Three sea days.....

Try something different. If you are a technology-driven family, turn off all the devices, play deck quoits or shuffleboard, go to a lecture, sit and watch the sea, engage in conversation with people you don't know. Sea days - I love them!

No idea why the OP booked a cruise.

Every part of a cruise is to be enjoyed so if you have a few days at sea you can broaden your horizons.

I wonder if they realise they have the same time at sea coming home?

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My husband is the sort of person who can't sit still for more than about 15 minutes, and that's pushing it! When we first started cruising back in 2003 the one thing that worried me was that he was going to be bored. However, no such thing. Now over 20 cruises later on a typical sea day we'll have breakfast together then he'll go and get the Crossword and Sudoku and then spend about half an hour doing, or trying to do the Crossword. Then when I ask if he's going to the talk he'll probably say, well yes but I'll need to leave before the end in order to go to Shuffleboard. He often meets up with others at the Shuffleboard and has often come back saying he's arranged to meet with so and so for lunch, is that ok?

After lunch he may have arranged to go to one of the camera workshops or something else that's on - maybe more shuffleboard or quoits or one of the port talks although we often watch those on the tv. For someone that's active like him there always seems something to do. Just occasionally, if the sun's shining he will go out on the balcony with a book, or the unfinished crossword. We find that if there are several sea days in succession we get into some sort of routine, never once been bored. In fact, considering how active he still is - working on an extension at the moment - I was really surprised when he suggested going on Aurora's 65 night cruise to South America next year. I asked if he realised how many sea days there will be but it didn't seem to phase him at all. It does seem that people relax when on board and even someone who's incredibly active can enjoy the sea days.

Now that's cruising Annie. Would love to do a 65 night cruise. It would suit me fine if at least half of those were sea days too.

What is it they say? Getting there is half the fun.

This post intrigued me as I am going on my first cruise next month to the Canaries with 3 sea days before we reach Madeira. For me and my family this cruise is all about relaxing, and sea days are not a problem for us since we can explore the ship or chill out on the balcony-reading, drinking good wine, eating yummy food, do tech stuff, or just watching and listening to the sea, being as lazy or active as we choose...Naturally we are excited about the ports but I only booked one excursion in Lanzarote; the other ports I have things planned but I'm flexible! This cruise will be a complete contrast to our land based holidays which invariably have an awesome packed itinerary but are often very intensive. Perhaps everyone's expectations and their experience of cruising differs .. for us it's not just about the ports it's the entirety of the cruise.

Just to add to my previous post, and this may sound odd but sometimes, particularly when we've been in the Caribbean and had quite a few port days in succession, I will decide to have a Sea Day. In other words at the next port I will stay on board, especially if it's a port we've been to before. Last time it was Dominica. Now Dominica is a beautiful island and I've done two different tours there. I don't swim or snorkel so that's not an attraction - besides which Dominica doesn't really have good beaches. So I decided to stay on board. The ship is peaceful, I can go and have a coffee without wondering if I can get a seat. I really enjoyed myself.

No idea why the OP booked a cruise.

The OP could have easily booked a Mediterranean fly-cruise what was he thinking?

Regards John

Just to add to my previous post, and this may sound odd but sometimes, particularly when we've been in the Caribbean and had quite a few port days in succession, I will decide to have a Sea Day. In other words at the next port I will stay on board, especially if it's a port we've been to before. Last time it was Dominica. Now Dominica is a beautiful island and I've done two different tours there. I don't swim or snorkel so that's not an attraction - besides which Dominica doesn't really have good beaches. So I decided to stay on board. The ship is peaceful, I can go and have a coffee without wondering if I can get a seat. I really enjoyed myself.

Out of interest which tours did you do ? We are looking for something to do there when we go soon. It is not our favourite island by a long way, don't really like the town and no beaches worth going to, but don't really want to stay on the ship as we will have had 8 sea days getting there.

The OP could have easily booked a Mediterranean fly-cruise what was he thinking?

 

Regards John

We don't know that the OP is able to fly some people cruise because they have health issues that prevent them flying.

We don't know that the OP is able to fly some people cruise because they have health issues that prevent them flying.

It is true to say that not everybody is able to fly but of those that do not, most do not think the ship can sail at 620mph like a plane and know that the Mediterranean is quite a distant place.

Regards John

Stay in bed until noon?????? That's half the day gone :-(

Out of interest which tours did you do ? We are looking for something to do there when we go soon. It is not our favourite island by a long way, don't really like the town and no beaches worth going to, but don't really want to stay on the ship as we will have had 8 sea days getting there.

I don't know if they still do this excursion it was called the 'Indian River rowboat'. It was an hours drive to the river which I enjoyed as we were able to see a lot of the island. The boat trip was really leisurely and we stopped for refreshments at one point. I don't know if it's the sort of thing you enjoy, but it's something you may consider.

On our World cruise in 2103 we had 11 sea days on the trot and I enjoyed every one.:D

Plenty

I don't know if they still do this excursion it was called the 'Indian River rowboat'. It was an hours drive to the river which I enjoyed as we were able to see a lot of the island. The boat trip was really leisurely and we stopped for refreshments at one point. I don't know if it's the sort of thing you enjoy, but it's something you may consider.

On our World cruise in 2103 we had 11 sea days on the trot and I enjoyed every one.:D

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look. We enjoy the sea-days but just feel that we want to do something worthwhile in the ports as we only have 5.

Just out of interest, we returned from the cruise last week. I have reviewed it on here. Anyway, for info, I have cruised 9 or 10 times, so for the person who thought cruising wasn't for me, there is your answer. We do fly, less frequently now, and then generally only to join a cruise. I still think three days at sea, well five actually if we include two further days returning was too many for a shortish cruise. Having said that, I was forced to relax and read two books, watch three films and spend a small fortune in the shops! I accept sea days are part and parcel of cruising but defend my right not to particularly enjoy them!

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Bee-ess, as regards tours in Dominica. I've done the excursion which takes you round a lot of the island and was called Easy Dominica. It stopped at various places including the waterfalls. My husband has done the Champagne River Snorkel and loved it so much he's done it twice. He's also done River Rafting on Dominica. It really is a lovely island but some people dismiss it because it hasn't any good beaches.

Bee-ess, as regards tours in Dominica. I've done the excursion which takes you round a lot of the island and was called Easy Dominica. It stopped at various places including the waterfalls. My husband has done the Champagne River Snorkel and loved it so much he's done it twice. He's also done River Rafting on Dominica. It really is a lovely island but some people dismiss it because it hasn't any good beaches.

Thanks very much, we'll have a look, like the sound of River Rafting.

I've booked a tour in Dominica with Bumpiing Tours - they've been highly recommended on this forum and on others. We've taking the Roseau Valley Treasures tour which is 5/6 hours and includes several attractions for $55 each which I think is very reasonable. There are other tours available, all detailed on their website :-)

Sea days are wonderfully relaxing and I always book cruises with plenty of them; it's one reason I like P and O rather than some more port-intensive cruise lines.You can be active, use the gym or walk the decks, chill on a sunbed, have a drink or two, watch a film, do some sport, go to a talk (yes I love the murder mysteries too), eat when you please etc etc. What's not to like?

I've booked a tour in Dominica with Bumpiing Tours - they've been highly recommended on this forum and on others. We've taking the Roseau Valley Treasures tour which is 5/6 hours and includes several attractions for $55 each which I think is very reasonable. There are other tours available, all detailed on their website :-)

We did a similar tour last year Dixiebelle and it was fantastic. We didn't want to do snorkelling or anything like that so they tailored the tour for 4 of us and I cannot praise it highly enough

Sea days are wonderfully relaxing and I always book cruises with plenty of them; it's one reason I like P and O rather than some more port-intensive cruise lines.You can be active, use the gym or walk the decks, chill on a sunbed, have a drink or two, watch a film, do some sport, go to a talk (yes I love the murder mysteries too), eat when you please etc etc. What's not to like?

Thanks for bringing this post back on track![emoji3]

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Oh shut up, I've got 5 weeks to wait yet! :-)

Sometimes think I prefer the sea days to actually arriving in port. Good book, iPod playing favourite tunes whilst sitting on my balcony watching and listening to the sea is my idea of heaven. And this is the person who can't sit on a beach for longer than 30 minutes before getting twitchy.

Back in 2012, on Arcadia, Sydney to Southampton, we did 9 sea days across the Indian Ocean, due to pirate activity and weather conditions knocking out a couple of ports. Now that was a test for some pax. We did not mind it.:hearteyes: