Spa Vacation at Sea

One of the reasons we chose this particular sailing is that it has just as many days at sea as it has in port. Here’s our itinerary:

Day 1 – Leave Barcelona

Days 2 and 3 – At sea

Day 4 – Funchal, Madeira

Day 5 – Tenerife, Canary Islands

Day 6 – Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Day 7 – At sea

Day 8 – Malaga, Spain

Day 9 – At sea

Day 10 – Back to Barcelona

Today is day 2 and we are at sea. Many people who haven’t cruised before say that they’re afraid that the sea days would be boring. I find them anything but. They are often my favorite days of the entire cruise. So, what do we do today?

Well, Morgan is off to the teen center. I’m not sure if he found some friends last night at the orientation or not. Back in the old days, George and I would take Morgan to the kids club on the first night of the cruise, sign him in for activities, and sign him out when the activities were done. Until about age 12, parents need to show up and physically sign kids in and out of the kid’s club. Operating times were 9am – 12noon, 2pm – 5pm, 7pm – 10pm, not that I had them memorized or anything. But these days, Morgan can come and go as he pleases. Sometimes I find him in our cabin reading, sometimes I see him with a few other kids getting ice cream. You just never know where he might be. We don’t really care, as long as he participates in shore activities with us.

George has a good book and is on the balcony of our cabin. We’re rather spoiled that way. There’s nothing like reading a book on your own balcony, with everything you need just right in the room behind you. It’s quiet (unless you have noisy neighbors – ours are from some Eastern European country and they’re not bad), there’s shade (or sun), and you have an unlimited view of the sea. I’ve seen dolphins, flying fish, and different types of birds; heck, even the way the waves break are mesmerizing. So that’s where I usually find George. If he’s not there, he may be walking the deck, but that’s only in the morning.

Where am I? Well, I’ve decided to make this cruise NOT an all-you-can-eat lazyfest. No, it’s a spa vacation. I vow to eat healthy (light breakfast – yogurt and prunes, my favorite, for obvious digestive reasons), and exercise when I can. One option for exercise is the substantial fitness center with every type of cardio machine you would find at the Y, weights, balls, and a nice studio where they offer yoga, pilates, spinning, and other types of aerobic classes. The gym part is free, but they charge for the classes there. But even though it’s a spa vacation, I am not spending much time in the fitness center.

Why? At 9:30am every day at sea in the Medusa Lounge, Mercedes from Peru brings her Latin music to the dance floor for Latin Dance Fitness class – for free! For about 40 minutes, we shake our booty to great music and fairly simple steps. Love this. Then I go downstairs, grab my yoga mat and head up to the smokestack deck before the sun worshippers come out and do some yoga with a view of the entire Mediterranean. Love this, too.

After that, shower, a good book, a big salad and some Indian food with George on the back deck for lunch, back to the room for a nap, then a line dancing class at 3pm. I’m not much of a line dancer, but it gets me up and moving. To continue my spa experience, I put on my swimsuit and head to the women’s locker room at the fitness center. There is a steam room there that is free and definitely not advertised. I have the place to myself as I breathe, breathe, breathe. Sooo relaxing.

We dress for dinner early, have a nice glass of Cava on the balcony, before we head out to dinner and see the show.

Before we know it, it’s bedtime. More spa day tomorrow.