Allure Day 7 - Best of the Best

While we were surfing the flowrider that afternoon, they made several announcements asking for people to sign up to enter the "Best of the Best" competition.  This has become tradition on Royal Caribbean ships with flowriders.  The last 30-60 minutes of the last day of the flowrider is dedicated to the best riders of the week.  The winner gets the honor of autographing the ship's "Best of the Best Flowboard".  Here is the Allure one.

 I was impressed to see that several of the names were obviously females!

So we surfed and surfed and eventually some of our new friends AND Chris signed up for the contest (Chris was asked by the sports staff to enter - go Chris!).  Then right before one of my runs, the guy from the sports staff said "right after your run, you are going to the desk to sign up, right?"  Um...what?

I am decent, but not good.  It was just ironic that I may have been the best girl riding that week.  (Keep in mind this is off-season for cruising, and all the younger, agile, athletic girls are in school, or smart enough to avoid hurricane season in the middle of the ocean.)  I am not an attention seeker any more. I prefer to go out there and surf and do my thing.  I don't like the pressure of having to perform.  So I politely declined.  Flattered, I was.

So at about 5:30, they shut down the wave and pulled the four contestants up to the wave.  Each got 2 minutes (I think) to show their best moves.  Then, the audience got to vote by applause. 

Chris is on the left, just to the right of the guy with the microphone.

Here was his time to get the crowd going! 

Ultimately, Chris didn't win, but the guy to his right did.  He was excellent and deserved to get to autograph the board.  It was all in good fun and everyone was a great sport.

After the contest, Chris and I picked up a cocktail from our friendly bartender at the Sand Bar and went to join some new friends in the cantilevered hot tub for awhile.  That felt really nice after a long week of surfing!

For dinner this night, we planned to meet our other new friends (the ones from twenty) for dinner in the Main Dining Room.  We agreed to meet at 7:15 at the Bow & Stern Pub on the Royal Promenade.   

Bad idea.  Next time, we need to check the Cruise Compass.  There was a Dreamworks parade starting at 7:30 and the Promenade was very, very crowded.  We were lucky to find our friends near the Rising Tide Bar and quickly make our getaway before the characters arrived.

This was the only time we ate in the MDR the entire week.  We enjoyed dinner with a large group, and realized how much we had missed the MDR.  The food was good. The company was better.  It was great to relax, reminisce the past 7 days, and laugh with new, good friends!

After dinner, we went to pack our suitcases to set them outside.  We had opted for the Luggage Valet, since our flight did not leave until 4pm the next day.  
Then it was off to Focus to buy our photos, and we met our dinner friends one last time for hugs, kisses and photo opportunities.

The rest of the evening, Chris and I took a stroll up on the pool deck.  It was quiet, breezy, and very romantic.  Another thing I wish we had taken the time to do every single day.

Later, we went back to our room and relaxed on the balcony for one last evening of star watching.  What a great last evening!

And "Best of the Best" was not just the theme for the flowrider contest.  It is a great summary for the ship and this particular cruise.  Chris and I both agreed that this was our best cruise ever.  You can't beat that for free!

Daily calendar recap:

9a-5p - flowrider Only surfed part of the day

5p-6p - watch Best of the Best at flowrider I watched.  Chris was *in* the contest!