One Last Day at Sea

Sunday, 19 December

The noon announcement had the Grand Princess 300 nautical miles (673 miles/1083 km) from Fort Lauderdale. That means we’ve covered a little more than half the distance from Grand Turk to our debarkation port. Captain Herriott seems to have put pedal to the metal. In fact, we just left another cruise ship eating our wake. I’d like to phone up to the bridge and tell the Captain to slow down, but I doubt I’ll make much of an impression. He has a schedule to keep and new passengers to embark.

A quiet day at sea to bring our cruise to an end.

It was cooler today, with a forecasted high of 73F (23C) — I’ve a feeling we’re not in the Caribbean anymore, Toto! But it’s all relative and we’re not complaining. The high in DC today is 30F (-1C) and, if CNN is to be believed, London’s Heathrow Airport is closed to flights until the middle of next week. No, we definitely have nothing to complain about.

It was a quiet day at sea for us. We were up around 6:30a, intent on putting in a few miles on the Promenade Deck. The strong wind that wrenched the door out of my hands had us postponing that plan. Instead, we went up to the Horizon Court to have our usual light breakfast on the aft deck. Since the sun had broken through the thick cloud deck to bathe the veranda in bright sunshine, we used the early morning to pack our bags. A few more things to put away after dinner and the luggage will be ready to be picked up and taken to the bowels of the ship in preparation for disembarkation tomorrow.

Quit hamming it up, Mui. You packed it once, you can pack it again!

Despite the cloud cover, the sun was intent on turning the veranda into an oven. So, we once again sought refuge in Skywalkers. It was quiet up there, with just a few people napping, reading, or listening to their iPods. When we returned to the cabin around 11:00a, the veranda was still bathed in sunshine. What to do? Easy; we went to the shops to burn our remaining OBC (on board credit ) and later relaxed on the Promenade Deck for a while.

This time Mui's shopping for me.

The Promenade Deck is the next best place to the veranda.

After a light lunch, Mui returned to the cabin to work on videos. I donned my walking shoes and went for a 2-mile (3.6 km) walk on the Promenade Deck. The wind around the clamshell bow was manageable, however, my usual 15-minute-mile was slower because I was fighting headwinds.

Can you guess why this area is referred to as a clamshell?

By the time I returned to the cabin around 1:30p, the veranda was finally in the shade and I could sit down, relax, and do a bit of reading and blogging. In the late afternoon, getting a slice of pizza to share, we enjoyed the last of our wine and beer, raising a toast to a great cruise vacation.

here’s to another cruise under our belt.

It’s now time for one last meal on the ship. We’ve already said our farewells to Rotchana and John as we’re not having dinner in the Da Vinci Dining Room tonight. Nor are we going to repeat our 18-course meal at Sabatini’s — once was enough, thank you very much. Instead, we have reservations at the other specialty restaurant aboard the Grand Princess … I’ll fill you in later.

… Later

That was a mighty good meal that we had at the Sterling Steakhouse. This dining venue originally offered Mexican fare. It was named Painted Desert back then. Though the concept and the name have changed, the murals on the wall still carry a decidedly southwestern theme.

The steakhouse features premium, cooked-to-order aged beef, along with other steakhouse favorites. The server comes by the table with a presentation tray, describes the available cuts, and guests make their selection. For those who are not red meat eaters — like me — the menu features a couple of seafood choices as well.

Bon Appétit!

Service was excellent — neither too slow, nor too rushed. We both started out with the black tiger prawn and papaya appetizer served with “Anna” potato salad. I then enjoyed an excellent Black and Blue Onion Soup flavored with a dash of Jack Daniels; Mui opted for the mesclun greens with roasted bell peppers and slices of Hass avocado.

My main course was the pan-roasted wild black striped bass with leeks and mushroom ragout; Mui ordered the 8-oz Princess cut filet mignon. Side dishes were plated separately. Our server suggested that we order a potato dish and a vegetable dish each. We followed his advice — garlic & herb French fries and red skin mashed potatoes; creamed spinach and sautéed wild mushrooms. He must have thought that we were going to starve as he brought us some grilled asparagus as well. In hindsight, we should have just ordered one potato and one vegetable side to share.

Having spied the dessert options early on, we made sure to leave just enough room to share a sweet ending to our meal. Our choice proved to be the perfect one — caramel cheesecake parfait served with candied pineapple and a coconut Madeleine. Yummm!

A meal to remember at the Sterling Steakhouse.

And so it is that the last day of our cruise is coming to a close. Mui went down to check out Kevin Hughes’ comedy routine. By all accounts, Hughes has been keeping people in stitches. As for me … you know where I am … and here I’ll be staying; at least for a couple more hours.

Next Up … Back to Reality