Today is a much-needed day at sea. After five days straight of full day touristing, we are ready to take it easy. Yes, it’s hard work being a tourist. Of course, we still have to fit in the lecture on Oslo, the galley tour, and there’s a movie we want to catch in the theater. I am still struggling to finish just my third book.

I thought I would take this time to put some random thoughts and observations. We are nearing the end of our sea voyage and we have really settled into this well! One of the things they do on the ship that I really like is the string quartet that plays every evening for a couple of hours in the main piazza area. This is a three-story open area in the center of the ship that is surrounded by shops, bars, a café, gelato stand, the library, passenger services, and various other ‘community’ services. It is a very central area and at times it is very nice either before or after dinner to just sit and enjoy the music for a bit.

Another of my favorite parts of the ship is the promenade deck, which is the deck that has a walking deck all the way around the ship. It looks like a classic ship deck with highly varnished wooden rails and wooden deck chairs. It is very pleasant to just walk around and see the view from all sides. It is 1/3 mile per circuit. I also love the balcony in our room. We go out there first thing in the morning and first thing almost every time we come back to the cabin.

We have had a constant supply of good movies playing either in the theater, on the TV, or up on the deck. We especially like the Movies under the Stars. They provide blankets, pizza, cookies, and popcorn and it’s really a fun way to watch a movie.

We found out recently that about 1/3 of the passengers are continuing on with the next cruise of the Emerald Princess, which is heading to the Baltic. That would also be a fun thing to do. At this point, we have sailed just over 5000 miles. Whenever we get off in ports, I feel like I am still on a slightly swaying ship as we walk along sidewalks. I’m curious to see how long it takes for that to wear off once we get to Copenhagen and off the ship for a longer period.

Today the weather was fog. Complete fog. All day we have seen nothing but dense fog as we head to Oslo and it is really kind of weird. It makes you feel like you are in some kind of little cocoon. It’s difficult to tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins.

As mentioned in the previous post, taking one of the organized tours really helped reinforce for us that we like to make our own plans. I think that many people assume they would not like a cruise because of the herd mentality and the feeling that thousands of people on one ship is too crowded. It is true that at times there are massive numbers of people around you and you can’t avoid it, but we have found that to be the exception. We can always find small areas where there are not many people around, and by planning our own side trips, we have had some great experiences that I know very few others on this trip have been able to enjoy. I certainly not want to only travel via cruise, but it sure offers some opportunities that are different than anything else. But we are also getting ready to be in one place for a couple of days at a time, too!

We are hoping to have a better internet connection when we get to Copenhagen, so we can actually respond to comments, etc.  Here at sea we have to compose the posts in advance and then copy and paste the pre-written blog posts in over a very slow and expensive internet connection.

-T