Sea Days and Los Angeles

Cruisers tend to either love or hate sea days. I'm of the latter group, as I enjoy a good day (or days) at sea. The ship's crew offer lots of activities: trivia, competitions (crew vs. passengers), line dancing, Zumba, movies on the giant screens by the pool, pool games, and so on and so forth. Of course, there is time also to read, craft, chat with fellow passengers, use the hot tub or pools, and relax and watch the ocean.

My sea days are quite routine. I take my time in the morning, enjoy my breakfast on the aft deck, take a walk on the promenade deck, meet with the knitting group, find a quiet area to read, attend trivia a couple of times during the day, and later meet the solos group for dinner. Oh, there is lunch in there someplace too. I will avoid the buffet, as there are a couple of places near the pool which tend to be less busy. On the Majestic we had the noodle bar and the hamburger/hotdog stand. When the ship is next in dry dock, the noodle bar will change to pizza. That's unfortunate as the noodle bar provided something not available on other ships. The food there was hot, fresh and tasty. 

The next three photos were taken during my morning walk, one sea day, on the Promenade deck. When I first started my walk, there was blue sky, but as time passed the fog came creeping in, until we were socked in. Note this occurred over approximately 30-40 minutes.

Later that evening, the fog closed in even further, and I could barely see water looking down from my balcony. The ship continued to sound the foghorn every 90-120 seconds throughout the night. With the balcony door closed, the sound did not disturb my sleep. 

The fog continued as we made our way into the San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles.

Looking back towards the sea, I wondered what the day would bring. The fog did burn off eventually, and the day was sunny and warm, with high humidity. 

While we were in port, the ship underwent some maintenance. This was on the bridge, where the captain and his crew do their work, ensuring we are safe as we sail. 

I've never done a bridge tour, but have been told it is very interesting. As far as riding the basket of this machine to reach the base of the bridge would never be on my bucket list of things to do.

I did not disembark in Los Angeles, but did spend a good amount of the day on my balcony, at least until the music concert was well underway. 

To the far left of this photo are several tents where the concert was being held. Across the road from the ship was the line-up of people waiting to enter the grounds for a punk rock festival. I'm sure they enjoyed the show, but it wasn't my preference for entertainment. 

I was not alone on the ship that day, as a lot of the passengers chose to stay on-board. Talking to others at dinner that night who did excursions in the city, I heard stories of the length of time spent in traffic both leaving and returning to the ship. No thanks!

Next up - San Diego, the Zoo!