In spite of the small size of the Ocean Princess, there is still plenty to do as far as entertainment.
Don’t expect lavish Broadway shows, but smaller productions suitable to the smaller, more intimate Cabaret Lounge. Acts there included classical musicians, comedians, shows and even movies. The Cabaret Lounge is on one floor and is different than the large theaters found on the larger Princess ships.
Trivial Games
Other venues for entertainment include the Tahitian Lounge on deck 10, the usual place for evening music and dancing. During the day, dancing lessons, which seemed to draw a crowd, were quite popular. But even more popular during the day was the blood sport of trivia. We learned long ago that this activity resembles rugby or war games. The competition is intense. Part of the problem with this is the less than knowledgeable cruise staff who ask the questions. We aren’t sure where the questions come from, but the answers they have are sometimes partially correct or incorrect. For example, we were told that a light year is NOT a measurement of distance.
Another question about the whereabouts of the second longest reef in the world required Belize as the answer. The facilitators answers are final whether incorrect or not. We played a few times when we heard about how poorly researched the answers were and also how intense the competition was for a prize valued at $1. This is a good place to meet new people or be rejected by others if you look stupid.
Bridge drew a large crowd and sessions were regularly scheduled.
Popular Performers
The pianist and singer, Heather Sullivan drew a crowd and groupies quickly formed. Heather gets credit for keeping some of the groupies under control. One couple requested the same song a multitude of times or shouted their requests out louder and quicker than the rest of the audience. This in itself was quite entertaining.
Casino
The idea of a casino is to make money, but it’s always nice to lose your money slowly. The penny slots paid out poorly and there were so few of them that it was sometimes necessary to wait for one of the regulars to leave. Near the end of the cruise, the number of people playing slots dropped significantly and there was no waiting for a machine.
Library
The library on the Ocean Princess is nicely stocked with a good selection of books and even a book exchange. There were daily printed trivia and sudoku games. Unfortunately, the sudoku games often ran out. We suspect that somebody just grabbed a pile of them.
This particular itinerary was port intense, but passengers took advantage of the offerings on sea days. In fact, the turnout to some activities, like trivia, seemed higher than on larger ships.
Sail Away