Princess Cruises — Speed Painting with Watercolors

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged…life just seems to get in the way sometimes. It’s been crazy since my Back-to-Back Spring cruise on the Regal Princess this past March. I hope to do much better with writing from now on. (I’ve actually scheduled two times each week just for writing). I just got back from a work trip to the Bahamas. If you have to work, I’d suggest working in the Bahamas! I’ll be posting about that trip in the very near future. I’m getting ready to go on a big Adventure next week, and before I go on a trip, I always try to clear the pictures from my phone, and while I was doing that, I came across some pictures of my Spring Break cruise that I wanted to share.

One afternoon on the ship, I noticed a blurb in the daily Princess Patter that said “Watercolors – Speed Painting”. The activity was in the Piazza and I thought that I would check it out. I’m a fan of Bob Ross, and have been watching his show for years. I haven’t taken an art class since high school, but it’s something that has been on my list when I find the time. (yeah, right!) I thought that I could wedge this activity in somewhere between pool time & Afternoon Tea. (Life is SO good on a Princess ship).

When I arrived in the Piazza there were about 6 artist’s easels set up in a circle with a pad of paper and a small table with paints & brushes off to the side of each easel. The Assistant Cruise Director was there, and was running the show. She was the same person who ran the Stargazing at Sea activity, so I knew it would be fun, as I really liked her personality. She asked everyone in the Piazza to sign up if they were interested in painting, and that there would be several sessions so most would get the opportunity to paint. (actually, there were about 4 sessions, and some of us got to paint twice!). I immediately signed up and was in the first group.

When the first group was assembled, our instructions were that we could paint anything we wanted at our easel for 60 seconds. Then, a buzzer would sound, and we would have to put down our paintbrush, and move over to the left one canvas. Then, we would have another 60 seconds to add to whatever that person had begun. This would continue to each of us had painted on each of the 6 canvases. It was so much fun! While the painting was going on, and in between groups, a DJ was in the Piazza doing his thing. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Some of the guests had absolutely zero art skills, & a few had incredible skills. The paintings were hilarious, and were displayed in the Piazza for a while. Also, it was just as much fun watching the artists at work, as it was to actually paint.

This is just another of the reasons that I love Princess Cruises…I’ve done about 30 cruises, and I’ve never seen this shipboard activity before…do other cruise lines do it? Probably…but I’ve never seen it on any of the other lines. After the activity was over, a couple of musicians set up in the Piazza to do a concert. There was always something going on in this part of the ship!