saturday. Day 7. the last piece of cake.

We woke up at 922.

Everyone else was still sleeping so we went for breakfast in the dining room, then went to the Q and A in the Aqua Theater, where Sheldon and the boys met us.  Steph and I asked a couple questions.  It was interesting and funny, and when it ended we went to talk to the cruise director.  He remembered us from last night and asked how our breakfast was.  We talked to him a bit about the difference between being on this massive ship with 6000 people as opposed to a smaller ship with 2000 or 3000 people which is a much more personal experience.  The Feits had him on a different boat a couple years ago, and he said he's going back to that boat for December and January.

After, we picked up our art from the gallery, all nicely wrapped with tape and bubble wrap and and cardboard, and I still have no idea how I'm getting it home.  I hope it fits in the overhead compartment...

At noon there was a show in the Aqua Theater featuring dancing and diving and characters from the animated movie Madagascar.  Then Steph went to a Flash Mob dance class in the promenade and I met everyone for a bite at Windjammer.  We went to the final round of trivia and found someone to write for us, but we didn't win the round and didn't place in the overall competition.  I went to the pool with Sheldon and Avery while Steph and Lisa took a cupcake decorating class at The Cupcake Cupboard in the promenade.  After it was over, they met us, and Steph and I spent a while swimming in the pool and the whirlpool that hangs over the side of the ship.  Then we got (free) frozen yogurt cones at the pool, laid there, I fell asleep, and left at 430.  Steph and I went for pizza at Sorrentos.  We just had the plain slices.  They were good.  Then we went to the room to pack as luggage had to be out in the hallway to be taken away by 11pm.  After we packed we changed for dinner.  At 545 we all went downstairs, and at 555 there was a flash mob, which Steph danced in.  (If you don't know what a flash mob it, look it up.  Its a dancing thing where people come together to do a pre-rehearsed dance at a set time, but to people who don't know what's going on its just like a huge group of people broke out and started doing a dance routing.)  It was cool, and Steph was really good.  Unfortunately it was shabbos so we couldn't film it.  After, Lisa and Sheldon went back to the room to finish getting ready for dinner, while me, Steph and Avery rode the carousel on the boardwalk.  Its the only carousel at sea, the horses are all hand carved wood, and the whole thing is really special because they had to build it so the carousel would remain stable while the ship rocks.  That was really fun, as I really can't remember the last time I rode a carousel.  After, we went for our final dinner in the dining room, where the waiters sung and danced around the dining room, doing their goodbye show.  After we finished packing we bought a couple of photos from the trip.  The last thing we had to do that was exclusive and special to this ship was ride the Rising Tide Bar.  The bar, which cost 4 million dollars to build, is basically a bar that's an elevator that goes up and down between the Royal Promenade on deck 5 and Central Park on deck 8.  We all boarded the bar in the park, and got seats.  Steph and I shared a White Russian, and after a few minutes the bar started to go down.  The trip took about 2 minutes, as its a pretty big bar and moves pretty slow.  Then we got off and went up to our rooms to put out our bags.  We said goodnight to Lisa and Sheldon and went off on our own.

We went all the way top the top of the ship and explored the places we hadn't seen yet, like the Pinnacle Chapel on deck 17 where we found a stack of siddurs, the suite-guest only lounging area near the pool (where the chairs had cushions), and the sun deck, the farthest most forward point guests could get to outside at the front of the ship.  It was extremely windy, but cool to see.  Then we went back to the promenade and picked up our last piece of coffee cake, and a cup of tea from the Promenade Cafe, and took it up to our room.

We spent a few minutes sitting out on the balcony, watching the waves and all the stars in the sky.I had my tea and cake, and Steph ate her cupcake which she had decorated to look like a cheeseburger. Then we went to sleep.