We woke up today with a list of things to do since this is our last full day on the ship. For breakfast, Hannah and I visited the Windjammer for a buffet breakfast while Amy and Ethan wanted to experience the French toast, I mean main dining room breakfast. Today as we approached reached the 16th floor, the Windjammer staff was out front greeting us with songs. It’s nice to just wake up and look at all the food options and see what looks good to eat that day. For me it was usually some biscuits and gravy, some meat (bacon likely), and some style of eggs. Amy and Ethan got the famous main dining room French toast along with eggs benedict.
After leaving the Windjammer, Hannah and I both decided we should snag a few snacks before heading back to our room to wait for the main dining room group to finish. She stopped by the Boardwalk donut station to grab a bite while I went to the Promenade Café to get an iced latte and whatever treats they had. Ended up taking my drink and 2 donuts back to my room and consumed them on our peaceful Central Park balcony.
After everyone was done with breakfast, we attended the usual T-Shirt sale that every cruise offers toward the end of a sailing. The family purchased a handful of shirts/souvenirs to take home.
Another bucket list item we wanted to do was climb the rock wall. On the Oasis class ships like Allure, the rock walls located on the back of the ship on either side of the Aqua Theater on the Boardwalk. These walls are a 40ft climb. Pretty much the main requirement for climbing is to have socks. They provide the climbing shoes. Something different that they did here that we didn’t have on any previous cruise was they squirted liquid chalk on your fingers before you climb. It may be standard now on all ships but we had not experienced it before. It did help but it also made it so you didn’t want to really touch anything until you washed your hands. Hannah was the first to climb. She had success on previous cruises but she scaled the wall without much issue. So much in fact that after making it to the top and repelling down, she moved over to the adjoining course and climbed again. While she did that second climb, I took my turn. While I worked my way up, I didn’t notice that Hannah stopped halfway up and decided she had enough for today. I was determined to reach the top since I usually can make it up at least once. However, I have aged a bit since my last attempt so I wasn’t sure I still had that capability. Come to find out, I still had it in me. I made it to the top, rang the bell, and with a leap of faith let go of the wall and allowed the auto repel take control. I wanted to do it again but my triceps told me once was enough for today. Ethan was the last to attempt (Amy was a good cheerleader this cruise). On previous cruises he tried hard but just didn’t have the arm/leg strength to lift himself more than a few holds past the starting spot. This time he was a few years older and with some growth spurts about 7+ inches taller. He started off a little shaky trying to get a feel for the pattern of climbing, but he didn’t stop moving. With encouragement and coaching for next grip moves, he was able to make it all the way to the top and ring the bell. An added bonus to sense of accomplishment of climbing all the way to the top, they worker also gave him a gold medal. Hannah made sure to mention that she made it to the top also so he awarded her with one too.
Working up an appetite, we stopped by the Windjammer for lunch. When we finished it was about time for the cruise classic, belly flop competition. Normally on the Oasis class ships they hold this event at the Aqua Theater due to its great spectator setup. Today they could do that because the Aqua show was about to have a makeup performance due to the cancellation of a couple shows earlier in the cruise. We were lucky to go to the show on a calm weather day the first night. The belly flop competition was now being held at the pool deck like other ships which makes finding a place to stand and watch a little more difficult. We found a shaded spot on the walkway over Central Park that gave us a decent vantage point for the show. Is the competition one of the most classiest things you will see on a cruise? Not really, but it is a staple and as long as I don’t have to do it, I’m fine with it.
There was one more family karaoke scheduled so Hannah decided we might as well attend. She wasn’t really planning on singing but a 10-year-old girl had asked Hannah if she could join her since she was a little scared to get on stage and sing. Hannah agreed and experienced one last time on stage for this cruise. I do like having the karaoke in a venue like Dazzles compared to a bar setting like other ships. Leaving Dazzles we went down one level to the Boardwalk to take a ride on the carousel because if your is cool enough to have one, why not ride it.
We had one last main dining room dinner on the ship. To be honest, it didn’t have the best food choices for this night but it still was better than what I would be eating back home. After dinner Ethan and I played some more table tennis for the last time and on the way back from the sports deck, we found another hidden duck. The last item on our calendar for the cruise was the Battle of the Sexes game show. Not knowing what it would be and not wanting to end our last day on the ship yet, we decided to attend. For the show they gathered representatives for the guys and ladies to be their gender’s contestants. They then had several competitions to see which side would win. This game show kind of takes place of the infamous Quest game show that has disappeared since Covid hit. Some of this game’s challenges was to cram as many people into a human enclosed circle as possible. Definitely not a “Covid cautious” type of game and definitely one where I watched from a distance. Another challenge was to make a paper airplane and see whose side can fly one the farthest. The show was alright but we were also sitting there knowing this was the last real activity we get to experience on the ship. Added to that, we were trying to get good enough internet connection to check in for our flight for the next day home.
After the show it was back to the room for the dreaded packing of the bags. We did have 2 creatures waiting for us, a stingray and bat? Amy and I did make it back out to the comedian show in the main theater but as we had heard, they were not that funny. It also didn’t help that we were tired and were not looking forward to leaving the ship tomorrow.
