It's a wrap!

Thursday 27th
Sea day again. The sea is building a bit and the temperature is a little cooler but still shorts weather. Passenger talent show was great with Mark the star performer in 2 items. Danny insisted on shouting Vivian & me a drink to celebrate their bridge partnership.  Later in the afternoon we passed by Tonga, about 10 miles to the west of our course.  Otherwise a quiet day, which is just as well as tomorrow promises to be really hectic (in a nice way).

Friday 28th
Another sea day and now busy as we rush towards NZ.  Hit a few speed bumps overnight but currently a moderate swell.  Final Cruise Critic lunch, where surprisingly we are the only ones getting off in Auckland.

The ship provided a magnificent chocolate cake as a dessert. Special tributes flowed for Sandie and her magnificent organisation of our CC getogethers.  We were at a table of 4 Canadians and 2 Australians from the Gold Coast - they actually boarded the ship in early April and had already done the Hawaiian cruise before the world one. To make matters worse, they are going all the way to Fremantle!  

Mark (& Danny) were in the choir at 3.15 and it was a full theatre with a very good performance. After that we rushed to drinks with Cheryl & Graham, who were on our Machu Picchu bus along with her sister. They were actually travelling as a foursome with Cheryl's mother (in her mid 80s) and had all gone diving with sharks in in Bora Bora.  Christine & Mark 2 also joined in the drinks.

The Captain's farewell cocktail party for the Auckland disembarkees was held at 7.15 and for a change was a pleasant experience, with all the Officers in attendance and plenty of hospitality 😀😀.  It was also the last formal night for the cruise and a special souvenir menu. Yummy!  Needless to say, straight to bed and a quick, quiet rock to sleep.  Feels like we could sleep for a whole day (& more).

Saturday 29th
The day that we've all been waiting for. 

It simply does not exist!  Thanks International Date Line.  ..and to think that I'd been promised free coffee today too!

Sunday 30th
Replacement day for the above and also our last sea day and indeed our last day onboard the Sea Princess on our epic voyage around the world. The sea is calm, the sun is shining, OK the temperature is down to 18, but still pleasant. The day we have dreaded for 99 days - packing day.

For some reason they have decided to have a brunch, so we had room service. Then packed a bag, went to church, packed another *big* bag, had coffee with our coffee team - Maureen & Wyn, Greta & Gordon and Jaye & George (all from Sydney). Next up was final lunch with Christine & Mark 2, then a catch up with Richard from Whitby on the way back to the stateroom.

Of course Vivian has been playing her final bridge, so I picked up our 22 DVD set of the cruise - we'll have no friends when we get home! and did the immigration papers.  4.00 we had final drinks with Greta & Gordon et al in their full suite aft on our deck. It was lovely and thankfully the sun was shining brightly as we approached NZ. 

A final show in the Princess Theatre and an emotional farewell to all our wonderful friends & companions we have got to know so well over the last 100 days. Our bags have been picked up so there's no going back now.

Monday 31st
That's it. Woke at 5.30, just as the Pilot arrived. It is very calm, but guess what? .. that darned foghorn is going again!  The forecast was for wet and wild, so let's home they are wrong for the sake of our fellow passengers.  We have once again ordered room service breakfast as we otherwise wouldn't be able to eat, apart from the "Horror Zone" upstairs.

Assembled in the lounge at 8.00, off to immigration/customs and we are now no longer valued passengers, just past passengers 😀   Apart from our NZ friends, most of the others are off on excursions or whatever in Auckland and sadly we say goodbye to ship life and look forward to seeing our daughter Fiona waiting for us after such a long time away.

Time for quick reflection on the last 100 days. It has been amazing and honestly the time has flown, so in no way have either of us been bored or tired of the routine. I don't think that the enormity of what we have done has set in yet and our earlier experiences in the Middle East and the Mediterranean etc. seem like a different holiday.

We love (most of) our fellow passengers and the staff on the whole are amazing. Of course there were things that could be done differently, or better, but it is the overall experience to be treasured and there is no point in dwelling on the negatives (as one couple we met have done for the whole cruise).

So many things marked off the bucket list and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog and hope that the many readers (known & unknown) have enjoyed/been informed over the length of the cruise. Thank you.

Our next adventure is the 10 week Circle Pacific cruise in June 2016, which takes us up through Asia, Alaska, Vancouver, Western USA, Hawaii.  There are several hundred from our current cruise doing this (including Vivian's bridge partner), so it'll just be like family!!  The new blog address will be: pacificcruising2016.blogspot.com.  

See you there next year.