Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main

Today is Day 27 and another day at sea. When we boarded the Insignia on January 15 in San Francisco, I assumed that everyone on the ship was doing the same 180 around-the-world cruise. Since then I’ve learned that this particular voyage is broken into 7 segments. Cruise passengers can embark/disembark at the beginning or end of any of those segments. So yesterday ended the first segment and many passengers ended their cruise in San Antonio, Chile while new passengers boarded for the next segment. I’m told that this new segment has just over 1,000 total persons on board, over 400 of which are crew members. And that there are actually only 384 passengers on this ship for the entire 180 days.

So I've written mostly about our port stops so far. But port stops are not just for passengers to be able to explore each location. A lot of things have to go on at each stop – refueling which I’ve talked about in a different post, adding oil (like yesterday), re-painting and other important ship maintenance, crew changes, re-stocking the ship’s pantry, removing trash and who-knows-what else. Can you imagine what a cruise ship’s grocery list looks like? Yesterday it took hours using a forklift to unload the trash accumulated since our previous port stop, then hours more to load the (literally) tons of new food and supplies onto the ship. While all of this is going on, new passengers are boarding, unpacking, practicing emergency drills and learning their way around the ship. So there is lots of "on and off" happening on port days. And by dinner time last night, we began seeing a lot of new faces.

One might think that boredom would set in on such a long voyage, but so far, so good. We are now 1/6 of the way through our 180 day adventure and neither of us has gotten bored – at least not yet anyway. 😊 Really, in some ways it’s like being at home in that one can be as busy (or not) as one wants to be. And one can be as sociable (or not) as one wants to be as well. I think it just takes settling into a comfortable rhythm.

Some (like Ronnie) are disciplined enough to work out in the ship’s gym or walk/run on the fitness track pretty much daily. Others just like to relax or read on the deck. Still others enjoy activities like team trivia, lectures or interest groups such as bridge, mahjong or needle work. The ship has scheduled activities throughout each day and even into the night for those high energy types. I'm told that the ship also offers opportunities for single travelers to meet and socialize with other singles. I’ve been quite surprised at the number of single passengers on this ship.

Each night there is nightly entertainment at 9:30 p.m. after everyone is finished with dinner. We’ve only attended one show because we’re usually settled in our cabin by that time. Also the ship entertainment is recorded and can be viewed on in-room television the following day so there’s the option of watching it later and avoiding sitting in close quarters with a lot of other passengers. Speaking of television, there are 6 different news channels, plus regular TV programming like you would have at home. Also movies (from new release to classic), documentaries, cooking shows or even just in-room music in probably 20 different genres. They try to offer a little something for everyone. Ronnie is keeping his fingers crossed that he can watch the Superbowl on Sunday!

As I’ve mentioned before, certain cruise lines seem to cater to specific age groups. Oceania (or at least the voyage we’re on) caters mostly to the older set. Any young people we see around the ship are either ship staff, entertainers or traveling with family. And even the ship staff changes out for different segments on these long cruises. I think it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen a single passenger under 18 years old on this ship, which is completely understandable, all things considered.

Our only complaint so far has been the internet situation. At certain times of the day, it’s next to impossible and really tries our patience! Other times of the day it works just fine. We’re still adjusting to having to share only one connection. While “doable” it’s still inconvenient. But it definitely beats sending the message in a bottle!

PS Tonight at dinner we chatted with the restaurant manager and I asked him about his grocery bill. He said that 300 pallets of food were loaded yesterday, weighing 800 pounds each. His bill was $206,000 and the previous port (Coquimbo) he spent $196,000. And he has to re-load about every 7-10 days. Oh, and that didn't include beverages! And to think - this is a small ship as cruise ships go.