To some, five days at sea, with no ports and no land in sight might be boring. To me, it is the perfect way to start a long cruise – relaxing, exploring the ship, electronically disconnecting, and adjusting to life at sea.

Nothing but sea and sky, for thousands of miles.

While we do have wi-fi on board, it is very slow, expensive, and depending on the time of day, hard to get on-line. It is always surprising in this day of constant communication how it takes a while to get used to not being “driven” by constant texts and emails. Very strange to leave your iPhone on the dresser and not in your pocket.

A quick look around the ship, beginning with the swimming pool area, and exercise track.

The driving range – it even has left handed clubs, so I intend to do a little practicing.

The library – where most of this blog is written. Small but nice, and unlike the Amsterdam. It is very quiet.

This ship doesn’t have a hold em poker table, but it does have a slot machine, which contributed mightily to our travel fund – note the three in a row.

One of the big differences between short cruises ( 1 or 2 weeks to the Caribbean) is that these voyages offer excellent lecturers on sea days on a variety of subjects. In the past we have enjoyed lectures on tectonic plate movement, WWII history, famous Los Angeles trials, etc. On this part of the trip, we have enjoyed a series of lectures by Dr. Christian Heim and his wife, Dr. Caroline Heim. He is an MD, a Psychiatrist, and a PhD in music. She is an actress, and a PhD in Drama. Their series of lectures on classical music, public speaking, and relationships have been quite good.

Tomorrow we are in Honolulu. Aloha