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!

Bored? I think not

Rhetorical question for you....how can an adult be bored? I was talking to my daughter this morning and she mentioned she was bored.  Am I doing something wrong, because I can honestly say I can't remember being bored very often as an adult.  There is always just too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

This weekend, case in point, while grocery shopping I picked up a few more Christmas gifts, including gift cards, cards and envelopes for the gift cards, and a package of Tim Horton's steeped tea.  The latter is for my brother - he likes nothing better than sitting on the verandah of his home, enjoying a good cup of tea, and relaxing.  However, he too, does't suffer from boredom as his acreage keeps him busy when he isn't working his full time job.  

So that got me thinking that perhaps I should start decorating the house for Christmas.  I know it seems a bit early (though I'm told by friends it is not), but since I'll be away for a good portion of December it makes sense to put away the autumn decor and bring out the winter/Christmas.  I decided to limit myself to just winter decor, of which I have very little.  I replaced the wreath on the front door, tucked the snow penguin up on the shelf above the basement door, replaced orange candles with white (tied with red ribbon) and traded out the tablecloth with a snowflake motif one.  I'm done for the moment, though will likely do more next week.  Everything but the tree can be brought up, it can wait until I return from my cruise.

Time too, to start thinking about packing.  I pulled out my suitcase and brought it upstairs to the bedroom.  This is always a bit of a conundrum because I have a tendency to over pack especially if I start too soon.  Each time I try to reduce but I don't want to run short either.  On a Norwegian cruise I don't have access to laundry facilities, and though the ship will provide laundry service the cost is too high in my mind.  So I've added some laundry pods and a mini box of detergent.  I'll hand wash a few items on the ship, and we'll likely find a laundromat (if needed) when we reach New Orleans. On the other hand, I just realized that packing for the January cruise will be easy...just wash and repack from this one!  

Saturday morning, I actually slept until until 8 a.m.  Well, after a wake-up call from Sasha about 5:30.  I ignored him for a half hour and he finally let up and let me sleep.  He hasn't been eating well lately, and hadn't eaten much the night before, but he sure ate well this morning.  I worry about him, but at 18 1/2 years old I assume he has the right to be a little fussy.  I bought some new pate for he and Saku, which I'd given them last night...Sasha would not eat it.  Back to the Fancy Feast.

I didn't do much for the first hour or so, just relaxed, drank coffee and did some reading.  It was cold out, -20C (-4F) and I didn't feel like moving from my comfortable chair.  But eventually I convinced myself that the baking wouldn't get done by itself.  I mixed a double batch of cake batter and made 39 cupcakes - it should have made 48, obviously some were larger than they ought to have been. Of course, I had to taste test one so there are 38 remaining.  I had crushed a dozen candy canes and put the chopped peppermint through a fine sieve.  I used the dust to flavor the batter (and color it pink) and will use the rest of the candy for a topping.  The plan is to dip the cupcakes in melted white chocolate and sprinkle a bit of candy on top.  I thought about making another batch as it won't be quite enough to for everyone on my floor to have one, but I think I'll put together a batch of cookies to take along with it.  Something with chocolate and coffee I think for a totally different flavor.


From there I went on to do a bit of packing, which means trying on my shorts, capris, t-shirts, and bathing suits to ensure things fit and are in good enough shape to wear.  (Doesn't everyone have a bunch of clothing that is worn but not worn out...good enough to wear around the house but not out of it?)  I have some dressier items that I'll wear for dinner, that I currently wear for work so those will have to wait a few more days. That includes a couple of sweaters as the long range forecast for New Orleans looks a bit cool, with day time highs of 64F (17C) and overnight of 45F (7C).  I had picked up a couple of pairs of jean capris this summer that should come in handy as they are a little heavier.  I've packed a pair of flip-flops, sandals, and my dressier flip-flops as well.  No heels for me, not only are they heavy to pack but I no longer find them comfortable.  At my age (and weight) I want comfort more than style.  Also packed are my cross-body purse which has RFI pockets to hold my passport, other identification, and my cell phone.  I don't use the cellphone except to access free wifi when we're in a port, but it's handy to have when I'm on my way home. 

Also in the suitcase are a bag for laundry, the detergent, magnets, towel clips, and paper straws.  Magnets are useful because the ship's cabin walls are made of metal - I use the magnets for invitations and other information.  The paper straws are a new item; Norwegian is no longer providing plastic straws with drinks.  I'm quite happy to hear that, as our oceans are already polluted with plastics.  I purchased these on Amazon, they were shipped from somewhere in China and I was beginning to think they'd never show up.  I have 200 so that should last for these next cruises at least.  I wasn't to find any locally but maybe in the next while they'll become more readily available. 

Still lots to pack, unmentionables, nightwear, tops and toiletries.  I have pre-packed a couple of quart sized bags with mini toiletry containers, one will go in my carry-on, the other in the suitcase.  I always ensure I have at least a day or two worth of clothing in my carry-on, along with a change of shoe wear, a bathing suit and toiletries.  Thus far, I've not had my suitcase go missing but better safe than sorry. 

Next up was to strip my bed and wash all the bedding.  One of the cats (perhaps Sasha) had upchucked at the head of the bed between my two pillows.  The night before I'd thrown a towel over it and slept there anyway.  I know, I know,  I'm lazy!  But in my defense, it was late and I was tired.  Besides the one who made the mess was the mostly likely to sleep in that particular spot.  

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching university football, knitting, chatting on the phone with my brother and my daughter, and generally just putting my feet up.  I did make dinner though for C and I, I had some ground beef in the fridge and I asked him if he'd prefer meatloaf or Spanish rice for dinner.  He choose the latter, so I made both...I used half the package for each resulting in a good portion of the rice for us for dinner, and a meatloaf for sandwiches or to re-heat for the next day.  I know most people don't put meat in their Spanish rice, but my mom always did as it made a one pot meal.  I brown the beef and drain it, add in some chopped onion and let that cook a couple of minutes, and then for an easy Spanish rice, I add a cup of salsa, 1 1/2 cups of minute rice and an equal amount of chicken broth.  Let that come to a boil and let it simmer for ten minutes.  Dinners ready! It isn't how my mom would make it but still tasty.

This morning, I was able to sleep until 7:30 which is a near miracle.  Neither cat bothered me this morning - I guess they were tired too.  Another mostly relaxed morning, reading e-mail and checking Facebook, and knitting.  I've finished a second toque but have started a third because of the sizing.  I'll find out in two weeks whether any will fit Eli.  I'm pretty sure I have one small enough for Knox.  

Eli met little J.P. last week and was not very impressed. D says every time he sees the baby he heads for the car seat seemingly to suggest that perhaps the baby should leave.  This bodes well for my hope that he stays an only child.  

The rest of the day has been spent doing housework, washing floors, vacuuming the bedroom and the living furniture, and cleaning bathrooms.  There is nothing like watching an episode (or two) of Hoarders to motivate one's self to clean house.  I know my home isn't that bad, but I also know the mess has to start somewhere.

Back to my initial thought, I am never really bored, though there are times when I'd prefer to sit and relax rather than do what needs to be done.  Occasionally I get help with that...Saku makes a far better door than he does a window!

Have a great week everyone!