LIFE @ SEA

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After all of the excitement of our three days in Hawaii it was nice to have five sea days ahead of us. The ship has a rhythm and a life all of its own and is best savored on longer ocean passages. We enjoy the sea days and find that there are more then enough activities to fill the days and nights. The Cruise Director kicks into high gear by presenting lecturers, games, movies, classes, special events and parties. On this segment we happen to have guest lecturers on a variety of subjects. Ambassador Samuel Hart speaks on Middle East policy one day and on the diplomatic life on another day. Nigel West, a military historian, talks about intelligence and counter-intelligence issues during the cold-war. There are art lectures about Gauguin, Van Gogh and Picasso. Dr Lisa Smith is a noted anthropologist whose focus is the impact of western civilization on Polynesia. The tour manager, Phil Butterworth, presents port lectures with tips and tours of our upcoming ports of call. There are computer and digital camera classes, needle point and arts and crafts courses, galley and bridge tours. There are cooking demonstrations and wine tastings. There are organized board games and sports contests and puzzles and trivia competitions. Yoga, pilates and stretching classes are scheduled every day. Religious services are offered by the guest rabbi and priests on board. There is a bible study group and a Friends of Bill W daily get-together. Dance classes are held twice a day. There are gambling tournaments, bingo and duplicate bridge games. There is a beauty salon and a full service spa which offers massages and aromatherapy and mud and seaweed wraps. The fitness center is equipped with state-of-the-art exercise machines. And all of this is just the daytime events. Ping pong, swimming, paddle tennis and deck walking are other activities and are very important to us. In between all these goings-on, passengers manage to enjoy breakfast, bouillon and crackers, lunch, tea time, cocktails and dinner. After dinner there are too many events to even list beginning with the main production shows and guest entertainers, dancing, karaoke, socializing and star-gazing. This week some of the special events have been the equator crossing party, the repeaters caviar party, several birthday parties and dinner with the ship’s officers. With all of this going on it is a challenge to find the time to keep up with emails, blogs, laundry, reading, creating a photo album and writing letters home. I swear you would need a vacation at the end of a world cruise if you tried to participate in most of the events. We have been on board nearly a month and haven’t seen a movie or made it into the casino or the on board shops yet. And, in the unlikely event that you run out of things to do, you could always take a nap.

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