Norwegian Epic - Transatlantic - Day 9

DAY 9 - THURSDAY - 12/15 - AT SEA

In reading through my (less frequent, at this point) bullet points, I realized I may have gotten the timing of a couple memories swapped. Minor, though. So let it be written, so let it be done. Or something.

I woke up at 8am. My computer wasn’t working or charging, so I didn’t do any writing. Most days I would either write a little bit before going to bed or when I woke up in the morning. This got me a little behind, which may explain my memory mixup. Either that or old age.

Headed to the Garden Cafe for breakfast with Terri, Adam and Fiza. Our last breakfast. Only one more sleep until disembarkation.

It was a bittersweet day. I found myself at once sad to have the trip ending and excited to be heading home. Rod picks on me because I often have a hard time enjoying the last day or two of a vacation. Upcoming responsibilities seep into my brain and I stress out a bit sooner than I actually have to.

My last couple days of this cruise were great, but there was some underlying anxiety ever-present.

One thing I wanted to do, since the sea had calmed a lot, was have one last soak in a hot tub. Fiza was interested as well, so I invited her to meet up with me at 11-ish.

The air was colder than it had been through the whole trip. The first one I got into was only lukewarm and the jets weren’t working, so I moved to my favorite one as soon as its occupants left. Fiza joined me there.

Soon, a young woman from the Ukraine joined us. Her husband didn’t come in, but he hung out with her/us next to the hot tub. They were very young. They had been successful in the green card lottery and were moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. She would be a student and he was planning to join the military. They were nervous and excited about the move. She spoke English well, but wasn’t yet confident about it. She asked us what we used our on board credit for (the $200 given to each cabin). She and her husband had gotten watches at one of the shops and they were very happy about that. They couldn’t afford to spend any time in New York, so were heading directly to Salt Lake City when they arrived. I mentioned to them that the Sundance Film Festival is in Utah and they might spot some movie stars in January. Their faces lit up. She had bright eyes and a wide smile and I hope for the best for her and for them.

I was going home. They were starting a completely new life.

Most of my day was spent on my own, wandering around the ship and watching the ocean from all of the best places. I had a little bit of Indian food (a nice go-to in the buffet) and salad (green!) for lunch and some ice cream for dessert.

I spent a full 45 minutes sitting in a window on Deck 5 wave-gazing. It made me very sleepy and I headed back to my cabin by way of Shaker’s and Maltings. I ran into Adam along the way. He mentioned that he was bored - already packed and not a whole lot of daytime entertainment available that day. Ordinarily, I’d have hung out with him, but I found myself so exhausted and unable to function. I went to take a nap.

The next real plan was La Cucina for dinner. Since Terri and Fiza had changed their reservation from the night before, Adam and I invited ourselves to join them. La Cucina was my last choice in specialty restaurants, but spending time with everyone for our final dinner was much more important than where we went.

We had a 6:45 reservation. It was neat having dinner in the place where we’d been bringing our buffet breakfasts. The lighting and atmosphere changed quite a bit from day to night. We ordered a bottle of wine and our food. I had burrata, lasagna, and tiramisu.

I considered ordering the exact same thing as someone else, just to tease Terri. She doesn’t understand people ordering the same things. (But it’s not like we’d all gotten so familiar that we were splitting meals. I’d need at least a few more days for that.)

The burrata was good. Although I ate the lasagna, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it. For dessert I ordered tiramisu. At home, Rod and I generally share desserts and he doesn’t like tiramisu, so I saw it as an opportunity. I enjoyed it.

The company was better than the meal.

Next up was Howl at the Moon at Headliners. This event happened most (but not all) nights on the cruise. There are a couple piano players who take requests from the audience and take turns performing them. Often people send cash up to the musicians along with their requests. Those requests, unsurprisingly, move up the list quickly. There’s lots of banter as well. It’s quite entertaining.

It was clear that some people spent many of their nights at Howl at the Moon. It was the same on my last cruise. Musicians and audience members knew each other by name and had some amusing rapport. The show often continues for four hours. People come in and out throughout the night. Everything is a bit more buttoned up earlier in the evening and comes unraveled as time goes on.

On this night, we didn’t leave until the unraveling was already in progress.

There was still time to catch one more set with Lucas at Maltings. Adam and I went up, found some good seats, and ordered some beers. Fiza joined us and took advantage of her last possible opportunity to sing with him, which she had been wanting to do. I recorded it for her on her phone. She mentioned her “music crush” again. Eventually, all the women who shared that crush ended up at Maltings that night. They all danced while Lucas played and sang.

When he was done, Lucas acknowledged everyone who had been coming to see him regularly. He made the rounds and said hello (and goodbye) to us all.

It was an excellent way to end the evening.

There had been an announcement that we would be going under the Verrazano Bridge at 3am and by the Statue of Liberty at 3:30am. (3:30am and 4:00am? I had it straight that night.) Before heading to our cabins, Fiza, Adam and I arranged to meet on Deck 15 to witness our New York arrival.

I set my alarm and tried to sleep.