As we near the end of our trip around the world, Frances and I have been talking about explaining how we spend our time at sea. This is an important issue as we spend approximately two days at sea for every day in port. Days in port can be exhausting because most of the ports that we have visited have been on the warm side, we have done a lot of walking usually over hilly if not mountainous terrain. So, our days at sea have been our opportunity to relax … but they have not been uneventful or boring!
Our days are often structured by the list of daily events listed in the ‘Princess Patter’ which includes all of the organized events scheduled for the day. For Frances and I that generally includes:
- Get up between 7 am and 8 am
- Breakfast either in the Panorama (buffet) if we are headed to the gym or the Club Restaurant otherwise.
- Gym where Frances usually has a Pilates class and I do weights and cardio. If Frances doesn’t have a class, she also has a weights and cardio routine (we try to get to the gym every day at sea).
- After the gym (and a shower), Frances usually has an Arts & Crafts class …
- or we attend a lecture about our next port or work on our next post for this website.
- At 11:45 am on every sea day we have rehearsal with the Pacific Princes Harmony Choir.
- Lunch is around 12:45 usually in the Club Restaurant but occasionally in the Panorama (periodically they have a ‘Pub Lunch’ but more about this later).
- After lunch we may see a movie, or read (Frances has a book club) or work on this website or attend a lecture …
- At 4:00 pm we have trivia. We are part of a regular trivia team…
- Dinner is at 5:30. We share our dinner table with six other world cruisers all of whom got on board in L. A. and will get off in L. A. (there were two other classes of passengers on board: 1. World Cruisers who got on and off in Florida and 2. Cruisers who only take one or more segments of the World Cruise but not the whole World Cruise).
- After dinner there is almost always live entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge provided either by singers, musicians, comedians or occasionally local folkloric performers or the company of singers and dancers who travel with the ship and present productions about once a week. Alternatively or in addition to the above we have the choice of listening to one of the performers in one of the two other lounges (the Casino Lounge or the Pacific Lounge) or we can spend time in the casino or at the pool.
- We usually wind up our day around 11:00 pm.
In addition the the above there have been many special events:
In January and again in February, we celebrated ‘Crossing the Equator’. The ship’s crew makes a big deal of this and puts on quite a show which features King Neptune and his wife, his counselor and his enforcer. Several (volunteer) passengers are put trial for various misfeasances and malfeasances. They are always found guilty and punished by being required to do silly and outrageous punishments which almost always involve being covered with whip cream, ice cream and / or spaghetti. In the end the Captain and the Cruise Director always seem to end up in the pool! Passengers who are crossing the equator for the first time are then invited to kiss a fish and everyone gets a certificate verifying that they are now “shellbacks”.
In February the Pacific Princess purchased a satellite feed to broadcast special events of the big screen in the Cabaret Lounge … The first was the Super Bowl (wow what a shocker!) … and then The Academy Awards (wow what a shocker!) …
On February 11th, the Pacific Princes Harmony Choir sang as we entered Sydney Harbour.
In February we celebrated Valentines day with decorations. The captain of the ship officiated at a ‘rededication’ ceremony who wished to rededicate and the Pacific Princess Harmony Choir sang, ‘Love Me Tender’. At dinner the Maitre d’Restaurant, Oscar, was dressed up as a ‘valentine’!
In March we had a the ship was again decorated for the holiday … St. Patricks Day … and, again, the Maitre D’Restaurant dressed up … this time as a Leprechaun!
Of course in April the ship was decorated for Easter … unfortunately Oscar did not dress up as a bunny
… Also, Easter services were observed and the Princess Harmony Choir sang …
Another event in April, as the Pacific Princes crossed the Atlantic, was the crew tug of war …
also on the Atlantic crossing teams of passengers had a competition to see who could build the best boat …
A recurring event that everyone looked forward to were the Sunday brunches. Usually these occurred when we had a lot of sea days. They always had a theme and ice sculpture …
Frances and I attended a special dinner prepared specially by the Executive Chef (Chef’s Table) …
Frances attended several wine tasting events …
The also had a dance party whenever the crew could come up with an excuse.
At the end of each cruise segment, an auction was held for the ship’s navigational map with the proceeds going to Princess Charities. At the end of the first world cruise (Fort Lauderdale), they auctioned off a navigational map showing all ports that we sailed to and the auctioned the ship’s flags …
And, as mentioned above, there is the Pub Lunch which featured English cuisine (steak & kidney pie, ploughman’s lunch, etc.) …
