April 6 – Last day at sea…Sailing the Mediterranean, Arriving in Monaco

We slept in again and Paul missed his early morning hair appointment.  Fortunately they had a slightly later one and he was able to get that done, plus, amazingly, he was able to get our last loads of laundry done. 

The morning was spent doing some packing and then hitting the lectures.  We had lunch with Don and Joan from Michigan and had a great visit with them.  Then it was back to the stateroom for more packing. 

Mid-afternoon we were sailing fairly close to the coast of France and had some good views, even though the weather wasn’t so good.  

We eventually headed up to the Palm Court on Deck 12 forward so that we could watch as we sailed into Monaco.  There were a lot of people with the same idea. 

Monaco is extremely small and the hillsides are packed with buildings.

Monte Carlo Casino in the foreground

And the harbor was full of yachts.  

We stayed up in the Palm Court so long that they eventually set up and served afternoon tea.  We had enjoyed tea in Palm Court only once because we eat way too much on board.  But it was a bit of fun having tea and looking over Monaco and Monte Carlo.

At one point the ship came to a virtual stop as some very small boats seemed to have tipped over right in front of us.  The pilot boat came out to help them get righted and on their way.  

This evening’s show was quite a cruise finale.  They brought in outside musicians to supplement the show band and they ended up with a 32 piece orchestra.  They built out the stage quite a bit to accommodate the orchestra and all the dancers and singers.  

They had several themes throughout the show.  First was some country and Elvis pieces (Curtis dressed as an Elvis for a routine that he did with Beverly)...

followed by some Cirque de Soleil.  This portion included some Russian aerialists working with a large ring and also long “scarves” suspended from the ceiling. 

They also did some Rat Pack songs and Curtis and Beverly performed several amazing dance routines. 

The show ended with a medley of James Bond songs (we are in Monte Carlo after all) with great songs by the guest singers on board.  It was a phenomenal show.