Just Another Day at Sea

Today, I want to go over with you what a full day at sea might be like... you know.... if you're me.  I constantly hear people say that they don't want to go on a cruise because they would be too board cooped up on a cruise ship with all those other people.  I don't know how it is even possible to be board on a cruise ship.  But I would seriously like to spend enough time on one to find out if it could happen to me.

For me a day at sea goes something like this.  I wake up whenever I wake up and then I lay in my bed for up to half an hour just listening to the hum of the engines and feeling the motion of the waves.  Finally, when I feel up to it, I roll over and pick up the phone and call room service for a pot of coffee to be delivered.  Calling room service is probably the most effort I'll put into anything all day.  But you never know.  Maybe I'll get in a hurry once or twice as I head toward an elevator and see that the door is about to close.  But probably not.

Once I know that coffee is on the way, I walk out onto the balcony and stare at the ocean.  (I'm not much of a morning person, until I have two cups of coffee in me, staring is about all I am capable of.) On sea days, I'll usually bring my binoculars out on the balcony in case I see a ship or something that I want to look at.  Sometimes you will see a fish break the surface of the water and many times you will see flying fish going through the air away from the ship.  On two occasions, I've seen dolphins swimming along with the ship.  After 20 or so minutes, the coffee arrives.  I bring it out to the balcony and have a couple of cups of coffee out there before I get dressed for the day.

Now, generally my chosen attire for a day at sea consists of a swimsuit with a cover-up, flip flops and sunglasses.  I don't believe in over dressing for days at sea.  After I'm dressed it is time to go up to breakfast. On a sea day since there is no hurry, there's time to stand in the omelet line where I can get my breakfast made to order.  I love to get an omelet.  After breakfast, it is time to go find a spot on deck to watch all of the action and read.  I usually gravitate to the deck that is one level above the main pool but overlooking the pool.  This way, it is not as crowded as the pool level but you can still hear and see everything.  I don't usually spend any time in the pool anyway.  So, I don't need to be that close.

By now, it is mid morning and we all know what that means.... Bloody Mary time!!!!!  So, I flag down the first waiter who walks by although, quite frankly, he doesn't usually require flagging down since he has already noticed that a new person has arrived who might be thirsty.  Within minutes, I am sipping on a Bloody Mary, listening to live reggae music and reading a particularly trashy romance novel on my Nook.  People.... Life really doesn't get any better than that.

I usually like to carry the cruise lines daily schedule of events around with me so that I can make plans to attend the activities that interest me.  There are usually things like napkin folding, chef presentations, making towel animals, art auctions, trivia contests, basketball games, ping pong and shuffleboard tournaments and so on.  For the most part over the years, I have seen all of those things that I really need to see.  So most of the time, I just relax unless something different is going on.  On my last cruise, there was a murder mystery show that we attended and it was fun.  It was like one of those murder mystery dinners only without the dinner and more fun people than usually attend murder mystery dinners.

A Reidel wine tasting at sea

On days at sea in the past, I have attended wine tastings, martini making class, chef presentations, shopping presentations for the ports of call (which I don't recommend unless you just LOVE shopping), galley tours, behind the scenes crew presentations (they tell you all about the ship, answer questions about crews quarters and life on board the ship and so on), comedy performances, karaoke (which often seems like a comedy performance).  I've played putt putt, I've watched people try to stand on the FlowRider (you could never get me on that thing), I've watched people on rock climbing walls, I have gone down a giant water slide into a pool against my will, I've watched movies on a giant movie screen outdoors, I've eaten multiple times throughout the day, I've watched very large women puff on cigarettes while drinking a cocktail at poolside trying to get picked up by much younger men (this is one of my favorite activities to watch).


After lunch I do all of this some more.  But by then, I am usually ready to go to my own balcony and be around fewer people.  So, I head to my own cabin.  Walking into the perfectly made up room, I go out on the balcony again with my Nook and spend hours reading and relaxing while I either listen to the music drifting in from the pool deck or the musical stylings of Jimmy Buffett on my Ipod.  Perhaps as the afternoon wears on, I'll go back to the pool area, you know, just for variety.  Or maybe I'll go to one of the other pools.

The women seated are judging his legs as he parades around 

On sea days some of the pool area highlights are sexy legs competitions featuring inebriated men, hairy chest contests again featuring inebriated men, water volleyball tournaments, ice carving and countless other activities to keep you entertained in the pool area.  Usually during one day at sea, in the pool area there will be some sort of cookout which is pretty cool.  I like it when they have a BBQ.  But pretty much anything they do is fine.  Normally days at sea are also formal nights so that the ladies have time to dress after all of the activities that they participated in during the day.  I find that the casino is usually the busiest on formal nights.  I guess people want to get their Monte Carlo on.....  I'm not a casino kind of girl.  So that is fine with me.

The winner is crowned!

Usually on sea days, the events late in the evening are the most fun.  After the shows are over, there is either a Newlywed game or a Quest game neither of which I would recommend for children (that's why they usually take place so late at night).  These are some of the most entertaining shows on the ship and the entertainers are just other passengers.  Many times they will have an adults only comedian performing around midnight.

One of the activities that I consider to be the most important on sea days is avoiding the "red hat" ladies.  I don't understand the concept of the Red Hat Society and I really don't want to know what is going on.  But I can tell you that those are some very strange women and you should take measures to avoid them.  I personally will gladly step off of an elevator if more than one of them gets on.  I'm a little scared of them and they seem to be drawn to cruise ships, so beware! Just take a look at that picture to the right and maybe you will understand my fear.  This is a red hat lady on formal night.....  The last thing you want to do is to get stuck on an elevator with THAT!

Depending on the ship you sail on the things to do at sea will obviously vary.  But the one thing I think I could never do at sea is get board.

Have a great Wednesday!