When I finished my Fish Extender run, it was nearly time to go down to Treasure Ketch for the Captain's signing. This turned out to be a bit complicated. When I first saw the Disney character totem pole, I knew that I wanted this and also that this was what I would ask the Captain to sign. I had found one that had no sticky label on the base, which was perfect. When I bought it, they insisted on giving me a boxed one. All my protestations that I had picked this out specifically fell on deaf earth. I was assured that the boxed totem poles did not have the label on the base as the label was on the box. Of course, when I unpacked it in preparation of the signing, I noticed that it did have a label on the base. I tried to remove this, but it left a horrible sticky residue. I went back to the shop to see if they had something to take the sticky residue off. They said that they had and to come and see them before I went to the signing. Of course, when I did, they just swapped it for the one that I had picked out originally.
With this out of the way, I got in line for the Captain's signing. The line was reasonably short and our cruise director was around to talk to people in line. We had a different cruise director for both parts of the back-to-back cruises, but they were both very nice. While I was in line, I discovered once more what makes Disney so magical. Right in front of me was a lady with her two grandchildren. Both of them had a china trinket box with a picture of the ship on the lid that they wanted the Captain to sign. Something had happened on the way to the signing and one of the lids got broken. They were discussing where best to ask the Captain to sign it and how they would try to glue it together at home. One of the merchandise staff overheard this and got them a new trinket box from the shop. The face of this little boy was a picture. Eventually it was my turn to have my totem pole signed. The irony was that although I handed the totem pole over base first, the Captain opted to sign the back of the totem pole. Something else interesting happened. The Captain asked me if Graham had taken any more interesting photos. I knew that they were discussing birds at one point during the cruise, as they are both avid birdwatchers. I just assumed that Graham had shown him some of his wildlife photos. I responded that he had taken a few. When I told Graham about this, we looked totally bewildered. When he and Captain Thord talked, this was on the first day of this cruise before he took the photos and Graham had not talked to him since. There were some members of the crew that had seen those photos as well as the naturalist. So one of them must have told Captain Thord about this.
I quickly retrieved Graham from his viewing spot and we went back to the cabin. I dropped off my totem pole and picked up my camera. Graham needed to get changed as we had brunch at Palo booked. Actually getting there was an adventure. The deck near Palo had been roped off on the port side. We cut across to the starboard side and walked all the way around. At least I got another couple of nice photos of the scenery in the process. When we got to the door to the elevator lobby, this was locked. We had to make our way back down to deck 9 and were then able to get to Palo through the elevator lobby by Beach Blanket Buffet.
As this made us slightly late, there was nobody by the entrance to check us in. One of the servers spotted us and sent the restaurant manager in our direction. We were seated and had a table right by the window. We were offered a drink. Graham had some sparkling wine and I had a Mimosa. Then we hit the buffet. Graham had some seafood and cold meats. He finally decided to have some crab. I decided to go for the pastries and had some of the nut and cinnamon bread and also a brioche with mascarpone and strawberry filling. I also had some melon and Parma ham. We then decided to share a pizza. We had half spicy Italian sausage and half Grape and Cambozola. We then both ordered the Chicken Parmigiana with Risotto. Graham enjoyed this and I think he now understands why I get this every time we have brunch at Palo. I had hoped that by passing on the cold meats and cheeses and not having the chilled strawberry soup. I would have some room for dessert, but I was still full to bursting. I did however have some chocolate covered strawberries with my coffee and Graham had some covered with white chocolate. We paid and said goodbye to Mladen and the restaurant managers whose name I never did find out. On the way out, I took some photos of some signed bottles from John Lasseter's winery and of some of the masks near the entrance.
I was in a mad rush when we left Palo. While I was in line for the Captain's signing, there was an announcement with the activities for the rest of the day. The one thing that attracted my interest was a question and answer session with the Captain. After I thought I had missed this yet again, I was given another chance at this. I am not sure if this had not happened in the morning or if they decided to offer a second session. We left Palo just as the session was supposed to start. I had asked Graham if he wanted to come, but he told me that I knew where to find him. So I went to Wavebands. They only had started when I got there. About 5 minutes later, Graham decided to join me after all. I learned a lot of interesting things. The staff turnover is extremely low and the retention rate is among the highest in the industry. I always assumed that all the fresh water was made on the ship, but they are actually taking on as much drinking water as they can in ports if the water quality there makes it safe to do so. We also learned that the technology for making fresh water on the ship is different on the classic ships and the new ships. On the classic ships, fresh water is made through a process of reverse osmosis whereas on the new ships they use a condensation process. Something else that was interesting is the incentive that they have for the crew in regards to recycling. I always knew that
Disney Cruise Line recycles a staggering amount, both in terms of sheer volume and the different things that get recycled. Captain Thord explained to us that
Disney Cruise Line has an agreement that all money that is made from the recycling is spent on the crew.
After this question and answer session, we went to Shutters. I had a look at the photos on and off all week, but Graham had not seen them. I also had to make sure that all the photos had made it on the kiosk. I was handed a rather large bundle of prints. Fortunately a table had turned up next to one of the kiosks. So I could have two piles for photos that I already had checked and for ones that I had yet to check. There was only one photo that had not made it on the kiosk. I took this to the counter and asked for it to be added.
Graham headed back to his favourite spot. I went back to the cabin to start the packing. Graham had already done so at one point. Even though we had done some laundry the previous week, we had a lot of laundry. I decided that I would do some laundry and then I would not have to worry too much about laundry when I get home. I could not get any washers on deck 6. Most of the washers were finished, but the owners of the clothes had not come back to put their washing into a dryer. I waited for a few minutes, but nobody came. So I decided to check out the laundry room on deck 7, which is the biggest laundry room on the ship. There I had not problem getting two washing machines. I set the laundry going, took my bags back to the cabin and joined Graham on deck 4 to enjoy the scenery. I kept an eye on the time and when I knew that the machines were about to finish, I went back to put my clothes into the dryer.
For the next couple of hours, I took turns checking if clothes were dry, folding and sorting them and putting them in the suitcase. This made the packing process easy and painless. In between I joined Graham to enjoy the view. I also had a last bit of shopping to do. I had fallen in love with the fleece blankets with sleeves that they had. They had red ones with Minnie and blue ones with Mickey heads. I had been in two minds about this all cruise, but finally figured that it would be really nice to have for flights as I am always cold on planes. So I went for it. As it was starting to get a little chilly, I tried it out straightaway. I so wished that I had already bought this for the Tracy Arm day. Still, I got good use out of it that afternoon.
We realised that we still had our bottle of wine in the fridge. So once all the laundry was done, I quickly went up to the drinks station on deck 9 to pick up a couple of the coffee cups, as they are a bit sturdier. Graham then went back to the cabin and filled them with the wine. We enjoyed our wine while watching the scenery.
About half an hour before dinner, we went back to the cabin. I had brought the luggage labels and the customs forms with me to deck 4 to fill out so they were all done. We packed the last few odds and ends, attached the luggage labels and then put them outside to be collected. We had been in two minds about this. If we kept them, we would be first off the ship. However, it was also tempting to put them out and have breakfast. In the end we decided that we would have breakfast on the ship. We had decided against the hop on hop off tour and were just going to head to Stanley Park the next day so we would not be in any rush.
Once the luggage had gone outside, we went to dinner one last time. Dinner that night was the Till We Meet Again menu and we were in Parrot Cay for dinner that night. Graham had the Lobster and Crawfish Bisque served with roasted Corn Relish followed by Garlic and Rosemary Marinated Lamb Sirloin with Onion, Leek, Potato Gratin and Sun-Dried Tomato Jus. I had Grilled Potato and Goat Cheese Napoleon with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette followed by Potato and Leek Soup garnished with Sour Cream and Chives. For my main course I had Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington covered with Mushroom Stuffing wrapped in Puff Pastry served with Fingerling Potatoes, Baby Vegetables and a Cabernet Black Truffle Jus. Graham passed on dessert, as he knew what would be coming. As soon as he heard Tinkerbell fly, which is the signal for the serving teams to return to the galley, he was out of there. I had the Baked Alaska for my dessert. I stayed to enjoy the show that night. I always find it very moving when all the serving teams parade around the dining room on the last night waving flags of all the nationalities represented on the ship to a Caribbean version of It's A Small World. When our serving team came back, they wanted to know where Graham had gone. I told them that he had gone to our cabin, but that we would both be back for breakfast the next morning. I finished my dessert, gave out the tip envelopes and then I left, too.
At some point I caught up with Graham again. I wanted to see Stitch one last time and convinced Graham to come with me so that I had somebody to take photos. We got into position in the spot where Stitch normally hangs out near the Future Cruise Booking desk. I went on the balcony overlooking the atrium as the characters normally come down the stairs and congregate in the atrium before going to their spots to meet people. Nothing seemed to be happening so I went back to where Graham was standing. He told me that Stitch had arrived and was outside on the deck. I went outside but by now the sun had set and it was freezing. Fortunately Stitch decided to come inside. When we were back inside and Stitch saw me properly, he slowly made a heart shape over his chest with both hands to tell me that he loved me. I nearly lost it there and then. I have had many wonderful interactions with Stitch, but he never told me that he loved me. We had another great interaction and Graham was snapping away with my camera. Eventually it was time to say goodbye. We both were tired and we still needed to sort out our hand luggage.
We went back to our cabin and packed the last odds and ends. I took a photo of our towel animal and got ready for bed. I was just about to get into bed and noticed that the message light was blinking. I thought I better listen to the message or else the blinking light would annoy me. It was Shutters to let me know that my CD was ready for collection. This was the first time this ever happened. So I got dressed again and headed to Shutters. As I walked past the atrium, they were just finishing off Till We Meet Again. Stitch was refusing to leave and everybody had to convince him that it was bedtime. I saw him one last time from a distance when he came up the stairs and headed into Studio Sea. Then I carried on to Shutters. There was hardly anybody there. I checked the number of photos that was printed on the label and realised that if the count was right, the photo that I had asked to be added had not made it. I mentioned this to one of the staff and she said she would check with the lab and if it had not made it on the CD, they would burn a separate CD with the photo for me. We agreed that I would come back the following morning to check. With my CD in hand, I went back to he cabin and finally went to bed.