Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 19 – Atlantic Crossing Day 6
December 13, 2009
Yesterday was the last sea day of our transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thus far it has been an absolutely fabulous cruise. The weather finally turned against us as it pretty much rained all day. The temperature remained warm and the seas remained calm at 2 – 3 foot sea state. Actually, I rather enjoyed the rain. It was rather calming and relaxing. It didnt really keep me from doing much and it was rather cool looking to look out from the boat and see only fog, rain or clouds.
Being the last sea day (and day of the cruise), it was also the last day for the hot glass show. Two more shows were on tap and Sean was certainly hopeful of winning one of the raffles for a piece of glass. He really wanted to win the clown one of the gaffers had created. He has really taken a liking to the hot glass show and wants to take a vacation to New York to see the Corning Museum of Glass. The show normally holds a raffle for glass made previously at the end of the show.
After the first show, Sean was still empty handed. But he was still hopeful as the clown was being raffled off after the second show. Fairly early in the second show, they did the raffle. Attendance was down slightly because of the rain (the little show area is outdoors). They normally draw a ticket and you get to pick one of the two or three pieces they were raffling off. So, with the clown on the line, you really needed to be first. When the ticket was drawn, Sean’s hopes were dashed as his ticket wasnt selected. The ticket was actually 2 away from my ticket. The person who one did indeed select the clown. Now, Sean was just hopeful of winning any piece of glass. They raffled off two more pieces but our numbers weren’t called. He was a bit disappointed but settle in to watch one last piece of glass get created.
Shortly after starting, the gaffer doing the play by play came over and asked Sean his name. She then handed him a very nice paperweight they had made between shows and said they wanted to give him something since he had attended almost all the shows. It was a very nice gesture and Sean was pretty happy. When they finished the piece they were working on, they normally would have done one more piece (three gaffers so three pieces in 2 hour show), but time was short with only 10 minutes left. So instead they decided to do one last raffle of three more pieces. The first number drawn was Sean’s. So he was able to select a very nice vase (estimated by the artist to be worth $500 – $700). Boy, was he excited now. So basically, we now had three handcrafted, wonderful pieces of hand blown glassware to get home to Arizona. Think we will fine a Fed Ex in Fort Lauderdale and ship them home.
Sean and I then went to the Martini Bar to celebrate our success while Suzanne began packing up our clothes. It was a very nice close to the cruise.
We then went to our last dinner of the cruise. I enjoyed one of my favorite meals of the cruise. It was a 2 inch thick veal chop. It was very, very good. Suzanne and Savannah enjoyed the beef wellington and Sean had chicken kiev. It was a wonderful last meal of the cruise. Near the end, the Cellar Master came over to our table with a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes and poured us each a glass. Oh my, what a great late harvest wine.
After dinner, we spent time visiting all the staff and friends we had met on the cruise and got them to sign our atlas. On every cruise we go on, we take an atlas and have the folks we meet sign their name by their hometown with their position and the cruise name. Its a great way to remember some of the past cruises. Also, since we normally cruise Celebrity, we run across many of the same staff and folks who know some of the previous staff we have had. Its always a great discussion starter.
After dinner and the signature hunt, we retired to the cabin for the night and went lights out about midnight since we had a 7:00 wake up call since we would be off the ship by 8:30 and our wonderful cruise would be over. We have already begun discussing the next one.
Packing Panic
November 18, 2009
Well I had two things that threw me into a “Packing Panic” as we prepare for our trip to Rome and our Transatlantic cruise.
First, I did a “try on and see what fits” with my son, and besides just a few recently purchased dress shirts and a few t-shirts, very little fit him. His pants were even a little small too. Worst of all his tuxedo pants were tight in the waist. I figured we could move the button over or put an elastic loop in the tux pants, but I knew I needed to get him a whole new wardrobe, and quick. I made my way to the local resale shop in the hopes of finding some thing nice for the cruise. I really lucked out as they had plenty of designer and name brand shirts for just $3. I also find 3 pairs of dress pants or docker type pants for him. Best of all of those good things, I found a pair of tuxedo pants. So for less than $65 I got him a whole new wardrobe for the cruise and he’s all set.
Then on Tuesday, I had my second “Packing Panic. I had done a test pack, where I fit everything into one suitcase. However, that was just clothes and shoes. On Tuesday I started putting my non-clothes items in the suit case like shampoo, toiletries, camera tripod, ect. Well, I just about filled the suit case with just that stuff. Panic panic panic. We are trying to pack light this time so that we are not hauling 8 fullsize suitcases through the streets of Rome! I guess I’ll just have to plan to not pack so much, but Steve is optimistic that we will be able to make it with the 5 cases and one small carry-on each. Of course he thinks that I should be able to lighten my case by leaving things like cosmetics, hair dryers, and curling irons behind, (who is he kidding?). Hopefully I will be able to figure out a compromise between what I want to bring and what I need to bring.
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