Island Princess Sea Day

What happens on a cruise ship when it is sailing between ports? Of course, there is sleeping and eating, preparing to eat, or relaxing after eating. This could include watching live theatre productions with singers and dancers. It might also involve listening to music in a lounge, shopping in the onboard shops, or participating in a game like trivia, bingo or any of the casino games. A special note: casino games and onboard shops are only available when the ships are not in port.

Some sea days are scheduled when the distance between ports is too far for the ship to travel overnight. There are fewer of them on cruises in the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea, and more of them on World Cruises and trans-oceanic cruises. My most recent trip included one while we traveled from Norway to Iceland.

It is possible that there may be an unscheduled sea day. They are not as much fun because they are usually related to rough weather conditions that make access to a scheduled port dangerous. These are usually ports that have shallow harbours and require cruise ships to anchor offshore and transport passengers to shore on smaller water crafts called “tenders”. Unfortunately these ports are also the ones that are more desirable and possibly the main reason passengers might have selected the cruise. Santorini is a common example. The Shetland Islands is my example from the Island cruise.

On the unscheduled cruise days the usual entertainment is available. Sometimes an alternate port is selected and there is no extra sea day. Other times, an extended stay at the current port may be arranged. Oops, no extra casino time.

– Where do you want to go today? –