Rare kazu Posted March 24, 2019 #601 Share Posted March 24, 2019 7 hours ago, Scrapnana said: We won evening trivia with 15 out of 18. No prizes. Yay on winning 🙂 Boo on no prizes 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1of4 Posted March 24, 2019 #602 Share Posted March 24, 2019 We saw our first robin on Saturday so I guess it must be true, your amazing Voyage is nearly over. It was still -9 but it must be Spring. Thank you so much for pulling me through an incredibly long and harsh winter. I loved seeing your wool purchases and your cabin looked fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 24, 2019 #603 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Glad you gave your clothes packed -- now to get all those "items" packed. Congratulations on winning evening trivia even though you didn't get anything. $20 Amazon gift certificate -- that's great. But was is a "swift"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 24, 2019 #604 Share Posted March 24, 2019 On one of our cruises we had something similar to the ice cream social where they put out several different ice creams and lots of different toppings -- even the liquors. Lots of talent in the water colors and arts and craft. Nice pillow gifts -- luggage tags and luggage straps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3kidsplayingball Posted March 24, 2019 #605 Share Posted March 24, 2019 We have enjoyed reading of your adventures and looking at the pictures. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jertom Posted March 24, 2019 #606 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Scrapnana, thanks for all your postings. We enjoyed following along and getting lots of information on many of the ports on our 2020 HAL World Cruise. Tom and Jerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope Posted March 25, 2019 #607 Share Posted March 25, 2019 I’ve enjoyed your postings and learned a lot. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted March 25, 2019 Author #608 Share Posted March 25, 2019 March 24, 2019 Last day at sea We only had about nine present for Knitters and Stitchers. A few minutes after I got there Linda (CD) announced that there was a towel animal zoo by the Lido pool. Some of us went down to see it and take pictures. It was amazing and the room stewards must have been up half the night making them. I tried to count them but there were too many. My guesstimate is at least 250. At 10:50 most of us went down to the showroom for the farewell toast. Champagne and Mimosas were handed out. Linda presented a video of some of the crew and it included the penguins in a lot of places we would never see them. The video was available for the cost of a HAL jump drive (which is shaped like a ship) - $10. Quite a few members of the crew came up on the stage to loud applause. The captain then had a few words to say and everyone got very emotional and there were many tears (including the captain). After that, Pat and Ann, Pat, Patty, Sherita, and I went to the Sunday Brunch. Like last week, it was a menu with choices. Our last afternoon trivia with Linda saw us only getting 14 out of 20. The winners had 16. 1) According to a modern military manual, what is the origin of a salute? 2) How many time zones does Russia have? 3) What US city is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? 4) What country gained full independence from South Africa in 1990? 5) What is a furbelow – a ruffle, a scuffle, or a truffle? 6) Bonus – (1/2 point each) Name 10 body parts that have three letters. No slang names. I had my last afternoon ice cream before going to arts and crafts. We talked about the things we had made and which were our favorites. I went back to my cabin to finish my packing. After finishing up my box, I only had about 5.5 inches of tape left. Luckily, Patty had some left from her box. More and more things seemed to come out of the woodwork and I am thinking the large suitcase I am taking on the plane may be overweight. Again, we were close at evening trivia with 14 out of 20 but two teams had 15. Both Erin and Alice gave the questions and there was more crying. 1) What two songs were the focus of a lawsuit between Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys? For an extra point, who won? 2) What police department in the US had the first woman? 3) Within 10%, what percentage of the Earth’s atmosphere is nitrogen? 4) In what decade was the Breathalyzer invented? 5) Which national flag depicts a bunch of bananas? All of us present for dinner. I had a Caesar salad, prime rib (only so-so), and a sundae for dessert. I went to the show which was a variety show featuring a magician (can’t remember his name), a vocalist, Jennifer Singer, and Jim Curry singing more John Denver songs. When I returned to my cabin, Heri and Agus (my room stewards) were picking up luggage so I threw some more things in and started lugging them out. I forgot to put tags on two of them so had to run down the hall to get them on before the bags disappeared. I had all suitcases and the box out by 11:20. Afternoon trivia 1) When a knight would raise his visor 2) 11 3) Cleveland 4) Namibia 5) Ruffle 6) Arm, leg, hip, jaw, ear, eye, gum, toe, rib, and lip Evening trivia 1) Surfin’ USA and Sweet Little Sixteen, Berry won 2) Los Angeles 3) 78% 4) 1930s 5) Fiji Smooth sailing until next time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare puppycanducruise Posted March 25, 2019 #609 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. It was wonderful. Safe home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 25, 2019 #610 Share Posted March 25, 2019 In spite of it being the last full day on the ship, there certainly were a lot of activities. Have a safe trip home. Really enjoyed all the reports and pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 25, 2019 #611 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Great pictures. There certainly were a lot of towel animals by the pool. The crew did an excellent job as I see so many that I have never seen before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 25, 2019 #612 Share Posted March 25, 2019 What a great last sea day you had! The towel animal zoo is really something! WOW! Fabulous pictures of animals, crew and the day. thank you 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat shepard Posted March 25, 2019 #613 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Thank you, Kathi! Safe travels home. I will miss your daily posts. Even if they did remind me how bad I would be at trivia.😎 I am amazed by some of the towel creatures created by your crew. The alligator/crocodile alone looks as if it took hours to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhcw Posted March 25, 2019 #614 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Safe trip home and thank you for taking us along on your journey!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelnap Posted March 25, 2019 #615 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Kathi, Thank you again for taking us along with you on your trip. I have enjoyed your posts. Welcome back to FLL and then have a safe trip home from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happily@Sea Posted March 25, 2019 #616 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Welcome back to US - safe travels to Virginia. Hope to hear from you this afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whogo Posted March 25, 2019 #617 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Although I have not replied to each of your posts, I looked forward to each one, read each one, and enjoyed each one. Mrs. Whogo and I had our own mini trivia contests, I won more often with only one other competitor, almost half the time. Thanks so much for this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted March 26, 2019 Author #618 Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) March 25, 2019 Fort Lauderdale to home I awoke at 4:15 after 2.5 hours of sleep. I could see the lights of Fort Lauderdale outside my window but I tried to go back to sleep. I gave up just before 5 and got dressed and went out on my deck to see the sail-in. I was then able to go back to sleep and slept until about 7:30 when Linda announced that we had a parting gift as we left the ship. Many people had been upset that there had not been any shirts, sweatshirts, hats, etc. with the name of this grand voyage and a map of the itinerary. From what those who had been on many grand voyages said, HAL always had these for sale on previous ones. People were especially expecting to have them available since this was Prinsendam’s last grand voyage before she is turned over to her buyer, Phoenix-Reisen, on July 1. I thought Linda said there would be a bag with a T-shirt, hat, and mug in it as we left. Either I misunderstood her or I got a bag without a mug but I was happy to have the T-shirt. Processing of the crew by CBP had been delayed by about 45 minutes so the first call for passengers was late. I was very surprised by my being called (Pink 3) right after those able to self-disembark (carry all their own items off). The letter I had received said 7:45 to 9:15 but with no specification as to a specific time. I did not rush but did get my things together in case the stewards wanted to come in and start on the cabin. One last visit to my deck for a few final pictures before leaving. When I came back in, Pat and Tom were just leaving their cabin so there was time for a final hug and good-bye. Once in the terminal I rounded up my luggage and found a porter in a few minutes. I also stuffed some last-minute things that did not make it in the suitcases last night into my FedEx bags. I did not have to fill out a form saying where I had been or the value of items being brought back into the country. Anyone know if the US government is no longer doing this? The porter got my cases and box to FedEx and then took me over to the taxis. In about 20 minutes (lots of traffic) I was at the airport. I knew I had to pay for my extra suitcase and was thinking about this when I realized I made one of the worst mistakes I have ever made when traveling – I had forgotten the small suitcase that had been one of the pillow gifts in the terminal! My first thought was to call HAL but I had no number for them. There was nothing to do but to go back to the cruise terminal. I was hoping to check-in my large suitcase but it was too early so I had to drag it and my carry-on and my 10-ton handbag downstairs to where I could get a taxi. There was a miscommunication with the taxi driver. I had said I needed to go to Pier 26 and he thought I had said Pier 66, a hotel. Luckily, he was able to switch lanes and get me back where I needed to go although he did go out of the way. Then I had to find someone who could help me. I knew I could not go back into the terminal once I had left (just like at an airport) but did not know with whom to talk. After being sent from one person to another, the fourth one was able to help. At first, he said I would have to wait until all the suitcases cleared from the hall. There were lots of people still getting off the ship so I knew it would take some time but it was not yet 9:30 and my plane did not leave until 1:55. The man who was in charge, Lee, got on his walkie-talkie and passed the information about the bag to someone inside. In about 5 minutes, a lady came out rolling my bag! I gave her many thanks and a hug. Another one of the employees helped me get the three bags back to the taxi rank. By 10 am I was back in the airport. I had already gotten my boarding pass and luggage tags (a very nice JetBlue employee helped me when the machine I was using refused to work) so I put them on and checked them in. My large case came in at 48.6 pounds. Since I have global entry, going through security took no time at all. I was in a different gate area than last year where I had found a good place to eat and planned to eat there again. Instead, I ate at a Jack Nicklaus restaurant. It was the only sit-down restaurant in the gate area so I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for a table. The food was fairly good but the service was horrible. I guess the servers felt they were never going to see the customers again so they were not in the least friendly or even pleasant. There was a lady at the table next to me and she and the waiter got into a shouting match as to whether another table had been there less time but already had their food. There were still about 2 hours to kill after I finished eating so I finished my book and then deleted some junk e-mails and played some games on my iPad. Boarding started at 1:20. We were all on the plane when Adam, the pilot, came out of the cockpit and announced we would be slightly delayed because the pilot’s oxygen mask was not working. He gave the news in a funny way and the lady next to me and I agreed his part-time job must be as a comic. The ride had a few bumps (we had been warned about this) but was not bad at all and we arrived only a few minutes late. My daughter was waiting for me and my two bags (yes, I remembered to get both of them) were among the first to be delivered to the conveyor belt. Unfortunately, I got home too late to watch Prinsendam make her final sail-away from Fort Lauderdale on the PTZtv webcam. A couple of last thoughts… For those who have been reading throughout the voyage, you will have heard me talk a great deal about knitting. I ended up finishing 3 shawls, 1 stole, 2 baby beanies, 1 pair of adult socks, 1 pair of baby socks, and two pairs of children’s mittens. I also have another shawl that is a couple days away from being finished. I will be ordering my swift tomorrow. Every cruise I come home thinking that I will never have such a great one again. However, each cruise turns out to be the “best” for one reason or another. For this one, it was having a group of friends with whom to do things and go places. We had a lot of fun and often laughed until it hurt. Luckily, we have booked another cruise together to let the fun times continue next year. Next up: I have no cruises booked until January of next year (unless the Publishers’ Clearinghouse van shows up at my house) when I will be on the world cruise. In December I will post the address of the new blog on here so, if you signed up for e-mail notifications, it will come to you. I also will be doing a “Live” thread on Cruise Critic again. Many thanks to all of you who have followed along and I appreciate all the nice comments. Smooth sailing until next time! Edited March 26, 2019 by Scrapnana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1of4 Posted March 26, 2019 #619 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Welcome home Kathi! What an adrenaline rush to finish off with a bang but glad it got sorted out quickly for you and you are home safely. We loved following along your adventures and can’t wait for more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare puppycanducruise Posted March 26, 2019 #620 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Welcome back. Thank you so much for sharing this cruise with us. Loved the pictures, comments and trivia. Looking forward to your next adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 26, 2019 #621 Share Posted March 26, 2019 I thoroughly enjoyed your reports -- felt like I was there and seeing everything with you because of the details. Glad you got your tote bag. That was quite a lot of knitting. But I am still curious as to what a "swift" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 26, 2019 #622 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Thanks for the last minute pictures from Ft Lauderdale. Like the nice last minute gifts -- especially the t-shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 26, 2019 #623 Share Posted March 26, 2019 What a relief on your bag. So glad you were able to retrieve it. Welcome home Kathi and thank you again for all of your great reporting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Pete Cruiser Posted March 26, 2019 #624 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Kathi, Thanks for sharing. Along with Roy's blog, many of us felt like we experienced the Prinsendam's final Grand cruise. You are indeed fortunate to have been onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaB Posted March 26, 2019 #625 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Hello Kathi, Was happy to join you in person for part of your voyage and then vicariously for the rest. Safe travels and welcome home. Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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