LIVING ON A CRUISE SHIP

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” - Mae West

Regent Seven Seas Navigator, docked
in Bermuda

Most of us are creatures of routine. When a change in our living circumstances occurs, we quickly establish routines to (a) sooth ourselves, and (b) inject some efficiency into our situation. Being on a cruise for three months is no different—a certain level of routine rapidly emerges. So, when asked how we can stand to be on a cruise that long, the answer is easy. The cruise ship becomes home, and we treat it as such.

Days on a cruise ship come in two types: port days and sea days. In other words, days that the ship is docked (or anchored) and we can get off and explore, and days when the ship is chugging across the sea and thus no one can leave the ship. On the 89 days of this cruise, we had 66 port days and 23 sea days. Almost 1/3 of the latter were at the end of the journey, as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean back to New York. Since leaving continental Europe, we spent seven days at sea (including four in a row), interrupted by five days of stops at islands along the way.

Tugboat pulls us out of our berth sideways

Days in Port

Port days had the greatest variations of routine, depending on the place we visited. Some places were interesting from a historical perspective (e.g., St. Petersburg, Russia), others from a cultural perspective (e.g., Nuuk, Greenland), others involved a specific activity (e.g., Edinburgh, Scotland), and still others were all about breathtaking scenery (e.g., almost everywhere in Norway). Some we stumbled off the ship right into the heart of the action, such as in Cobh, Ireland. Others involved a bit of a ride to get there, such as the 30-minute ride from Southampton, England to Stonehenge. Still others involved a lengthy ride, such as the three hours to Berlin from Warnemunde, Germany. In some places, one walked—a lot. In others, one rode a bus or car. In still others, we pretty much just drank or ate. Some involved excursions provided by the ship, others excursions planned by oneself, and still others involvde just getting off the ship and seeing what happens.

Before going ashore, it was almost like getting ready for work: get up, get some coffee, check the daily schedule, maybe have some breakfast, then head out to the day’s activities. Maybe come back for lunch; maybe have lunch in town and maybe then head back out. Or perhaps stay in and pursue activities on the ship.

Sea Days

Sea days offered a different routine. Get up when you please, eat when you please. Then you had options: do crafts, go for a swim (not often—we were mostly in cold climates), go to a lecture, work on a group jigsaw puzzle, play team trivia, walk around the deck or hit the gym, find a nice corner with a book, etc.  Bridge was available for those who like that, as were other games, such as board games, mahjongg, bingo, or deck games like the inevitable shuffleboard or bag toss. The casino was open when the ship was at sea, as were a couple of small boutiques for shopping. Some sea days were as much about the scenery as a port day, such as when we sailed through a field of icebergs, past a lovely coastal area or through a fjord.

In the Evening

Evening routines were largely the same whether the day was at sea or in port. In the evening, change clothes (nothing formal, but one does dress a bit for the evening), go for cocktails, then on to dinner. After dinner, go to a show (usually either a singer, solo musician, magician, comedian, ventriloquist, or some other headliner act, interspersed with set shows from the ship’s resident entertainment troupe), go to the piano bar, or go dancing. Avoid karaoke at all costs. Chat with friends in some quiet corner.

Piano (and sometimes guitar)
Bar performer Allen Roman

A few port visits were overnight, offering the opportunity of nightlife in the town. Not that I painted the towns of Reykjavik, Amsterdam, or St George’s, but the opportunity was there.

The People Onboard

The cruise started with 105 of us on for the full 89 days. The ship’s capacity is 490 passengers, and we sailed full most of the time. The cruise consisted of six segments, varying in length from 11 to 20+ days, so the rest of the passenger contingent beyond the 105 came and went at intervals. Four or five of the “full cruisers” left before the end for various reasons. The passengers’ nationalities varied, but the vast bulk were from the U.S. But we had fellow passengers from Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Japan, China, and several other countries.  In addition, the ship’s crew numbers 360, from approximately 40 different countries. Some crew members came and went during the course of the cruise, but most were on for the duration.

So, fundamentally, we lived for three months in a small town where about half the town moves out and new people move in every few weeks. Or, perhaps a college dormitory is a better analogy. It’s a closed community where people are thrown together for a fairly intense experience for a finite amount of time.

We were fortunate to get to know a number of our fellow passengers and crew members fairly well, including passengers who were on for single segments. There also were three segments in which old friends from former cruises joined, and some crew members we’ve known for many years were working during our stay.

Because of the closed society setting, getting to know people was easy. This cruise line—Regent Seven Seas—has an open seating policy for meals, meaning you coul go to the dining room any time during its opening hours and ask to be seated with specific people, or just take “people pot luck”—asking to be seated with new people. We tried to do the latter at the beginning of each segment to meet some of the newcomers, and then later in the segment make dates for dinner with various people we’d already met, in order to catch up. We’d also see people on excursions, during activities, in the lounges at cocktail hour, in the entertainment venues in the evening, or just in the hallways.

Appetizer: foie gras sliders

Party Time

Once per segment, the ship held a block party, at which passengers would come out of their cabins at an appointed time, wine glass in hand, while the hall’s stewards would pour wine and offer hors d’oeuvres. Some member of the staff or entertainment troupe would join each grouping of passengers in the hall to help facilitate conversation (not that such facilitation ever seemed to be needed) while neighbors got to know each other. Senior crew—sometimes the captain but always at least the General Manager (who holds a rank equivalent to Captain and is in charge of the passengers’ overall shipboard experience) and Cruise Director would dash through and shake hands. Since the General Manager is French, the women would often get the French two-cheek air kiss.

Every party needs its own double rainbow

In addition, on the final segment, the ship held a “where are you from” party, in which passengers were asked to appear at various venues around the ship based on where they live back home. There were 15 of us on that segment from North Carolina and 18 from South Carolina (the two states’ meetings were in the same place). Once the Carolinas party broke up, we crashed Australia, which was still going strong.

Details of Living

The purpose of a cruise like this is to be able to visit a large swath of the world in a fairly compact time frame. While nothing is explored in depth, a cruise is a particularly efficient way to travel, as you have your hotel and transport in one, and thus do not have to worry about logistics. We chose to do this on a cruise line that includes pretty much everything—all meals in all restaurants, beverages (including alcoholic), tips, excursions, etc.  Thus, we were not signing chits for everything. This helped add to the sense that the ship was our home. You simply came and went.  The only difference, at least for me, is that everywhere I went, someone was waiting on me.

Though we had a nice-sized cabin (select "Deluxe Window Suite G from this link) with a sitting area, we expanded throughout the ship. We deliberately chose a location on a deck that featured two lounges, the library, and the coffee spot. Thus, we could stroll down the hall to relax in a lounge or grab a cup of coffee. I started drafting this entry while sitting in the “Coffee Connection” down the hall from our cabin, and past entries were written from the small lounge down the hall, the library, or our cabin.

The television in our room had mostly on-ship channels that featured things like descriptions of ports and excursions, taped broadcasts of lectures, the daily update from the cruise director, the webcam from the front of the ship, information about weather and location of the ship, and movies on demand. There were no broadcast channels, other than four news networks: MSNBC, Fox News, BBC News, and SkyNews. Since home is in North Carolina, we watched the weather news from home to monitor the Hurricane Florence situation, and the ship licensed the Weather Channel for this purpose.

We also had wifi access, though the quality of the connection was uneven, and nonexistent in certain locations. However, between the internet, the four news channels, a daily printed news summary, and print-outs of a few major newspapers each day in the library, we were able to stay in touch with the news (unfortunately).

Journey's End

This adventure is now in the past. It was sad to leave friends in our little town of Seven Seas Navigator (photos of the ship's interiors--not ones I took, but they accurately reflect the ship--can be found at this link), but I treasure these friendships and the adventures of the past three months. I am eternally grateful to my brother, sister-in-law, and neighbors who kept an eye on things while I was gone. And, truth be told, it is nice to sleep in my own bed again. But I am having trouble understanding why no one is making my bed, preparing my meals, or offering me drinks. It’s an adjustment.

So this is my final text entry in this blog. I’ll try to organize my photos and post a link to the online albums in a couple of weeks, but can make no promises as to timing.

Thank you for following along.

The right side of the menu in the main dining
room featured the day's specials, which changed each day.
If you didn't like the featured wine, you could select
another included wine (or buy a premium wine)

The left side of the menu, with
the items available every day

Preparing for a pool deck party

The ship's Executive Chef also
is a talented pianist