Day 18: Crossing the Pacific Ocean … Day 2 of 5 … Entertaining Ourselves

Monday, 23 January 2017
At Sea — North Pacific Ocean

Stats @ Ship’s Time 11:00A (AST) … UTC 8:00p (same day)
Temp: 68F (20C)
Position: 25.31.32N / 126.30.36W

I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child,
travel formed me as much as my formal education.
~ David Rockefeller ~

One of the readers of this blog commented that she was interested in how we entertain ourselves on sea days.  So, instead of waiting until the end of the day to tell you that we were up at 5:00a, and followed our regular sea day routine as Insignia rocked and rolled across the Pacific for a second day in a row — but with sunshine and blue skies today — I thought I would tackle her comment instead.

Entertaining ourselves on a day at sea is quite easy for us as we are very self-sufficient.  In fact, the days seem to go by just as fast as they do when we are in port.

Our days start early — usually around 6:00a.  After checking emails and such, we get going with our exercise routine.  Of course, on days like yesterday and today when the motion of the ocean is fairly prominent, we skip that.  Safety before exercise is our motto.

After breakfast — we prefer the Terrace Café on this ship — it’s time to read, write, process photos, go for strolls around the ship, and catch up on any chores we might have.  Admittedly the latter are few and far between on Insignia.  Our free laundry perk is excellent so we have very little to do in that respect … just the occasional hand-wash-only items require us to bring out the bottle of detergent we brought with us.  Zhenya and Gabriel do a great job of servicing the cabin, so not much to do in that respect either … although they have commented that we make their job easy by keeping things tidy ourselves.  Clutter drives me nuts, so no surprise that things are ship-shape in stateroom 6090.  One of these days, I’ll take the time to photograph some of the ways we stay organized … to help future RTW cruisers.

Being an introvert, I prefer veranda time on my own to the many activities that are offered throughout the day … this helps me to recharge my “being social batteries” for those occasions when we get together with fellow-passengers for meals, special events, or shore excursions when we are in a port setting.

For those who are more of an extrovert, or who prefer to keep busy in a group setting, there are a number of activities organized by O.  Here are some examples from today’s Currents … there’s much more to pick and choose from of course:

• Dance Class: Ballet 2 and Salsa 3
• Indoor Golf Putting … and later, “Up Your Game” Table Tennis Coaching
• Beginners and Intermediate Bridge Classes… and Duplicate & Social Bridge
• Coffee Chat & Needlepoint
• Photography Lectures and Workshops … today it is Boat Walk Interior & Editing
• Enrichment Lecture: “Kilauea: Magma Cum Laude” … repeated on the TV
• Jackpot Bingo
• Around the World Quilt Group Get Together … special for the RTWers … the quilt will be auctioned at the end of the voyage and the receipts donated to the crew welfare fund
• Shuffleboard
• Afternoon Tea … today featuring cupcakes … you know I have to go to this one; I’ll skip lunch to make up for the calories
• Exploring the Seascapes of WJ Turner with the Artist in Residence
• Team Trivia … twice a day
• Pre-Showtime Dancing
• Around the World Whiskey Tasting (nominal fee attached to this one)
• Vocalist Colleen Williamson in the Insignia Lounge

In addition to all this, there is lunch and dinner in various venues.  And movies on TV … or one can borrow DVDs from O as well.  And lets not forget that there’s also the ship’s gym for workouts, stretch and other exercise classes, and the spa.

So no shortage of activities as you can see.  If my day of solitary activities flies by, I wonder how all those who participate in the scheduled activities feel about the speed with which their day goes by.

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.