Just hard to believe this cruise is almost over as we are on our last sea day. Tomorrow we have our last stop in Victoria, British Columbia. I really prefer having the last day as just a sea day since I spend most of the day getting packed and organized. But, it seems that Alaska and Hawaii that begin and end in the U.S. have to have a last stop as an international port.
Slept until 8:00 this morning. Did go up and get us coffee from Explorer’s but we skipped breakfast since we would have an early Mariner’s Lunch. Got to the reception about 10:35. More people started arriving before they opened the door to the Main Stage. This reception is opened to all people who have received medallions. We actually sat next to a couple who are on the President’s List which means they have 1000 or more actual sailing days. Amazing to me.
The Platinum medallion holders have 700 sailing days. The Gold medallion holders have 500 sailing days. The Silver medallion holders have 300 sailing days. The Bronze medallion holders have 100 sailing days. There were a few people who received their gold or silver. There were several couples and individuals who received the bronze.
Sailing days are different from Mariner points or otherwise known as Mariner stars. You can accrue Mariner points by adding the number of sailing days with the amount of purchases you make either pre-trip (ex. Pre-booking an excursion) or while on board. For every $300 you spend, you get 1 point. Everything counts (even the daily hotel fees that are assessed) except money spent in the casino. You get double points if you book a suite. For each star level you get a few perks. If we make it to 4 star, we will get free laundry which is the perk I am most looking forward to having. Takes 200 points so we are at least half way there.
We had our picture taken with the hotel director and the captain. Then we all went to the dining room for the luncheon. We had an officer from the ship sit at our table. Her name is Andrea and she is the Guest Relations Manager. She is from Romania and has been with Holland America for 10 years. It was interesting to hear about her experiences dealing with so many people from so many different countries/cultures. I would not have her job. Her next assignment will be the Veendam and she will be overseeing parts of the drydock changes in the Bahamas.
We didn’t get the tiles today. I wonder if they are not doing those tiles any more or we got the medallion instead.
I worked on the trip journal while Chuck went to the casino. He now threatens not to take off the medallion as his luck in cards changed drastically as he was a winner at both sessions. Medallion didn’t help me any. I was still Queen of the 16’s. Chuck has logged enough time in the casino that he got an offer of $350 casino cash but only for a new booking for a sailing thru March. He is going to call our personal cruise consultant when we get back and see if it can be applied to our November cruise. I expect she will refer him to the Club 21 number.
I went to the theater to watch Life of the Party with Melissa McCarthy. They have shown a different movie every day but this is the first one that I have been interested in. It was OK. I did enjoy the bag of popcorn that they gave out to each person.
Afterwards, we had our normal routine of Ocean’s Bar and then to dinner. Tonight the line was the longest we have waited in but that is to be expected since it was Surf and Turf night. Everyone wants lobster. We shared a table with 2 other couples. They found they had a lot in common so we found ourselves left out of the conversation. That is the hazard sometimes of sharing a table.
We had seen the stage show “Road House” on another ship so we decided to call it an early night.
The ship has been rolling all day. Worst motion we have faced all trip. The waves have been high. I never went outside to get a sense of the wind but it looked gusty.
We received our disembarkation paperwork – always a sad sight. Most of tomorrow will be spent packing. We dock at Victoria at 1:00. If it is not raining, we might get off to do some sight-seeing. There is a shop near the port and I would like to have a Christmas ornament from Canada. Nothing major planned otherwise.
Tonight’s towel animal is a monkey hanging from the ceiling.
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