Enjoying the Ship

Cruising makes a lot of travelers happy. That’s clear every night when we enjoy our evenings on board the Emerald Princess. Some friends of this blog have commented that they can’t believe I’m advocating cruising. I’m not pro or con cruising. It simply works for lots of people.  I’m learning about it and hoping to help those who like cruising to get the most out of their precious shore time. That’s why we’ve written our cruise guidebooks to both Northern European and Mediterranean ports, that’s why I’m on this ship, and I’m having a great time while I’m at it. Go back to my blog from September 2011 to read my reports on our Mediterranean cruise. (Photos by Trish Feaster, The Travelphile.com.

Our Princess Cruise Lines ship has several pools and public zones that will suit your mood. If you want relative quiet, you can find it.
Our Princess Cruise Lines ship has several pools and public zones that will suit your mood. If you want relative quiet, you can find it.
The Emerald Princess’ main pool is the social gathering point. A huge screen, used for showing movies, towers above it. Hot water and conversation bubble in the hot tubs at all hours.
The Emerald Princess’ main pool is the social gathering point. A huge screen, used for showing movies, towers above it. Hot water and conversation bubble in the hot tubs at all hours.
One of the surprise delights of our cruise was feeding the birds. I imagine it’s not encouraged (and after 15 minutes of making birds very happy, a woman on a lower balcony craned her neck and looked up at me to say, “Can you stop that? They’re going to poop on me.”). But it was mesmerizingly fun. Seagulls seemed to be playing in the drafts caused by our mammoth ship all the time. Here, as we sailed away from Stockholm, I’d launch a tiny chunk of bread a few times and somehow the word got out. Within minutes, I had a gaggle of gulls swooping by to grab crumbs as I tossed them. They were graceful and seemed to laugh along with me throughout this acrobatic feeding.
One of the surprise delights of our cruise was feeding the birds. I imagine it’s not encouraged (and after 15 minutes of making birds very happy, a woman on a lower balcony craned her neck and looked up at me to say, “Can you stop that? They’re going to poop on me.”). But it was mesmerizingly fun. Seagulls seemed to be playing in the drafts caused by our mammoth ship all the time. Here, as we sailed away from Stockholm, I’d launch a tiny chunk of bread a few times and somehow the word got out. Within minutes, I had a gaggle of gulls swooping by to grab crumbs as I tossed them. They were graceful and seemed to laugh along with me throughout this acrobatic feeding.
As we sailed through Stockholm’s vast archipelago, the light was just right and a glass of Champagne seemed to compliment the moment.
As we sailed through Stockholm’s vast archipelago, the light was just right and a glass of Champagne seemed to compliment the moment.
A fun way to meet the stateroom neighbors was to share a drink as the ship sliced through particularly scenic stretches of our cruise.
A fun way to meet the stateroom neighbors was to share a drink as the ship sliced through particularly scenic stretches of our cruise.
Comments

8 Replies to “Enjoying the Ship”

  1. I agree there is a time and place for a cruise. The cruises we have taken have been at certain times when we just did not want to do all the work. It would not be a regular vacation choice for us, but at some point we are planning a trip with kids and grandkids and I think it is a perfect option for all of our needs.

  2. There is a time and place for cruising, but there is not a time and a place to feed gulls. Keep feeding gulls from cruise ships and they will soon be snatching food off balconies and outside decks and pooping everywhere. Don’t feed gulls.

    I am fairly certain that all cruise ships forbid throwing anything overboard.

  3. I don’t blame Rick for responding to the market for cruise travel in Europe. I just feel a bit sorry for him. The idea of Rick on a cruise is like a bird in a cage. Maybe that’s why he’s relating with the birds so well.

  4. Feeding wild birds or other animals should really be discouraged. While people have feed squirrels and ducks in parks in the past, enlightened people don’t do that any more (just like smoking, carving initials in live trees, etc.). Selling bird seed at St. Mark’s square in Venice for pigeon-feeding just furthered the birds becoming flying rats.

    Returning on the moving motorboat after visiting Skellig Michael in Ireland a couple years ago, while their mum and dad were busy leaning over the side of the boat to see how far down they could reach and try to touch the water (candidates for a Darwin award?), two British kids started tossing bits of their lunch into the water, which instantly attracted a swarm of gannets and puffins, who gobbled down the morsels. A fellow passenger, a zoologist, educated them that birds’ digestive systems aren’t equiped for “people food,” and that what the kids were doing, while entertaining, could be hurting the birds.

    People who feed jays outside at ski areas (or leave their luch table with uneaten food sitting out) encourage birds to become beggars and theives, dependent on people for food that’s not part of their diet, and set up the next group of people at that table to be beset by harrassing birds. Bears will take food from people, but the next person that bear encounters might have their hand taken, instead of a peanut- butter-and-jelly sandwich. Look but don’t touch (or feed)!

  5. Good for you, Rick, for expanding your horizon to cruising. We started our traveling to third world countries many years ago and progressed to more civilize countries as we aged. Now in our 70’s and 80’s, cruising is a joy and we love being spoiled. We have been to most of the countries in our younger years and find that cruising offers a different perspective than we had experienced by foot and backpack, car and train.

  6. Cruise ships, especially those that do not travel in US waters, can be extremely damaging to the environment. This particular ship, the Emerald Princess, is very poorly rated. There are web sites available that can help travelers select a cruise that is less damaging to our planet’s oceans.

    How’s that, Andrew? :-)

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