What have you seen from your balcony?

We have seen flying fish, rays, and dolphins. But the most unique thing we saw was a water spout. Had never seen one it was really cool!

Seen a water spout on my last cruise too! Fascinating to watch!

!. Last April as we sailed away from Granada, I witnessed the most stunning rainbow show I have ever seem in my life. There were multiple rainbows and the colors were so sharp. One rainbow even worked its misty way up to the edge of our balcony. I'll never forget that sight.

 

2. One night after midnight a flock of white birds flew along side our ship for hours. They were almost ghostly. They were so close to our balcony, we could almost touch them.

 

3. One afternoon at Labadee I watched a jet ski tour stop in the waters near our ship whie the guide talked. Just then a guy on one of the jet skis spun his jet ski in a wild circle and his lady companion flew off the rear of the jet ski and into the water. The tour guide blew his top and was yelling. Luckily the woman managed to get back up on the jet ski unharmed.

 

4. From my balcony I have watched numerous unfortunate crew or passengers being unloaded from the ship and onto ambulances at various ports of call. At Fort Lauderdale, we hadn't even left port when police officers escorted a man from the ship in handcuffs.

 

5. Nights in the Southern and Eastern Caribbean are amazing as our ship passes many sparkling jeweled islands with their lights. They are so beautiful, it makes a special and memorable part of these itineraries.

 

6. One night I went out on my balcony just as a shooting star shot right past the edge of our railing. It was both surprising and amazing.

And cruise naysayers ask "what's so great about being stuck on a ship for a week?" Your list contains some excellent answers! ;)

And cruise naysayers ask "what's so great about being stuck on a ship for a week?" Your list contains some excellent answers! ;)

This!

Once sailing out of PC we looked down and saw a very large hammerhead shark. We've seen turtles, dolphins, lots of flying fish. Also saw a submarine sailing next to our ship. Whales on the last day of our Mexican Riviera cruise as we were heading back to LA. And of course the manta rays jumping out of the water in Cabo.

There's always something to see. We love having a balcony and spend a lot of time out there.

Submarine in Nova Scotia, Cozumel Runners, Whales, Porpoise, Sea Otters, rescuing of Hatian Refugees, Fort Independence, Sunsets, Lighthouses, David Geffen's yacht, the Port Pilot leaving is always fun, once we had these birds that were eating the bugs that were attracted to the lights of the ship, the birds were so white they glowed in the ships lights and made the neatest sounds while they were dive-bombing for bugs...too cool.

Balconies are the best.

On our Southern Caribbean cruise, I was hanging out on the balcony at night and noticed a reddish glow in the distance. I knew that we would be passing Montserrat, so I assumed it was lava flow from the volcano that erupted in the late 90's. I went into the room and told my husband that I thought I saw lava flow from Montserrat in the distance. He laughed at me and told me that the was no way I could see that from the ship. (How would he know?) He left the room to find some food and came back a few minutes later to tell me that I was, in fact, seeing lava. The captain made an announcement telling passengers about the source of the reddish glow. A day or two later, he brought the ship close enough to view the devastation of the town Plymouth. I took some amazing photos from our balcony that I share with my students in third grade every year when we discuss volcanoes.

Like many previous posters, I enjoy sitting on my balcony when we enter or leave port. I like watching the daily activities of people who live on the beautiful islands that we like to visit. In St. Lucia, I watched a woman who must have been late for work run across the plaza in heels, while doing her hair in a fairly complicated style that I could not have managed under the best of circumstances.

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Here's a nice scene from a few months back on Adventure.

Here's a nice scene from a few months back on Adventure.

Amazing, thanks for sharing that.

My husband and I will be sailing on FOS in September. We just purchased a pretty nice pair of binoculars for our upcoming cruises. One of those things we've always talked about getting, but never have.

 

Wish we'd had them when we spotted whales on our Mexican Riviera cruise back in 2009. There's usually something out there to view. Another ship, or a land mass in the distance.

 

Have you ever seen anything interesting?

We always bring our binoculars with us on our cruises. We've seen a lot of interesting things. I especially love getting a close-up look at other cruise ships! :D

Cruisefan, beautiful photos, well exposed, and composed. Thanks.

Usually interesting to watch the pilot boats pull alongside.

Some of the most beautiful sunrises/sunsets I have ever seen.

The Ocean... Lots of Ocean.

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Here's a nice scene from a few months back on Adventure.

Awww! How sweet! But the poor thing looked like it was struggling so -- didn't you just want to throw it a life preserver? :rolleyes:

when we were in Auckland I got quite a fright when I opened our curtains to see a man standing on his balcony next to the boat. He was so close we sat and had a conversation. We could have shared our breakfast. Also when we were on our first cruise we had spent a few days out at sea then we had a port day it amazed us that we had not seen any fly's or birds for days and had not noticed until we saw them again. DH loves to watch the pilots pull up and hop on the boat while I like to stay on the balcony and watch us pull into port

When we were at sea on the Zuiderdam, we looked out and saw a man on our own balcony! Needless to say, I jumped back into the shadows of the cabin, as I happened to have been dressing at the time. :eek: It turned out to be a crew member wielding a hose, washing down the balconies. No warning. This is what keeps cruising interesting! (I did not offer him breakfast... :rolleyes:)

A water spout is a tornado over water. Not something I would stand by a window to watch.

Oooh, I would! A tornado, too! (I've always wanted to see a twister.)

Not at our balcony but at the stern of Oasis OTS, we saw Allure OTS going back to Ft. Lauderdale. I tried to get it with my PAS camera, but you get the picture. :D

This light house in the middle of nowhere always intrigues me. I started noticing it back in the early 1990's. I believe it to be the Cay Lobos Lighthouse built in the 1860's and if so, appears to be one of the Southern most island of the Bahamas. It's situated about 20 miles north of Cuba and cruise ships typically pass between it and Cuba on their way to the Eastern Caribbean stops.

We were on the Freedom when the captain (literally) turned the ship around to rescue several Cubans floating in a very small boat with no power. We watched the rescue from our balcony. The Cubans were fed, bathed and had medical checkups. then the Coast Guard come and took them back to Cuba.

It was the talk of the ship

a water spout on one cruise and an amazing meteor shower one night on another cruise!

We saw a shark right next to the ship once when the ocean was absolutely flat. We've seen water spouts form a couple of times (a little unnerving). Also have seen lots of flying fish and it's amazing how high they can manage to go. Of course, we've seen lots of dolphin. Saw sperm whales off the coast of Dominica. Saw the volcano steaming on Montserrat. Have also seen lots of other ships; freighters, other cruise ships, and once saw an aircraft carrier and was buzzed by planes from the carrier. One time we had a cricket on our balcony. Don't know where it came from or how it got there.

Way to many Pier Runners!

On the rail at sea in the Med....

On a lamppost in Ketchikan

The two most spectacular things we've seen with our binoculars from our balcony were:

An Ohio Class Nuclear Submarine glide past and dive in Fort Lauderdale

A humpback whale fully breaching in Maui

You just never know what is next!!