Monday - Arabian Sea

Even though we’ve just recently lost 2 hours, we still managed to get up around 8:00 this morning so that we could go to the dining room for breakfast. We have decided that we are really going to miss all of the pampering that we’ve received on board and certainly miss all of the people that we’ve met. Breakfast was very nice and we were able to see the calm blue waters and beautiful blue skies. After breakfast we came back to the room and I opted to go do some laundry. As I have mentioned earlier, the launderette is a very interesting place where people get VERY territorial. After a couple of hours we had all of our clothes clean so that we could begin packing. First it was time to go down for dance class, but today wasn’t the typical class. Tonight is Burns Night where they celebrate the life and works of Robert Burns who is evidently idolized by the Scottish people. In honor of this we learned two Scottish dances, for which I cannot remember the names. However they were group dances and very fun and energetic. After class and folding laundry Mom and I went up to the dining room for lunch. We made it there for all three meals today – that’s major progress.

The majority of our afternoon was spent packing, not the most fun part of a trip. I think we did a pretty good job and are about 90% packed at this point. We do have to remember that Wednesday is not the end of our trip as we still have several days in Dubai and then of course going to Hong Kong before going back to the States. We did spend some time out on the verandah just enjoying the afternoon sun and eventually sunset.

We still had a bottle of bubbly and we couldn’t let that go to waste, so we celebrated what has been a wonderful trip. They were having a special Burns Night event explaining some of the traditions including addressing and toasting the Haggis.

For those who don’t know what this is - you don’t want to know, but I will tell you anyway! From what I understand it’s comprised of intestinal items all stuffed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled!!! Any takers?? The crazy think is, they had this to sample at this event and the fools lined up like they couldn’t wait. Ugh. Needless to say, I was not one of them. We left the event early to go on up to the dining room before I totally lost my appetite. Then of course Mom went and ordered Haggis as an appetizer off of our menu. She is officially braver (or crazier) than I.

After dinner we went down to the Queen’s Room for the Tartan Ceilidh and dancing the Highland Flings and Scottish jigs. I’ll have to say it was a great time, but I think my knees hurt from all of the jumping in high heels. It was amazing to see all of the gentleman who were wearing their kilts – we even had a photo op with one!

We still find it hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day on board this beautiful ocean liner (with great stabilizers!). Tomorrow we will be in Muscat, Oman, but our plan is to stay on board and have a quiet day. That is about all from “Bubbly and Bloomy” our nicknames from our British friends.