Cruise Travel: How I Survived Three Days at Sea as a Non-Drinker and a Show Hater

Before my husband and I booked our 10 day Caribbean cruise on the Enchanted Princess, the only cruise we had sailed on was a weekend Disney Cruise 25 years ago!

But this was our 30th wedding anniversary and we wanted to go big. Also, we liked sailing to six ports, which wasn’t possible on a seven day voyage out of Florida.

We live in Estero (just north of Naples.) So, on embarkation day we headed across Alligator Alley to board the Enchanted Princess in Fort Lauderdale.

Luckily for us, this is a large ship, so we quickly found the track on the top deck. It was clearly marked and we found other walkers-kindred souls who apparently also wanted to avoid the party scene and concentrate on counting steps.

We quickly discovered that seven times around equals a mile, so off we went. After a mile and a half treck, Hubby and I ventured down to the pool area because we felt like we should join the soirée; and not act like party poopers.

We shared a “Caribbean Sunrise” Mocktail. It was actually quite good…a fruity blended concoction which really hit the spot after trying to keep up with my husband’s fast walking-long legged strides.

So far, so good. The next day we arrived at Princess Cays on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. We enjoyed long walks on the beach and a sumptuous beach barbecue. Still the next day was our first day at sea which loomed large on our minds. How would we spend 24 hours straight on the high seas with nothing surrounding us but blue?

Actually it was easy. I brought my laptop (a saving grace) so I was able to read and write, respond to emails and basically keep up with the world.

When we weren’t reading or logging stops on the track, we played mini golf on the top deck and watched the sunset on a lounger near the pool (an incredible sight if you haven’t encountered one in the middle of the Atlantic.)

We also found ourselves talking (albeit briefly) to people from all over the US and Canada. In our day-to-day remote working lives, we don’t encounter many new people, so this was a nice diversion neither of us expected.

From talk of politics in the US to the price of Caribbean cruises in Canadian dollars, we had some interesting conversations and met an eclectic group of folks we never would have run into in our “real” lives.

In fact, those people urged us to see the shows. “You don’t know what you’re missing!” One veteran cruiser told us.

That’s OK we replied. Broadway style musicals aren’t our thing. Meandering around the immense ship and taking in the fresh salt air was really enough. In fact, the final two days at sea involved much of the same, and we weren’t bored at all.

On the third sea day, we happened upon a music trivia show by the pool that was a lot of fun and attended a lecture on how to care for pet birds which was actually eye-opening.

Will we book a 20 day cruise next year, as many on the ship do? (It’s just two 10 day cruises back to back with slightly different itineraries.) Not a chance. Will we book another 10 day adventure? Quite possibly.

My husband and I were pleasantly surprised at how fast the days went. We were anything but bored. More importantly, the days at sea taught us how to really relax, which didn’t seem possible pre-cruise.

Now I get it. I understand why there were so many people on board wearing black medallions…meaning you were a long-time Princess cruiser. The lure of the high seas beckons us for at least one more adventure.