Early To Bed, Early to Rise

If for some reason you are not a night owl, and no matter how hard you try, you will still wake up early…this post is for you. I find the ship is rather quiet before noon and on the surface it may not seem like there’s a lot going on, but don’t worry there is in fact plenty to do.

First thing you should do is grab a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise. I think I’ve only managed to see this once on a cruise ship. But I remember it being absolutely stunning. If you have a balcony, that’s a great peaceful place to sit and watch the sunrise. And if you have a balcony, you should also grab the robe out of your closet to cozy on up. If you don’t have a balcony like myself, I’d recommend heading to the back of the ship to get a more panoramic view. And I say the back instead of the front, because the front will be too windy. But you’ll still need that coffee to stay warm no matter where you decide to watch. It will most undoubtedly be chilly no matter where you’re watching.

After you watch the sunrise, it will still be ridiculously early and hours away until any potential BSB event. We’re talking like 7:15AM. The good breakfast isn’t even out yet its still so early. Just the continental stuff. So what you should do next is get some exercise. Yes, you heard me right. I'm not suggesting anything strenuous. Though the fitness center seems to be the only thing open at this ungodly hour. But they do usually offer some sort of yoga, pilates, or stretch and relax class first thing in the morning. Another less strenuous activity is to go for a brisk walk along the jogging track.

After you burn some calories on the high seas, time to head to breakfast and consume probably triple that amount of calories you just burned. Sure you could go to the lido buffet, but since you’re up so early, why not do go to the dining room for breakfast. Order eggs benedict and spice it up with a mimosa if you’re feeling adventurous. After all, you are on vacation. If you do decide to do the formal breakfast, it is open seating. You just tell the maitre d what size table you want and they will seat you.

Yummy breakfast mimosas!

So now you’ve killed a few hours and at this point it’s probably around 9AM. There’s at least some sign of life on the ship but all your friends are still sleeping and I assume most of the Backstreet Boys are as well. Now what? If you’re a nerd like I am, on a normal cruise I would probably go to the library and snag their daily sudoko and crossword puzzle then take them to a nice spot overlooking the ocean. On a Backstreet cruise I might go try to meet some other early risers and make a few new friends. If you’re less nerdy, you can go take a dip in the pool. It should be a lot less crowded at this hour.

One last thing you can do before the rest of your friends start to wake up…go play putt putt mini gold on the sun deck. Why? Because apparently the Imagination has a nine hole mini golf course on deck 14. May as well take advantage.

I also have a confession to make...I am most definitely not an early bird. Though I did find it difficult to actually stay asleep knowing the Backstreet Boys are on board. So maybe, just maybe you’ll catch me roaming the lido deck at 7am. That’s a big maybe though.