Wow, tunafish, a pretty harsh put down to the OP, who was only asking for advice not a critique on something he likes to do. I hardly think a few door decorations ruins the ideas of those tasteful interior decorators.
You should be fine. In August, my cruise left on a late Sunday afternoon and we took our tests on Friday morning. My understanding is that the 48 hours is loosely counted as long as it is 2 days before the sailing. The same as the Celebrity cruise I took in June.
We had an Orange Party on the Neiuw Amsterdam on our cruise to Alaska in August.
Music and dancing in one of the bar areas with lots of officers present and then many passed trays of Dutch snacks passed in BB Kings.