Sabin’s on the Sea 2023 - Day # 23- Sea Day (North Atlantic Ocean)
by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog
Today we are in the North Atlantic Sea. After a wonderful time in Scotland and Ireland we are on our way back to Iceland. This time we will be going to the small town of Djupivogur and the capital, Reykjavik.
Three days at port can be draining, so we are truly enjoy having a sea day before the next port. It gives us time to rest and recuperate. Who knew traveling could be hard work. 😊
As I mentioned before, you can be as busy as you like on a cruise. Today instead of doing two hours of Bridge, I tried one of the arts and craft classes. We made origami butterflies and penguins. It takes precision to make the penguins stand.
In some ways this trip seems like it has been going on forever, at the same time it is hard to believe how fast it is going. Strange, the same number of days of a vacation can feel so different.
The laundry has been the best investment on this cruise. We get unlimited laundry and fill up a bag most days. It is nice to have clean clothes and someone else doing the washing, drying, and folding.
There are no words to say how wonderful the staff is, especially our room stewards. They clean 35 rooms every day, twice a day. The second time the room stewards prepares your room for evening.
I have a hard enough time cleaning one house with three rooms and two bathrooms once a week. I can’t imagine having to clean 35 rooms, make 35 beds, and clean 35 bathrooms daily. My hat goes off to these hardworking people. In addition, they always greet us with a smile while they work.
In most ports, the staff doesn’t even get the opportunity to explore. We can’t say enough how appreciative we are to all the staff on the Zuiderdam.
The only challenging thing that has come up is the entertainment. The first half of this trip we had a dance troop, comedians, a pianist, a saxophonist, and a ventriloquist. This half, since Rotterdam, they mainly have had classical music instrumental band, a 150 history Holland American documentary, and movie. Not quite the same caliber of entertainment.
For John and I that is ok, as we like chilling and watching a movie - there’s over 100 on demand which we can watch from our room.
The hot tubs and sauna has become part of our daily routine, even on port days when we come back early in the afternoon.
I think I mentioned there is an indoor and outdoors pools and hot tubs. We have found the one outside less crowded and even though it is only 50 degrees outside, the hot tub feels spectacular. The only challenge is getting out of the hot tub, you have a few seconds before you feel cold. Just enough to dry off and go inside to the sauna.
I don’t know what we are going to do without a hot tub and sauna when we get home. Guess that will be on my Christmas wish list.
We have really enjoyed the happy hour on sea days. It is nice to get drinks at half price.
Three of the bars, out of eight on the ship, offer happy hour. We like connecting with our Australian friends at happy hour. They have similar interests to ours.
Tomorrow’s port is Djupivogur. It is a small town in Iceland and will only take about two hours or so to walk the entire town.