Day 120 - Thursday April 27 - Ft Lauderdale a day early

Last Sea Day photos
position at 6:30am: N29.58.40 latitude W69.02.42 longitude
(380 miles from FLL)
temperature: 77F, partly cloudy
distance since FLL: 39,114 miles
This post was uploaded yesterday, but evidently it did not 'take'. So, we are uploading it a day late. Sorry.



Rick Friia

We would like to dedicate this journal to the memory of Rick Friia, Debbie’s Dad. He encouraged us to do this from the very earliest preliminary discussions. As he weakened from ALS, he encouraged us in even stronger terms. Rick wanted us to do this, and to never miss another opportunity to do anything we dreamed while we are able. This World Cruise was something positive and wonderful that we could all safely talk about and look forward to even as Rick’s condition worsened. He made sure that we understood from the very beginning that no matter what happened to him that he wanted to know that we would go on and have this adventure. We reassured him every day that we would go and we would have a wonderful adventure. He knew that we were working on this journal and that we would share our experiences and he was pleased. When he died on December 23, 2005, going on was one of the hardest things Debbie has ever had to do, but a promise is a promise and she keeps hers. She hopes that she would have made Rick proud of her and made him laugh and made him cry. She hopes it was anything close to the experience that he wished for us. Rick died almost 4 months ago and we have been out here seeing all the world in that time. There will still be some adjustments to understand after we are grounded back in our real lives. Those adjustments we won’t document here and few people will share them with us. We will go on with the simple adventures of our everyday lives and they will pass as common and undocumented days. Today is one month since the date of Rick's birthday, March 27th. He would have been 72 years old. We miss him now and we will probably miss him even more, later. We thank Rick for wishing for these four months for us, and when we revisit these memories, we will think of him in the future. There is no way to be thankful enough for such a generous Dad. Thanks, Rick.
We will end this cruise the same way we began it with tears. It was not all tears, but it did begin and end that way.
Today is our last sea day. The seas are still pretty calm and that is a good thing. Looking at channel 3 on TV this morning we are slipping between the islands of the Bahamas to reach Ft. Lauderdale. Clay thought we should go above the Bahamas to get to Port Everglades and hopes this means another surprise port stop. Debbie thinks they already returned our passports and we aren't going anywhere until we get off in Ft. Lauderdale. Clay checked his GPS and says we are just more than 300 miles from Ft. Lauderdale and is getting excited about a surprise visit to the Bahamas. Debbie is still sure they won't let us off here until it is for good. We'll see.
Clay was up early and had a good deck walk. There was a 60-70 km/h crosswind and it was about 72F degrees. There was a good-sized crowd up there with him walking. Debbie got up between 6 and 6:30am so Clay could come right back in the cabin when he finished his walk.
We were up in LaVeranda right after its 7:30am opening. There were not many people up there for breakfast this morning. We saw someone new this morning on Deck 7 and again at the table next to us. He was wearing an RSSC name badge and his title was USPH Consultant. He was bending ears up there about how things have to be done to pass inspections in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow. All the waitstaff is pretty edgy in anticipation of this, so it must be a pretty big deal for them. Wouldn't it just be easier (not to mention safer) to always do things according to these rules and regulations instead of this frantic scramble now? Anyway, we wish them luck and hope they continue their streak of high scores. There were no chocolate croissants today, so Debbie may have had her last one without marking the occasion because it seems unlikely that they will have them on disembarkation/embarkation day. When they only served them every 4th, or so, sea day we doubt we will see them again with everything else going on tomorrow. So, Debbie had a bowl of oatmeal with a banana and then just to be safe went up and got a small bowl of raspberries to finish off. Clay had Rice Krispies and a banana. There were not many people in LaVeranda, but those that were there all had long faces about thinking this was the last breakfast. (We do really expect to have breakfast in the morning tomorrow!)
At 9am, Capt. Dag only told us about where we are sailing and how good the weather is. There were no Vords of Visdom for us today, only to finish packing and enjoy our last sea day. We probably forgot to report that at his Farewell speech he told us that we had only had 5 days of rain during the World Cruise. That really is remarkable. We have been really, incredibly lucky with the weather over the last 4 months. We appreciate it! Also, he announced last night that of the 8 or so people who he had had to put off the ship due to medical problems that he had kept up with them and they were all doing well.
We finally saw the return of flying fish today. Hurray! We were getting lonely out here in the big ocean. Still no dolphins or the fabled spring migration of humpback whales though.
The white elephant auction is at 10:30am and we will probably go. We did go and it lasted until noon and they did not even get everything auctioned. Jamie was hilarious. He raised a lot of money for the Crew Welfare Fund. The highest bid was shared by 2 items. The lyre flag that had sailed on Voyager all cruise and that Jamie carried out in the Atlantic when he waterskiied went for $1500. There was a crew's T-shirt that said Voyager World Cruise front and back and was designed by a crew member for the crew that a woman bought for $1100. She then redonated it and it sold again for the runner-up bidder for only $400 the second time around. So, that T-shirt also brought $1500 into the Crew Fund. There were lots of other one-of-a-kind items. The bottle of Talisman wine from the captain of the Talisman that we met in the Indian Ocean and a DVD of the meeting of the ships and Kenny Smiles wet landing. A bottle of wine from Chateau Dvergastein with Dag's picture on the label from a case given to him for his 50th birthday. A shirt of Capt. Dag's with epaulets and name tag was the 2nd highest item at $1250. The best deal of the auction was 2 Jim Thompson polo shirts from Bangkok that when for $20 each. We did not buy anything because frankly where would we put anything else and we really should have been in the cabin packing instead. There were probably fewer than 100 people that showed up for the auction. But, it was a lot of fun and we laughed almost the whole time.
We listened to our last 8-bells announcement from Freddie in the Atrium and then went into Compass Rose for our last lunch. We got a window on the starboard side, so we could see Grand Abaco Island of the Bahamas in the distance. (That is as close as Clay will get to the Bahamas. Sorry, Clay!) Clay had a chicken salad sandwich and Debbie had a grilled ham & cheese. These were the 2 featured sandwiches from the center of the menu. Clay started with poisson cru chinoise and Debbie started with chilled cream of peach soup. We both had ice cream for dessert. Time to head back up and finish off the packing! As we started up the stairs in the Main Atrium, we heard someone calling out. We turned and it was Ricardo, our favorite sommelier. Debbie is really going to miss Ricardo. All she has asked Clay for is to have a sommelier when we get home. ;) She only wants to take Ricardo home! She can do without all the others! Ricardo told us he hates to do goodbyes, but he gave us goodbye hugs. We hate to say goodbye, too. We will really miss Ricardo.
It is 3:15pm and we have packed everything that we are not wearing today or tomorrow and our minimal bathroom supplies. Whew! Easier to just stay home! ;) Debbie can wait for the sweat to dry and then she can go to one last afternoon of exercise classes. We sent 12 bags to be carried off the ship for us and we will carry another 12 briefcase/camera bag sized bags. Think we brought too much? Think we bought too much? Both, probably. Margie, you can panic now. Hope you got a row of seats out of the van!
We sailed past some Bahamas islands on the port side this afternoon. We could white sandy beaches and a cruise ship anchored offshore. We could not read the name, but it was white with a dark funnel and a brightly multi-colored forward part.
So, we did not get an unscheduled stop in the Bahamas. Debbie went to Total Body Toning and Stretch and Relax in the afternoon. These were Jacquie's last 2 classes of the World Cruise. So, another sad goodbye. Thanks Jacquie and Debbie will miss you, too.
As we were dressing to go eat, Capt. Dag came on the loudspeakers in our cabins. He apologized for the intrusion but wanted to put to rest any rumors. (What rumors?) He said that due to a medical emergency that we were picking up a pilot this evening at 9pm and docking in Port Everglades at 10pm. This is only to send a passenger with a medical emergency to a shoreside hospital ASAP. The ship will not clear for disembarkation before the scheduled time tomorrow morning. They expect that to be between 9:30am and noon. We are to present ourselves to customs officials on deck 4 in the Constellation Theater between 6:30am and 8:30am. Capt. Dag turned the microphone over to Jamie and he announced that the White Elephant Auction this morning had made $9,500 for the Crew Welfare Fund and that since Safaga another $10,000 had been donated. So, over the last segment and a half the Crew Welfare Fund had received almost $20,000.
The last supper. We went to Compass Rose. It was Country Club Casual. Debbie had steak. Clay had steak. We had ice cream. We were out of there. Amazingly, we were seated at a table we had never sat at before in 4 months.
We saw our last sunset at sea. Tonight there was another cruise ship in front of it!
Today was our last full day aboard Voyager for this World Cruise. It has been an absolutely amazing experience. The world is both larger and smaller than you might imagine. It is mostly water though, so this is probably the best way to go all the way around it on the surface in one go. We can recommend RSSC Voyager’s World Cruise, if anyone has a desire for a luxury endurance cruise around the planet. Traveling west is easier than traveling east. The time changes are more favorable and less stressful to the system. We recommend traveling west if you go.
About 9pm, we slowed to pick up a pilot. At about 10pm, we are maneuvering to dock in Port Everglades. It looks like we will have covered approximately 39,880 miles since we left FLL on Dec. 27, 2005. What a trip! It did end early on sort of a sad note. It was one of the early morning walkers who was removed by Broward County Fire and Rescue as soon as we docked. Leaving the ship in an ambulance is not how anyone would want to do things.
We will probably post again sometime next week when things settle down.
Last Sea Day photos