Sunday, April 26, 2015

Inca Empire Cruise - Day 29 Sea Day

Today is the first of two sea days before we arrive back in San Diego and the end of our cruise.  You can tell the cruise is almost ending as the mood around the ship is more somber as everyone prepares to leave.  The only thing we had planned this morning was a lecture at 10:00 AM so we took our time getting up and around.  It was nice to have yet another lazy morning.

After breakfast we headed off to the showroom to hear Tommie Sue Montgomery continue her lecture series on Latin America.  Today’s lecture was “The Myth and Reality of the Conquest of Mexico and Peru”.  It was very interesting as all of her lectures are.

After the lecture we wandered up to the Lido Pool area where they were holding a Statendam Fair where various departments had carnival games with a ships theme.  By winning at the games you earned “Dam” dollars and those who had the top five amount of dollars, won prizes.  Val and I earned a few “Dam” dollars, but not nearly enough to win a prize.  It was actually kind of fun and after making the rounds of the different games, we headed back to the cabin.

The other night when we had our Machu Picchu Red Group reception, Tony had collected pictures for everyone for distribution to the group.  I hadn’t heard anything from him so we went down to ask him about it and it turns out he had a DVD waiting for us.  Thanks so much Tony for doing that for us, it’s the little things that make a great leader.

Val and I returned to the room and looked at all the pictures Tony had collected from everyone, as well as video he had put together, very well done.  By this time it was time for Val to be off to trivia so while I waited for her to finish, I updated the blog and backed up the new pictures we had gotten.

Today was the last chance to qualify for the $500 slot tournament so after trivia, Val and I went down for one more try at qualifying – we didn’t even come close.  We hung around to watch the finals and then went for a late lunch at the Lido.  This was the last day of the trivia competition and the Smarty Pants Team came in third.  They started strong, but have faltered as the cruise nears its end.

After lunch we returned to the room and read until it was time for dinner.  There was a brief interruption when the captain announced there was a whale swimming along beside the ship on the port (left) side, but our balcony was on the starboard side so we couldn’t see anything.  I rushed out to the Sea View deck, but by the time I got there he had tired of following us and was gone.

Tonight was the final formal night of the cruise so most people were dressed for the occasion.  We went to the MIX a little early tonight and listened to Chris before it was time for dinner.  After dinner it was off to the casino where Val happily collected a $200 win, she is doing quite well on this trip!  I managed to break even for the night, which was a small victory for me as I have been doing terrible lately.

Val with Purna (on the left) and Al, our dinner stewards.
Tomorrow is the last day of the cruise, which is a sad and kind of lost day since we will be packing and preparing to leave the ship in San Diego.

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