Psst! For yesterday’s winner, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of this post! ~DD

Well, I’ve finally arrived at the last days of the cruise. It was a 10-days, 9-nights cruise, and still I hated to see it end. Sasha White and I had a wonderful time. I managed to get some work done here and there. Nothing impressive. The best benefit for my muse was the chance to experience new things and take in some incredible sights.

For the more ambitious traveler, cruise ships offer non-stop entertainments. My favorite was the ice show, which I watched twice. It was spectacular, and I wasn’t even a little bit prejudiced by the fact that one of Sasha’s friends from back home was part of the cast! Most of my shots are blurs, like this one, because there’s so much movement. But the colors are lovely, aren’t they?

At the center, the guy holding the other skater aloft is Brad, Sasha’s friend, whose suggestion it was that we cruise on this ship.

We partied several times with the ice cast and the dancers from another show. Here’s a shot of the skaters and dancers from one of those evenings. Brad’s on the far right.

Every meal introduced us to new people. We didn’t sign up for a particular table and had fun getting placed with total strangers. These sisters were among the first we dined with, and after that we’d stop to chat wherever we found them.

Did I mention that we got an invitation to visit the bridge of the ship?

Yup, that’s me in the captain’s chair. We had a little tour of the bridge and got a chance to ask questions about where the best places to hide bodies might be. Strangely, it wasn’t the crew that came up with the best suggestions, but the skaters!

On the next to the last day of our cruise, Sasha said we should have a girly-day. We went to the spa and had our hair cut and colored. Sasha’s is so cute!

Mine’s…short! And I haven’t been able to tame the curl and frizz as well as the beautician did since!

That afternoon, the weather took a turn. It grew cold, the waves became choppy. This is the fourth deck and the waves are splashing over it. I caught a shot, then they closed off the deck. I guess they were afraid someone might be swept overboard. But by the end of the storm, even the 11th deck was closed.

By 4 PM that afternoon the ship was like a ghost town. Everyone was in their cabins getting sick. Sasha and I tried to hold out, but walking was impossible because the ship pitched that violently.

We retired and stayed there. Neither of us ended up hugging the toilet, but we were green. At 4 AM, I woke up to calm seas and feeling hungry. I hit a cafe, then headed up to the 11th deck. When I walked outside, I entered a snow flurry.

The deck looks a little different when it’s covered in snow!

I wasn’t the only person checking out the weather.

A few hours later, the ship docked at Newark. I couldn’t resist a final shot of The Explorer of the Seas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little travelogue. Be sure to catch Sasha’s blog to get her side of the story!

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Now, back to yesterday’s contest. Here are my answers, although y’all did very well. Some of you appeared to be having more fun than others with this game!

1. Sea Monster
2. The bottom of the sea
3. Shark
4. A Chinese junk, but maybe it really was a pirate’s ship like several of you suggested!
5. Squid
6. Flower garden
7. Statue of liberty
8. Eagle
9. Baseball player—and if it’s someone in particular, I think it’s Babe Ruth
10. Big Ben
11. A young Queen Elizabeth

And the winner (by random number generator, promise!) of a magnet from the islands, a signed copy of TO SERVE AND PROTECT, and whatever else I can find from my promo stash to put into the box, is….Lyoness2009!