Days 73-75 - At Sea

 

Date:  March 24, 2007

 

Location:  Days 73-75 – Cruising the Indian Ocean

 

Next Port:  Cochin, India, March 25

 

Quick Summary:  We have enjoyed three beautiful sea days as we have sailed west from Malaysia around the southern tip of Sri Lanka and north towards our first landfall in India. Karen has included a special report on what transpires on a typical “sea day.” See March 23 report below.

 

Report:

 

Day 73, March 22:  This was a fairly typical sea day…but two events deserve special mention. The Seven Seas Society is Regent’s frequent cruiser recognition program. On each of the six segments that make up the World Cruise there are special SSS events. Last evening, Jamie, Laurens and their teams decorated the Constellation Theater for a “Diamonds & Ice” cocktail reception. The stage was full of ice bergs, the balconies and poles were wrapped in sheets and Chef Tobias’ team provided 8-10 ice sculptures. And there was plenty of caviar!  Guests were invited to wear black and white attire to go with the ice theme.  It was a formal evening and many of the women were also sporting new finery from China and Southeast Asia.

 

After dinner, political satirist Mark Russell kept everyone in stitches with his political and shipboard humor.

 

Day 74, March 23:

 

 

A Day a Sea

 

Many of you have asked, “What do you do all day while at sea?” I thought about this last evening while I was winding down and decided to a write a special report about Friday, March 23rd, a day spent cruising the Indian Ocean.

 

Our “self-alarms” woke us about 6:15 a.m., after a night where we were able to gain back one of the hours lost on our voyage eastward. That helped with getting out of bed more easily. Larry headed for the gym and I spent some time checking e-mails and answering our dear friends and family who have been keeping up with us. I then walked down two flights of stairs for a 45-minute Pilates class that began at 7:15. Larry and I met back in the cabin, showered and dressed for our Morning Christian Devotional Group that began at 8:45.  At 9:20, we headed up to the outdoor aft deck to enjoy breakfast alfresco.

 

I then headed across the pool deck to the Observation Lounge for my “advancing beginners’ bridge class” which I have been attending fairly regularly. (Larry dropped out early on when we quickly found out we didn’t belong in the very serious “intermediate” bridge class. I haven’t been able to talk him back into the class I am taking now). Larry spent 45 minutes on the bridge. Capt. Dag opens up the bridge each sea day for 90 min. in the morning and the same in the afternoon – weather and traffic permitting. Larry enjoys talking to the watch officers, watching the boat traffic and learning the operations of this beautiful ship. He then returned to the cabin to work on the blog and download his recent photos. I decided to stay the hour after class to play some social bridge while Larry attended Mark Russell’s celebrity presentation, “A Career in Comedy.” He truly enjoyed the political satirist who had entertained all of us the evening before and once last week. As you can imagine, Mark has much material to work with from the current political climate.  He was also able to share some of his interesting observations made of life on the ship that has everyone talking. I was sorry I missed “his best performance of all three,” but fortunately, the presentation is being shown on our ship’s TV channel.

 

Larry and I met back at our cabin at noon.  He continued to work on his photos, and I worked on my writing assignment for the afternoon Writer’s Workshop I recently joined. This is a class encouraging people to begin writing their “life stories” and is being taught by Dana. Many of the “writers” have been attending since the first segment, but I have just joined.  Each segment offers the six-part series that uses the writing process of freewriting, drafts, revision, publishing and sharing. It has been quite interesting hearing stories shared by several of my shipmates. 

 

We ventured back upstairs for a quick curry lunch by the pool before I went off to class. Larry joined his team for the daily water volleyball game which he has just recently joined. The game is open to all, with teams headed up by Capt. Dag and Lars. I was able to make it back from class to see the final game and act as a runner for errant balls. The weather today was some of the best we have had, with low humidity and temperatures in the 80’s. We both stayed around the pool and enjoyed visiting with friends and enjoying the sun. I then headed to the fifth deck where I was able to have a nice walk under the covered outside walkway while listening to my book on tape and enjoying the beautiful sea.

 

I returned to the cabin around 4:00 and joined Larry on our balcony for some reading. It was so pleasant and peaceful.  At five, we showered again and got ready for a special evening “Sundowners Event.”  Everyone gathered on the bow of the ship on Decks 6 and 12 for a party to enjoy the sunset. (The area forward is usually restricted to crew use only, so it was a real treat to be able to go all the way out to the front mast – and get our “Titanic” photo.) The wait staff was serving wine and champagne as well as canapés while the Voyager Quintet played sunset music and the Voyager singers sang. It was magical as the sky was offering a magnificent backdrop for this event. (See Larry’s beautiful photos.)

 

At 6:30, we joined Judy and Kirk from Fresno and Mary and Rich from Philadelphia in the Observation Lounge for the final colors of the sunset. We then shared an enjoyable dinner with them in the Compass Rose. This evening’s entertainment was a magic and humor show that especially appealed to our younger travelers. Larry topped off the evening with a quick visit to the casino where it didn’t take very long to lose (though the evening before he was a “significant winner” at three card poker – at least at the dollar level he plays. Thankfully, he hasn’t spent much time in the friendly casino.)

 

We returned to the cabin around 11:30 where we were very happy to turn our clocks back another 30 minutes. We turn back another 30 minutes tonight, too, as we continue our trek west. 

 

It was another very full, very enjoyable day aboard the Seven Seas Voyager. I hope you now have a better idea of how we spend our days at sea.

 

POST NOTE:  In case you don’t think any of the above might interest you, other choices for the day included more exercise classes (Body Sculpt, Gentle Stretch and Relaxation, Cardio Sculpt, Cardio Mix and Core Strengthening), computer class, needle pointing (with a variety of kits offered), watercolor art class, craft class, cooking demonstrations, games (board games, skittles, jeopardy, trivia, bocce, shuffleboard tournaments, paddle tennis courts, table tennis and bingo), art lectures (today on “Old and Modern Masters”) and auctions, a watch seminar, afternoon teatime, blackjack tournaments, lectures on “Gerald Ford,” and “Spying on the Soviets: So You Want to be a Spy,” and a feature length movie, “Fly Boys,” offered in the afternoon and evening..” An evening Oneg Shabbat service and a Catholic Mass were also being celebrated today. Other very popular activities for many on board are the ballroom dancing classes and evening dance parties.  As this is an all inclusive voyage, all of the above are available without any additional costs. I am tired just thinking of all the other activities we could be joining.  No wonder we haven’t read as many books as we had planned!

 

Karen

 

Day 75, March 24: At 7:45 a.m., as Larry was finishing up his exercise on the top deck, he noticed that the Voyager was making a 90 degree turn towards the hazy coastline of Sri Lanka. A few moments later, Capt. Dag announced that we were slowing down in order to go fishing.

 

Of course this was fishing the luxury cruise line way. We lowered a small outboard – driven by Jon, the chief engineer – along with our expert fisherman, Chef Tobias, and a videographer to record it all.

 

The first fishing boat that we pulled up to waited patiently while the boat was lowered to the water. Capt. Dag tried to hail them from the port wing bridge, but the Sri Lankans could not understandus. We are sure they were wondering in awe about this massive ship that appeared out of the mist. Unfortunately they didn’t have any fish for Tobias. Jon movedon to an even smaller outrigger boat and Tobias was able to bargain for one fish.  We all moved forward about two miles to a group of five small fishing boats.

 

As our team approached, the water between the boats and our bow erupted with about 100 dolphins (porpoise). They were streaking and leaping through the water at a very good clip. It was an amazing sight.

 

After a few moments, Jon radioed to the ship that yes these boats had fish, but they wanted cash, not the offered whiskey and cigarettes. So Jon came over to the ship to pick up some currency from Lars.

 

However, when they returned to another one of the boats, bargainer Tobias was able to buy 4 fish with the whiskey and cigarettes.

 

The “fishing expedition” took about an hour and provided great entertainment and photo opportunities all of us lining the rails. And the fresh fish was served at the Pool Grill for lunch.  

 

At 9:15, Jamie conducted our normal Protestant church service, since tomorrow (Sunday) we will be in Cochin. The rest of the day was spent reading, playing bridge and pool volleyball, attending the writing class and working on the journal/photos.

 

Tomorrow it’s India.

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Photos of our three sea days have been added.