4 October At sea
Well, today is it! Our last day of gluttony! Will need to hit the shops in Florida tomorrow to extend the wardrobe! We have to try & pack all that stuff back into the suitcases & have them outside our room tonight. The weather today is hot so everyone is on deck enjoying the pools and sunshine. Looking forward to seeing Buzz Gibb - not sure if we’ll go deep sea fishing but guess it will depend on weather conditions. The sea today is amazingly calm, like a mill pond.
Will be having more ice cream treats in the afternoon and tonight Marita is singing in the final of the karaoke competition. Next posting will be from land!!!!!

3 October At sea
Today we enjoyed Caroline’s gift of a champagne breakfast. It was fantastic, and we were able to enjoy it on our balcony as the weather is now quite warm. We had cereal, fruit, smoked salmon, eggs, bagels, toast, pastries and much more. Obviously too much to eat but we did our best. And the champagne was excellent.
In the afternoon we received a cheese platter, also from Caroline. She certainly is the fairy godmother. The Captain had his farewell cocktail party at 7pm. Once again we got to talk to him and enjoy a few very nice cocktails. We will miss the ship life when we leave but probably one of the highlights has been dinner at night – not so much the food but the company and the waiters. We still have Robyn & Ian from Brisbane (they have been with us for 28 days) and for the past 18 days we have Cy & Natalie & Marita & Scott from Miami. And of course our waiters Juro & Tatiana are like family!

2 October – New York
Woke early as we were coming in to New York. As it was still dark (5am) the lights from surrounding areas were very pretty and the Staten Island Ferry passed us full of early starters. We passed very close to the Statue of Liberty, all lit up & welcoming! Docked at Brooklyn which is quite a hike from Manhattan but everyone managed to find their way somehow. We cleared immigration at around 8am & shared a cab to the Brooklyn subway for our day in Manhattan. Went to the South St Seaport area but not much opened until 10am so after phoning the girls (sorry Jane, couldn’t get a line to you) we took another train to 42nd St. Wandered up 7th Ave as far as Central Park, bought some pastrami on rye at our favourite NY Deli on 6th & sat in the park to enjoy! No one does pastrami on rye like the New Yorkers.
Walked south along 5th Ave & fire trucks everywhere at the Elizabeth Arden building. George counted 22 trucks, along with police & ambulances. And of course, people everywhere. It seems fire broke out on the 11th floor so everyone evacuated. There were women on the street in salon gowns and their hair in foils, wet or half done! What a nightmare. Back at 42nd we took a train to Brooklyn