The last morning of a cruise is sad. I wake up for my morning walk and everything is locked up tight. The ship store is closed. If you didn’t get your souvenirs it is too late, the shops aren’t open in port. Golden bars are a jarring reminder that the offerings are no longer for you.

My favorite room on the ship, the library, is open. But it is time to take books back, not to take them out to read. I drop off my stack of borrowed books and head to the rack. There isn’t even a daily crossword to pick up. Don’t they know that I still have to have coffee? Today my coffee and crosswords will just be coffee. Sigh. Even my book sanctuary is rejecting me.

The music venues are silent. There will be no more soft sounds of jazz or raucous dance bands. Even the piano man is sidelined. There is nothing melodic about disembarking. The only sound in the entertainment space is silence.

The crow’s nest is eerily quiet as the specialty coffee shop is shuttered. Looks like I will need to get my coffee in the buffet line. Since I am here, I linger at the panoramic window. Though we are already securely anchored in port, I can almost imagine we are still at sea. The view from the bridge extends toward the bay. The boat is ready to make a quick departure once the guests turn over. We will depart. The housekeeping staff will work miracles and a new group of guests will arrive. Then the party will begin anew. The boat is already positioned to depart.

We are packed and ready to go once we get the all call. For us, only the buffet remains. It is the first stop on a cruise while we wait for our room to be ready. It is usually our last stop as we wait for our turn to leave. Besides we need sustenance to fortify us for potentially long lines of people. I choose pancakes. It is the last little bit of festive that I can manufacture. Everything is better with pancakes. Even the thought of thousands of people jockeying to leave the ship is more bearable when I am eating pancakes.

After breakfast, we wait. We will carry off our own luggage, which speeds the process, but departing a large ship requires patience and a high tolerance for erratic human behavior. Sadly, it is often more than I can muster. Today brings only minor frustrations as we weave between slow gawkers and pushy line jumpers.

It is still early morning as we arrive on land. We will have to find somewhere to keep our luggage and something to do with our time. It is somehow both too early to head to our hotel and too late to catch a flight home. I am not worried. I can always find a way to waste a few hours. Sure, I won’t have hot tubs and endless ice cream. I reluctantly left those options back on the ship. But have you ever had a real beef patty with French fries straight from the fryer and made from scratch root beer while sitting in a train station? All good things come to an end. It is up to us to find the next good things. Life’s adventures are what you make of them.