Midway through February, my humans and I joined 1700 other Sea Monkeys upon JoCo Cruise 2018, on the Ms Oosterdam, out of San Diego. None of us had been on a cruise before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. The ship was luxurious:
And various changes had been made to make the geeky gamer passengers feel more at home:
There was a casino on board, but it was mostly deserted throughout the week…
…because most of the Sea Monkeys were in the gaming room instead! I liked the fact that signs were available for people to invite others to join their games.
We spent quite a bit of time on the Lido deck, as it was very pleasant to watch the ocean roll by, while enjoying a tipple and a snack from the 24hr taco bar.
Ten Forward, or The Crow’s Nest, was also a nice place to linger, with comfy chairs and an awesome view:
If we ever lost track of what day it was, all we needed to do was step inside a lift, where the rugs would help us orient ourselves:
On the Wednesday, we ventured off the ship for a boat ride, which took in the local haunt of some seals:
The island we were deposited on was beautiful, though my secondary human reported that snorkelling was quite chilly.
That afternoon, we ventured into the town of Loreto, for a delicious food festival, and an awesome concert by Jonathan Coulton and several of the other performers from the cruise.
Most of the time, though, we stayed on the ship, where there were lots of activities to enjoy. There were shows, panels, q&a sessions, meet ups, workshops, and a crafting session where we made a very fetching fascinator:
Friday was Formal Night, so the humans put on their glad rags and went for an extended promenade around the whole ship:
There were many interesting creatures to meet on the ship, including this rather unexpected elephant, who lurked under the stairs on Deck 1. Nobody else we asked about it had come across him…
But most friendly were the towel animals who came to visit us in our cabin every evening. This fine fellow stayed all week, making sure we had everything we needed:
Every subsequent day saw a different visitor:
Day three:
My friend, Mikei, also accompanied us, as part of my primary human’s pirate costume, and he was very popular amongst the other Sea Monkeys, as he fit the theme so well:
Day five:
Day six:
On our last day at sea, the main bar on Deck 2 sprouted many, many monkeys:
And this fine fellow was waiting in our room in the evening to check we got our suitcases packed and ready to go by midnight:
Overall, we had a great time, and would definitely consider going again. We made a few friends, some of whom we hope to see at our gaming event later in the year.