One of the most often asked questions when people talk to me (or I’m boring them) about my cruising holiday habits is: “Aren’t sea days boring?” To which my incredulous response is “Are you kidding??!”. OK, let me caveat that now. If your idea of fun is being occupied non-stop from waking to sleeping by bungie jumping, sword swallowing and jumping out of and undertaking death defying free—falls from a perfectly serviceable airplane then I guess cruising isn’t going to be for you. However sea days offer the opportunity to explore and appreciate the vessel itself (and let’s not forget we are in a floating luxury 5/6* hotel) that can sometimes be forgotten in the hubbub that a port intensive itinerary can bring.
Every night the programme for tomorrow is delivered to your suite, enabling interesting activities to be ticked and built into your own personal day’s schedule. Today, for example, I could have been up at 7am (yeah, right!) for a sunrise walk with the personal trainer Vlad followed by Fab Abs. After breakfast I have a choice of bridge lessons or enrichment lectures on a wide variety of topics - today’s are the History of Hawaii and The Art of the Magazine Picture story. If I didn’t fancy any of that then I could have joined a cookery lesson with the Silversea Culinary Trainer, David Bilsland, who is showing us some pub favourites leading up to a traditional English pub lunch around the pool.
At noon, we get the daily navigational update from Captain Cataldo Destefano. In the afternoon, I’ve the choice of a blackjack tournament, more lectures including one from Vlad, previously mentioned, on increasing my metabolism, playing a few games of bingo or the daily team trivia quiz built round afternoon tea. And if I’ve still got time, there’s a little more exercising, crossword puzzles, sudoko, shuffleboard or golf putting to show some sporty skills.
In the evening, I’ve a choice of entertainment from simple melodies, played by the pianist in the main bar to the spotlight cabaret in the main theatre from the onboard ensemble or visiting artistes.
Don’t forget you’ve got to build in time for breakfast, lunch afternoon tea, perhaps a pre-dinner cocktail and dinner too. Time to be bored? I don’t think so.
Of course you can always take my route to spending my time on sea days. Eat, relax and catch up on some reading and favourite music in one of the lounges. Maybe an afternoon nap. After all it’s my holiday and I deserve it.
(I should also add as a postscript that many of the mainstream cruise lines have much more going on than a line like Silversea - the Silver Shadow doesn’t have zip lines, climbing walls, surf machines, water flumes et al. Which just goes to show why cruising is such a flexible holiday - it’s there for you to find if you want but if you like things a little more refined and slower-paced then that’s there too)
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