Days @ sea- boredom or not?

I'm wondering about the 4 days to HI and 5 days back @ sea on Ruby Princess.

I've seen the Princess Patters and wondering what you're plan is to stay busy on sea days.

Never done this before.

Thanks for sharing.

I'm wondering about the 4 days to HI and 5 days back @ sea on Ruby Princess.

I've seen the Princess Patters and wondering what you're plan is to stay busy on sea days.

Never done this before.

Thanks for sharing.

I'm pretty easy to please & enjoy reading a book and watching the ocean. It's nice to not have to get up to take a tour & to decide to participate in many things or nothing at all. I go to the gym & lectures, watch movies, enjoy meals & nightly entertainment...and the beauty of being at sea. If you're not aware of it the days near the west coast can be cool until you get closer to Hawaii.

If you have not viewed their Aloha Spirit Program, there are many Hawaiian activities to enjoy during the sea days plus menus with some Hawaiian types of food.

•Aloha-Sail Away Deck party

•Learn to strum a ukulele

•Hawaii-themed movies

•Enjoy Hawaiian melodies performed poolside

•Weave a fresh flower lei

•Sample Hawaii's famous Kona coffee

•Enrichment programs featuring a dedicated naturalist as well as lecturers

•Halau Hula Olana (Honolulu only) – This popular dance troupe is made up of 30 children (keiki) between the ages of 6 and 16 from the most revered hula school in Hawaii and is a perennial winner of prestigious hula competitions throughout Hawaii.

•Let loose at a hula dance lesson

•Classes in the art of tying a sarong

•Participate in a tropical rum tasting

•Compete in Hawaii-themed trivia games

•Take part in a native language class

•Dive into a Hawaiian culinary demonstration

http://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/hawaii-cruises/cruises/aloha_spirit/?zoom_highlight=aloha

We always enjoy days at sea: late breakfast, then watch the ocean, daily quiz (on HAL), read a book, lazy lunch, trivia, watch pool games, listen to live music somewhere on ship, late afternoon cocktails, etc. Just enjoy the ship, maybe take a nap, go on an art tour, etc., etc., etc., Days at sea are our favorite, unless we are crossing the Bering Sea.

Hubby HATES sea days...I don't mind them, but 4 in a row would be a bit much, even for me! While I do enjoy relaxing, you can go overboard with it....pun intended!

I'm always amazed at how fast the time goes when there are many sea days in a row.

To detract from the boredom that you might think will set in, you have to find something to do that you enjoy... crosswords, reading, watching a movie, trivia. You get the idea. I look at it as a way of shutting down and escaping so to speak. Taking that moment to just breath without any of the daily life pressures of work, etc. Those days are few and fair between so enjoy them while you have the opportunity.

We love sea days, if you want to be busy there are lots of things to choose from , if you want to be lazy , go for it, it is vacation enjoy it. But I do realize it isn't for everyone . We are booked on the Ruby round trip to Hawaii this fall , it will be our 3rd time on this cruise and we enjoy it . Only you can tell if it suits you or not. The 4 days goes quickly and then you are in port for 4 days then back at sea. Astro flyer listed the things available to you , check that out , that should help.

Cori

We've done this cruise three times on Princess, and honestly I have never been bored. On my last cruise, I played several games of trivia, took the series of hula classes from the incredibly talented Leialoha of Elua, read a few paperback books, done some word puzzles, watched several movies, did a session on the gym equipment (should have done more of this), took Zumba classes, had some alone time with hubby, went to some of the shows, enjoyed the Ultimate Deck Party, went to the New Year's Eve celebration in the grand atrium....

I think if you're bored on the Princess cruises, you're easily bored.

We have not done the round trips on Princess but have done the one way trips on Royal Caribbean (and three more booked :)) which has the 5 day at sea leg. We love the 5 day stretch of at sea days. As others have already mentioned you can do as much or as little as you like. Very relaxing, especially nice with the port intensive Hawaiian Islands. :)

I'm bored silly on sea days, and certainly not my preference. I do go to Hawaii at least every year, and overall always prefer NCL. :)

I have done Princess and Carnival to Hawaii which were the Ca. trips. :) With Princess, at least they do have a lot of Hawaii activities scheduled, which can keep you a little busy. Otherwise, taking some good reading and puzzles are my only solution. :)

My old man used to say 'only people who are boring get bored'

With all the potential things you can do on any modern cruise ship no one should get bored.

Oscar - I wonder if your old man was on a cruise and had to fill 4 or 5 days in a row with the activities that Astro Flyer lists, if he would still believe in that saying? ;)

Sea days appeal to some people, and not to others - getting bored on sea days has little to do with being boring yourself. For those who don't enjoy sea days, spending multiple days at sea becomes a test of your level of tolerance for frivolous activities.

Not sure about Astral Flyer's activity lists but we used to sail from the UK home to Hong Kong or Malaysia by sea and it was around 4/5 weeks without the multitude of stops that modern cruise ships make, so 'Yes' we often did long stretches at sea, on ships that didn't have the entertainment or facilities that modern mega cruise liners have.

I can remember not having en-suite bathing and toilet facilities having to go down the corridor to the bathroom, let alone in-cabin TV, Internet, theatres, casinos, choice of restaurants or more than just a splash pool.

Sorry, but if one can't entertain oneself for a mere 4/5 sea days on a modern cruise liner then maybe that that trip is not appropriate and one should fly direct to Hawaii.:rolleyes:

That sounds like quite the adventure Oscar!

I agree with you that for some people, flying direct to Hawaii makes more sense - it does for us, but for others, I can understand that they'd rather have the sea days than the extra time in Hawaii. It's good that we have options.:)

Poor Dylan ... his life was too short to have time to get bored.

That sounds like quite the adventure Oscar!

 

I agree with you that for some people, flying direct to Hawaii makes more sense - it does for us, but for others, I can understand that they'd rather have the sea days than the extra time in Hawaii. It's good that we have options.:)

Well said. :)