Sea days - so much to see and do

A lot of cruisers dislike sea days - they'd rather be in port every day. Generally, these folks do Caribbean or Mediterranean cruises, where the islands/ports are close together. For example, a 14 day Caribbean cruise for January 2024, has only 4 sea days. A 14 day Mediterranean cruise for June 2023, has only 3 sea days. No, I've not get these booked...they are simply examples. Guaranteed these folks aren't doing the world cruise, there are 58 sea days in a 111 day trip.

I've heard comments that sea days are boring. And I say, if you're bored on a cruise ship, you're trying too hard. The daily newsletter that arrives at the stateroom door in the evening, provides a list of activities for the following day - it's also available on interactive boards throughout the ship and on the company's app as well. These activities often overlap and sometimes it's impossible to do everyone one might want to do.

Activities range from trivia (always popular), port talks, guest lecturers, movies and concerts on the big screen by the pool, and especially on sea days, games like giant jenga or egg drop contests. In the latter, guests build contraptions that will "float" the egg to the lower level of the atrium, usually from two or three stories up. The egg that doesn't break is the winner. These are all arranged by the cruise staff and the entertainment continues into the evening with muscians in various venues, production shows, comedians, and other musicians in the theatre. 

There are also activities arranged by the passengers themselves - knitters and knatters is an unhosted group, as are the singles/solos, LGBTQ, AA meetings, meet and greets for Cruise critic, first responders, and regular game events for Mahjongg, cribbage, Bridge, and various board games. On the World Cruise, there was a book club as well. There is a library on board most ships, with both books to check out and ones that passengers leave behind that can be taken - I try not to bring any home.

Oh, and of course, on a hot vacation cruise, there is always lazing by the pool and relaxing in the hot tubs. Every ship has a gym for those who want to exercise, plus decks for walking. As I say, you have to choose to be bored.

So what did I do on the ship? As you probably know, I'm a bit of a creature of habit; I do enjoy my routine and I easily slip into one even when I'm on vacation. My days always started reasonably early and got earlier as the cruise continued. I missed sunrise photos those first few days so had to set an alarm a couple of mornings. After getting ready for the day, I'd head up to the deck 15 (Sun deck) to see what I could see, even on the days I missed sunrise.

Birds often follow the ships, most frequently when we aren't far out at sea. Occasionally, they'll actually hang out on the ship. This was up on the sun deck, not far from the burger and fry station. I suspect he was looking for leftovers. Too early! The station didn't open until 11 a.m.

I discovered that the best place (usually) to get a sunrise photo was from the Sanctuary. It didn't open to the paying guests until 8 a.m. so several of us would hang out early in the morning while the crew was setting up for the day.

After my breakfast, always outside of the buffet, I would head down to Deck 7 (Promenade) for my morning walk. Not all of the Princess ships have this feature and I miss it - walking on Deck 15 requires more avoiding of people on sun loungers and in the smoking area. On the Promenade, most people were walking and the chairs to sit in were out of the way. I would walk for a good 30-40 minutes each day, stopping occasionally to look over the railing at the sea. I was hoping to see a whale or two, or maybe some dolphins. After my walk, I'd go to my stateroom to drop of my camera, do my stretching exercises, and pick-up my knitting. 

Knitters and Knatters was from 9-11 in the morning, and while I didn't usually stay the full two hours, I did get some work done. I crocheted four of the "cocoa" mugs for my daughter for next year's teacher's Christmas gifts - she now tells me she needs six. I also knitted a pair of mittens for myself. The old ones I had were starting to fall apart. My last, unfinished project, is a free form crocheted Christmas tree. I was limited to the yarn that I had brought with me.

From Knitters and Knatters, I'd drop off my bag and head upstairs with my camera for a wander. Or on a couple of days, change into a bathing suit and head for the pool (too cold) or hot tub. That only happened twice as I ran into a woman in the hot tub, who hated the ship, hated the food, hated the crew, hated the sea days and I decided the better part of valour was to avoid the hot tubs when there was anyone else in them. 

Lunch was usually around 11:30 or noon. Most often, in the buffet where I'd run into someone I met, or occasionally on Deck 15 at the burger place, where I'd run into someone I'd met. There was a fellow who I'd met at sail-away, and we kept running into each other. He was friendly fellow who was often to be seen chatting with various people. His party of four were rarely together, though I did meet two of them on a couple of occasions. There were also several of the singles/solo group that I'd see out and about. On two of the sea days, several of us met at one of the restaurants for Alfredo's pizza, and for the pub lunch. Yum, fish and chips with mushy peas and Pim's Cup for me.

After lunch, I'd grab my Kobo or a book, along with my camera and back to the Promenade for much of the afternoon. I'm not a sun bather and the music on the pool deck is loud and carries up to the sun deck as well. I found I spent a good portion of the afternoon outside, wandering the deck or sitting and reading. There was always something to see.

Often it was birds, circling the ship, looking and diving for their next meal.

One day, however, was absolutely thrilling (at least to me). 

Sea turtles! There were, what seemed to me, hundreds of them. 

And dolphins too!

I ought to have had my camera on sports mode, as I missed them leaping from the water. One of the passengers shared a video she had captured on FB - it was so amazing. There were at least a dozen or more in this group.

This was my favorite shot, even though the turtle hadn't yet breached the water. It was incredibly close to the ship and within its wake. After reviewing my photos I really wished I had a better zoom lens. I've been researching and will need to upgrade my camera package to get what I want. Can you say big bucks?

Some days, I needed a quick nap in the stateroom, or would rest and read some more before preparing for the evening. Every day I met the group at the Wheelhouse Bar around 5:15 p.m., but on a couple of occasions would be there around 4 p.m. for trivia. I'm not particularly good at answering questions, though almost always answered the Canadian questions correctly.

This was "our" space in the Wheelhouse bar. We often commandeered chairs from other tables to add to the group. It was always a wonderful time, lots of laughter and chatter. Most evenings a group of 4-7 of us would head to dinner together. We did eat at the main dining room a few nights, but as we learned that could require much patience and waiting in line-ups, so as the days went on we preferred the buffet. Every night at the buffet was a different theme - a few I remember were: Indian, Italian, German, and Mexican.

This would allow those who wanted to attend the early show at the theatre (7:30 p.m.) to find a seat by shortly after 7. The early show was always full. I didn't attend every evening, but did see two of the three production shows (basically a music and dance show put on the entertainment crew), a comedian, the Neil Diamond tribute show, and Nathan Phan - a magician, musician and impressionist. I was most impressed with the Neil Diamond tribute show and Nathan - I even went to his second performance - a rarity for me. I had seen the third production show in the Majestic in May so skipped that one as well. 

Because we were usually at dinner, I didn't often see the sunset. But one evening, as we were heading into the theatre I slipped outside to the open deck for this photo.

I was back in my stateroom by 9 p.m. every evening where I would read for a bit before turning in. I knew morning would come early! Throughout the cruise I finished reading five books - that's more than I've read in months. 

Our final two sea days we were expecting to see whales and dolphins, however the weather wasn't conducive. It was cool, windy, and the waves in the Pacific were quite a bit higher than we'd experienced early in the cruise. While we didn't get the rain the California coast was getting, I suspect we were feeling some effects of the weather coming in from the west.

I did however, get some spectacular sunrise shots the one day. I'll share more than one here.

We were up in the sanctuary and actually got kicked out, because we were there so long.

By this point in the cruise, sunrise was much later in the day. If memory serves, we were asked to leave about 7:45 a.m.

I should note, the temperature on those last two days at sea, was about 60F (16C)at most. I had purchased the internet package for the last two days, in order to check-in for my flights, read/write blogs and to connect with my daughter and son. But, having the internet on the cool days meant I was able to find curling to watch too! I still sat out on the Promenade deck in the afternoon, but I'm sure some people wondered at what they were hearing, "Hurry hard, sweeeep!!!"

One of our solo group was part of the Princess Pop choir. This is a group of passengers who work with the music director to learn a few songs for a presentation to the passengers on the last day at sea. I went to see them perform and enjoyed it a great deal.

That ends my posts about the cruise. To end the photos I'll leave you with the wake of the ship. Normally I'd take a photo from the back of the ship, but there were cabins in the way on this ship. This was taken on the Promenade Deck on the last day.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me. Writing the posts bring back some wonderful memories!