If you didn’t know, the islands I went to from these posts were all because I went on a cruise that took me to these wonderful islands. And that cruise was for 10 days, and only 4 of them were spent at the islands.
So, what about the other 6 days?
Well, I got to experience the fun times of the Norwegian Gem. And boy did they not disappoint. They had so much to do to keep your vacation both fun and relaxing.
I wanted to share with you how a typical cruise day was like, on a full day at sea.
Because as most may know, most cruises are island destination cruises where you will spend a certain amount of time on a island, and then you hop right back on the cruise ship.
Mine was a called the 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Gem Cruise Ship. It consisted of 4 island days (Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, U.S. Virgin Islands, & Dominican Republic), and then we had 6 days at sea, some full on sea days and some were intertwined with the island days.
So that’s quite a bit of sea days. Thankfully it wasn’t straight days at sea because we got to go to those 4 different islands. But still, what the heck can you do on a boat that you’re actually stuck on for full days and hours at a time.
I can tell you, there was a lot of things you could do.
Come on this journey with me as I take you on a full day at sea with the Norwegian Gem Cruise Line.
Before your cruise, you get a sample of days at sea. But it’s not until you check in that you get your full itinerary, and they are updated on a daily. And I hear that a lot of cruise lines are starting to roll out apps with their full itineraries for people to see.
But I did enjoy seeing the full cruise itinerary on paper and see all the stuff they can offer people. I mean it’s a definitely jam packed that you just can’t get bored, unless you forced yourself to get bored. Also when you get your itinerary, it’s usually when they clean your room and you always get a fun towel animal surprise!
There was so much to do on each day that sometimes it was hard to chose. I mean, every night there were shows.
Their casino was open 24-7.
The Jacuzzi was warm, and the dancing could go all night.
But there was also lots of time to relax, and luckily we had a private balcony for my first cruise trip. So my favorite part was just being able to sit outside on our balcony and stare at the ocean, or read a book. That was basically my every morning on those ten days of sailing.
Just with any cruise though, you can do family activities to chilling in a library reading a book staring at the ocean. There was something for everyone. Note some things you had to pay for, certain classes, casino tournaments, etc.
But most of the things you can do on the cruise were free, free, free.
Especially the food. But that will be a whole separate blog post because their food was some of the yummiest foods I’d eaten. And again, it was all included in our cruise prices.
What I also enjoyed a lot about this cruise, was sitting out by the pool, watching them have little contests and shows at their stage. And also being able to explore the boat itself. That alone you can spend hours doing.
I also enjoyed their on-board bowling alley and rock climbing wall. I was actually terrified to be blown away near the top of the rock climb, but it was an experience that only so many people can say they rock climbed while sailing on the ocean.
So here’s an example of how my day would go.
✽Get some breakfast at their buffet breakfast.
✽Check out their itinerary and see what I could do outside of the cabin as they cleaned our rooms and made super cool animals out of our fresh towels.
✽Go to a dance class, or see a piano show in the morning.
✽Then I’d go to the casino, mainly because I was lucky to have an aunt that is a high roller on cruise ships, and she got me a card that warranted me to get free drinks as long as I played in the casino. So I only gambled so I could get some free drinks (because TIP drinks are not cheap on the boat, and that is what will sneak up and bite you in the ass at the end of the trip bill).
✽I’d then get a drink to-go and explore the ship. There are so many different rooms and places to visit on the ship that it was fun to just explore and see what they had to offer. And EVERY cruise ship is different, they have different exhibits, and cool things to see. So explore, explore, explore!
✽Lunch time by the pool was something I did often. They usually had a BBQ out.
✽Then more activities during the day, either swimming, working out (surprisingly, fun on a cruise ship because you get a beautiful view), or another class activity to do, to meet new people.
NOTE: Be weary of the weather and activities you have planned. Because while most days were sunny and beautiful, being out at sea can also mean some rainy days so you’ll have to plan your day to the weather at times. But don’t worry, they always had rainy day weather activities, and most of the ships were connected through hallways that won’t get you soaked if you’re outside.
✽Dinner and the show was always an event because there was usually some sort of fun dress code for that night that you could dress up in (and the cruise lines will usually let you know beforehand about days where you can dress up)
✽We’d then do a nice sit down dinner
✽Then the big show where everyone would be going to at the same time. Usually some sort of comedy show, musical act, magician, etc.
✽Lastly, you end the night at the casino or go their mini club that had music and dancing that went well into the early morning.
I went with my aunt and uncle on my cruise and I had so much fun with them. But I also did my own thing. And when you’re on a long cruise like mine, you do end up seeing the same people over and over, time and time again. So you do meet people and make friends. Kind of a like a mini camp for adults.
During the time I went, there weren’t too many people my age cruising just yet, but there was some and I made friends with them. So please, when you’re cruising be open and SOCIALIZE.
I promise that’ll make your time on the cruise so much better.
And probably a few beers and wine bottles could help with that as well. Believe me and my happy face.
And so there’s my little snippet of my time on the Norwegian Gem Cruise Line.
I can go more in depth on so many things, but I wanted to start off with a fun little post of how a day looked like on a full day at sea.
I had so much fun that I can’t wait to plan my next cruise!
And if you want to hear some full on stories about my cruise, just listen to my podcast here. Storytelling is my favorite thing to do on my podcast because I think people, myself included, have some of the most interesting, funny and great stories and the world should hear about them.
You can listen and subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud & Google Play!
For now, I hope you enjoyed seeing how I had fun on my cruise and how fun it is to be at sea.
Keep an eye out for more posts about how to prepare for a cruise, the food (my favorite part of the cruise), what to pack and so many other fun tips on cruising. Because I can tell you right now, this was just one of many cruises I foresee in my future.
XOXO
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