The above is typical of the views from the ship on Christmas Eve. One could almost imagine someone reciting "It was the night before Christmas..." in the Gem's atrium to a bunch of young children. However, none were on this cruise, as the ship was only accepting vaccinated passengers. So, the only things that might have given away that Christmas was near were Christmas decorations like the tableau below found in the atrium.
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Since the cruise was about to end in two days, I decided to start packing.my bags. It's too bad that I didn't take pictures of the mess that had to be fit into my luggage. Luckily, I had no space wasting souvenirs to bring home. Instead, I had clothing that could get wrinkled, as my dresses, leggings, underwear and socks would all be going in the laundry when I got home.
Being that this was a sea day, I considered going in the hot tub one last time. But I decided not to, as I wanted to bring home a dry swimsuit. Instead, I decided to do some reading and watch a movie. One problem - the communications system for the rear of the boat (maybe just my floor) was out. I couldn't watch TV, nor could I call my steward to get help. So I went down to guest services and explained the situation. On the way back to my cabin, I met another steward - and his phone was out. The problem was localized, and not of a critical nature. Sooner or later, TV would be restored, and that was fine with me. I could watch a movie saved on my iPad.
Walking through the halls, I noticed a lot of hang tags like the one below:
I never saw one on doors where I knew people occupied the cabins. Therefore, I came to simple conclusion: These cabins were unoccupied. Given the number of these hang tags found on the second to last day of the cruise, I figured that the ship sailed at 40% (or less) of capacity.
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So far, this had been a wonderful trip. I had a great time. Yet, I could say that I did almost nothing but eat and sleep. I'd miss the crew when I had to leave, as this was the first time I really noticed any of them - even if I couldn't remember any of their names.
