How much later, I can’t tell you because I promptly went to sleep as I was exhausted from all the day’s events! I cannot imagine how Peter and the rest of the Entertainment Team keeps up the energy day after day after day after day…

And that is a wrap for my career as a Cruise Director!

One reflection that I find fairly comical is that when I first got on the ship, I kept telling myself that I was not in charge and I would not take over anything. For those that knew me before I got on the ship might be laughing at how absurd this thought may have been. Then slowly, over 6 months, I started teaching classes unofficially and got more involved with the Facebook community. At some point, one of my nicknames on board was Mayor, so that may tell you how unsuccessful my pledge was. Then, on the second to last day onboard, I ended up being the Cruise Director for the Day, Oh well.. it was fun!

Day 180 / July 5: At Sea

The very last day of the cruise means that I should probably pack. I had started a few days prior but that was really just to get things sorted to donate for the Auction. At this point, I just started sorting for what I needed for the trip home and all the rest just got stuffed into the other suitcases. (Post edit note - one of the things I packed was chocolate. I’m fairly certain that I might find a bit of a mess when I unpack…)

Next up was some pool time to get a bit more sun and warmth before the trek north. I realize that most road trip days means that I’m in the car during the nicer afternoon hours, so I was happy to relax by the pool before getting off the ship.

Pre-dinner show was a Comedy Show followed by the Crew Salute. I quickly followed those by darting to my room as an ocean’s amount of water decided to escape my body via my eyes. While it made me disappointed to miss the last night out on the ship, there was apparently no way to dam my tear ducts and therefore, I stayed put.

July 6 - Arrive and disembark in Miami, Florida

The time had finally come to leave the ship. My time was predicted to be around 8:45am, but still at 8am, we were waiting for the clearance from US Immigration to start disembarkation. Finally deciding to go get some coffee, I headed to Baristas. Once there, the flood gates opened once more, but eventually, a drought began and I was dry eyed at last!

Since we were required to be out of our rooms, I headed to the Grand Lounge to wait for updates. Eventually, the disembarkation process began, slowly at first and then once it seemed to be underway, it was stopped. Apparently, Immigration required the rest of the luggage to be sorted before we could continue again.

Hoping there was a snack and more coffee available, I went back up to Baristas. Unfortunately, the entire area was cleared with no plans to replenish, so we waited for our group to be called.  Finally, we were called to go collect our luggage.

Once in the terminal, it was very easy to get my bags and find my way to the bus, which was going to take us to the Miami Airport. While I didn’t have a flight, I was renting a car from that location to drive north. One bit I forgot was the Rental Car facility was a separate building from the main airport building. I asked the driver if he could stop at the facility and he said no. Therefore, I collected all my stuff and headed to figure out how to get to Enterprise. The driver had mentioned it was just inside to the right to get a shuttle, but I didn’t find the shuttle. Instead, I followed signs to get the people mover to the Rental Car facility, which happened to be a very long walk! Sadly, because I thought it was a short distance, I didn’t grab a cart for my luggage, so instead I pushed and pulled all my bags along the hallways and moving sidewalks to eventually get to the tram.

Finally arriving at the Rental Car Facility, I trudged to the check in desk. Once I had my rental papers, I was instructed to head to the other end of the facility and up the elevator. Again, with my bags (total count - 2 large suitcases, 1 carry-on sized, 1 rolling duffle bag, a large hiking backpack, and my purse), I built the momentum to move forward once again.

Sometime around 12:30p, I was finally settling into the car to head towards a friend’s place near Cape Canaveral.

Luck didn’t seem to be on my side today as the group I was meeting had a commitment at 5pm, so I was already cutting my visit short with the delayed disembarkation. To add to that, sever storms dotted the area. At one point, I realized lightning was striking immediately next to the highway and I pulled to the next rest area to wait it out.

Admitting that I wasn’t going to get to my friend’s in time, I sent the text to postpone until November and started looking for a place to stop for the night. Checking for the closest Dave & Busters, I headed towards Daytona Beach. Once there, I checked into the hotel and planned to go play for a bit, but the long travel day hit me quickly, resulting in an early bed time.

What’s Next:

Ironically, I’m writing this wrap up a week after disembarkation. But still wanting to document the finale, I finally sat at a coffee shop with the mission to finish this.

As you may have figured out, I’d still working my way to Michigan, currently sitting in North Carolina and planning to continue driving for another few days. Once in Michigan, I’ll stay with my parents and my sister for a bit.

From there, I’m flying back to Southampton to get back on the Vista, using the Future Cruise Credits that we received from the reroute around Africa. This cruise starts in Southampton and ends 25 days later in Southampton, visiting many ports in the England, Scotland, and Ireland. Yes, it’s a similar route that we just did, but this one includes a Solar Eclipse!

Once back in Southampton, I’ll spend a few days in Brighton, UK before flying to Barcelona to get on an NCL cruise that bounces along the Mediterranean to Athens, Greece. I’ll disembark there, spending a few days exploring before getting on another NCL cruise which will reverse course back to Venice, Italy. Once there, I’ll start the next phase of travel which is via train, navigating my way through inner Europe, including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, France, and eventually finding my way back to Southampton, where I will board a Princess cruise. This final segment will take me to the Baltic region before heading across the Atlantic Ocean to deposit me back in Florida in late November.

In terms of documenting future travels, I plan on starting the Weekly Wrap Ups back up once on the next Cruise but am taking a bit of a break as I am on the road trip portion. For the photography and videography, I'll definitely continue to post to Instagram (@thetravelingspreadsheet) and my new public Facebook page (LeAnne - The Traveling Spreadsheet), so if you want to keep up, feel free to follow there.

For my future career decisions, I'm still working on that, but have secured a Speaker role on a Royal Caribbean cruise next Spring. Thank you to all who encouraged and helped me with that effort!

Until we meet again,

LeAnne