A Typical Day at Sea

Now I will be the first to admit, that I usually do not like days at sea. I find them long and tedious. Many people like them so that they can go to the casino, I am not a fan. However, on an Oceania Ship they are much more enjoyable. On an Oceania cruise you can earn something they call Big O points. I know, terrible name right. They offer games and activities all day long. For example, you can play putt putt golf. Winner gets 3 Big O points, second place gets 2, and everyone else gets one point for participating. They have ping pong tournament. We like this one better because you just play against one person so you're a shoe in for at least two points. So yesterday, Rich and I played putt putt twice, ping pong, bean bag toss (it was kind of like bags), shuffleboard, and trivia. At the end of the cruise you take you're Big O points and trade them in for stuff. Last cruise we got a couple of tshirts and a hat. We had a good time running around the ship and playing all these goofy games. 

At 4:00 PM almost every afternoon high tea is served in the lounge called Horizons. Horizons is at the front of the ship way up high. It has huge windows across the front which provides a panoramic view of the sea. A string quartet plays in the background setting the stage. A tea trolley comes by loaded with pastries;  a waiter appears with individual tea pots and a choice of teas. It is elegant and decadent at the same time. So you sit and sip and munch and watch the sea sail by. It is one of my most favorite activity. 

Rich and I usually sit there until dinner. Tea is finished at 5 PM and  then Horizons changes into a bar and now it's happy hour. So we have a drink or two and sit and watch the sun set. Sometimes we sit alone and sometimes we are joined by people we have met onboard or by complete strangers who want to share a table and meet new people. 

Then we go to dinner. This is a small ship so we don't have all the choices that the mega liners have. But we don't mind a bit. There is a lovely Italian restaurant and a steak house that you can go to once a trip, there is one main dining room, and the buffet up on deck 10. It's all we need. One of the things I really like about this cruise line is they have this thing where you can share a table. It's always fun to join new people for a meal and the best part is, if you don't like the people you don't have to eat with them ever again. Hee hee hee. 

After dinner there is one show in the lounge, this venue holds about 200 out of the 650 people on board. Very different from any other cruise line I have ever been on. The shows are small there are only 4 singers and dancers. No big productions on board the Nautica, that's for sure. After the show there is dancing in Horizons and that's it. The bars are open, but there's no disco, or honeymooners game. Everything is elegant and low key. Have to keep in mind that on a cruise like this it mostly an older clientele. There isn't one single solitary child on board either. 

We have only been on board a couple of nights and my body is still adjusting to the 12 hour time difference, so so far after the show I have gone back to the cabin and gone to bed. I might have been able to stay up a little later last night, but it was the captains cocktail party and I had three glasses of champagne, that kind of wiped me out. 

Well, we are getting ready to go on our excursion on KoSamui, Thailand so chow for now