Days at sea are just that: entire days when all you see around the ship is ocean and there are no ports of call which enable you to get off the ship.

It's a good idea to plan what you might do on a day at sea in advance, at least to get an idea in your head of how you plan on spending the day.

You may choose to sleep in. You may have chosen to stay up later the night before, knowing you have absolutely nothing to do the next day if you don't want to. Technically, you don't even have to leave your cabin and can order complimentary room service delivered to you all day. We did this on our Ruby Princess cruise last month, spending most of the day on our balcony, reading books or watching TV between deliveries from room service and an occasional knock at the door from our cabin steward to see if we were still alive.

But you can also get out of your cabin for a relaxing massage in the spa, a swim in the pool or just hang around "people-watching" in one of the ship's common areas. The ship's entertainment staff will have a day packed full of a variety of events and things to do. Check your shipboard newsletter for that the night before and plan (or not) what you will do the next day.

Experienced gamblers, for example, (and by "experienced gamblers" I mean people like me who play slot machines) know that the best odds of winning are on the first night. That's when they hook you. After that it's downhill all the way except during some periods of time on days at sea. I know this from a friend of mine who used to be in charge of the casino operations on a major cruise line. She told me this after she had left the company, so I really don't have any reason not to believe it.

Casino managers you may not see all that much, but they see you and are always on duty. They have the ability to remotely increase or decrease the odds of us winning on those machines.

Huge tip: Shortly after the casino opens the first night, find a manager and tell him/her what a wonderful operation they have and introduce yourself. Go on and on about how nice everyone is, what a breath of fresh air this person's casino operation is, how much nicer it is than other casinos you have been in, etc. Thank them for a running a great operation and tell them you look forward to playing a LOT on the cruise.

Now go park yourself at a machine and insert your shipboard charge card into the slot that will let the machine identify who you are. Stay there. Don't move. If you don't have a lot of money to gamble with, play slow. That machine will start hitting pretty well. When it does, play the maximum bet. When you hit a decent jackpot, cash out, go home, shower your cabinmate with money and never go back again.

I have done this almost exactly as described on every cruise since I was told how it worked and always come out ahead ... if I stopped. I stopped a couple times. Other times I got a big head, actually thought it had something to do with luck and I was lucky (silly thoughts for children, like fortune cookies) then kept on playing until it was all gone ... and then some.

One big issue on days at sea can be finding a chair on deck to sit down and enjoy whatever it is you enjoy: time in the sun, watersports, reading a book, using your binocam for up-close shots of things/bodies you would never tell your loved ones about, etc.

You'll find that many people on the ship really need to relax a whole lot. They want to have that front-row seat at the pool so bad that they get up before dawn and mark their territory with everything from sandals to paperback books to small children and husbands. I have no problem with that until I want to go on deck and find a chair at about midday.

Now deep down inside I know this is a not going to go well. I know those people were up there roping off huge areas with crime scene tape so they could sleep in because I am walking at that time/still up from last night/lost. Occasionally I will see one of them and if I make eye contact I swear it is just like a deer in the headlights. They are stunned that anyone would be awake other than themselves at that hour. You see, these people are so very self-centered that they are oblivious to others on the ship. I tell you this because it is important that you understand this species.

They do not care about you or anyone else. That's fine with me, I didn't go on the cruise to bond with scary strangers anyway. But they don't fool me. This is a game that has been played for years. People get really upset about this whole thing. Obsessed to the point of getting up, getting out of bed, and walking all the way to the prime location on deck which is a good walk from anywhere on the ship, to drop off their copy of some paperback they bought at a garage sale for ten cents, just in case someone took it while it sat there on guard, ready to fend off anyone that would dare touch it, carefully set it on the ground, and sit down in that chair. This is a really big deal.

Tip: If anything even remotely like this happens on your cruise, you have not relaxed enough and are being sucked in by these perverts. Go ask someone who works on the deck to find you a chair, or two, or three or however many people you have. That is their job. They are usually happy to do it. If they're nice about it, give them a buck and call it a day. While you're asking, ask for what you want. What? Are you going to file this info away and enjoy your NEXT cruise? No, no, no. If you want to sit in the sun, tell them. If you want to sit someplace where a waiter passes by a lot because you want that, say so. This is not difficult and surely not worth an ounce of aggravation. OK, well maybe an ounce while you try to decide if someone is really reading that dog-eared copy of In Cold Blood, but not much more.

That is really the way to look at just about everything on a cruise. If there is a problem with any part of the experience, talk to someone who can do something about it right then and get it over with, move on and have a fabulous cruise vacation. Don't wait to fill out some comment card, stand around moaning and complaining in huge generalities when you had the opportunity to get whatever it is fixed right then and you blew it.

Odds are overwhelmingly in favor of you having a wonderful time on your cruise, enjoying every minute and suffering from post-cruise depression right after you get off the ship. Returning to reality can be a real drag, especially if you don't care for reality all that much anyway. I can count on one hand the number of times I have had any problem at all on a cruise, and after almost 50 of them that's amazing, I think.

Chris Owen

Other important information in today is as follows:

Reports: Rich Rodriguez Fired; Brady Hoke Top Candidate To Replace Michigan Coach

Now that Rich Rodriguez has reportedly been fired as Michigan Wolverines head coach (and with Stanford Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh reportedly no longer a candidate to replace him), San Diego St. Aztecs head coach Brady Hoke’s name is suddenly all over Michigan as a potential replacement.

The Detroit News lists Hoke as an alternative to Harbaugh, FOX’s Detroit affiliate lists Hoke alongside Harbaugh as being on a “list of candidates,” and Michigan Live approves of the potential Hoke hire, among others.

Hoke coached defensive line at Michigan from 1995 to 2002, leaving to take the head coaching job at Ball State, where he had played linebacker from 1977 to 1980. From there he moved to SDSU in 2009.

Born in Ohio, his only coaching jobs outside of the Midwest have been stints as Oregon State’s D line coach and the SDSU job. Other than that he’s coached all over Indiana, along with jobs in Ohio and Michigan. His brother is an assistant for the Chicago Bears — it really doesn’t get more Midwest than the Hoke family.

He has a 47-50 head coaching record, but both of his gigs have been turnaround projects. In six years he took Ball State from 4-8 to a 12-1 MAC title, and San Diego State improved by five wins and collected a bowl win in his second season.

For more on Hoke and Michigan visit Maize And Brew and SB Nation Detroit.

Report: Michigan Fires Head Coach Rich Rodriguez [UPDATE]

The Wolverine.com conflicts the initial report.  Reportedly Rich Rodriguez has not been fired.  A decision will be made tomorrow.  A players’ meeting scheduled for 7:00pm tonight has been moved to tomorrow at 4:00 pm.  Given what we know, TBL’s timeline still seems the most probable explanation offered at this point.

According to a MyFoxDetroit report, Michigan has fired head coach Rich Rodriguez. The report is anonymously sourced and scant on details. Dave Brandon has yet to name a replacement. With Harbaugh’s return unlikely, the favorite is now San Diego State coach Brady Hoke, unless this is merely phase one of AD Dave Brandon’s master-stroke. The seemingly endless cycle of disappointment, platitudes and excuses has ended.  It had nothing to do with him being a “Michigan Man.”  It had everything to do with him not winning.

Michigan finished 6-18 in the Big Ten during Rodriguez’ tenure.  In three seasons he went 1-14 against Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State and Iowa.  Against FBS schools, the Wolverines progressed from 3-9 to 4-7 to 6-5.  This past season Michigan had arguably the worst Special Teams and Defense in Division I.  They had the worst turnover margin in the Big Ten.  Their at times explosive offense was handled by better defenses.

Rodriguez could have save his job with a competitive performance against Ohio State.  The team was comprehensively dismantled 37-7.  With a month to prepare to face  Mississippi State’s similar and less gifted version of his own offense, the Wolverines allowed 52 points.  They allowed 42 unanswered points from the first quarter onward.  His players didn’t win.  They weren’t competitive.  Despite every statement to the contrary, they weren’t motivated.

It’s not about what Rich Rodriguez did at West Virginia.  It’s what he did in the Big Ten, at Michigan.  At no point did his teams appear capable of beating quality Big Ten opponents or even competing with them.  This season showed few signs the Wolverines were progressing to that point, or that that progression could not be improved upon by another.

Michigan must rebuild the defense to be competitive.  Rich Rodriguez was not the most compelling candidate for that job. Admin