Transatlantic cruise, Post 3: Activities and entertainment

Now for a summary of the activities and entertainment options on board...

Each night we were given a list of the activities and events for the following day. They had a "Vitality Rewards" program where we could collect a token each for various active pursuits. We tried to do a lot of these to make up for all the food we were eating!! There was the Walk-A-Mile (five times around the running track beside the pools on the top deck equalled one mile!), various ballroom dancing lessons, stretching and exercise classes, etc etc. We managed to collect 28 tokens during the sea days, and Ben exchanged 20 of them for a Vitality t-shirt at the end. :)

Other options included a library, regular movie screenings, a boardgames room (where we played Rook one day with our dinner companions Dave and Barb), ice skating, a few pools, and a gym! We didn't get around to trying out these last few things though.

We played shuffleboard a few times - this is a popular cruise ship game that involves using a stick to push a puck along the deck, with the aim of having it land on areas that are worth points. We played once with Dave and Barb (pictured with us below - the men won), and even went in a tournament! It's quite a relaxing and enjoyable game, and very easy to learn the rules (although landing the puck where you want it to go is not so easy!).



Our ship also had a rock climbing wall on the top deck, about two storeys high and out in the open with incredible ocean views. Ben climbed it while exploring the ship by himself early in the cruise, but I managed to avoid it until the very last day. :P However, I agreed I really should have a go even though I had never rock climbed before and was quite nervous as I have some issues with heights...

So Ben climbed it again, and I climbed it as well, and I'm happy to say that I made it to the top and rang the bell! But it was definitely amongst the scariest things I have done in my life, due to what seemed to be an oversupply of adrenaline that had my legs shaking uncontrollably (Ben could see this from the ground!) and my limbs frequently frozen in place even though my brain was instructing them to move!! I actually found it much more nerve-wracking (although over much sooner) than Go Ape! You're meant to use your legs to push yourself up where possible, rather than pulling yourself up with your arms, but the aforementioned issues made this almost impossible - so my arm and back muscles are still sore now, 3 days later! But I am glad I did it, and Ben was very proud of me. :)



In addition to various live music all around the ship throughout the day and night, a key highlight of the cruise was the nightly "Showtime" entertainment in the La Scala Theatre. This was usually at 9pm, and the artists would have already done a 7pm show for the people who eat at second sitting. Here are the performers we saw:

The world's leading Beatles tribute band
Jacqui Scott (a West End singer who played the lead in Evita and Cats, among others)
John Christie (an Australian singer who lives in England)
Renato Pagliari (an Italian tenor)
A British violinist whose name escapes me
Neil Austin (a British comedian/magician)
Los Pampas Gauchos (three guys from Argentina who played drums and performed stunts - pictured below)
Horizon (a motown trio from Des Moines - pictured below)
Fluoresence (fluoresent glowing puppets that seemed to float against a pitch dark backdrop - hard to describe but really amazing)
An American comedian, Bruce someone
The Royal Caribbean singers and dancers



As well as these, we saw an ice skating show called "Ice Odyssey" - similar to the Holiday on Ice show we saw in Brighton last year, but even better! It would have been incredibly impressive even on land, but the fact that the ship was moving and rocking a little made it even more amazing. They fell a few times but carried on hardly missing a beat. There were nine or ten skaters in bright glitzy costumes, performing choreographed dances and stunts such as the man carrying the lady above his head or spinning around with her hanging on only by her feet clutching his neck!! Absolutely awesome!!

One of the highlights of the ice show was seeing a Russian skater called Vladimir in the ice rings. I think he must be somewhat famous as he seemed to be a guest performer and was older than the others. The ice rings are difficult to describe, but click here to see a video of something similar - however, Vladimir was much better than this, and he rolled much lower and for much longer in both the double rings as seen in this video, and a single ring. Unreal!!

Anyway, that's an overview of what kept us occupied on the ship for 15 days - so we certainly had no reason to be bored!!! It really was a fantastic way to travel and we totally recommend it! Stay tuned and soon I'll post some photos from each of the ports of call. Goodnight!