December 6, 2017

   Sea Day #6 of 7 started with an overcast sky, temperature about 67 F, wind and a one meter swell on the ocean. After breakfast, we walked on Deck 11 until it was time for a Beyond the Podium presentation by Doug Field, The “Atacama” Desert: Earth’s Driest place.  The topic explained the geographic and weather conditions that created the desert.  Along the equator around the world are areas of desert, the largest being the Sahara.
   There were lots of activities around the ship: bingo; trivia games; seminars on beauty and health; an iLearn class on photo editing on iPhones and iPads; an art seminar on Old Masters; Xbox games; shopping by enticing people with a souvenir T-shirt event 2 for $20 & 50% off Celebrity branded clothing; an art auction; a rhumba dance class; the movie F8-Faith of the Future on the outside Big Screen; water colour painting class; a wine blending workshop; jewelry sale; designer handbag sale; casino blackjack tournament and more.
   During the day, the passengers, at appointed times, went to the Deck 3 Conference Room to collect their passports, which had been turned in as we boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale. At least for Canadians, also with their passport was the Chile Tourist Card.  It is good for 90 days to visit Chile. We will turn it in to immigration officials at Punta Arenas, Chile, when the next ship leaves Chile.  Other passengers will turn in their cards at the Santiago airport when they return home on Friday.
    We spent the afternoon reading on Deck 4 or Deck 10 near a window to occasionally watch for birds or dolphins and whales.  We did not spot any wild life.
    One of the news items on MSNBC was wild fires in Belair, part of Los Angeles and Ventura county in California. Also, Donald Trump signed a document to relocate the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
    As we walk down the hallway to our stateroom, there are two doors where the passengers have attached coloured lights and Christmas stickers.  These are passengers who are staying onboard for the next two-week cruise down to Cape Horn and on to Buenos Aires, then flying home a few days before Christmas.
    The sky was clearing as we went to dinner.
    The dress code in the dining room was “Evening Chic”. We had time for a Fox Trot in the Rendezvous Lounge before dinner. The featured item on the menu this evening was Broiled Lobster Tail and Baked Alaska. Our choices for appetizers were shrimp Cocktail, Caesar salad and Scallops Rockefeller.  Broiled Lobster Tail with rice and broccoli and Beef Wellington with whipped potato and broccoli were popular choices at our table.  Desert choices were Baked Alaska, Citrus Roulade, chocolate cake and New York Cheesecake.
   In the Celebrity Theatre was the last show performed by the singers and dancers, featuring an hour of hit Broadway show tunes. After the show Luigi, the cruise director, announced that traffic will be heavy on the roads on Friday and it could take more than two hours to get to the airport once they are close to the city (usually it would be 90 minutes)
   Tonight, the tags to attach to our luggage arrived with Chile Immigration forms to submit to authorities when we leave the ship on Friday. Jan and Doug told us that yesterday they received a letter from the ship that transportation to Valparaiso had been arranged for Friday and would take over 4 hours (normally it would be 75 minutes).


Final steps for the day 13,667


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