Day 8 - Last Day at Sea - NCL Joy 2022

We enjoyed a quick breakfast this morning in the Horizon Lounge.  To get some exercise, we did some laps around the Waterfront.  It was still early so we visited the casino.  I also returned to the cabin to start packing so I could enjoy the afternoon and evening.  

Lunch was at the Local where we both had our guilty pleasure chicken wings.  I think the last time we had any chicken wings was our NCL cruise in 2019 so we wanted them one more time.  
  
We had plans to meet friends for the black glass wine tasting with macarons.  The sommelier was very knowledgeable and taught us about his testing process he had gone through.  We started with two wines in clear glasses to warm up before the black ones.  He split us into two teams and we had to guess if it was Old or New World, color, and variety of grape. The first wine was priced at over a 100 dollars and it was a great old world Chardonnay.  Not all the wines were as expensive but we did like the variety.  After the tasting, then he told you which of the wines to pair with each cookie.  The macarons were phenomenal and maybe the best sweet I had all week!  Our team ended up winning.  There was only eight of us at the tasting and all couples.  He told us we won some Brut that was probably in our cabin the first day.  He returned  and each couple received a prize which was a bottle of Vueve Cliquot.  That was not the champagne that was in our cabin!  Our cruise friends opened their bottle for the eight of us to share.  It was such a fun, intimate event that I would recommend.  

I wanted to try the sustainable drink even though I had plenty of wine already.  Today’s was Bananaruma which was a riff on an old fashioned.  It was not very sweet though but I enjoyed it.  It would make a nice evening drink.   

Tonight, we decided we would have our last dinner in the Haven Restaurant.  We had a pre dinner drink at the bar with our bottle of champagne. We offered it to some guests as I knew we wouldn’t finish it.  I did take my glass up to dinner to enjoy with my meal.  I started with the tuna taktaki and Chris had lobster deviled eggs.  Both were really good starters.  We decided to share an appetizer portion of crab cake to determine why it was not popular.  We had heard it was raw, gooey and just not good.  Both of us have eaten many crab cakes and probably some of the best in the world from Baltimore so we wanted to see why people did not like it.  We were not expecting a jumbo lump crab cake.  It was the type of meat I totally expected.  It is a stringy consistency and not lump which maybe some expected.  It was pan fried with a nice cook.  It had good flavor and not raw.  I could have eaten it and not complained.  Although, I think I enjoyed my entree more which was surf and surf.  We both ordered two lobster tails and no steak.  We had the surf and turf the first night and really liked it.  We skipped dessert tonight because we wanted to attend the shows.  The chef came out to see us and we chatted about the crabcake.  He mentioned that the crabmeat was a mixture of lump and claw and is canned (it would be quite difficult to keep fresh crab all week on a ship) so that could explain why some people may not find it to their taste.

The Cavern Club hosted the Beatles tribute band tonight billed as Sgt. Pepper night.  It was packed but we found a corner to stand to hear the show.  My feet did start to hurt in my heels so I left a little early.  I went to say goodbye to Bong and have some water while talking to him.  I can understand why he is so popular.  

I met up with Chris outside the theater to see Elements.  Our friends found us as well and sat with us.  The show started with great effects, music and dancing.  I did drift off here and there from the wine, darkness and rain sound effects.  It is a cirque du soleil type show but a much smaller scale.  I liked the magic that I saw as well as the aerialists.  I’m not sure I would watch it again but it was an interesting show.  We walked our friends to the wine bar for their nightcap but we waved the white flag and skipped the last drink.  It was time to go finish up our suitcases and place them outside our door.  We said our goodbyes to our new friends and went back to retire for the evening.