Through the entire cruise, many of us were wondering about whether we will see the effect from Christobal, the tropical storm that formed closed to the Bahamas and about to swerve northwards. Strangely enough, we didn't feel any effects from it. In fact, of all the cruises that I've taken, this was the smoothest cruise ever! I hardly ever felt the ship moving at all!
That changed on the last evening. In fact, early in the evening, the captain warned us about the turbulent water that we will encounter after 10:30 pm that night due to a local storm along the coast of Florida. He wasn't kidding. We all went to bed early that evening since we have to pack and wake up early the next morning. But I remembered waking up in the middle of the night and feeling the ship being rocked in all directions. It was definitely very rough seas. I was glad I was already lying down in bed, because I was certain that I would be having problem had I been up and moving about in this condition.
The shipped pulled into Port Canaveral around 5:30 am. We showered and got dressed, and made it to Animation Palette for our breakfast at 6:45 am. {Yawn!}
It is during this breakfast that I saw one of the most moving moment of the cruise. I was finishing my breakfast when, at another large table, and there were probably 8 people at that table, were done with their meals and were about to leave for the last time. They were saying goodbyes to their two servers who had been with them all through the cruise. When the mother (or at least, I assumed she was the mother) asked her son (I'm guessing 10 years of age) to say goodbye to the servers, he broke down in tears! He went and hugged one of them and started to sob. The first server felt this and hugged him tight and even kissed him on his head. By the time he hugged the other server, he was already wiping the tears coming down his face.
When the boy finally let go, the family bid the two servers one last goodbye and they all walked out. The mother hugged the boy very closely, and patted him on the head as they walked.
Crap, I almost broke down in tears watching all this.
Certainly, I can understand a level of attachment and fondness of the servers. They are assigned to your dining table throughout your cruise, and depending on their personality, you do get to know them quite a bit. I know that we were very fond of our assistant server who always made us laughed, made excellent wine recommendations, and always seemed to have time to talk to us every single time we were there.
Unfortunately, soon enough after our breakfast, it was time for us to depart. We said goodbyes to our own servers (and gave them generous tips) and made our way to the Atrium. On the way out from the restaurant, they were handing out a set of menus that were used during the Member Cruise, so we got to keep them as mementos.
The atrium was full of people mingling and making their way out.
Even the captain of the ship, Captain Henry, was there to say goodbye to the passengers. Many were thanking him for the great job he did on the last night when we had very rough seas.
We shook hand with the captain, and thanked him for a safe voyage.
We then walked out into the gangway.
Our 2014 DVC Member Cruise was officially over!!
{sobbing}
Zz.
