Caribbean Cruise - Day 8 - Heading Home

Today is our last day aboard the Norwegian Jewel. We are already docked, in fact we were docking during dinner the night before but the cruise was to last until Saturday. I spent one more day practicing before breakfast. There was only one person beside me in the fitness center, a woman who was using the exercise machines. I was surprised that there were a lot of people in the Garden Cafe when I went in to get our lemon water. I guess some people wanted to get a head start, like us they had a full day of traveling head of them. Our flight to Atlanta was not until noon so we were not in a big hurry to leave. As i was walking down the stairs with our two cups of lemon water, trying not to spill them, I saw groups of people queuing up at the elevators. my wife was already dressed when I got back to our room.

We went up to the Garden Cafe for breakfast. There were more people there than I had seen during the entire cruise, but then again, it was everyone's last breakfast on board. We had a hearty breakfast of eggs Benedict with salmon that we added to make it eggs Charlotte, home fries, Chelsea buns, fresh fruit and coffee with a lot of hot milk which essentially made it cafe au lait.

After breakfast we went back to our room to finish packing. we had decided that we would carry our own luggage off the boat, it was simpler and faster. We walked off the boat and directly into the SuperCab that was waiting for us, it could not have been simpler than that. There was an older couple already sitting in the SuperCab. We started talking with then and found that not only did they live  near Edmonton, Alberta but they lived in the same town where our  son teaches high school,amazing!

At the airport, we checked in and waited.. We had lots of time before our flight so we sat in the baggage claim area and ate the tuna salad sandwiches that mt wife made on the ship. After eating, we went through security. Both of us refused to go through the radiation scanner so they had to do a body check which was fine with us. After security we had a cup of green tea and waited.

Our flight from Houston took off without delay, the trip to Altanta was just under two hours. When we landed in Atlanta, we immediately found our connecting flight and made sure our cell phones were on the correct time. We found a place to have dinner called Book Ends. We had crepes filled with artichokes, Spinach and cheese.They were tasty and filling. After dinner we still had hours to wait before our flight so, we walked around B terminal where we had dinner before going to D terminal where our connecting flight was. Since there was nothing else to do we went to D terminal on the train. We went to the gate to make sure it was the right gate. we checked the electronic board to make it was the right gate. We sat at the gate with at least two hours to go. My wife was watching the monitor and saw a notice that there was an art exhibit in terminal T. We had lots of time so off we went to terminal T.

When we got to terminal T I saw some sculptures that I wanted to see before we went to see the art exhibit, the sculpture was on the same level as the train. the exhibit was sculpture from Zimbabwe. I was called "A Tradition in Stone" zimbabwe. I thought that the sculptures were absolutely amazing! There were original in concept and powerfully expressed, they were simply beautiful.

We had to tear ourselves away from the sculptures or else we would not have time to see the art exhibit. the art exhibit was also interesting, it was called Flight Patterns: An Exhibition of Fiber Art flight-patterns-exhibition. The pieces were constructions of different kinds of fiber medium. It was very textural.

We returned to terminal D because it was getting near the time for departure and we did not want to miss our flight home. At the gate, they started boarding the plane. The agent at the desk called our name. I went up to the counter, I did not want any issue with the flight home. The agent told me that we had been upgraded to first class. I was confused, shocked and pleased. This was a great finish to a great vacation. 

We had lots of leg room in big comfortable seats in first class. My wife had a big glass of red wine. Since I can't drink I had black tea, several cups actually. It was nice, comfortable flight to Toronto. Getting through customs and getting our bags was fairly routine. we caught the shuttle to the Marriott. The difference in temperature was a little bit if a shock on the body, we went from 30 degrees Celsius in the morning to 5 degrees Celsius in less than 12 hours. 

Our hotel room was a nice, large room, clean and comfortable. The thing that interested us the most was to take a shower a get to bed. We were up around 7:30 AM on Sunday. we dressed and checked out. We could have lounged around the hotel for a few hours but we wanted to get home. We stopped at Oceans grocery store oceansfood.ca on the way home because we did not have any food at home. We had the  coffee that we bought at the Second Cup next door to Oceans and the Dim Sum that we bought at Oceans for breakfast. We bought a few things that we needed and we were home by 11:00 AM.

It was a great cruise. I am really that we celebrated my 60th birthday in this way.