I think we woke up around 10:30, and quickly dressed to have breakfast in the Windjammer. Crystal had plans to play Bingo most of the day (as promised, a hilarious story about that is to come). We agreed to meet her at 3:30 for the Royal Bingo tournament, where the grand prize was a free cruise for two.
Rae and I went to breakfast where I enjoyed my last RCI omelet for a while....
So Rae and I went to the pool deck to get some sun. The captain warned us of the gusty wind, and boy was it windy!!! It took us a long time to find chairs. We ended up taking a couple upright chairs behind one of the jacuzzis for a while, then moved to some lounge chairs in front of the main pool later on.
Today was a pretty lazy day. We did participate in the line dance classes in the main pool deck area. The leader had us do the Electric Slide with some variations, the Cha-Cha Slide, and a lot of other Latin-style line dances, which were really fun. If any of you know the wobble-wobble, we were honestly just hoping for that one but he never got to it. Still a nice way to burn some calories for a bit. You can see the instructor at the front, in the blue pants and white shirt. He was from Brazil; the guy had some moves!
We moved from the chairs to the jacuzzis while watching a lot of the contests. It was a pretty lively scene on the last day. I guess everyone was trying to maximize their last few moments on the ship! The wind died down after a while and we had a pleasant, comfortable afternoon.
Someone dropped and broke his beer bottle in one of the main pools, and they had to rope it off for draining and cleaning for the rest of the day. Come on people, no drinking in the pool! Ruins the fun for the rest of us. Sigh.
So at 3:30, we went to deck 5 and walked through the Royal Promenade to head to Royal Bingo in the Sphinx lounge. Apparently the time in the Compass was off by a half hour. There were a few people already there but we couldn't find Crystal. I remembered that the Cruise Director announced that it was to begin at 4 instead of 3:30, so Rae and I left to grab some lunch.
She didn't want any more pizza (I was kind of obsessed with Sorrento's, lol), so we tried the Cafe instead. So glad we did! Such a cute place to eat, it reminded me of a Panera Bakery. Lots of couches and nice large chairs to enjoy, and cute little sandwiches and pastries to try. Everything was great. The blueberry loaf was moist and delicious- not too sweet.
So we saw Crystal walking down the Royal Promenade from our spot in the Cafe. We finished up our lunch and made our way down to the Sphinx Lounge once more.
Mind you, we only got there about 5 minutes after she arrived, but she was already in her element! She had several bingo cards, and THREE bingo machines, ready for this game. Earlier this week, she won about $200 playing bingo, so today she pulled out the big guns, ready to win this free cruise!
When we walked into the lounge, we heard her shriek with delight and wave frantically at us. Couldn't miss her in the crowd, lol!
We came over to her table, and she said, "Y'all (she's originally from Oklahoma and the accent comes out in full force when she's excited), I'm sooo excited that you made it!! I'm ready to win this cruise!!! I gave myself a pep talk and everything, gettin' myself ready to win this! I have three machines and four cards, there's no WAY I'm leaving today without this cruise!" Really, I hadn't seen her this animated throughout the cruise, ROFL.
Each of these cards cost $15. There were four sheets to each card.
Now when she invited us to the bingo game, she framed it in a way so that we thought we were going to sit and watch her play. When we got there, she put us to work!
We were each responsible for pulling the tabs off one card, and watching one of the machines each. When she got to one away on either the cards or the machine, we were to let her know so she could stand up.
Apparently she was very popular, there were lots of people wishing her luck before the game started. She also gave some pointers to the other players.
I repeat: She. Was. So. Excited.
Rae and I were extremely amused.
I think she looks so beautiful in this shot:
She also had us peel the tabs off these while we were waiting for the game to start. They cost $5 each...she won $15, so it was a wash.
So this guy in a mask and cape pops out and shouts into the microphone, "Who's ready to play some Royal Bingooooooo?!!!"
Crystal screams with delight! She was several decibels louder than everyone else and scared some of the kids in the room, lol. The fact that I captured this moment was priceless!
So the announcer hadn't read more than six numbers when suddenly Crystal screams at the TOP of her lungs, "BINGOOOW!!!"
She did this twice in about three minutes.
She wasn't the winner.
It was only the first game out of four!
Not a happy camper. Note her expression:
We went through the last few games....and sadly, she didn't win.
She was pretty upset, understandably so since she spent so much money on the game. Then again, she just about came out even because of her winnings earlier that week. By the end of the cruise, she was very well known. Her personality and bingo are a hilarious combination! Some more pics, and the winning card:
After bingo, we needed to cheer her up a bit. We changed clothes in our room and went to the early seating of Saturday Night Fever. We walked in about 5 minutes before the show and found seats to the far right, near the stage. Crystal and I are 70's music fans, so the show was the perfect way to get her back into having a great time. If you haven't seen this show- GO SEE IT! It was fantastic! Great music, fun choreography, and the sets were awesome. It was hard to stay seated because we wanted to dance along with the actors all the time! If you can't dance all that well....you'll at the very least be tapping your foot throughout the show
After the show, we went to our last dinner on the ship. None of us was very happy about it.
Just before this shot, I said, "Crystal guess what? Tomorrow the cruise is over and you have to get off the ship!"
Finally tried the savory bites that everyone on Cruise Critic talks about. They were pretty good!
I really enjoyed the Moroccan Spiced Chicken Salad. I figured I wouldn't have the chance to try something like that at home anytime soon, so I gave it a try. The chicken was packed with flavor. Not a lot of heat, just more curry flavor. Delicious.
The calzone and the tempura. Both looked great and they were happy with each.
Now, I was actually kind of grossed out by my steak with gorgonzola butter. I wish I had gotten the sirloin from the alternative menu.
For dessert, we had the (regular, not sugar-free) key lime pie, which was pretty good!
After our meal, I stopped at the Cafe Promenade one last time for a couple more slices of that blueberry loaf. I wanted to have it on hand in case I wanted a snack later.
We got dressed for our last evening of dancing. It's funny because Rae brought a dress she wanted to wear sometime that week and hadn't gotten around to it, and I didn't really have anything else to wear (I totally underpacked). She let me try the dress on, and guess what?! It fit! She actually ended up giving me the dress, since she thought it looked better on me. I never said that, she did, lol 
We stayed till about 1 or so. Up next, our full day in Fort Lauderdale!
For the last part- part 6, click here.
For the last part- part 6, click here.
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