Sea Days Recap – Day 16 of our Transatlantic Cruise

Monday, December 8, 2025

We made it across the Atlantic Ocean! It was a wonderful and relaxing trip. I thought you might be interested in a few questions that I wondered about before this first transatlantic cruise.

Did You Get Sea Sick?

No, we never got sea sick and I never used the Rx patches my doctor prescribed for me. I found out later that there is a bracelet that supposedly helps with seasickness. It can be purchased on Amazon. I didn’t buy one but am curious about it. Have you ever tried the bracelet? If so, any thoughts?

Were the Waves High?

The Captain would give a daily report. Some days I remember the him saying the waves were eight feet high, but we barely noticed. A few days it looked like people were a bit tipsy while walking through the bugget. We left our bathroom door open at night and only one night did I need to prop it open so it wouldn’t swing back and forth.

Disclaimer: I did read that the older you get, you may become less affected by motion sickness.

How was the Weather?

Early in the cruise, the winds could be chilling. The temperatures varied. On the whole, it got warmer as we sailed south but we wore long sleeves and jacket or sweat shirt or windbreaker on excursions. I was definitely glad I had long sleeved tops, a jacket (at one point in the trip I wished I had brought a heavier jacket, but it wasn’t worth lugging it around the world for a few days’ use,) and ALWAYS my waterproof windbreaker.

Note: water “resistant” means water can come through. Don’t do it!! Spend the extra money on a “breathable” waterproof jacket (and pants, if needed) to get the joy out of your vacation money and time investments.

I did wear gloves a few days along with my ear warmers.

And then it was Warm

About half way across the Atlantic the winds turned warmer with some humidity in the air. The closer to Miami we got, the warmer the outside temps got. And the more we saw people in swim suits, shorts, and casual beachwear. So I was glad I had warm weather clothes and shoes, too.

Were you Bored?

No! Neither of us were bored and I never got that “I’ve had fun but I’m ready to be done with this vacation” feeling. Some of my ship friends were ready to be done with binge eating and drinking. We had paced ourselves well so that wasn’t the case for us.

Gregg and I go on cruises to go at our own pace. So we rarely go to the dining room to eat and go to shows even less. Our first cruise (Alaska) we did all the, what I call, “shippy things.” So now we can easily pass on all the ship’s options without FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out.) We talk, read, walk, he does things with his computer, eat at the buffet, watch the sunrise and sunset, enjoy our balcony, and just hang out.

Jerry, the Cruise Director, was excellent, for those who enjoy “shippy things.” He provided many activities for people to do. There were tours of the ship, group games like trivia and bingo, Wii games like bowling on the atrium’s big screen, art activities like painting classes (fee) and free origami lessons. There were dance lessons, educational lectures, jewlery and fine art activities, cooking classes, movies, as well as the evening shows in the theater. The daily list of things to do was jam packed.

Deck 7 is where you can make a complete loop around the ship. It also has shuffleboard and checkers/chess boards painted on the deck. A shorter, running path is on an upper deck. The ship has a rock wall to climb during given hours, pingpong, beanbag toss, basketball, pickleball, along with two swimming pools and four hot tubs.

The Norwegian Pearl’s library and game room had recently been converted into cabins so there was a specialty restaurant area designated for games from 10:00am to 2:00pm. Jerry provided board and card games for people to borrow. Many people brought their own games to play.

The restaurant-turned-game room is where I hung out for a while on our eight sea days and learned to play Mahjong. Early on, Gregg would grab the one (?!) table that had an electrical outlet and work on his computer (he considers programming for fun as “play”) or read. After a few days, people would beat us to that table so he found other places to camp out while I played with the ladies.

American Mahjung

So, now I’m hooked on American Mahjung. It was a perfect opportunity for me to learn. The first day, two ladies from the Kissimmee area had brought a game and were looking for people to play. They are both expert players. As in, they have played and won tournaments. So, I asked if I could just watch since I was clueless as to how the game worked.

Barbara and Joyce took me under wing and let me quietly watch the play. Then they would explain what they had done. As time went on, they would put their card under the table and show me which “hand” they were trying to go for. This helped me get famiar with the 70ish “hands” you can choose from.

It is like a Rummy game – you are trying to collect a specific collection of suits, numbers, and special tiles (winds, dragons, and flowers.) There are Jokers to help you fill in spaces. Each person selects which hand they want to fulfill and the first one to complete it with 13 tiles calls “Mahjong” and wins.

On my fifth day watching, another table was playing at a slower pace and encouraged me to play. They were very patient and let me ask lots of questions. On my sixth day, I played with them again and won two games. And I won two games on my seventh day. I was buzzing with a Mahjong high. On the eighth day, I didn’t win any, yet came within one tile of winning two times. Yes. I’m hooked!

Do any of you play Mahjong? Anyone play online? The ladies recommended the website Real Mahjongg, especially for beginners. They said you play against Bots or you can play against friends if you connect online. It is free for two weeks and then there is a fee. I’m afraid to sign up for fear of getting addicted. 😉 We’ll see.

I will also check with the local Senior Center. I received my Medicare card in the mail while I was gone, so I officially qualify for senior perks. 😁

Did you get Sick?

Kind-of. Around mid-sea days, my Mahjong mentor went to the ship’s doctor and was diagnosed with Covid. They have her Paxlovid and quarantined her for 24 hours. She returned the following day and was retested. It was negative. I didn’t realize the antiviral meds could act that quickly. She said that if she didn’t want to take the meds, they would quarantine her for the duration of the cruise.

The bill was $5,500. Ouch! We may reconsider purchasing trip insurance in the future. She expects her insurane to reimburse her 100%. She always uses Allianz, which is what our Travel Planner recommended, too.

After that, my throat began to tickle and as days went on, I had a sore throat and was coughing a bit. No fever. I “doctored” with lots of fluids and teas. As days went on, it seemed that over half the passengers were coughing. The ship had employees at each entrance to eating areas with antibacterial hand spray. “Washy-Washy!”

I’m writing this on Tuesday and am feeling a bit better. Granted, I’ve not done much nor talked much. Just rested between loads of laundry.

Would you do an Ocean Crossing Again?

I would. Gregg said he doesn’t need to cross the Atlantic again.

We both enjoyed traveling west to east and having our port days first. Our itinerary had five days of different ports, a sea day, then one last port before beginning our crossing. There were many nights in a row where we were told to turn our clocks back an hour. So we eased into the time zone change. And arrived home refreshed and relaxed.

How did you get Home?

The ship began disembarkation around 7:30 am Monday morning. We were in the first group to get off since we carried our luggage off ourselves. From the cruise port, we took an Avis shuttle to their office and rented a car to drive home. We were home around 2:00pm and returned the car soon afterwards.

Did you Like Norwegian Cruiseline?

We have cruised three times with Princess, once with MCS, and this was our first time with Norwegian. Each line has its advantages. The Freestyle Dining on Norwegian was a favorite for us. They have three “free” dining rooms. Rather than being assigned a dining time and dining room, these are treated like any other restaurant that doesn’t offer reservations. You walk up and say, “table for two, please.” They then seat you or give you a pager which will let you know when a table is available. Brilliant!

The Norwegian Pearl had at least six specialty dining restaurants. Our package included five specialty dinings so we chose five different restaurants. Gregg’s favorite was the chicken dish he ordered at the Italian restaurant. I liked the lamb and beef dish I ate at the French restaurant. It had been a long time since we had eaten prime rib and we enjoyed it at the steak restaurant. The Japaneese restaurant was fun, but loud. I felt exhausted by the time we left. And the Braziallian Steak House was a unique experience (a first for us), yet if felt rushed since someone was always asking if you wanted more food.

We ate at the “free” dining room on Thanksgiving. After each dining room experience, we both felt stuffed. We decided that we enjoyed the buffet just as much. We could find “healthier” items as well as do portion control at the buffet. I appreciated the variety of fruits and vegetables at the buffet. The vegetables were fresh, steamed, and cooked in other ways.

Another thing we appreciated with Freestyle dining is there are no “Formal Dress” days on the ship. We could dress nicely, but didn’t feel out of place because we weren’t in fancy dress.

Norwegian will soon Port in Jacksonville!

Jacksonville currently has a Carnival Cruiseline ship. In the near future, the Norwegian Gem will port in Jacksonville. And we have already booked a cruise on it for February:

What’s your favorite cruise or vacation?

Has There’s Only One You with Aunt Kitten been turned into a Coloring Book yet?

On sea days, I worked on turning the pages of both books into a coloring book format. The whole story will still be there, but the reader can fill in the colors.

I had taken my Chromebook and a scanner with me so I was on a missions. After creating the artwork for There’s Only One You with Aunt Kitten, I scanned them. Alas, I was not able to get the (old, out of date) software to download onto my computer. Gregg to the rescue! After hours of slow downloading (the ship’s internet was slow and sometimes not available at all) he was able to retrieve my scans and email them to me.

Next step is creating the book files in Canva. But wait, in order for Canva to have access to some of the tools I needed, it required something that was not available on a Chrome (Google, not Windows) computer. So, I will have to do that on my home computer. Stay tuned for updates.

Thanks so much for traveling along with us!