As I am writing this on January 31,day 27, we have sailed 7,3100 nautical miles from Ft Lauderdale. The Pacific Ocean is a huge body of water. I thought it would be of interest to write about life on the ship. For those of you who have cruised on a one or two week cruise, a lot is different on a longer one. As Bruce the cruise director< a graduate of Julliard and Joe’s chorus director > states, this isn’t a vacation, it’s a lifestyle.
There are tons of group activities to get involved in on the days at sea. Here are a few; arts and crafts, watercolor painting, dance classes of all kinds, Tai Chi, a Microsoft digital workshop that has standing room only, the card game Bridge instruction at all levels, team trivia, creative writing, sports activities< the ship has tennis courts and a basketball court and of course Bingo. Since I am a loner, I like to go to the Exploration speaker series. This is basically talks on history or the area etc. Some of the speakers are excellent and you really learn. I know more about the Bounty Mutiny than I ever need to know. Today we have a new speaker, who will talk about the pacific Islanders. Also this evening is star gazing weather permitting.
This ship is the ideal build for a world cruise. There is lots of covered open deck space. I love to just sit out there and read or do my needlepoint. You can always get a seat and it is quiet. The ship also has a movie theater/ culinary arts center. One thing Bruce does is have a morning days at sea show that is filmed and shown on our TVs during the day. It is an open format something like Good Morning America. Today as an example, he interviewed the sommelier (wine dude) on board and all of us in the audience received a glass of champagne. There are two pools, one with a retractable roof and a wonderful gym. By today’s standards for ships this one is old. It is was built 10 years ago.
One thing you do not see on this voyage is a lot of drinking. Notice I said see. Drinks on board are expensive.<Hello Holland America, on a long cruise, what are you thinking?> it seems most people have alcohol with them and drink in their cabins, as Joe and I do. You can bring wine on board at any port and boy, people do. We actually saw a lady with a shopping cart full of wine wheeling it to the ship from a store. On some of the sail aways from the ports, occasionally they have 2 for ones. There is were you see people buy.
We had no choice of our cabin and were at the mercy of the cruise line, however we got lucky and have an aft quad. That means a full length couch and an extra closet. We are on a low deck, but just a few doors away to a small outside deck.
One frustration is WIFI or lack there of. I never thought I was a internet junkie but I guess I am. We pay 25 cents a min, for extremely slow service. Sometimes there is none. The ship gave us a 60 min credit because of this. We were told that Niue, our port tomorrow has free internet. There are 1000 people on the island and 1170 of us. Guess how fast it will be?
Crisis in Egypt , We have 3 scheduled stops in Egypt about two months away. The Captain has mentioned it on board, but nothing has changed. As long as the Suez canal stays open we will be able to keep our date to transit, which is April 5. My own personal thought is we will have no stops in Egypt. If The canal becomes blocked, we have two options, return the way we came or travel around Africa which is 10,000 miles around. What ever happens we will be Ft Lauderdale on April 26.
Gina Wagg
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