Popular port day but deciding to stay onboard?

[Kingseat]

First cruise with some popular ports. Just wondering what it’s like to stay onboard on a popular port day. 

 

The port is Palma. We e been to Majorca many times. Would places like the spa have deals on?

[Grandma Dazzles]

Not sure about the spa in Europe.  They often do on Caribbean cruises.  A lot of people stay on board for lots of different reasons.  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

7 minutes ago, Kingseat said:

Would places like the spa have deals on?

Most likely....but getting that ashore would be a fraction of the price!👍

Edited February 10, 2019 by Thorben-Hendrik

[Kingseat]

Thanks. Not specific to spa deals. Just wondered what goes on when people are ashore!  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

4 minutes ago, Kingseat said:

Just wondered what goes on when people are ashore!  

Not much.....

[brillohead]

More lounge chairs available on pool deck in "prime" spots, pools/hot tubs not as crowded, no lines at the bar, main dining room isn't open for lunch.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

4 minutes ago, brillohead said:

main dining room isn't open for lunch.

What a highlight!

[OCruisers]

The buffet on port days is way less crowded which is a big plus.  

While it isn't a fantastic dining experience, there normally are a few things we like.  

[xxHadleyxx]

We usually either stay on board in Palma, or just go for a short walk and reboard soon after.

 

We find the spa, while in Europe, tends to offer very minor port day specials on some premade packages---it results in a small savings if you want the package they set up.  We've asked about savings on particular things we want and never been accomidated.  It seems many staff from the spa get off in port also (fair enough, IMO).

 

There will be one cruise staff member who stays on all day and a handful of activites (maybe a midday trivia or board game or pool game, etc) which may or may not have enough people show up to actually run it.

 

Pool decks and buffets will be pretty quiet unitl around 14:00, when large numbers tend to drfit back onboard.  There is likely to be a movie running somewhere (though not always).

 

Activities like flowrider or climbing wall, etc rarely run in port, or if they do only near the very end of the port day.  Likewise for live music, nothing until near reboarding time.

 

There might well be a large group of travel agent touring the ship and having lunch at the buffet---if so, avoiding the buffet when they hit it is a wise idea.  

 

Basically, it is a nice, quiet time to just relax onboard, but you will not have a lot of scheduled thigns going on to do.