| Despite the number of times I'd visited the Park Cafe, I had yet to photograph it and as it was closed for a few hours, it seemed the best time before I forgot then tried to photograph another storm in the distance, managing to get one orange flash of lightning. I put my case out as I went to dinner. After the dessert, Emil and José amused us with magic tricks while neighbouring tables watched then I went to the acrobatics show which wasn't a patch on the things they'd been rehearsing all cruise. Basically, it was everything I saw that afternoon. We would gain another hour but with all these ships now appearing, it was a shame to go to bed. Norwegian Pearl was being caught up with while I got out of bed about 12.30am to see Oasis having not long passed my balcony outbound. A while later I spotted Allure of the Seas vaguely in the rain inbound and Norwegian Epic was even harder to spot heading away from us. Meanwhile, I decided to use the boxes of sweets to rest my camera on and found the bottom of two open with zilch inside. During the entire crossing, I had only moved the things from in front of the European sockets so I have no idea how long they were there, especially since cabins were meant to be stripped for refit and I was the first paying passenger afterwards so I better not be charged for something I didn't eat. I have used the photos so people can check if theirs are full or like this. |
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| At 3am I woke up after less than two hours sleep to see a blurry bright blob outside the balcony. It turned out to be Carnival Freedom going southbound. We had our pilot and were leading the NCLs. It was still flipping raining so I took a quick look around the new Centrum, also photographing that dry dock plaque, which rubbed in her deformity, which had gone up a couple of days before. Carnival Glory was in Gantry Dock to load a generator, Bimini Superfast was in berth H, while Norwegian Star and Norwegian Pearl followed and turned aft of us. I went on deck to find Regatta, only to find Glory on her way up to turn and that's when they decided to hose the decks. It was 5.30am, the Windjammer opened at 6am, joggers and walkers were out as well as those watching our now dry arrival. What idiot decided creating dangerous deep puddles on the deck when passengers were around was a great idea in this litigious society??? One of the crew following stupid orders blamed the Second Officer. It should have been done during the night when no one was around. After all, they didn't do it coming into St Maarten and it's NEVER done while docked at breakfast time. I nearly went over backwards while trying to photograph Disney Magic as she went up to turn after Norwegian Sun docked. The Disney also had her ducktail added in Cadiz. A quick breakfast then AIDAbella, which was the last to arrive. As I was preparing to leave the cabin, the minibar man turned up to check what had been consumed. Bit stupid when the bills were already distributed. |
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| I said goodbye to my cabin and Marlon and made my way to the theatre, bumping into Janet and Paul en route. I was Green 23 and they were 24, which would probably be called together as they were both airport runs. Ours was just before 8.10am and then we joined the long and winding queue to get off. One man was filming his entire disembarkation on his iPad!Baggage reclaim was chaotic and the worst I've ever had. There were three carousels, each with out seven or eight disembarkation numbers using them. I went to the middle one but none of the luggage was put on consecutively. After about fifty minutes, there was no sign of mine and I wasn't the only one still waiting. I asked the security guard if more were coming and she said that was all. So I went to the third and spotted my case minus the label! Quite a few looked like they were lucky to even still be on. Then it was immigration and that long queue. One of the staff walked by saying, "You should be smiling. You've just come off vacation!" Yeah well we all were until this farce. Afterwards we had to try and find the bus. You get swooped on as soon as you go anywhere near by those wanting you to take theirs. They're worse than hawkers in the Caribbean and Mexico. I eventually got there but the drivers's system had somehow buggered up due to too much luggage going to the same place, while a German was constantly hurling abuse at him as he tried to deal with his cases. The German's wife had tattooed eyebrows and lipstick and had botox or something. She looked strange. I sat next to Jill, who was going to the day room at the Sheraton as her flight was at 8pm but the Germans continued talking as our driver was trying to explain the procedures for each stop. Unlike 2011, when we were dropped not far from Concourse F (British Airways) and Delta a bit further down, this time we were on a lower road level, had to get the lift to the first floor then walk all the way from Concourse A. Check-in wasn't until 2.10pm so there were four hours to kill. Thankfully, I would be meeting a friend for lunch. Nicole Goldstein had been in Sydney the say I got off Radiance of the Seas so we and my friend Stella went to a pub and stayed in touch. It was great seeing her and lunch certainly helped pass the time. The rest was pretty smooth, apart from only one BA check-in person coming, eventually being joined by another. In front of me in the queue were four Geordies who had got off Norwegian Star and hated it, mainly because of not being able to get into the main dining room, thus comparing to P&O where it's apples and oranges. |
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| So I had come to the end of my association with my beautiful Vision after six cruises in almost seven years. When I had first waved her off in Los Angeles after that fantastic first time aboard in 2008, I had never dreamed I would see her again. Then Royal Caribbean announced she would leave LA and reposition to Santo Domingo for the summer of 2009, which was then changed to Europe, giving me more chances to continue my love affair with her. There were still many itineraries I hadn't done on her and now never would unless they changed their mind or returned her to proper itineraries, such as two week Caribbean or the Panama Canal. The way things stand, I'd only go back if I was in Florida anyway. She had spoiled me over the last few cruises. Each since 2011 were an extra three nights (four, seven ten and thirteen). It really was full circle now. I had began on the West Coast, ended on the East Coast, was in cabin 7152 and Norwegian Star was there on the first and last days. I had also been on her first European cruise since leaving LA on the 3rd May 2009 and now was on her last the 28th October 2013. It's strange how you can get attached to certain ships but not others. Vision is one of a handful I could live on and hate to leave. While I do like much of what they did during refit, I do miss those Centrum stairs as well as the deck 10 door forward but she's still the same Ducky I fell in love with back from the moment I boarded in 2008. Thanks for the wonderful memories and I hope there will be more in years to come. Until then, I'll miss you.
To see more pictures of the other ships, go to the Other Stalking index while those of my visit to Funchal can be found here. Photos of the Southampton arrivals and Vision sailing to refit can be found here while the review of the last cruise before refit is here. |
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