The
alarm screeched us into awareness at 5.30am. This is pain! After
the late night last night I can think of nothing worse!
No
choice though. In the weeks leading up to the cruise there were some
political issues happening in this region, not just the tension
between North and South Korea but the tension between China and Japan
as well. This led to some timing changes being made and one of them
was a drastically reduced visit to Jeju.
If
we want to see this island at all we have to get up as the ship is
here for a mere 5 ½ hours starting from 6am!
So,
dragging ourselves to the dining room, I can barely stomach a coffee
but also order a slice of toast and get a bowl of Granola (my new
favourite cereal) as we are walking today and going to need some
energy.
We
get off the ship as soon as possible after the quickest breakfast
ever and meet up with a Norwegian couple that we had breakfast with
on another day. We decide to share a cab into the centre of town to
visit the markets as our first stop. The guy (sadly I can't remember
either of their names!) tells us he was born here and this is his
first visit back since his parents moved to Norway when he was a
baby.
The
markets as usual are amazing. I wish there was some perspective so
that people can see the size of these freaking apples, seriously they
were as big as grapefruits! And the grapes were the size of plums!
We saw black eggs and passed stalls with kimchi and the smells made
my mouth water! I love Korean food and wish we had been there at a
meal time so I could have sampled some of the stuff we were seeing.
We
had a map and decided we would just wander along, Jeju is small and
we figured we could see the main attractions on foot.
As
we were heading towards the Cloud Bridge I saw some more of the stone
statues that seemed to be everywhere, I walked over to take a photo
and Nathan grabbed me and stopped me, I was about to walk on a snake!
Got it in the picture as it was leaving....
The
Cloud Bridge was a bit scary, it rocked as we walked so I had to wait
til there was no one on it and got across as fast as I could. We
then headed to Dragons Head Rock. It was a pretty walk but nothing
spectacular. When we got there we saw quite a few tour buses with
people from the cruise. We had seen this was a tour and I am so glad
we didn't pay for it! Dragons Head Rock was underwhelming to say the
least and I am happy we went there for free!! The mermaid statue was
more interesting and was unlisted ;)
We
decided to take another route back to the ship and an amazing smell
drew us to a little hole in the wall selling what looked like waffle
sandwiches! We decided to order one, I think it cost us around
$1.50, and it was two waffles spread with a fruity flavoured paste
and filled with cream, stuffed with chunks of chocolate and
strawberries...oh my...Nathan and I shared it and wished we had
bought one each! Yum!
We
made it back to the ship with about half an hour to spare and had
time for a nap before heading to the MDR for our final lunch on the
ship. Sadly we were seated with whiners again so Nathan and I just
chatted to each other and enjoyed the awesome food once again.
After
so little sleep, lots of walking and a huge lunch we went back to bed
and slept away rest of the day!
Final
night in the MDR and we draw our dinner out a little longer than
usual. The regulars are there but the dining room is very empty
compared to the other nights so the waiters don't have as much to do
and are happy to linger and chat.
An
aside: RCI introduced mandatory gratuities in March of this year and
many people have been angry about it. I have read so many forums
where people have loudly proclaimed that they ALWAYS tip and it's
ALWAYS over and above the recommended amount and blah blah blah but
the reality is that tips are given on the final night and on the
final night on virtually every ship a lot of people just don't make
that final dinner. They book the specialty restaurants or go to the
buffet or get room service. So on the final night the dining room is
empty and they don't need to look at the waiters who have served them
all cruise as they walk out without paying a tip. The mandatory
gratuities was supposed to end that but RCI gave people an out. They
could, if they wanted, go to Guest Services and have the gratuities
removed and then hand out gratuities (or tips) as they chose. The
emptiness of the dining room that night suggests that many did just
that :/
We
loved the service that we got from Michael and Elizabeth. We had
prepaid our gratuities as one of the conditions of My Time Dining and
were happy with that. We also wanted to give them an extra tip to
show our gratitude for the service they had given.
There
were other staff that were good (like our room steward Joel who we also left an envelope for) but these two were a cut above the
rest and made every meal an occasion, not just for us but for all the
regulars that sat with them every night. I was very pleased to see
that almost every single one of them came back on the last night and
their area was almost full while most of the rest of the dining room
was almost empty.
At
the end of the meal we managed to get a photo and thank them again :)
Off
to the Savoy Theatre for the Farewell Variety Show and then bed for
our last sleep on the ship.
I
am sad to have to leave but excited as well because tomorrow we
arrive in Shanghai!
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