Day 7-Sea Day

For our last day on the ship, we decided to start it off eating at the main dining room for breakfast. Like the dinner experience, you are seated and given your menu where you can order as much as you want. The French Toast was a popular choice. Amy also added Eggs Benedict and I had a ham and cheese omelette.

One of the activities that we hadn’t done yet this cruise was ice skating. On the ships this size, the skating sessions fill up fast. Ethan and I went down to Studio B to sign up for a time a little later. When we got down there, the line was really long. We did get our desired time. The girls had gone to the towel folding demonstration so we joined them after we finished reserving our skate time. The girls were not interested in going skating so they took pictures while I helped Ethan around on the ice. He still looks like a baby giraffe learning to walk out there so I held his hand most of the time which still couldn’t completely keep him from taking some spills. He had fun though.

Due to the many Aqua Theatre show cancellations at the beginning of the cruise, they added a few showings today. We were able to sneak in and watch it again and, to our enjoyment, they were able to perform they whole show and not the abbreviated version we saw before. This one did include 60 foot dives since the sea was much calmer.

One of the benefits of having a Central Park balcony room is that we receive a free lunch at a specialty dining establishment on the ship. We chose Giovanni’s Table located in Central Park. This Italian restaurant works like the main dining room in that you can order as much as you want off the menu. It’s all included in the cover charge that we didn’t have to pay. As we tried to decipher the menu, the waiter provided us with warm bread and olive oil with balsamic vinegar for dipping. I ordered the Insalada Italiana for my appetizer. Amy had the Pancetta, Ethan Pizza Bites, and Hannah the Caesar Salad (of course). Ethan’s pizza appetizer was almost a meal in itself and a big hit with him (and Amy). Both Amy and I had the Tagliatelle Alla Carbonara (yummy) and I added the Pollo Arrosto. Hannah had the Noodles with Butter Sauce and Ethan had it with Meat Sauce along with Chicken Stripes. Like any good dinner they offer desserts too. Everyone except me ordered the Cannoli and were not impressed. I instead went with the Torta Di Cioccolato and the Tiramisu. I enjoyed both of mine but the cioccolato was pretty rich and I couldn’t finish it.

After our lunch it was up to the Boardwalk and sports deck to cross a few more things off the list for our last day aboard. The kids tackled the rock wall first. I was planning on climbing too but they were closing the wall down because of the Aqua Theatre show getting ready to start. Each kid was given their own path on the wall. Ethan’s had some missing grips making it tough for him to gain much distance. Hannah, on the other hand, “rocked” it by making it to the top of the 30 foot wall and rang the bell. Next up was the zip line. We were unsure if Hannah could do it since they turned her down the second time she was going to ride it because she wasn’t heavy enough. This time they didn’t even weigh her but they did weigh Ethan. He passed that test with flying colors. We all took one more trip flying over the Boardwalk on the zip line.

We all played a little table tennis before the girls went off to do a selfie scavenger hunt. We have done that type of scavenger hunt before and had fun but Ethan wanted to keep playing table tennis for a while then walk around the ship. For the scavenger hunt you are given a list and have 20 minutes to run around the ship taking selfies with the item on the list. Everyone on the team has to be in the picture so there’s no splitting up to do it faster. Amy and Hannah did a group by themselves and it benefited them because they could move faster and take pictures easier with 2 people. They made it back before the 20 minutes was up and found every item except a selfie with a Dreamworks character because there weren’t any walking around at that point in the day so no one was able to get those points. The girls ended up earning the gold medal by one point. That leaves me as the only one in our family not to earn a medal this cruise.

It was time for our last dinner for the cruise. I decided to break out my “cruise” shirt for this occasion. Ethan went with all shrimp for appetizers with the coconut shrimp on the menu. Unfortunately he realized it didn’t taste as good as the cocktail shrimp. Amy was a little adventurous and tried the Green Lentil Soup but she also realized it was not the best choice. The Roasted Turkey was a popular choice at our table. Ethan added the Buttered Cod and Amy added the Pappardelle Carbonara. Hannah’s staple, the Grilled Chicken, was back on the menu so of course she had that. Along with ice cream or sherbet, Hannah and I tried the Profiteroles. We were not fans of it. At the end of dinner they had the procession of waiters and some celebration music to dance to calling an end to our cruise dining room experience.

After dinner we wanted to attend some activities but we also had the reality that we needed to pack up both of our rooms before we go to bed because tomorrow morning it was get up super early and walk off the ship. The first thing the kids wanted to do was take the stage and perform one more time at karaoke. This time it was Katy Perry’s Firework. We were one and done then headed to the family friendly stand-up comedy show in the Opal Theater. The kids really enjoyed it. Ethan was again falling out of his seat laughing. After that fun it was back to our rooms for frantic tearing down of our rooms and figuring out how to squeeze all our stuff back into suitcases including the souvenirs we bought. Tomorrow we are getting up in the 5 o’clock hour to get ready, eat, and take our luggage off the ship by 7am. Despite all the unexpected surprises, this has been a great family cruise. I will later post a review of our Central Park rooms and the Oasis of the Seas itself.