Day 7: Sailing Home

One of the dangers on a cruise ship is all the food. Monika and I had a pre-breakfast out on the deck during our morning walk and then grabbed Lois to go down to the Seven Seas dining room for a main breakfast. The Seven Seas dining room spanned the stern section of the Majesty and had regularly-spaced windows around its perimeter, so by sitting in the center of the dining area we had great views in all directions, which I enjoyed very much. One advantage of dining in the dining rooms on the Majesty was that I could order an omelette made from no-fat egg substitutes rather than real eggs. That probably sounds like a minor thing to the Gentle Reader, but it looms rather large for folks such as myself who are limited to no more than two eggs per week. The portions in the dining rooms were also smaller than what we would typically serve ourselves at the buffet. And last but not least, the stately pace of having each course served by the dining room staff helped slow down our pace of eating, further helping me control my unfortunate tendency to overeat and gain weight.

Retrieving our books, puzzles, and writing materials from our cabin, we repaired to some chairs beside a picture window on deck 5. The bench below the window had a nice soft cushion, so I stretched out on that while Monika and Lois each took one of the upholstered chairs. It was a restful interlude in our rather busy week and gave me the chance to catch up on the writing and more generally just to catch my breath, so to speak. That afternoon I napped while Monika and Lois continued reading, but that gave me enough energy for a long walk on deck that afternoon. The promenade deck was 1/4 mile long and we ended up walking 12 laps or 3 miles, a decent walk. Despite the air being warm we were comfortable walking because the ship's motion created a nice breeze and the lifeboats created refreshing interludes of shadow even on the sunny side of the deck. The wind burble around the bow area created a real blast on the leeward (windward?) side that was at first almost enough to knock us off our feet when we came around the corner. Once we got used to anticipating it, however, it was just a refreshing blast in the face during each lap of our walk.

We all showered and dressed for our last evening in the Seven Seas dining room, after which we attended the final performance of the Majesty's song and dance troupe. The performance was based on a medley of 70s and 80s popular tunes and was just as energetic (and athletic!) as their first one had been. One particular section was country and western tunes for which they wore tight-fitting jeans, and I was surprised that they could get into and out of those jeans as quickly as they did. I know I couldn't do it, and I was suspicious that their jeans were somehow held on with Velcro rather than being zipped and buckled in the old-fashioned way. But the performance came to an end and we had to return to our cabin and attend to the sad task of packing for our impending departure. Fortunately, despite having purchased some clothes and artwork, we had plenty of room to pack everything for our return journey. And so to bed.