Crossing the Atlantic

The distance from Barbados (our last Eastern Caribbean port) to Madeira Island, Portugal (located about 300 west of Morocco) is about 3,000 miles across the Atlantic and we spent a total of six days at sea.  What makes this trip interesting is that the first four evenings we lose an hour and set our clocks ahead.  Those 9pm theater shows are no longer an issue and we can easily make them, however the 5:30pm dinners are now a little too early!  That said, after a few nights staying up until 1:30am, we started to get into an at-sea rhythm. We have been surprised at how busy we have kept ourselves.

The last time I crossed the Atlantic on a ship was 1991 onboard the USS John F Kennedy at the conclusion of Desert Storm. In those days my routine was work (a lot), sleep, eat and work-out. For this crossing we spend our time doing a host of activities to include: meeting people, chilling out, going to shows, sun bathing, eating (and drinking), sleeping, and working out. On a healthy note, we went to the gym every day during our crossing. Our collective goal is to improve our conditioning before we begin hiking in May and also try to keep the calories we consume during the day somewhat in check. We also splurged and bought the Thermal Spa package for the duration of the cruise. This has been the best self-care indulgence we could gift ourselves. The Thermal Spa has saunas and steam rooms of varying temperatures, a snow room, a large sea water spa, heated loungers, a warm salt room, and a variety of aroma therapy showers. A note about the snow room (pictured). It was truly freezing, however after spending 10 minutes in the Swedish sauna it was very soothing to spend five minutes or so in the snow room. The hot-cold-hot method was very relaxing. Okay, we did have another spa indulgence. We booked three massage sessions each and they were exceptional. Joe’s therapist commented that she never had someone fall asleep during a deep-tissue massage and Julie really enjoyed the Hot Stone massage and express facial sessions.

During the day there is an enrichment series in the main auditorium whereby a very eclectic British fellow provides lectures on a wide range of topics. We caught his lectures on the Spice Trade, the Vikings and Jack the Ripper. They were all informative although he kind of lost us on the Jack the Ripper talk when he started bringing up some pretty wild conspiracy theories. We were also invited to join a trivia team by a British family we met on the Stingray excursion. We joined a couple days into the multi-day competition. Let’s just say neither of us knows much about TMZ celebrities, famous international soccer players and pop music and other pop entertainment from the last 10 years. The best part is meeting other members of the team, to include a couple from California who have been traveling nomads on and off for the last couple years.

The evening shows overall have been very entertaining. There is a group of singers and dancers that are the ship performers and they provide a couple new shows each week. Then there are guest performers that MSC brings onboard for the crossing. We have had a magician, a vaudeville act (with juggling), a self-described “very tall women” who performed an over-the-top hulu hoop routine, and a variety of singers and musicians. This isn’t Broadway by any means, but the 40 minutes shows have always been worth the time.

One final note is the weather. We feel very fortunate that most days were warm and sunny and we were able to spend quite a bit of time in the sun. The seas were very calm. It wasn’t until our trip from Madeira to Lisbon Portugal that we were in seas of 15-20 feet. The ship was rocking and rolling quite a bit, but it didn’t seem to slow down any of the activities.