Well, I tested negative. There was no option to leave me in the clink with Jason and just let me come and go so I had to move out and leave him there. That was pretty bittersweet. Was I happy to get the heck out of dodge? You bet. Did it suck to leave him there knowing what it was going to be like for him? Yes. And, was it sad to be free but also now alone? Also yes.
We shuffled around some things and repacked the bags and then it was time to go. We weren’t sure when or how we’d see each other again. A little weird!! I simply just walked out at that point down the forbidden hallway, through the sealed doors, and right back into the regular world which seemed to have kept right on spinning the whole time as though nothing ever happened.
So. So. Weird.
I went up to our old room, good old A331, and dropped off my backpack. The room was so quiet and empty and deserted. Like the day we originally got on the boat, before we ever made a million memories in it.
I decided to go walk the boat. See all the places. Everyone was off ship enjoying their day in Naples. And I do mean everyone. I took pictures of all the bars with literally no one, not even bartenders, there. Did I miss the rapture?
I went upstairs and decided to have a Bloody Mary on 16 aft, in the same spot I was sitting the week before when Wendy came running up with my COVID news. I do love a chance to come full circle.
Once Vines was open, I went to see James. He was so happy to see me. We needed to commiserate over Jason now being in. I told him we must go on with the smuggling ring. He understood.
As good as it was to see everyone, it just had a layer of sadness that we couldn’t have had our last 2 nights together- having fun, saying our goodbyes…but no. Dang it. How did we get into this cycle of unfair crap!? I want out!
Now, the boat was getting nervous because another big round of testing was coming. Anyone staying on the boat in Barcelona or getting off the boat and flying within 24 hours was going to have to test the next day. Well, not me. Those of us who have now recovered no longer test. At least I got that going for me! Our group was well aware of the COVID situation, because of us, so there was some worry for sure.
That night, we sat in Vines for a long time just chatting and catching up. Laura and Bob came around and shared a glass of Amarone, which was absolutely delicious. Never had a glass of amarone I didn’t love. I need to buy some!
Oh, so our pals Tom and Nancy (he is the retired Canadian mounty)- I ran into them and she was in a wheelchair. I was like, “geez!! What now?!?!?!?” This poor lady was just walking along, stepped off a sidewalk wrong and tore some muscles. She was going to have to go for an MRI in Barcelona. Ugh!
Ginny had gone into Sorrento for the day and she managed to score us (me and her) some beautiful cloth napkins with lemons on them! So very nice to do since she knew I was sad to not be able to go back to Sorrento and I regretted not buying the napkins the first time. Sometimes you don’t get that second chance.
Mike and Diana showed up and they had bought me a little gift, too! An “evil eye” bracelet. The evil eye wards off bad luck and bad spirits. I put that sucker right on!
Thankfully, James and I got some wine shuttled over to Jason and he was able to call in his dinner order. It was probably the best menu we’d seen in the 35 days on the boat thus far. Beef Wellington. Escargot. He said it was great! Woohoo. Unfortunately, somehow, I missed dinner completely. By the time I had noticed how late it was, the dining rooms were closed and I didn’t feel like I could stand the room service menu again. Went to bed hungry!
So, now it was the last day on the boat. A day at sea as we cruised from Naples Italy across the Med, between Corsica and Sardinia to our final docking in Barcelona. I figured everyone would be busy packing, trying to do a last load of laundry, etc. I was done with all that so I just sort of roamed about. Chatting with everyone I ran into. Breakfast in the dining room one last time. Checking on Jason, etc.
I knew Vines would open early since it was a sea day so I thought I’d get there at 11 and get 2 final bottles of wine dropped off for the underground before things got busy. That way, also, if Jason wanted to sit on his balcony all day sipping Chardonnay, he darn well could.
So, I come cruising down the stairs, past the front desk on the way to find James. But man oh man was the front desk absolutely CRAWLING with people. I bet there were 25 people in line. And all of them looked really pissed off. Ugh. I’m not sure how the boat crew are still possibly smiling sometimes.
I go find James and I was like - holy cow, you cannot believe all the people over there. I was going to send some wine through the underground now but it is crazy! James said, “I need to make a call.” I was like - oh. That’s weird. But ok. So, I just stood there while he chatted on the phone. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but he was on there for several minutes. This was all sort of odd. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a call before. Then he came back.
“I made a call.”
Yes.
“My friend works in room service and he will come here and get the wine and get it to Jason.”
OH!
“But, they are very busy right now and it might be a little while. Is this ok?”
HECK YES IT IS OK! WHAT!! The underground has now removed 2 middlemen. BAM. Man do I like efficiency.
James said, “This is my friend. He will take care of it.”
I believed him.
A little while later, Jason texted that the wine had arrived AND he got to talk to Trupti, James’ friend. And, pretty much now we’re all best friends and we’re going to India to visit them and meet their families.
Because of course we are.
Now, we were still waiting for our instructions on what to do the next day. Where to go. What time. Where/when/how. I also still did not have my paperwork from medical showing my clearance. Or even that I’d ever tested positive. I’d requested it at least three times. Jason, on the other hand, somehow had 2 copies of his positive test. I decided I would storm the castle and I headed down into the belly of the ship in search of the medical center.
As I approached, there was a dude standing there who seemed to be directing traffic. He was a passenger, not crew. It was helpful because the medical center is, shall we say, not in any way helpful. For starters, the door was locked. During the posted open hours. So, what does one do? Who knows what one does.
When I first arrived, I stood behind two other people because when there is a line, we are pre-programmed to get in it. After a few moments, some dude opened the door and said 2 more may come in. Those people went in and then it was just me out there. The cheese stands alone. Several minutes went by.
I looked at at the traffic directing dude and asked him, because he knew how to find the staircase which was really all the credentials I needed, what he thought I should do.
“Well,” he said wisely, “You could try knocking on the door.”
Ah, yes. I see.
I knocked. Nothing happened.
Traffic man and I started talking. Turns out his son-in-law was in the clink so he was there waiting on his daughter who had come down for her daily test…just like Jason had been doing. We swapped info. I was just about to tell him about the underground smuggling ring when someone opened the door again. I told him I needed all my papers. He said he would get them. He closed the door. I honestly didn’t believe him at this point but about a minute later, there he was with the papers! They were even mine!
BAM- things were looking up.
There are two ways back home:
get COVID and recover at least 10 days before your flight. Have doctor notes proving this.
Have a legit test showing a negative
With all that set, I went to grab some lunch and make sure Jason had lunch. All was good there so I decided to take a little nap. They were going to simulcast the pope’s Good Friday address. I thought it would be cool to see since just a week or so ago I’d stood right where he was going to stand to deliver the address!
And then, I took quite the epic nap and missed the whole thing.
Later, the group convened down in Vines. Everyone was coming and going and it was great to see everyone and hang out one last night. I was just so sad that Jason had to miss it. It would have been that much better with him there.
As we were sitting there, I realized it was about 7PM and we still didn’t know what was supposed to happen the next morning. Good grief. I know there is a lot to sort out, but this had been going on for days. I had already canceled our hotel room in Barcelona because they told us they would book a hotel for the quarantined guests. I was starting to get a bit nervous that this somehow wouldn’t happen and then we’d have nowhere to go.
I walked over to the front desk hoping to find Ecer or Sylvia and try to get some answers. The line was very long. I stood there for at least one full minute and decided it wasn’t worth it. I was going around the corner to the steps thinking I would go up to the room for a bit and try to get a reply on the crew chat instant messaging system. I also wanted to look in the room. Maybe someone had slipped some instructions under the door or something.
As I came around the corner, I ran into Ecer! He said, “Oh Miss Rachel! Can I give you a hug?” I had left him and dragon very nice notes and tips earlier. He was just beside himself. I told him what was up - that we still didn’t know anything. He said, “I will go find out right now. Are you going to your room? We will call you.”
Up in the room, there was nothing waiting under the door. I ran into Wendy and she also didn’t know anything but she said the week before they had disembarked the covid people first. At 5:30 am. It was now almost 8PM. If I had to get off the boat in 9 hours, I sure wanted to know that quickly.
I pinged Jason. He didn’t know. And then, about 15 minutes in total from when I saw Ecer, letters arrived in the clink! We had information! Unfortunately, they sent my letter there, too, but whatever. So, we knew what hotel it would be and then someone called me and also called Jason and said they would move the clink between 8-9.
Unfortunately, that all took so much time that I missed dinner again and also didn’t want to go back down to Vines so I missed saying goodbye to everyone. I mean, it was all really one long goodbye all afternoon. But still. There is the goodbye goodbye and I blew it.
Thankfully, I decided I better suck it up and order some room service because I wasn’t sure how the morning would really go and I didn’t want to not have dinner and then possibly also not get breakfast. Man am I glad I did. Little did I know how the next day would go!
It felt very surreal that it was the final night. All the sudden, just done.
Sigh.
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