Final Day at Sea:

This morning was spent packing--oh, woe! Why do dirty clothes take up so much more space than clean ones? After this sad task, we had lunch--lovely buffet. Then discovered a dessert buffet going on beside one of the pools. The ice sculpture was melting by the time we discovered this, but we still managed to put away cream puffs, tiramisu, mousse, cheese cake,some kind of tartlet-type things, and...Okay, I'll quit there.(The French ones are too hard to spell.)

We topped this off with cappucinos in an effort to use up our coffee credits. Afterwards, we waddled to the photo gallery and bought photos of ourselves taken about 20 pounds ago when we first embarked on this adventure.

After I finish this, we are going to go looking for the best "on ship" margarita, which we understand we have so far missed. (We will leave no bar unturned in this last quest for the utterly decadent life style.)

Tonight, if we are so inclined we can go play Jackpot Bingo (they gave away a free cruise last night, which we did not win, or you would have heard), gamble away our hard-earned money (which we have resisted thusfar), or tear up the dance floor (which might help shed a few pounds before we dock).

Tomorrow, we disembark at 7:00 am and take a bus from Vancouver, B.C. to Seattle airport (about 3.5 hours away.)

Hello, Pam, Tony and Gabriel! We get to see you tomorrow afternoon and evening!

And thus ends our great Alaskan adventure. We've had a wonderful time and met folks from all over the world while we are at it. The crew is truly international and members have impressed us with their friendly efficiency. Some are struggling to perfect their English and we've had a glimpse into their lives, as well. One of our waiters is from the Phillipines, works nine months out of the year on Princess cruise ships, (has been all over the world), has three little girls at home and gets to see them for the next three months before his next season begins. He's been doing this for eight years and sends all his money home to his family.

This ship, we have learned, has over 1,000 employees on board at any one moment, 210 of whom are cooks, preparing food around the clock--roughly 16,000 meals per day. Crew members do get occasional days off in port where they can make phone calls home, shop, etc. or even do some sightseeing. We've run into them on a couple of our tours. There's hardly a country in the world that is not represented on this ship among the crew members. We have really enjoyed meeting and talking to these folks, many of whom make serving on Princess ships a career choice. And they do a fantastic job, in our experience.

So, that's it til the photos are ready for posting.

Come back soon!

P.S. I'm absolutely certain that everyone else on this ship has gained more weight than we have--or so we keep telling ourselves. Some folks just come to eat, it seems. Nonetheless, I am going on a diet just as soon as we dock. That means I still have the rest of today and tonight to eat and drinjk!!!!!