Cruising the Adriatic--Day at Sea

We had a day at sea, as the Celebrity Silhouette made its way, at some 30 mph, from Corfu to Valetta, Malta.  This was a busy cruise, with port stops during 12 of our 13 cruise days.  After taking shore excursions lasting seven hours or longer at nearly every stop, we were ready for a day to relax and enjoy the on-board activities.  One option was to relax in our comfortable cabin, reading.

Dave and I walked around the jogging track or walked on the treadmill every day, at sea or on shore. 

On this at sea day, I attended three lectures.  At one, the captain explained how he piloted the boat, including the many fail-safe features if any navigation system failed.  "And if all else doesn't work, we tell the passengers in the cheap cabins on Deck 2 to pull the oars out from beneath their beds and row," he finished.  Luckily, Dave and I were one deck up, on 3 (out of 14 decks).  The captain was a charming Greek who was quite proud of his experience, including "breaking in" the Celebrity when it was a brand new ship two years ago.

I also attended a lecture by the ship engineers, who described all the ship systems, from disposing of sewage to turning sea water into fresh water, to generating power to turn the turbines.  "The ship is a small city of 5000 people," they said. 

A third lecture was by an art historian, who gave four presentations during our journey, on various artists whose works we saw--Michelangelo and Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto, and the artists of Pompeii.  She was excellent, and I committed to someday taking an art history course in SLC.

 

I enjoyed sitting on the pool deck, listening to my favorite of the many musical groups who performed each day.  They were a quartet from the Philippines who knew hundreds of pop songs and belted them out with style and talent.  Our shipmates lounged in the hot tubs as they listened.

 

 

I treated myself to a gelato and a lemon bar, during our day at sea.  There was food everywhere--a 24 hour buffet restaurant, our assigned seating in the main restaurant, and cafes, grills, and snack bars around the ship.

 

Dave and I enjoyed a "formal dinner" with our tablemates, Bob and Sue, Jean and Linda, and Marilyn and Jim.  We became good friends during the four-course, two hour dinners we shared every night. We joined Bob and Sue one night at the "Murano," a "specialty restaurant" with extraordinary food and service.  We also enjoyed our servers, from the Philippines and (I think) Eastern Europe.

 

On this day at sea, we enjoyed a dance and gymnastics show presented by the Celebrity dance troupe.  It was a Cirque de Soleil-style show, but others had been a Broadway song and dance revue and a dance show with cutting edge music and costumes.  Every night there was an evening performance--a pianist, a violinist, several singers, a magician, even a "mentalist."

 

There was so much to do on the Celebrity Silhouette.  Another time, we'll try the spa, the dance lessons, or the dress up dance nights (maybe).  We had such a good time, we definitely want to go again!