DAY SIX
Another stop today
at
We again had no booked excursion planned for Ketchikan, but we got off the ship and looked around the town for a little while. This was the biggest of the three towns we visited and the first one where we actually saw a supermarket and a Wal-Mart. This was good news for me because I was able to procure a couple of bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper, otherwise known as the Elixir of Life.
Quick aside: the cruise ship doesn’t serve Dr. Pepper, in any variety. In fact, it’s really not easy to get any soda pop on board. Nowhere is there the fountain set-up that you find at any Seven-Eleven or fast food chain. At the buffets, they only have non-carbonated beverages like juices, punch and iced tea. I’m sure that, if asked, the official cruise industry position is that, if they carried enough of the tanks needed to put the fizz in fountain drinks to cover the demand on your average cruise, there wouldn’t be enough room for necessities like booze or jugglers.
The cruise ship only has soda pop at the bars, only in cans, and, coincidentally, only in the varieties that are mixed with alcohol, and they charge you for it just like they charge you for the alcoholic drinks. So, in keeping with the family-friendly mandate that keeps the Vegas-style dancers well-contained in their costumes, they offer a “fountain fun card” that you purchase once, and then use for the duration of the cruise to procure soft drinks at no additional charge. There are a couple of drawbacks:
So, as I was saying, I managed to score a couple of
bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper at a convenience store in
After we returned to the
ship, we took it easy for the rest of the day. All of our regular dining
room group was present, and we managed to socialize respectably,
although it was clear that the last few days of strenuous relaxing was
beginning to take its toll on all of us. Some of the slack was taken up
having our waiters share their history. Both were from the
After dinner we went to the show, a music-and-dance salute to Broadway entitled “The Show Must Go On.” Unfortunately, there were electrical difficulties with the stage, and the show had to be cancelled. So we went back to the stateroom. The towel animal for this evening seemed to be a pudgy human form hung by a noose from the fire sprinkler. Maybe it’s time to leave a tip for housekeeping.
This last day, especially when there’s no port of call, really tests the mettle of a cruise director. Shawn on our cruise did her best to generate excitement among passengers who by now need defibrillators to be kick-started into any forward motion. There are plenty of activities scheduled, such as bingo games, ship tours, trivia challenges, and the trophy presentation to the passenger with the greatest body-mass index increase. We’ve just heard an announcement that the stage show that was cancelled last night will have a special showing this evening, presumably to stop the flood of pro-rated refund requests pouring into the purser’s office.
So there’s plenty to keep us
busy, but we haven’t planned much except the show and dinner. (Sue’s
just returned from a class on how to make all those towel animals and
has proudly shown me a monkey that looks like a flying squirrel, just
before asking me for a tip.) The last night of the cruise is always
tricky, because you have to pack up and leave your luggage outside your
door before
One last journal entry is planned after we make it home (he said optimistically). Once home, I’m sure I’ll have regained the emotional distance necessary for some final reflection on the trip.
All material copyright 2009 Chuck Thornton