Saying Goodbye to the Enchanted Princess

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My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Usually my last cruise is spent savoring every ‘last’ activity that I love and feeling the relief of realizing it’s my last time doing the things I don’t love for a couple of months. This time every spare moment was spent studying and practicing for the next session with JC which culminated on Saint Patrick’s Day which meant that the moment we could have sighed with relief, we were throwing together three special events that would only be done once. Then I turned around and had two Sea Days to pack everything I had into my four suitcases. It was such a whirlwind that it was difficult to adjust to the idea that this contract was over and I was going back home to my family. Whenever I felt overwhelmed, I took a moment to remember the circumstances the last time I left the ship in March of 2020, and appreciated the comparative lack of chaos and uncertainty.

Rainbow in a port where we couldn’t get off the ship:

In the Caribbean it rains sporadically all the time, but most of the rainbows I saw were on social media taken by other people on the ship who had more time than I had to stop and look around. This was a special treat to find while I was up doing an errand or finishing an activity up on the Sports Court.

Rain was always a possible issue with Zumba. There were several times I would come out early (to determine if I could run the class upstairs or if I needed to move it down to an inside venue) to find that it had just rained, but now it was not raining, and I would try to convince the guy in charge of the guys who were squeegee-ing the whole open deck to prioritize the sports court. A couple of times it would start to rain mid class and I would keep going (using increasing arm movements and decreasing foot movements) as long as I had guests. Only once did I catch a glimpse of a rainbow during Zumba. I stopped the class and made everyone look at it and then we kept tabs on it the rest of the class.

Before we even had guests, the chance to spend an evening in the Sanctuary was dangled in front of our noses. This is a special room in the Lotus Spa that is only on Royal Class ships. I had been promoting it in my Welcome Aboard Trivia, even though I had not experienced its delights. Dan was going to try to get us in there before we had guests, but then we ran out of time. Then we were busy with the guests and remembering how to do our jobs, then the Omicron variant hit us and we didn’t have privileges, then Marcus came on and started teasing us with a night in the Sanctuary. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ I said, ‘Dan’s been promising us that since we got here!’ Suddenly it was my last cruise. I looked around and realized that we had Deck privileges. There wasn’t anything especially crazy going on (you know, besides training with JC and St Patrick’s Day). We were each taking turns impressing JC (and also taking turns completely falling apart). I whispered to Marcus, ‘You know, if you were going to get us a night in the Sanctuary, this would be the cruise to do it’ and he did. He even got it on a night when I didn’t have Zumba the next morning.

It was a room with a big hot tub in the middle, warm beds and a variety of showers, saunas and steam rooms.

We did our photoshoot first before the makeup none of us had removed smeared all over our faces.

We sat in there and chatted, bonding with Giana and relaxing.

And then the week started wrapping up (by now my weeks were 10 days). We did our last You Be the Judge, so we had to take some pictures in the dressing room:

On the last formal night, Jayson treated me to dinner at Sabatini’s. We celebrated his birthday, my birthday, my last cruise, and the friendship we had developed over this crazy contract. I don’t have a picture of it, but most of my pictures are with Jayson- you’ve seen him before.

And then the next day I turned in my stuff…

We did my last Hollywood Hiccups

And one with Marcus:

Afterward, everyone came and hung out with me in my cabin while I finished packing. I felt so loved and appreciated. They all had to be up early for Disembarkation the next morning. They all demanded that I come for one more goodbye before I left, which I happily did.

As I got off the ship for the last time, I decided I needed a bookend photo to go with the one I took right before I boarded in September.

By the time I got past security, I had five hours before my flight.

Unfortunately, my buddies, JC and Paolo, were in a different terminal than I was, but they found each other.

And like I said on the Wake Show, the first thing I did when I got home was go find my kitty.

She was in the barn. She had moved out there after I left (I think because there used to be more mice and birds in there than there are inside), only coming inside and asking to be fed twice a day. After a couple of days she remembered me and now she comes and hangs out with me in the house in between hunting sessions.

I also came home to this:

My cousin Cameron and his wife Selina had shared the news that they were expecting just a couple of months before I left.

Easton was due to arrive the day after I was originally supposed to finish my contract. I guess when I extended, he decided to wait for me. He was born the day before I flew home. It’s been a lot of fun watching him figure out how to be alive and watching his parents figure out how to be parents.

So now I’m back in Clarksburg California repacking and replenishing my supplies for the next round and getting as much quality sleep as I can manage. I’ve read four books and binge watched two seasons of tv. Next week I’m going to visit friends in the UK and then pop over to Prague for some solo overland travel. Catch you later!