Tuesday, July 28th: Sea Day
On this first night of the cruise, we had to set our clocks back an hour. Doing so made getting up for my 7:55am ship tour a little easier (since it felt more like 8:55).
Lots of cruises offer behind-the-scenes tours -- sometimes they're free, sometimes they cost extra. I've done a behind-the-stage tour on DCL and a kitchen/galley tour on HAL, but never a full ship tour with a trip to the bridge and control room. So when I saw it offered here on NCL, I thought I'd give it a go.
The tour met in the atrium. We were shown the kitchen (we could take a photo with the head chef if we pleased), the laundry rooms, the control room, the bridge, and the dressing rooms behind the theater.
We got to walk through a bunch of crew-only corridors and ride the crew elevators. The whole thing lasted about two hours. The ship was swaying a bit that day, so walking was sometimes a challenge. Also a challenge -- hearing/understanding the tour guides. (This has always been an issue on tours I've taken. I feel like they should give us bluetooth earbuds or something.)
The laundry rooms were impressive. Some of the washing machines were massive. They also had sheet-pressing machines and towel-folding machines! I was humbled by how many people work behind the scenes to make a cruise run so smoothly. On this particular cruise, there were (according to a stats sheet they gave us) 1,000 crew members on board (passenger capacity is 2400.)
The control room was very blue, and there were screens, buttons, and blinking lights everywhere. Like being on the bridge of the Enterprise, I'd imagine. It was hard to resist trying a couple of buttons. The same was true with the control board on the bridge. We weren't permitted to take photos in the control room or of the bridge, but we did get to take photos out the front windows...
I also got permission to photograph the window on the floor of the bridge, looking straight down into the sea.
It was an interesting and eye-opening tour and I thought it was worth the price. It's something I may do again on another ship... someday.
Around 11am I got some lunch at the buffet -- a slice of cheese pizza, a self-made cheese sandwich, a tiny scoop of a potato/cream dish, and a trifle for dessert.
I spent the afternoon in my stateroom. I slept a bit. Inside cabins are great for napping. I got up around 4 and looked at the daily itinerary. There was a game happening soon called This Or That, so I decided to go check it out. It turned out that the Solo cruisers were meeting right after, so... I stayed. And went to dinner with the Solos group. We went to one of the main dining rooms and I sat with a guy and three women.
I ordered Pad Thai, which the menu described as "spicy," but as it was the only vegetarian option besides the pasta I'd had the night before, I asked if they could prepare it "not spicy." It...was spicy. I also got an artichoke dip with chips, and fruit for dessert. Lots of bread was also consumed, so I didn't go hungry.
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At 8:30 I went to the Spinnaker Lounge to listen to live music -- hits from the 60s. Songs included Mustang Sally, Pretty Woman, Respect, Unchained Melody, and Twist and Shout. It was very loud. I ordered a Powerade. It was $8 with tip. Yikes! Still, it was cheaper than any virgin specialty drink. And... electrolytes! Win.
After the music ended, I went to the buffet to get some stuff for the next morning's breakfast (banana bread, cheese) and I indulged in a piece of lemon cake.
Bedtime at 10.
I guess I could mention here that I brought along a journal with blank pages as well as a couple of black felt-tip pens, a tray of watercolors, and two watercolor brush pens. Each day, not only did I journal, but I drew pictures or painted. Along the way, I picked up even more art supplies... more on that later!
Tomorrow... Ketchikan!
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