A Day At Sea on the Silver Seas Cruise

Basil Waine Kong

For those of you who are contemplating a cruise, regardless of destination, here is a typical day when the ship is between destinations and you are on the deep blue sea for a day or more. On days when we are at a Port of Call, we are usually on tours during the day while the ship is docked and sails at night while we are sleeping. “Sea Days” can be pleasant or fraught with opportunities for seasickness when you just to want to lay flat as your inner ear gets accustomed (or not) to the swells of the ocean.

These cruise lines offer Wi-Fi access in each room which allows you to check emails in the privacy of your own room. Again depending on the conditions of the sea, my wife can be found checking emails while I read the newspaper while having our morning coffee.

Regardless of the sea conditions, we awake with the rising of the sun and immediately call room service for coffee that is delivered within five minutes with a copy of “USA Times”. Room service is available 24 hours per day for a beer or a full meal at no extra cost. We enjoy our coffee, go up to the gym for a workout, walk around the top deck (2 miles) and swim (in a pool), return to our room, get dressed and meet our friends for breakfast at 8:00 am. A cruise is a perfect opportunity to develop deeper, more committed relationships as the conversation never cease as well share meals or have drinks on any number of patios and observation decks.

There are two dining rooms on this ship that are available for breakfast. Our choices for our eating pleasure include a variety of fruits, breads, cereals, eggs any way you like it and ten types of fish and meats items from around the world. We point to what we want and a waiter places it on your plate and deliver them to our table. We try to exercise more than usual because our consumption of calories will easily double. The food is all very tempting. So, cruises are not the place you want to come if you are trying to lose weight.

After breakfast, we meet in the lecture hall for an educational program. While the lectures are substantial, they are over by 1:00 pm, and we are ready to eat some more. Yesterday, an Asian Feast was set up on the eighth floor which also doubles as the pool deck. We were treated to a cornucopia of cheeses from around the world and a fanfare of Asian dishes representative of China, Japan and the Indo-Asian countries. On these cruises you are also treated to desserts after each meal inclusive of pies, cakes, ice-cream (especially rum and raisin) with all the toppings, as well as fruits.

Various activities are available for the afternoon including bridge, wine tasting, cooking classes, golf lesions, dance classes, casino games of chance and a lecture about our next destination. I chose the lecture and my wife chose wine tasting and the cooking class. We meet for bridge and participate in the golf putting contest. I come in second but it is all in good fun.

We dress for dinner and it is formal night. The Captain’s reception is at 6:00 pm so we get dressed in my summer tuxedo and my wife in her backless gown and present ourselves to the Captain. The band played on and we danced and enjoyed the finger foods before joining our friends in the dining room at 7:30 pm. My wife takes the Maître D’s elbow and I follow to our table for six where we are immediately offered libations. The conversation is lively and the jokes are funny so laughter is in the air. Our drink is followed by a six course meal. For my main course, I chose duck a la orange and my wife orders beef wellington. As I had previously ordered grand Mainer souffle for desert, it is perfectly baked and served with sweet cream. After coffee, we go across the hall to the theatre for a show featuring dancing from around the world. It is delightful but as the ship is rocking (tilting), the dancers often stumble. After the show, we go down a flight of stairs to the lounge where we are treated with a piano player and a Filipino lady singing the blues.

We retire to our cabin at midnight, discuss our plans when we dock in Malaysia in the morning and fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the ship.

I remind my wife that it is not the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean. She reminds me that this term was coined by persons unaccustomed to large boats!

So, from small ships to tall ships
Here’s to all of us who sail in ships
But most of all to our friendships