March 20 – At Sea

Today was another day at sea and nothing much happened.  This is not to say that there is nothing to do, this was our choice to just relax today.  I guess the highlight was watching some porpoises glide by our ship while we out on the balcony having our breakfast and reading our books. 

The weather has gotten warmer as we head north but surprisingly the pool area has not been overcrowded.  As evening approached you can see a massive storm on the northwester horizon, so I expect it may be a bouncy night ahead.

As this is our sixth day at sea out of the last eight days, I thought it might be appropriate to record what activities go on when a cruise liner is not in port.

Of course of equal importance to the travel destination is the food and alcohol service.  The Celebrity Infinity has a main dining room, six speciality restaurants, a buffet restaurant, a poolside BBQ stand, several coffee and dessert stops.  There are ten different bars scattered throughout the ship, including a massive dance bar.  The dress code for the main restaurants is what they call smart casual, except for special evenings where suits and evening dresses are generally worn.

On any given day there will be a wine tastings that is designed around different countries and wine regions.

To help you get rid of these excess pounds, there is a full gym, fitness classes, yoga classes, a pool with hot tubs, a running/walking track and a health spa, which specialises in alternative medicine. There is also a beauty salon on board.  There is a comprehensive medical facility onboard.  It even has a dialysis service available for the passengers who require it.

When in international waters the casino is operational.  During the day they quite often hold instructional seminars on the various games available in the casino.  They also have several slot and Texas Hold’em tournaments.

There are many musical acts onboard playing everything from chamber music to modern dance music.  At night they have themed music nights in the main disco.  At the martini bar they have what is called a “silent disco” where you wear headphones and dance your night away while people around you can’t hear the music you are dancing to.  It looks very strange if you don’t know what is going on.

During the day the theatre is used to hold seminars with guest speakers.  Today we attended a seminar by a comedian named Jeff Nease on the history of standup comedy.  Of course during the evening the theater has two stage shows.  There is an outside movie theatre that shows recently released movies.

Throughout the day you can find many seminars that talk about the alternative medicines and procedures that are available on board. These include such areas as acupuncture and chiropractic services.  Of course they want you to buy their products and services.

You can shop at the many speciality shops that have duty free watches, perfume, jewelry and designer clothes. There is also an art boutique onboard.  In an effort to sell their works, they sponsor art history seminars and hold auctions every couple of days. 

There is internet aboard the ship, but it ridiculous how expensive this service is.  It costs over $300 US for fourteen days. There is also an Apple store and an instructional lab where you can use the latest Apple hardware and learn how to use the various software from Apple.

At any given time you can find dance classes, bingo, x-box competitions, and trivia contests which is one of our favourite activities.

The TV service that is available in your stateroom is limited.  It consists of about six stations dedicated to the cruise and Celebrity Cruise Lines.  You also have MSNBC and FOX news, which is hilarious seeing how totally opposite their coverage of the same stories are from each other.  There is also the BBC World News and SKY News for the Europeans.  In addition there is also HGTV, the FOOD Network and two ESPN stations that are oriented to Latin American sports.  So there is no hockey coverage what so ever.

Each day there is a four page newspaper printed for the each of the passenger’s country.  Unfortunately it is usually about two days behind.