Aw we are almost done…The last full day on Carnival Cruise line may have been the best day we had! We didn’t wake up in a new country, which meant we got to sleep in finally!
We slowly made our way down to the promenade (aka walkway on the ship) to find everyone embarking on what will forever go down in history as “Mimosa Day”
All of the bottles of champagne had been collected and brought to one glorious table for a few hours of enjoyment! I am pretty sure that a certain someone (who shall remain nameless) spent 80 bucks on OJ that morning… I mean it was going for like $10 a jug I think! As the bottles emptied, and Willy’s hair got taller, we just relaxed and laughed about all the funny stories from that week and enjoyed the fact that there were no immediate plans for the afternoon. I am pretty sure the people in the next couch got sick of us, because they closed the door between us… oops. Mimosa day was so peaceful, I just sat in my chair and looked out (yes you can pull out the sappy music now) at the ocean and realized this week had been the best of my life! The best thing about being there was that no matter what was going on at home (and boy was a lot happening… story to come later) and in our everyday lives, we had escaped all of that and had the most amazing time and nothing would compare for us. I mean, I can’t speak for everyone, but that’s just me! All I could think is how bad I didn’t want the week to end, just wished I could have freeze framed time and never have to come back to reality. OK, put back your violins, or whatever you deem to play sappy music, I’m done.
After all the bottles had been dripped dry, we all went our separate ways… some to take naps again, some to a meeting, some to try their luck at the casino, and some to eat. We decided it was only appropriate we head to the dining hall for our last meal instead of the buffet we had been enjoying so much of all week. The servers all had a farewell song and dance prepared… it was so sweet, in a “we do this crap all the time, now leave” kind of way. After the heartfelt song, we planned a meet up time and headed back to the room to get ready for the last show and pack up most of our stuff.

Mimosa day also brought out one of the best ideas ever- Robe Club night! No way I can take credit for that marvelous idea… there were original members and we were just the people lucky enough to get an invitation to join!

Man I tell you, planning an outfit around a robe is hard work! We made our way down to meet everyone, robe in hand, at the casino bar to make our grand entrance into the last show. Since the show had already started, we made our way into the back of the room and began the best finale that ship has ever seen!

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on the corner of ‘Well, well, well, and child, child, child’”

Did I forget to mention the fabulous game invented by a certain scratchy voiced Reckless member? Yes, the rules of the game are as follows:

One drink for every “Well” from Stoney (which we all know comes in three’s)
Two drinks for every “Child” from Stoney (same here, just like Tab’s sneezes)
AND if we are lucky enough
Five drinks for every Cody Canada “Badass” that comes our way

Needless to say, we got drunk. Yes, Stoney, that is why you heard all the screaming and bottle clinking during your songs. Well (one drink… haha) that and the fact that you are in fact “Badass” Jeez I am on a roll… now get to drinking bitches! Ok, sorry I got caught up…

Aside from the excitement of drinking on command, it really was an awesome show! My favorite thing about any acoustic show is that there’s always a time or two when the singer/songwriter explains the song. There was a quiet moment when I realized why it is that Cody Canada has the respect and admiration from all of his fans and colleagues. You just had to be there, because there’s no way I could explain the way we all had goose bumps just listening to him.

So up on stage we had Cody Braun, Wade Bowen (urging us to keep him away from wine), Stoney LaRue, and Cody Canada. It wasn’t long before they all slowly trickled up there…

Willy was called first and Jay made his way for a little percussion… sooner or later they were all up there to finish the cruise off right. Can I even ever be able to tell you how privileged we all were to get to see this? Nope, but I will say “Forever Young” has never been done better, and Stoney does a pretty damn good job with the Arsenal! Everyone was on their feet cheering and taking pictures. There wasn’t one person not smiling from ear to ear!

After the show everyone spread out over the hallway to the casino. It was the last night, so you know we had to party it up right and let that ship know who the CCRuisers were! There was so much going on I can hardly focus on one thing… I think that means I was drinking. I just know that after the casino bar, we all went for one last trip to the 24-hour pizza bar. But oh my gosh when we walked in the poor bartender was probably scared out of his mind! Imagine 50 or so people standing completely around the bar shouting for one more beer! NOW- imagine 50 or so Cross, Reckless, Stoney, and Wade fans standing completely around the bars screaming “ONE MORE BEER!” Don’t make me make mention of the bandanas again… Honestly I don’t remember if he caved in, I was face first in pizza.

We made one last trip up the back deck to take one last look out at the ocean at 3 am. Oh I miss it so much just sitting here! Not sure when we made it to bed, but we knew the wake up calls were going to come early and the drive back was going to be long… and that reality was planning on slapping me in the face!

Don’t stop yet, there are still some fun stories to be told of Day 8… yeah it doesn’t stop at 7!