Then the procession starts....all, or almost all, the crew come onto the stage, dressed in their working uniforms, and the cabin stewards all carrying their little 'towel animals'. And we all applaud, call out to our favorites..and start to get really sad to have to leave.
The grand finale: the Crew Good Bye. We have known all these wonderful, hardworking and friendly people since four months, long enough to know each other pretty well.
Some have become such close friends in fact, our cabin stewards, buffet attendants, bar stewards, dining room attendants etc know almost ALL of your quirks and preferences, whether it concerns how we want our laundry done to what our favourite foods are, and what our daily schedules and preferred activities are.
Almost all six hundred crew from more than a dozen countries assemble on this occasion, except for a few staff holding the fort, and they are introduced to the stage to enthusiastic applause...cooks, engineers, housekeepers,shop staff, laundrymen, entertainers, painters, carpenters, instructors, a whole village and its infrastructure. The ship's trim turns bow down with all that extra ballast up front.
Then they all sing for us, which is a fail safe occasion for prolific crying and clapping, the song: Love in any language, straight from the heart....
Outside the ship - land. I go up to the public GPS display and see this.
Why are we here? Then the Captain announced that instead of sailing the Pacific on the West Coast of Vancouver Island to return to Vancouver via the Juan de Fuca Straight, we had permission from the authorities and availability of required pilots to change original course and transit through the southern part of the Inside Passage.
Pine Island just north of God's Pocket, where recreational sailors wait for good conditions to head out over the bars between Vancouver Island (the lower brown bit) and the open Ocean.
What a perfect last day surprise and bonus - other people have to book an Alaska Cruise to pass here, and then they transit during the darkness of night.
Yes, Pine Island ahead, Cape Scott to starboard and the Coastal Ranges behind the Queen Charlotte Sound (?)to port. The Canadian pilots were on their way.
And there it was, the little boat, replete with Maple Leaf and a red and white pilot flag. First touch with someone arriving from the Continent we left four months ago.
Three p.m. many of the guests offered their farewell to us with a matinee, where every seat was taken in the big auditorium. Here we have the Hal Chorale, a full choir of passengers under the competent musical and artistic leadership of our Cruise Director, an accomplished show producer in his own right. They had practised every sea day for this performance, a medley from My Fair Lady. Of course at the 'I could have danced all night' song, the lady dancers all started sniffling...
We also heard concert pianists, clowns, story tellers, and a good number of singers - starting with a Japanese man singing the 'The Tennishee Waatz', to a Quebec man singing about 'Doing it (cruising) Our Way' compliments of Frank Sinatra; a barber Quartet turning us all to mush with singing an Irish Blessing, and a Japanese lady dressed in an elegant black glitter gown chanting Japanese lyrics, and accompanying them with interpretive gestures (and a Karaoke backup).
Things are definitely coming to an end.
Johnston Strait, a small fishing trawler heading north west.
Clouds hanging below the mountain tops and veiling the snow capped peaks, ever changing weather and vistas at every bend of Johnston Strait
And here a glimpse of a snow dusted peak near Kelsey Bay on Vancouver Island.
Dark and romantically gloomy, Johnston Strait without a gale.
Heading away from the setting sun behind the stern of MS Amsterdam...the last dinner together with our table companions, the last dances amongst friends, the last left over bottles of wine and champagne, hugs, address exchanges, tears.
Then pack the last supper outfit, force the suitcase zippers shut, lug the whole lot outside into the hallway (where it disappears within seconds into never never land), give a last check into each drawer and closet, under the bed and inside the hollow footstool, which served as bar storage for our private wine stack for 4 months - all empty. Yes, and we still keep the clothes needed to get off the ship. Guests have been known to pack ALL, and then leave the ship in a borrowed bathrobe...
I was on deck at 05:30 a.m. when we passed under the Lion's Bridge connecting North and South Vancouver via Stanley Park. It was just past dawn, chilly, a bit damp. I watched the freighters anchored in English Bay, gazed at the graceful bridge arch when we passed underneath, scanned the path of the Seawall of lush Stanley Park, and watched the mountains with their tops almost hidden by clouds, with a hot coffee in one cold hand and a non functioning camera in the other. Well, one goes to plan B and returns to the cabin for the stand by 'point and shoot'.
A Genuine Canadian welcoming our ship....this goose sat in the same spot for at least two and a half hours. And it was a genuine one, not a stuffed one! It's very goose like actions proved it.
Dressing Ship - the last time.
Customs and Immigration protocol was easy, quick, friendly and painless. At least for me, who had not bought a container load of goodies to declare.
Tough to leave this home away from home, and this warm and friendly floating community of travellers and crew. A little United Nations without the politics, but with lots of friendship and love and respect.
And back home, to the last falling petals of apple blossoms and Rhododendrons and Japanese Cherries in full bloom.
