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Writer's pictureLynn Lundstrom Belles
Feb 19, 20148 min read

Wouldn’t you like a Sea Day?

Day 2 is a Sea Day – Wouldn’t you like a Sea Day?


The channel leading from the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro to the Pacific Ocean


When you Travel Like an Architect™ – you Work & Play on the ship!  We sailed away from Los Angeles yesterday in the early evening headed south to find the warm air. Today we will sail all day and in the morning of Day 3 we will wake up in Cabo San Lucas at the Tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. But for today the charge is to familiarize ourselves with the ship.

It takes at least a day for me to find my way around, I feel fortunate because some never do. First things first though – which restaurant is open for breakfast? And where is it? According to the “Freestyle Daily”, our Newsletter that is put in our room every evening, “The Versailles” on Deck 6 – Aft is open from 7:30 – 9:30 today! So – we first have to figure out if we turn right or left from our cabin to head for the back of the ship. On the Norwegian Star the stair halls are color coded which helps – there are three stairs, Forward – Midship and Aft. They are Blue, Red & Green respectively. Our cabin is up high on Deck 11 near the Midship (red) Stair. Once you figure out where your cabin is in relation to the different stair corridors you are really in pretty good shape and we can read floor plans!   As long as we arrive at the Dining Room before 9:30 they will serve us breakfast!

Often times the ship will have a section drawing posted near elevators that shows you where you are now in comparison to the entire ship.  The fact that it is a section drawing, not just a floor plan helps because you can see if you are forward, mid or aft, on a high or low deck.  The elevators all look the same on a deck with rooms – so be careful and pay attention!  If you pay attention on the first day – you will get firmly oriented, I promise.

We had arranged with our Traveling Companions Gr. Barb and Julia to meet for breakfast at 9:00 am, and once again we were awake at 6:00 – sigh – still haunted by the time change. We were optimistic that our all night journey had taken us to warmth so thought we would go up to the Deck 13 Forward hot tub! We threw on our swimsuits and cover ups and found it quickly by turning right from our cabin and climbing the stairs ONLY two decks up! Good reason to take advantage of a “free category upgrade” through your travel agent – it puts you closer to all the action instead of in the bowels of the ship.  Well the hot tubs aren’t really hot by our standards but still it is a habit that we have. WOW – it was windy and the air was not yet warm! We got some coffee from the “Market Café” (buffet style restaurant) without realizing that it would blow right out of the cup!! That’s OK – needless to say we had the hot tub to ourselves so we tied our cover ups and towels to a chair and climbed in! The view was beautiful as was the sunrise!  Wouldn’t you like a Sea Day?


The Hot Tub Sunrise off the coast of Mexico! Rob is holding on tight!


On the way to breakfast we discovered the location of the most important thing “Promenade Deck”. Not all ships have these any more but I really like them. “Promenade” is the open air deck that goes all the way around the ship. You can walk or jog and there are also shuffle board locations, as well as deck chairs. Many people sit in the chairs on Promenade to read or just to be in the shade. I love to jog there during Sail Away, or on Sea Days. We were still a bit early so took a quick walk to make sure the path went all the way around. It did – the Norwegian Star is an older ship. Many of the new ships have as many “Balcony” rooms as possible so they eliminate the full Promenade deck :

Breakfast was good – it is hard to decide what to have you just want one of everything but that would be bad – bad – bad for the waistline! The service was a bit slow – but we are patient and didn’t have anything else to do really…. After breakfast we decided to head back up to Deck 13 Forward to find a chair!

Many of you that know me know that I don’t do “nothing” well… so I had a bunch of reading, writing and listening with me.  We have three business endeavors that keep us very busy.  We will answer our Belles Architecture business phone and email while we are gone.  We are compiling photos, videos and Blog material for our Cruises Inc. Travel Agency Blog and our Architecture website.  And – I also brought some information about my Amway Business that I had not yet read, a notebook for notes and ideas with a section for each of our endeavors, some mp3 files of information that I am interested in learning, and an audio book! Haha – I will not be bored and I will have a GREAT tan from doing all of this from a deck chair in the sun!  Wouldn’t you like a Sea Day?

Our preparation for sunning includes naked sun screen application in our cabin before swimsuits! That way we don’t miss any spots. Since I am a red head and have been for my entire life I am aware that sunburn is something I strive to avoid. I have learned how to achieve a beautiful golden tan and never burn. Typically we join a tan spa for the month before our trip – and go almost every day. This gives us a nice base tan enabling me to apply SPF 15 that lasts me most of the day. Doing it before getting dressed gives it a chance to dry and soak in to your skin so that when you sweat or swim it doesn’t wash off. Usually after several hours I will re-apply with SPF 8 on my face and shoulders and tops of my legs if I have been sitting down! It works – I didn’t burn even once on this trip!

Finally time to hit the deck! We were lucky to find two chairs together and the air had warmed up a bit since this morning. I set the alarm on my phone for a half hour and turned on one of my tapes to lay in the sun! We love the rocking ship – it is sooo relaxing!  And the sea breeze keeps you cool. After a half hour my alarm lets me know that it’s time to flip sides!! Laying on my front lets me read or write – so got some things done. We always stay out for 1 ½ – 2 hours on each side, and I always keep track because I know I won’t burn in that amount of time with the sun screen that I use. Today we got our lunch from the “Grill” (buffet by the main pool). There is always burgers and dogs, fries, cole slaw, fixings like lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo & pickles and they even had sauerkraut! I think it was intended as a garnish for the dogs, but Rob likes it as a side! They also have my favorite thing – cut up fresh fruits! There was always cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple and whole apples and oranges. And we noticed that another area had Ice Cream!! I know what I’m having for desert!

The next priority for the day is a Workout! We always commit to a workout on sea days. There is plenty of time and it helps to offset the extra food that we eat! The Ice Cream should give me a quick sugar boost and a bit of extra energy. But first we have to dress and find the Gym! Every ship that we have been on has a fitness center. Some are nicer than others – my favorite was a Carnival ship where the treadmills lined up in a semicircle at the very front of the ship on a high deck with floor to ceiling windows!  We are all affected by the Architecture aren’t we?  The Norwegian Star gym was behind the Market Café on Deck 12. A bit hidden and out of the way – and somewhat dark for my preference. That’s OK – we decided to just do an intensive warm up there then down the green stairs to run the “Promenade” on Deck 7. We always take the stairs on the ship! You might notice that I don’t even mention the elevators – although there are elevators at each stair corridor. I forget they exist – but they are usually glass an overlook the grand atrium! We use them occasionally late at night when I have on high shoes and my feet have had it. I just love to jog the Promenade – I carry my phone for music I have a “Workout Mix” play list of thumping heart pumping songs! Some times I am compelled to jump or do a heel kick just in celebration of my favorite thing! Working out is like dancing with purpose.

I will conclude this Sea Day here – because there are plenty more and this post is getting long… Time to shower and go out on the town (the ship of course) or maybe hot tub a bit first with a cabin made smuggled in cocktail! Tomorrow is Cabo Wabo and the following another Sea Day – I will pick up with details for our Cabin made cocktails then! Keep following by liking our page – you won’t want to miss scenic Cabo San Lucas – we are booked on an all you can drink whale watching tour! Sounds good to me!  You know what they say “What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico”  haha unless you Blog about it…..


Leaving the North behind for a couple of weeks!


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