Atlantic Crossing ... Last Day

There was definitely more of a wiggle and a jiggle to Allure’s movement on our last day at sea. The seas looked quite angry when we woke up, but calmed down as the day wore on and the ship continued it’s heading due east ... the bull’s eye target being the Strait of Gibraltar.

Captain Grimstad probably said in his noon announcement when he expects to pass The Rock, but I didn’t catch it. From looking at the map, it’s quite obvious that it won’t be during daylight hours ... probably late, late tonight. No matter ... we’ve been to Gibraltar before, and have crossed the Strait many times, so we won’t be missing a momentous moment.

Although we still have a day in port tomorrow, followed by another day at sea, we began packing our bags today. It was after all, quite cool outdoors with a strong breeze, so getting organized for our disembarkation on the 13th was a good indoor activity. Most everything has been put away ... the rest will go in the bags on our last sea day.

Our afternoon was filled with entertainment.

First we returned to the Amber Theater for the matinee show of The Barricade Boys. Another fantastic performance featuring quite a bit of rock ‘n roll and an encore performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. They very much deserved the standing ovation in the full house.

Next up was another show requiring reservations. Ice Games, performed on an ice rink in Studio B, is described as “taking the audience on an adventure with the spin of the dice.” A cast of elaborately costumed ice skaters from around the world performed an extravaganza ... on a moving ship no less.

None of us were really hungry enough for a full dinner. So, we picked up a few snacks from the buffet, and a couple of glasses of wine, and had movie night in our cabin ... the new version of the classic movie, “Midway.”

By the way, according to the Cruise Compass delivered to our cabin tonight, our arrival in Malaga is delayed by an hour. Not a biggie as we were scheduled to arrive at 7:00a and we had no intention of getting off the ship until around 9:00a anyway. Our time in port has been extended by two hours to make up for it, with an all aboard at 6:30p.

Are these changes due to our detour for the med-evac? Likely that is the case. I’m sure this was mentioned in the captain’s noon briefing, but as I noted above I didn’t catch it today. At present, Allure lacks the capability to broadcast non-emergency announcements in the cabin via a channel on the TV. That will likely change when the ship goes through its two-month amplification (read extended dry dock refurbishment) in Cadiz, Spain after we disembark the ship in Barcelona on the 13th. When she goes back into service, Allure is going to be a brand new ship. Czytaj więcej