Friday, January 5, 2018 - Final Day at Sea

Friday, January 5, 2018

Our last day on board the ship. Woke up at what I thought was 7:00, but we were in a different time zone, so it was really 6:00, and it was still dark outside. So, back to sleep for an hour. Then up and shower and then upstairs to have breakfast. We met Martha and Carl up there. They had already eaten, so stayed and visited with us while we ate. They are pretty nice folks and we are happy to have them as friends.

Today is a “sea day” so we will be sailing non-stop until we reach Fort Lauderdale tomorrow morning. We were able to take our time and basically do nothing for most of the time. There was a “debarkation” meeting to get instructions for getting off the ship tomorrow, and we decided to go to it.

The room was the theatre, and it was really cold in there. The music before the presentation was really loud; so loud I could hardly hear Dawn and Carl as we were talking. I said that it was too loud in there, and the music suddenly got quieter. I don’t know if someone heard me, but it was much better.

Finally, the Cruise Director came on the stage. As usual, it is a big production, trying to get the crowd into it. We just wanted to hear about what the procedure would be for tomorrow morning, so could care less about the other stuff she spoke about.

Finally, she got to it. Some people who wanted to carry off their bags themselves would be the first called to leave the ship. Others were given tags with numbers and had to set their bags outside in the evening so the crew could take them downstairs for unloading in the morning.

We were in the second group. So had to be sure that our bags were ready to be put out before we had to go to the lounge for the hockey games. We mostly had things packed when we went down. We could put our bags out in the hallway between 8:00 and 10:30, and we would be watching the Gold medal game at 8:00. Dilemma!!

We decided to go back and finish packing and put them out after the USA game. That game was pretty boring. Most in our group was hoping for the Czechs, but it was definitely not their day. The US really beat up on them. I think the Czechs had played their best games leading up to the Bronze medal game and were no match for the US.

Back to our cabin, finished packing, and put our bags out at about 7:00. Some others on our deck had put theirs out already, so we figured that it wouldn’t be a big problem. Then, back down to the lounge. Someone had paid for a buffet to be set up (I suspect it was Destiny Tours who paid for it) so we got some snacks to eat; breaded shrimp, breaded chicken, cheeses, and fruit. It was nice because we were hungry, and weren’t going to make the dining room due to the games.

Then the Gold game began. Wow! What an exciting game. No scoring in the first period. The Swedish team sure seemed to be stronger than the Canadians, but they were able to hold them off.

In the second period, Canada scored. Along with most of the arena, our room erupted. Lots of clapping and happiness. It was as if people thought that they were on their way to a win. However, the Swedes had another idea and continued to play very well. They scored a short-handed goal close to the end of the period, which took a lot of wind out of our room.

In the third, it was quite tense. Back and forth; each team working to get the advantage. The Swedes looked really scary and seemed able to stifle any good chances that our boys had. The end was getting closer and closer. Canada had a power play with about 5 minutes left and almost scored.

Then, with 1 minute 40 seconds left, the break we were looking for occurred. Canada had some pressure on and was able to get the puck moving around quite quickly. A beautiful pass from the point to a forward just off the net was followed by a tip into the back of the goal. The place went wild. It was looking good.

Sweden pulled their goalie, and we managed to score into the empty net with just under a minute to play. Jubilation. The Swedes pressed, but our boys held them off until the final buzzer.

Dawn and I felt that we were pretty lucky, but clearly, the teams were pretty evenly matched. I’m sure the Swedes thought they were the better team but just didn’t get the luck when they needed it. There were some pretty happy boys in red, and some pretty sad, depressed boys in yellow.

It was a great ending to the game for us. We were able to go back to the room and get ready for our last night on board the ship. Early up in the morning so we could clear out of our room, get breakfast and then leave the ship.