FINAL DAYS

APRIL 3-April 5
Rough seas again and cold weather. This is not what we expected and not what we signed on for. This afternoon we played bocce against the officers. There were a lot of teams playing against them and the first team to score 3 points won. We lost to them but we did score 2 points. It was lots of fun and Sue and Steve also participated. We went to the show which we had seen before but the singers and dancers are getting off the ship at the same time as us so it was their last performance and at the end some of them were crying. The audience went wild in sending them good wishes.
Other than that we had a fun day.


APRIL 4
Today was sad as we had to pack and say our goodbyes to all the friends we made along the way. I still can't believe that 52 days have gone by but I do know I could do much longer cruises if I could only afford it. Tonight as I was going to say goodbye to our first waiter another waiter turned around fast and accidently got his foot between mine and I went down like a ton of bricks and landed on both of my knees and luckily there was a chair that I grabbed onto so that stopped me from landing on my face. My knees had been hurting before this so that just added to the pain. They helped me up and I said I was okay but as I was walking back to our table I thought both my knees were bleeding. I saw Enid and said let's go to the bathroom now so she knew something was wrong. When I got my pants down I was shocked to see no blood but a scrape. Enid went to get some bandaids and Sue came into the bathroom also to find out what was wrong. You should've seen the look on peoples faces when the three of us walked out of the handicapped bathroom. Parts of my knees are turning black and blue and they are swollen but I was lucky that nothing happened to my knee replacement.


APRIL 5
Today we got up at 4:15 as we had to meet at 5:45 to get off the ship in Ensenada to be bussed across the border to go to San Diego. That was the start of a very long day. We were on the first bus out of 47 that were going to San Diego. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the border where we had to take all our hand luggage off the bus and walk across the border to hand in our customs declarations while the bus was being inspected by dogs looking for drugs and cuban cigars. Then we had to walk about 1 block to get back on the bus to finish the trip. We were hoping to get an earlier flight but when we got to the airport we found out that American Airlines had 110 planes damaged in a tornado 2 days before in Dallas. They had canceled over 300 flights today and there were some people ahead of us that couldn't get new flights until Saturday and American was not responsible for putting them up in hotels. People were not happy and there was nothing that could be done as American even tried other airlines but being Easter and Passover this weekend all flights were previously booked. We were very lucky that nothing had changed with our flights and of course we weren't able to get an earlier one. We were due to change planes in Dallas and that was still okay. Our next flight was due to land in Miami at 12:30 AM but our plane landed in Dallas late so that was delay number 1. They finally announced we were going to board in 10 minutes and then they announced there was some mechanical problems and they were fixing them so it would be another 20 minutes before we could leave. They did make up some time inflight and we laded at 12:45 but until we got our luggage and dropped my suitcases off at my house, went to Enid's and had a snack it was almost 3 before we went to sleep after setting the alarm for 8:30 AM as I had an appointment with the orthopedist. He said the bones are lined up perfectly but not completely healed so I am in another cast for 2 more weeks.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Although nervous about being away for so long we found out it was totally unfounded as the time flew by and I could've done more. We met wonderful people and had a marvelous time with a few drawbacks with illness but that could happen anywhere or anytime so you add it up to making it another adventure.

MARCH 31-APRIL 2

MARCH 31, APRIL 1 AND 2

We have had 3 sea days with 2 left and the fact this vacation is almost over is not sitting well with me. We have had 2 lei making sessions and we've bought some kukui nuts and sea shells to make our own designs so when my left hand is back to normal (hopefully by Christmas) I will be kept busy making different kinds of leis. I know for a fact that I'll be making a bracelet and an ankle bracelet also.
One of the evenings we saw a very funny comedian named Don Gavin and as I was laughing I was also coughing and thought I might choke. Last night they had Liar's Club and some of the words were "oxpecker, dikephobia, farctate and hawshole. If you can't find them in the dictionary you'll just have to wait till we come home. It would've been very funny but they used the same words on the last cruise and they gave the same lies for the definitions.
The seas have been very rough with winds in the 20-30 knots so sitting by the pool is out. Today Enid, Sue and Steve played baggo against the officers on the ship and Enid even made it to the finals but unfortunately didn't win. I forgot to tell you that last night I used my $20 certificate for roulette that I had won in a raffle and in 5 minutes I walked away with 43 dollars. Of course this afternoon I gave back 30 to the slots. Hope all is good with everyone and we'll be home in 3 days.