At Sea

February 27^th, 2025

How did this happen? Today is our last full day on board the Sojourn.

We are clearly not ready to leave – after the partying last night we didn’t wake up until after 10:00. This was not good, as we hadn’t even started to think about packing yet.

We missed breakfast and went to the square to get a snack. When we returned to our suite our bags had been removed from under our bed, and were all ready to be packed. I just love that we didn’t have to pull them out from under our bed by ourselves.

There are the 4 large suitcases, inside one of them are our 2 duffel bags, and we still have our 2 carry-on bags and backpacks, so there’s a lot of packing to get done.

We decided to delay starting the packing until after lunch, we just went through all of the paperwork I had accumulated, including 90 days of the Herald and the restaurant menus, plus sundry invitations and port information sheets. In the old days, these would all come home with us, but we are trying so hard to declutter our already over cluttered house, so alas they could not join us on our trip home. Into the rubbish bin they went.

Having been very strict about what we could keep, and what had to go out, we were left with a small pile of paperwork, things we simply weren’t ready to discard.

Then it was time for our final trivia. Our 10 member team has been one of the highlights of this cruise. Every sea day at 12:00 we have sat together, munched on popcorn, and tried to make some sense out of the obscure questions put together by Nick and Rhys.

Some days we scored better than other days, some days we should have scored much higher but were overthinking the question and came up with an incorrect answer, some days one team member would come up with the correct answer only for the rest of us to poo poo it, and then find out that they were correct all along. The most important thing is that we had fun. Right from day 1. There are many things that I will miss about this trip after we leave the Sojourn, but trivia and our team is sure to be high up on my list. We all had a great time.

After trivia we all went for lunch in the Colonnade, and then there was no delaying it any further. Packing had to begin.

We took down the map that Emma had given us before our Queen Victoria world cruise in 2017, and placed the port magnets in their little bag. Although it was a shame that we had missed so many ports, but it still looked like we had had a busy time.

Packing was a bit of a challenge in that 4 bags were going to go to with Luggage Forward to Portland to our son’s house, and we would not see them again until the end of June. Only 2 bags would come home with us. What would we not need until June? Also we had to be mindful of not packing any of the forbidden objects in the Luggage Forward bags. In the old days it used to be so easy just stuffing everything in sight into the closest bag. Today’s packing effort was taking way too much organization for someone who thrives on chaos and the random nature of life.

But we did get the packing done, thanks to Brian’s organizational skills and we were finished packing by the time we went to the Sojourn farewell.

There have been several farewell gatherings on this cruise as each segment ended. I was quite happy to go to them knowing that we weren’t saying farewell. However, this time it was for us.

Chelsea and the band were performing as we entered the Grand Salon,

and we were presented with drinks and caviar as we sat down. Hmmmm. We are just so used to that now, it’s hard to think that after tomorrow no one is going to greet me with champagne and caviar.

The officers arrived and managed to ensure that the Sojourn banner was not upside down again.

Then all of the crew entered, and we had to chance to thank them all for making this cruise so amazing, and to say goodbye.

Not all of the crew get to attend the farewell, but along with the captain and hotel manager Harry, two of our favorite people were there, Camilla our wonderful suite attendant, and Gareth, one of the Solis waiters who was always trying to get us to drink tequila.

After the presentations the entertainment staff sang “time to say goodbye” which had always been my QE2 song, but it was particularly relevant to us now having to say goodbye to our “home away from home” for the past 3 months.

We had our final dinner with Howard and Helen, waited on by Priscilla and Stephen. The food was delicious and the service was perfect as usual. Priscilla didn’t like the table that we had been seated at because she felt it was too close to the kitchen and too noisy, so halfway through the meal she moved us to another table. We hadn’t expressed any complaints about the table where we were seated initially, but she took the initiative to make sure we were taken care of.

The Seabourn 6 gave a wonderful performance for our final show. The stage in the Grand Salon is small, and there is no room for scenery as such, but the background graphics are always amazing.

The show was a wonderful finale for all of the great entertainment we have had to pleasure of experiencing on board.

After the show we went to the Observation Bar for one last drink. It was quiet there again, just a few people at the bar, and Robert playing quietly in the background. The mood was somber, we weren’t the only ones who were reluctant to say goodbye to the Sojourn tomorrow.

We had our final martinis, said our fond farewells, and left the bar just before 11:00 as that was the latest we could leave our bags outside our suite.

The ship’s corridors were filled with suitcases. Everyone had at least 6 or 7 bags outside their door, we had never seen the corridors that crowded. The ship is full, and all but 8 passengers will be disembarking tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy day for the crew.

We packed the final items into our bags and placed our 6 bags outside our suite. We discarded our rose which had seen better days.

Two of the 3 succulent plants that we were given on embarkation continue to do well. I wish I could have brought them home with me, they would have been a good souvenir of our cruise, but alas I think the US customs would not be happy with me bringing them into the country.

I have memories of our late friend Bob bringing plants into the country in 2009. We had been on Queen Mary 2 and at several ports he had visited the botanic gardens and managed to leave the gardens with samples of the greenery there, mostly begonias and orchids. As he had an inside cabin, he was concerned that they would not get any sunlight and so against the wishes of our cabin steward he had placed all of the plants on our balcony for the duration of the cruise. When the time came to disembark he had placed them in his backpack and brought them home to his apartment in Chicago. The plants continued to thrive, and he was very proud of them.

Unfortunately, his apartment was destroyed by a fire a couple of years ago, and the plants that had survived weeks on our balcony and a plane ride in his backpack from Hong Kong to Chicago, were now unrecognizable among the ashes.

If Bob was still with us, I know he would have taken his succulents home with him and for years to come I would have seen them flourish in the sunroom of his Chicago home. I felt sad that the future for our plants looked bleak, I fear that they will be discarded along with the mound of paperwork that we had to throw out. Not a fitting end for them at all when I have enjoyed them so much for the past 3 months.

I had hoped that for our last night on board the sea would show some movement and I would be rocked to sleep. No such luck, we had yet another calm night. Too bad. It is a sign that we need to go on another cruise.

Also although Brian achieved his aim of walking over 1 million steps on this cruise. I had a rather measly 360,000. It is indeed another sign that I have to try to attain this goal again.