Baltic Adventure - Day 10

Crusing the Baltic Sea

Thursday, July 1: Cruising the Baltic Sea.

Another "at sea" day. A chance to relax, enjoy the ship, and rest up for the next port of call! Deb and I enjoyed taking advantage of the Westerdam's Spa facilities on this particular voyage, and we signed up early for several massages and spa treatments over the course of the cruise. Some of the treatments included seaweed wraps, ocean floats, hot stone massage, ginger and rock salt treatment, honey and milk treatments, plus the regular massages, neck & shoulder massages, and foot & ankle massages. The Spa facilities on the Westerdam were wonderful. All the treatment rooms, the relaxation lounge, and the thermal room have ocean views. The thermal room featured heated tile beds (pictured below), a dry sauna, a steam sauna and a Turkish sauna (which was hot, hot, hot!). There were also 3 different showers with different aroma therapies, featuring peppermint, spearmint and freesia scents.

We also enjoyed various ship activities: Pictionary hosted by one of the assistant cruise directors; golf chipping at the Lido pool; and shopping in the Westerdam stores. For dinner we made reservations in the upscale restaurant onboard, giving us a little variation from the daily routine in the main dining room. We attended shows in the main theater every night after dinner. And Deb and I volunteered to be participants in the "Newlywed (and not-so-newlywed) Game." We didn't win, but we had fun. Before heading to the evening performance in the main theater, we stopped and listened to music in the Crow's Nest, which is situated on the very top deck of the ship. Even though it was very late at night, you can see how bright it is outside the windows. Most people don't realize that most of the Baltic is very far north. Several of the cities we visited, including Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Helsinki are as far north as Anchorage, Alaska.