IPAD 1.5

The summer voyage has a unique aspect called IPAD days which greatly affect the voyage calendar. Although you may know an “IPAD” to be an Apple device, on the summer voyage IPAD stands for In-Port Academic Day.

Semester at Sea conducts classes when we are sailing between ports-of-call and often times, there is a greater need for class time than the amount of time it actually takes to get from one port to the next. Therefore, the ship ends up doing donuts in the ocean to ensure there are enough sea days and time for classes.

Instead of doing donuts in the ocean this summer, Semester at Sea has decided it is more economical to spend the days in port and just stay on the ship (fuel prices are greater than the port fees evidently). Therefore, there will be about 8 in-port class days during the summer voyage where the ship will be docked in-port but shipboard community will not be allowed to disembark because it’s a class day.

Our arrival in Lisbon demonstrates the IPAD concept. We arrived in Lisbon around 14:00 on Thursday but were not allowed to disembark the ship until Saturday morning. We had 1.5 IPAD days upon arrival in Portugal. At first, I thought being stuck on the ship would really stink but I actually didn't mind it. It’s nice to have dinner with the view of Lisbon right at our fingertips! Maybe I’ll change my mind by the eighth IPAD day of the voyage but for right now, it’s been wonderful!

More on my time in Lisbon in the next blog. Hint – this is a beautiful city!

Sunset over Lisbon as seen from the Garden Lounge dining room. Great view, right?!

Coming into port in Lisbon, Portugal.

Lisbon, here I come!

We've arrived in Lisbon!