Oh. My.


And that is including my planned half-day sitting on the balcony watching the seas roll by?


I have spent a week (spread over time) on the Queen Mary, if that helps.

But seriously, thank you very much for the suggestions and commentary. It does give me a baseline understanding of what I might expect to encounter that I did not previously have. I think our little trial may be like drinking from a firehose.

I accept that I won't get to taste everything aboard, nor even see everything of interest. ms. birdstrike and I are eclectic travellers so I think a "meta-cruise" (with the cruise, but not of the cruise, if you will) will suit us quite well.

Alas, I have limited vacation time, so spending 8 days on a cruise is simply not an option for us at this time. We're spending 2 weeks in Botswana later this year. If at the end of the day we know if we want, or don't want, to take a longer cruise our investment will have been worthwhile.

In any event, we shall certainly enjoy! ^