Cruise Finish

Day three was a sea day. As previously described, the night was long and miserable. But, the rest of of the day was fun. We had breakfast and then I took a 30 minute power nap, after which I felt much less cranky. We had our specialty lunch at Chops Grill, which was delicious. Then Anna and I went to a movie quotes trivia where we did not do very well. From there, Thomas, Anna and I saw the ice-skating show which was okay. Then Anna, Luke, and I went to general knowledge trivia and finished second! Luke knew two answers that I didn’t, one was how many moons does Venus have (zero) and the other was what is a group of frogs called (an army). Anna also knew two answers that I didn’t: how many divorces/announcements did Henry VIII have (two) and what band was made famous by Eurovision in 1974 (Abba). So we made a good team and were pleased with our finish. After dinner, we headed to the evening entertainment, which was a magician. He was amazing with a deck of cards and we enjoyed it. Thomas, Jack, Luke, and Anna ended the night watching the Commanders/Lions game on the screen by the pool, Kara went off with her new friends, and I decided to call it an early night. Oh, I almost forgot, at some point during the day Thomas saw the neighbor who had the temper tantrum and he apologized to Thomas and told Thomas to tell me he was sorry as well. I had gone to guest services and got some ear plugs and I was so tired I didn't hear a thing.

Day four was a Bahamas visit to the island of Bimini. We had never been there before and didn't have anything planned. It was kind of cold and windy, so no one wanted to visit the beach. Right outside the port, we were asked about 50 times if we wanted to rent a golf cart, but we politely declined. We were told there was a museum about 2 miles away from the port and it was safe to walk, so we did. Some of the kids were pretty annoyed and complained a lot about this decision, which was frustrating. Although, in fairness, we definitely felt a little odd being the only people walking as all the golf carts rode past. It took us close to an hour to find the museum and then it was closed. Ugh! But, there was a beautiful beach nearby and some of really regretted not wearing our suits. Luke sat on the shore and a wave came and covered his legs, soaking his shoes in the process. He also lost his watch somehow. 

Anna, Kara, Luke and I took a cab back to the ship. Jack and Thomas wanted to walk. The driver was very nice and told us about the island, he also pointed out the main museum, we had been directed to the wrong one! Something for next time. Once we got back, the girls really wanted to go to the beach. We had lunch, then put on our suits and I took them to the one right next to the pier. The boys didn't want to miss our reserved time for laser tag. So, we went our separate ways. The waves were really strong and we had fun playing in the water. Meanwhile, the boys said laser tag was super fun. They were all on the same team with a bunch of little kids, the other team was all the kids parents (its random). But, they won and were very proud of themselves.

Beautiful Bahama water!

We really enjoyed Bimini, we talked to several locals and they were all happy to tell us about the island and they all said that they liked having cruise ships visit. That isn't always the case with the ports the ships visit and we really liked that they liked having us there. No one was aggressive and the beaches were completely free. You could rent chairs, but it wasn't required and no one made you feel bad if you didn't. We really liked the laid back feel and would be happy to go again.

We stayed for a few hours then went back and showered. Luke, Anna and I tried to recreate our trivia magic, but only got 4/15 right! Luke got disgusted with us about 5 questions in and left, telling me I really should know more. I felt very judged! Dinner was good, we were sad to say goodbye to our waiters. Then, Thomas, Jack, Anna, and I went to the farewell show. We had a late night snack in the windjammer and then packed up (Kara went off with teens and Luke watched tv in his room, but joined us later to get an ice cream cone).

We carried our luggage off the ship around 745 the next morning and were home about an hour later. It was a really fun few days and everyone had a good time. It was a smaller ship than we normally cruise, but I really enjoyed that. We didn't have to reserve any entertainment and it was nice just going  with the flow. I would definitely do this exact cruise again (and just hope for better neighbors!). 

Monday was a holiday (MLK Jr Day), so we were able to leisurely unpack and relax. I spent about 4 hours working on getting my dad's medication straightened out. It involved calls to Medicare, two health insurers, the nurses at his assisted living center and emails to the doctor. That was not fun, but I think I got it sorted for him and will hopefully save him lots of money.