​For the last day at sea, we did fancy brunch at the Platinum restaurant with Jake and Elizabeth. I had French toast coated with fruit loops (!) and a side of bacon. Alicia had an eggs Benedict.

Afterwards, we wandered for a bit and checked out some of the photos Carnival took of us during the past couple of days, including the photos with frames we took and the pirate photos we took with Elizabeth and Jake . They were way too expensive to buy, though. "Carnival prices" as one of the photographers said.

We had a few minutes to kill so we next decided to check out the library. Alicia found one of her favorite books, "The Book Thief", in German (the story is set in Germany WWII). We also viewed various newspaper clippings such as the front page of the New York Times on July 21, 1969 (moon landing), June 6, 1944 (After Dday), October 24 1931 (Capone 11 years $50,000 fine), May 7 1945 (Germany surrenders), May 8 1945 (Truman declares victory), Jan 32 1948 (Ghandi assassinated), October 29 1929 (stock market crash, billions lost), and May 7 1937 (Hindenburg). These were pretty neat and historic to view, definitely wasn't expecting them in the Carnival Glory Library.

We had already read the debarkation papers but thought we would go to the presentation just for a refresher. We learned some good tidbits (like it's definitely faster not to check any luggage on the way out and just walk all your luggage out yourself) and we got to see some of the important staff (such as the captain) come up on stage and celebrate the cruise and the number of nationalities behind our success .

After the presentation, we found a little side door on the third floor with a pathway on the outside of the ship. This was kind of cool as we were the closest we've been to moving water. During the brief time we were here, we saw some flying fish in the water - pretty neat! I was like, "oh look at those birds over there" .... "wait a minute, we're way too far away from land for birds to be here". Glad we discovered this little secret deck!

Next, we decided to lay in the sun for a while on the upper decks. The only sunburn I had the entire trip occurred here, just a little bit on the knees. Nothing terrible though. Over the intercom, our captain said we were about halfway between Cozumel and Miami at this point, still about 250 miles left. He also mentioned it was about 7,000 feet deep where we presently were - crazy. What's even more crazy that the deepest part of the Caribbean Sea is between Cuba and Jamaica (near the Cayman Islands) in a spot called the Cayman Trench which is approximately 25,000 ft (7600 meters) deep.

Our dinner friends Elizabeth and Jake found us lounging and discussed the remaining items on our last day "bucket list". We agreed to go back to our room to change and meet them by the water slide for some mid-day water slide shenanigans. It was actually a lot of fun. There is a real science behind getting maximum speed on the 214-foot water slide . The trick is to arch your back and pinch your shoulder blades. Also, crossing your legs and raising your heels increases speed. We were talking to some other people in line and on the first day they had someone timing the watersliders and it turned into a bit of a competition. The best time was just under 10 seconds. We definitely need more practice for that.

Next up, lunch. I had 1 fish taco, 1 pork taco, and 1 chicken taco - they were small but delicious. There was a taco bar where you could add your own extras (lettuce, tomato, salsa, etc.). I was still a bit hungry so I also had a pastrami sandwich from the deli. Not quite New York City Katz's good but it'll do (best pastrami sandwich in NYC according to TripAdvisor). Alicia brought us some chocolate fondue of various fruits for the table to share. There was also an ice carving show where an artist carved a pair of hearts by the pool.

Later in the afternoon, Alicia and I went to the "Q and Awesome" with the cruise director Eric (findings/fun facts at the bottom of this post) . One of the funny/dumb questions that was just asked regarding the ice sculpture was "what do you do with the ice after it melts?"

Another item on our bucket list was finally taking a dip in the adults only pool on the back of the ship (same spot we hot-tubbed the other night). Water was nice, refreshing. It was salt water of course, so we wanted to shower afterwards.

We kind of exhausted most of our bucket list items so we decided to be productive and hit up the gym for the final time. I biked for a half hour and didn't even lose my key card! After the workout, we used the "spa" (hot tub) in the gym area again and relaxed with Jake and Elizabeth (we didn't plan this we swear). A dip in the hot tub is perfect after an afternoon workout.

After a quick shower, we made it to the top deck to catch the last sunset on the cruise and counted the five ships in the distance in our cruise ship posse (okay, 2 of them weren't actually cruise ships).

We did have two more items remaining on our bucket list, though. First, we finally found and tried the "pour your own beer" machine and had the Red Frog Red beer - relatively cheap for a tap beer on the ship ($4 for 14 oz). You only pay for what you pour, so theoretically you could pour a 7oz for $2. Your key card has your birth year programmed so I'm assuming that one of the checks the machine uses is an age test . At the bars, when they scan your card your face pops up so it makes it tricky if you're using someone else's card (i.e.: your spouses). So, if you did want to buy drinks with someone else's card, the best way would probably be this machine. The lone remaining item on our (read: my) bucket list was to play a game in the casino. Okay, I played two. The cash claw game (rip-off) and a slots game (boo didn't win once). $2 I'll never see back!

One thing that has been kind of cool throughout the trip has been our cabin steward. In Mexico, we didn't really meet our room stewards just the towel animals they left. While walking down the hallways near our room, we would often see our room steward and he would always say hi and call you by name. He was also helpful with towel exchanges and replacing our wine glasses with fresh ones.

Alas, it was time for our final dinner - sad. At dinner, we asked about Victor's day and it sounded kind of busy . We asked, "well, do you get tired / isn't it a long day?" He said "oh no this is easy." He was explaining to us that this is a actually a "small" cruise ship. He said the Carnival Breeze had the distance of a whole football field from the kitchen to the tables. He said the distance is half on this ship. He also said that ship was 5-10 meters wider on each side. He was so funny, love that Hungarian guy.

For our final dinner, we tried fried frog legs (meh) and a cold mango soup for appetizer (Alicia too). For our entree, Alicia had prime rib and I had cornbread chicken (recommended, and delicious). For dessert, of course we both had the carrot cake - Alicia was so happy.

After dinner, we made sure to snag a photo with our main waiter, Viktor (we also had the lovely Arnold who was more of a secondary waiter. We also had another waitress, but sadly and unintentionally, we were never ready to order when she came over so we weren't as close with her .) We gave Viktor an extra tip for our gratitude for the above and beyond service and he was very much appreciative.

After dinner, we went to 9:30pm comedy show with Jeff Jena. We also went to the 10:30pm show with Happy Cole. Both of these guys were hilarious. We've seen Jeff Jena before and he just picks people in the crowd and bases his jokes off of that - very dynamic. Happy talks ridiculously fast but that means he can squeeze in a ton of jokes.

After the show, it was getting late especially considering we had an early day tomorrow and still needed to pack a bit. We said good bye and farewell to our friends :(. Before going to bed, we made it up to the top deck and walked the jogging track for the last time where we said goodbye to the stars and evening breeze of the sea. It was a mild night - way less humid than when we were further south. Also, the water was way less bumpy than the open sea as we approach the last 50 miles to Miami. We were only in about 2000 feet deep water now.

In hindsight, this vacation seemed to have flown by when considering our Cancun vacation (except the first full day at sea, that drug on forever looking back at it). Maybe it was the four excursions? Maybe it was because we met some friends our age? Either way, it seems like just yesterday that we were dazed and confused as we first stepped onto the ship. I'm really going to miss the cruise; we had a blast.

We made our final packing preparations. Sleep time - actually going to miss our 2 double beds combined to make a king bed. Ironically, I liked to sleep in the middle right where the two beds meet - it was kind of like I could borrow in and nest. Still, today was a good, busy final day. With our quote "lazy day", we still amassed 15.5k steps. Our pillow “animal” tonight wasn’t an animal at all – it was a heart (awe). 
 

Random observations/facts: