Alaskan Cruise: Idle Time

Ship Life

Some passengers get perplexed by the relaxing nature of the cruise. There is time to devote to nothing to do at all. To those that are working so hard to make a living this seems like nirvana. To others agony. It can me both or none of that depending upon your emotional make up or your planning.

Day to Day:

Some people think that they will stay in bed all day and get nothing but sleep in. This can be done but daily cabin service would love to make sure that you are up and out sometime in the morning hours. They need to get in and change your bed and clean your bathroom and straighten up your cabin for you. They often leave a towel animal to let you know they care. There is also a turn down service in the the evening when you go to dinner where they make sure everything is ok in your room and make you sure it is neat for you you to get into at night. They leave a couple of chocolates. If there is a change in the routine or if your would like to order free fruit for your room you need to contact your room stewart and let them know the changes. They will be in the hall and soon in the 10 cruise you will know their name. It is often posted on a little card in your room when you first arrive.

Personal Activities

My wife and I participate in some activities together and some in a group. A deck of cards is always welcome in playing a game of rummy or gin rummy among ourselves. My wife loves to do word search puzzles... so there is a stockpile that we bring along to do some of that. A list of fairly current movies is broadcasted on your TV. Some of these are cruise centric, such as the old move North to Alaska and Disney sleddog movies and others are just current HBO types. On recent cruises there has been a movie night or two where a big blockbuster movie is shown in the theatre or the secondary night club spot. The movies or sports events of the day are also shown on the big screen outdoors. Seating in the outdoor movie theater can be somewhat limited for big sporting events and pretty darn cold on the Alaskan curise. Woolen blankets are supplied but often people opt for warmer venues. There are always kids that want to hot tub and head for the wool blankets.

Triva is a team event that happens throughout the day on ship. It becomes a mixer as the 6 member groups often require members from other groups than your own group to participate. Some cutesy prizes are awarded to the winning teams. These triva contests are run by the ship's social crew.

The library is open at certain hours of the day. Books may be checked out and returned. Many ships have very nice literature collections. Some have reference books that you peruse while you are there. I love some of the big art books that are contained in the library. The library is not open all the time as it requires staff to staff it. When it is not open, all the shelves are locked up. There are areas in the library which house books that they have brought on ship and have read and don't mind passing them on to others. These are free and you are welcome to take one and leave one too. Some people bring pretty current paperback books to this area. A cruise is a perfect place to bring a Ipad or a kindle full of books that you want to read. Download them before your get on the ship.

Lectures of all sorts

Various experts or speakers offer free lectures on various historical or scientific topics that are fun to hear.  Princess calls this the scholarship at sea program. Every day at sea a naturalist will give a lecture with slides in one of the big venues. There are also chances to learn how to line dance or zumba. On some cruises there are craft people that will use one of the nightclub venues to teach and have you participate in a free craft activity that takes about an hour or an hour and a half.  All the materials are supplied and it is kind of fun. Most of these are free. The Hawaiian cruise has a lei making seminar with all the materials. It was so popular that they offered it 4 days in a row and even then, some people not in line to get a reservations were not included. We signed up for that after missing out this activity the first Hawaiian cruise.

Contests and cruiser supported Activites

Bingo, even knowing the odds against winning is very popular among a certain demographic. Cards are bought and numbers are drawn with the usual patter. Some people love to participate.

A battle of sexes contest is often held on board. A cocktail contest with the professional bartenders overseeing is a fun spectator event. There is sometimes a group float em contest where bits of this and that become fodder for a raft contest across the swimming pool.

If you like wine at all, the wine tasting on the ship are a must. The usual wine tasting event costs about 10-15 dollars and you will hear about and taste around 6 different wines.  For the wine expert aficionado the premium wine tasting at 25-30 per person is also highly recommended. The wine expert on the ship walks you through each of the ones tasted and will talk about the way to appreciate wines. The tickets for these events are available through your table steward.  Again, provide you ship card and you are signed up. Appropriate appetizers are provided to go with the various wines. It might be a good idea to bring a little notebook to jot down the wines you really like and some notes. Wine that you taste might work out well when you get home and would like to get another bottle at a substantial savings in the grocery store or Costco. These wine tasting only occur a couple of times on the ship and usually during at at sea day.

A field trip through the backstage of the theater used to be a common activity. It was cool to see that costume vaults of the broadway shows presented. A cast member or two from the Princess show would escort a small group of people for the backstage tour.  These cast members coincidentally are also the people behind the library openings, triva management and some of the craft stations.

A tour of the cooking area used to be a free event. In recent cruises, it cost extra to do this. It is an amazing chance to see where all of the food is made. A free on stage demonstration of the chefs best quick dish is always a fun event. The head chef in all his tall white hat area chefs demonstrate on the big stage something that they are proud to show off.

There are ice craving demos by the pool on every cruise. In 25 minutes seahorses or dolphins apear from a solid block of ice. 

Music to Listen to and to Watch

Every night on the big stage a quality act or broadway/Las Vegas show event is provided after your dinner. This means that there are shows pretty late as the late dinners start dinner at 8 o'clock.  The singers and dancers perform on stage to a medley of popular broadway songs about half of the nights. There other half are comedians and or small groups of musical performers. All through the ship there is karoke and nightclub acts going on too.  A popular piano bar plays sing a longs and people are drawn to this venue to do a Mitch Miller kind of thing.

Commercial Part Lecture

 Day before reaching a port, a member of the ships crew provides a lecture in the main theater to talk about buying possibilies a the port that your are approaching. A map is handed out that gives the shopper the layout for the cruise supported businesses. The map is great, the cruise supported businesses that is another thing. Diamonds International is a common cruise supported business. Look with a jaundice eye at the "fee" things offered by the supported businesses. 

The Princess Patter

With all of these things going on throughout the ship, how to you keep track? The ship will put in your communication slot right beside your room door a printed daily newspaper for the next day. It is usually in that spot before you go to dinner. In it will be a captain's blurb and a couple of advertising pieces too. Most of it is a blow by blow of what is going to happen the next day. It is vital to hang on to this as you plan your day. Additional copies of this may be obtained at the purser's desk.