Our last day was spent at sea which called for sleeping as late as possible, think 9:15, in preparation for a long travel day tomorrow. I augmented my packing day with a tour of the galley where thousands of meals are prepared each day. This sea of spotless stainless steel is broken up into four kitchens plus a station where all the gelato, ice cream, and sorbet is made. The passengers’ dining areas and room service as well as two crew messes are served by this massive, impeccably clean kitchen thanks to 300+ crew.

It came as a surprise to us that essentially all the groceries needed for each cruise are flown into the home part, in our case Yokohama, three days prior to each set-sail date. Each shipment must go through local quarantine before being brought on board, inventoried, and stored away for the upcoming cruise. This seems amazing considering the ship is usually in port for roughly 12 to 14 hours. We have found the food on board to be wonderful, so they seem to have this process down to a science.

The relaxing day passed quickly by the time we ate, read, and skillfully stuffed our purchases into the nooks and crannies of our suitcases. After dinner we bid farewell to the waitstaff who has taken such good care of us. Dinner was followed by our final entertainment and lastly we placed our suitcases outside our rooms by the bewitching hour of 10:00 PM.

We four agree that it has been a perfect cruise. Less one day of pouring rain while we were at sea, the weather was unseasonably warm and pleasant, the sites, sights, and sounds interesting, the food delicious, and having one another for company great fun. It doesn’t get any better than that.

If tomorrow goes as planned Dan and I will walk in our door about 24 hours after we wake up thanks to our nonstop flight. Factoring in the International Dateline we will land at the same time and on the same day as we take off. Hettie and Ronnie are not as fortunate since they have two connections to make.