A lot of people have asked what we do on sea days and also ask if it is fun. Ummm…. a sea day is fun the first sea day of the first cruise and thereafter every sea day is boring for the most part. The ship has all kinds of activities so you can busy yourself – some fun, some mundane, and some just plain dumb……
Scavenger hunt, casino, art auction, bingo, shopping in the jewelry store for non-brand jewelry at high prices, shopping in clothing shop for really ugly clothes at high prices, eat, eat, eat….. buffet or dining room, sit in the library and read, sit in Crooner’s lounge and drink Raspberry Romance champagne drinks or Mojitos…. or Jameson whisky. You could head to the pool and jump in with 2000 sweaty people, enjoy men with big bellies and women with swimsuits two sizes too small because we deny our girth……. enjoy a massage, facial or manicure/pedicure and endure the sales pitches to buy their products instead of relaxing. And if I sound cynical about the spa, it is with fairness as I have had many spa treatments and never once just been able to leave without a strong sales pitch which deters me on this day from keeping my massage appointment because I am not in the mood for it. I enjoyed my facial and pedicure, it’s the sales push that turns me off totally so today I cancelled my massage.
We chose to have champagne breakfast on our balcony for our third sea day. After selecting our time and our menu, all we had to do was get up on time and wait for a crew member to set up our table. It was windy today but that’s part of cruising, and our motto is ‘You can’t stop our fun!’ Our quiche, fresh fruit and pastries were delicious. We were able to order orange juice which we mixed with our champagne to make mimosas. Trust me, a bartender has nothing on me when it comes to making a good mimosa!
After breakfast we decide to go play what I call “Old Lady Bingo” in honor of my grandma who loved bingo. As a kid, I remember sitting with her at the bingo table at the local fair each year where she had multiple bingo cards and would put clear red plastic discs on the numbers as they were called. If the wind came up, as was usual in the desert in October, the cards and discs would fly everywhere. I was too young to know how that got resolved when it happened, I can only imagine that there were a lot of very angry people! She would sit and play bingo for hours.
Nowadays, you can do it the old-fashioned way and purchase paper cards and blot out the numbers with an ink blotter as they are called, or if you are like me, and feeling less stress is better — you purchase the tablet version and just sit and let the machine take care of coloring in your numbers.
The tablet version that I played had 18 or 30 cards and would even push forward the cards that were doing best and when it got down to one number, a little chime goes off. One day I won $125 and I celebrated as my little tablet played a happy song. Yay! Two days later I won $188 ! Double yay because that almost paid my bar tab for Mojitos and Raspberry Romance!
Another hour down until bedtime tonight! Woohoo!
Next we head to the live art auction, which we attended on our last cruise out of pure boredom and then ended up enjoying the auctioneer and being astounded at the prices for art on a cruise ship. One of the many artists is a man named Peter Max. His art isn’t for me but I do think his little umbrella man, which he paints in all colors and sizes is kinda cute. His price tag of $10,000 – $59,000 is ridiculous though! Peter– you just aren’t that good! 
Once the art auction is done and another hour has gone by, it’s time to find something to eat in the lunch lounge before heading back to afternoon bingo. Yes, it’s an exciting day on the ship — and I could go pay to use the gym or take a yoga class but I’m not that energetic. Instead of taking the elevator on the 15 floors of the ship, we use the stairs and after about 6 floors, with 22 stairs per floor, that’s about all the exercise I can handle.
My favorite lounge on this ship is Crooners. Most nights there is a piano player who is pretty good. We have enjoyed his Elton John night as well as his ode to Dean Martin and the remaining Rat Pack. At night the lounge is packed as it is one of the more popular venues. Pele, one of the crew members has memorized my cruise number and readily brings a drink of choice: a delightful raspberry romance which is raspberry juice, raspberry purée and champagne or Jameson whisky, (neat of course!) or the classical mojito which every bar on the ship excels at making. I love to find a comfy seat in the lounge and sit down with my ipad and text family at home, sending pictures of my day or writing a blog.
We rotate for dinner between paying to eat at one of the two specialty restaurants or going to the any time dining hall. We rarely use the buffet because we just aren’t buffet people and the crowds make it even less desirable.
Our club class staff in the Bordeaux room were exceptional this trip and we loved seeing them in the mornings and on the nights we weren’t eating in the specialty restaurants.Last night we enjoyed club class dining for an extra fee which provides additional items from the fixed menu. Tonight we are dining the specialty Italian restaurant Sabatini’s. The limited selections of food can become an issue over the time of the cruise. They don’t change it up much in any of the food venues.
After dinner there are a few different music options where there are string duos, pianists, and sometime a comedian or special presentation on the next port of call. We chose “Where in the World Trivia” for our after dinner entertainment. After becoming annoyed that the questions were historical but the answers had to be the name of a modern city, we decided Google was our new best friend. With the help of Google, we won trivia and considered that since the answers didn’t match historical names, it was fair game. You can’t fairly ask us a question about Bombay and say the correct answer is Mumbai when the incident happened at the time the city was Bombay!
While Cathy once again wandered off to the casino, I had a nice Jameson whisky at Crooners and called it a night. We have to get up early tomorrow to meet our next tour guide in Grand Cayman. The ship anchors at sea and then uses “tender boats” to get passengers to shore. It is a tedious, crowded and often annoying experience so we need some good sleep to avoid being crabby.
I love your blog, keep posting.