Day Five - At Sea - 07/03/2009

The sugar coma from the cake and hot chocolate Thursday evening allowed us to sleep late. Well, late for us. We woke up about 6 AM. Again, it was very foggy outside when we looked out on the balcony. Showered and dressed, we headed to the Paris Dining Room for breakfast. Jeff had poached eggs and corned beef hash. The eggs were nicely done, but the hash, while tasty, could have been a bit crisper. I had the eggs benedict. Definitely the best breakfast I had on board. Had I known, we would have been at the dining room every morning.

We decided to go to Win A Cruise bingo before the debarkation talk. There were some problems with the bingo machine but they eventually got it working and Natalia, the Asst Cruise Director, got down to business. Her personality was a bit abrasive and 10:15 AM was probably a bit early in the morning for most people to deal with her trying to get them revved up and participating, but we played along. Didn't win although Jeff came close.

The debarkation talk with Jorge (the Cruise Director) was standard stuff, but since we hadn't cruised before, it was new to us. They really pushed self-debarkation as the fastest and easiest way off the ship. I had heard on Cruise Critic that this run on the Triumph really did get self-assist off pretty quickly so we had already decided to go this way. Some people weren't crazy about Jorge, but we found him to be a riot. He went through his "Top 10 Questions Cruise Staff Get Asked" which included jems such as "Jorge, does this staircase go up or down?" "Does the Waitstaff live onboard" (A: No, we page them and they come in on jet skis every day) and "Does this ship generate it's own electricity?" (A: No, there's a really long extension cord running back to New York). He also urged us to tip the maitre' de who was responsible for making sure the dining room ran smoothly, but more importantly for training the staff to sing "Happy Birthday to Jew" and "Happy 'Versary to Jew".

After the talk we walked around and took photos of the ship, played a bit in the casino (I lost $50 on video poker, Jeff won $80 on the nickel slots!) then headed back to the room. The lunch menu in the dining room didn't appeal to us that day so we just ordered room service. Jeff had a roast beef and brie sandwich and I had the tuna on an english muffin. Both very good. We washed them down with cheesecake.

Lido Buffet

"Secret" seating area above Lido buffet

Pizzaria

Coney Island Grill (Burgers & Hot Dogs)

24 hour drinks & soft serve ice cream

Aft pool & hot tubs (hot tubs were adults only)

Mini Golf

Lido deck with Giant TV, mid ship pool, foreward pool

Forward Pool & Hot tubs

Funnel

Spa & Gym Entrance

We did a bit of shopping at the Triumph stores and after a short nap, we went in search of our last drink-of-the-day. It had warmed up quite a bit and the outdoor decks were hopping. We found seats on the sides of the Panorama/Lido area and flagged down a cocktail server. Jeff wanted a "Fun Ship Funnel" souvenier cup, so he ordered one for each of us. I'm not even sure what the drink was inside it, but it was strong and tasty. A fellow passenger walking by offered to take our picture.




We headed back to the room to pack and found our disembarkation info and luggage tags (we would be group 18 if we decided to let them take our baggage for us). We packed, sat on the balcony and read for a while and then dressed for our final dinner.




There was a table of 10 or so in the back of the second floor of Paris Dining Room around the corner from us. We referred to them as "the loud table" They looked to be 50's to early 60's. If you're from the Philly area you'll know what I mean when I say they looked like "Main Line Ladies Who Lunch" They certainly were having a good time every night we dined in the dining room. Lots of wine, lots of loud laughter. Nothing obnoxious and their waiter didn't seem too overworked by them. (In fact, they always left the dining room and went (I imagine) to the Oxford bar to refill their drinks themselves rather than wait for the waitstaff.)

The "loud table" decided to make a grand entrance that evening in full July 4th regalia, complete with a 6 foot + Uncle Sam with a good 12" tall top hat that had to duck so that his hat would clear the low ceiling on the second floor of the dining room. They entered after everyone else had been seated and marched up the stairs in their red white and blue finery waving the stars and strips and singing "You're A Grand Old Flag".

DINNER:

Appetizers:
Navy Bean Soup (good)
Crabcake (great)
Lobster Bisque (just OK)
Fattoush Salad (looked like a regular spring mix salad with about 6 little pieces of feta in it instead of romaine, cucumber, mint and feta, but tasty)

Main Course:
Cornish Hen (Jeff enjoyed. I don't do cornish hen, so I'll take his word for it)
Chicken Breast over Fettucini with Mushroom Cream Sauce (nice)

Desert:
Grand Marnier Souffle with Vanilla Sauce (best desert the whole cruise)
Cappuchino Pie (ok, but kinda boring)

The waitstaff did their farewell performance of "I'm Leaving On A Fun Ship" (to the tune of "Leaving On A Jet Plane". The "loud" party joined the waiters on the steps which seemed to thrown them a little bit but gave the rest of the dining room something to laugh at!

We were going to hit the "Big Easy" show that evening, but were both still a bit tired from the alcohol in the Funnel sippy cups and tomorrow we expected to be off the ship and driving home fairly early, so we headed to bed.

Towel Animal #5 - Seal