Cruising - Days at Sea

We were on a 14 day, repositioning cruise from Boston to Tampa. We visited 6 islands so the rest of the time we were "at sea". The first and last days were quite rough. Gale force 8 winds, waves 12 to 15 ft was what was posted on the Captains Log which we could see on one channel of the TV. Even in an inside cabin, amidships, we could feel the shudders in the ship and things would creak.
Whatever the weather, we got into a routine that we followed (with some flexibility) each of the days we were at sea.
We would get up at about 8am. We had to set an alarm, as, with no window in the cabin, we didn't naturally wake. Breakfast in the Venetian Dining Room could be any thing from Eggs Benedict or Smoked Kippers to cereal and juice. We tended to be pretty self disciplined; yogurt and fruit for George, egg white omelet, fruit and coffee for me. I did try the kippers once but found it too strong a flavour for breakfast. We would then go up to the gym which was large and very well equipped. I would do yoga for about half an hour and then ride a bike for about 20 minutes. George would use the weights and exercise equipment for about the same length of time, until he found someone to play Knights and Cities with and then he tended to skip out of the gym earlier.

The view as I did yoga in the morning. I would sometimes see flying fish
while stretching and contemplating the water.

We would then head up to the pool area for a hot tub and find a lounge chair to settle into for the day. The 2nd day was surprisingly warm and lounge chairs were hard to find but after a while people found other things to do during the day and we could always find one either overlooking the pool or on one of the decks at the bow. I would spend the day reading and George would play games on the tablet, go in the hot tub or wander around talking to people. We ate lunch at the buffet restaurant on the same level as the pool, restricting ourselves to one plate full. I have a weakness for sweets so my plate tended to be half salads and half desserts. Sometimes there would be a BBQ by the pool and George would select from that. We would always have a bowl or cone of ice cream in the middle of the afternoon, served from the bar by the pool. Usually we would stay on deck, often in the hot tub, to watch the sunset and we had some fabulous ones.

It surprised me how often we had the bow area, or periphery of the ship, to ourselves, very few people seemed to pay any attention to the fact we were at sea. Everyone was focused inside to the pool, band, bar, food etc. Focused on this floating, artificial environment created just for our pleasure and relaxation. It felt rather surreal, looking out at the ocean, seeing the flying fish and sea birds and then looking into the pool area with its mass of baking and floating humanity. Not that I didn't partake of all those luxuries but I found it disconcerting. It was a little like my reaction to the artificiality of Palm Springs, California, last year.
As it got dark we would go back to the cabin, shower and then go to whatever show was on in the theatre. The entertainment was excellent and varied. Then we would go to dinner in the Venetian Dining Room unless it was one of the 3 nights we had booked to try the speciality restaurants. The food was very good and there was total flexibility in what you could order. For instance we quite often had 2 appetisers (perhaps a lettuce wedge and a smoked salmon dish) as they tended to be quite small portions. One side of the menu remained the same the whole cruise with 4 main course choices. On the other side of the menu there were 5 different selections every night. It was often difficult to choose. The dessert menu changed slightly every night but always had a sherbet, fruit plate and cheese plate. We tended to choose one dessert (George fell in love with the cheesecake and ordered it frequently) and shared either the fruit plate or the cheese plate. Service was excellent. Most of the staff were Philippino or Indonesian and all spoke excellent English. There was time to talk with the serving staff at breakfast, as it wasn't as busy or fast paced, and many were coming to the end of their 9 month contracts and looking forward to going home. There was some concern when news of the typhoon in the Philippines came out but we heard that all but one had been able to hear from their families.
By the end of dinner it was usually about 9pm and we would go to the Atrium area to listen to the couple who entertained there most evenings. He was from Montreal and played guitar and they both sang. They had a huge repertoire of songs from the 50s up to present hits and were very personable. We were in bed by 11, tired by the sea air and by doing nothing.
Each night we were greeted by a different "towel animal":

I didn't get a good picture of the towel monkey, hanging from the ceiling, with a note on him reminding us to turn the clocks back.