On 29 January 2017 at 22:44, <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
On 29 Jan 2017 at 19:50, Timothy Collinson wrote:

> (I'm convinced we underestimate just how boring a week in Jump would
> really be.  Might there be a traditional "fifth night" in Jump, jump
> in of party pieces on most ships?

For crew it's probably no worse than being out of port a week on a ship (especially a
sub)

I'd agree with you on a sub, but not so sure about a ship where you can peer over the handrails of the prom deck, upper deck, whatever.  That made a big difference and the two years I spent on an international bookship had a lot of us peering over those handrails on longer voyages!  (10 days was our longest - Papua to New Zealand - and we were pretty stir crazy by Auckland).

 
today - yes, there's next to nothing outside, like weather, to occupy your mind, but
Traveller ships have pretty large living spaces compared to ships, so I

Hmmmm, now I'd have to disagree here.  Esp on ships like Types S and Type A.  If you actually look at habitable space for one crew member it can be very limited. 

Type S: One stateroom, a lounge, a bit of corridor and most likely either the engine room or bridge depending on specialty.  Claustrophobes need not apply.
Type A: assume the cargo bay is pretty much full, assume there are passengers filling the upper deck (although the Steward would be up there a fair bit) and you've got a tiny amount of space to move around in.

The ship I was on had a little more but not much.
cabin (shared with three others and tiny)
dining room - great social area out of meal times
long passageway called 'main street' at the deck above the watertight sections
main lounge (and side lounge which could be joined together)
+ workspace

On the latter, I was fortunate to be part of the deck department and might be called pretty much anywhere for one task or another, but others, - perhaps working in the galley or pantry had much more limited options.
  
imagine there's a
pretty good entertainment and exercise selection, especially on larger ships and ships
that take paying passengers.

oh yes, bigger liners, I'm sure.  (See https://freelancetraveller.com/features/advents/gettingthere.html)

I'm thinking about adventure class really.
 

Now passengers who aren't regular travellers probably get pretty bored, but on the
other hand they can tell themselves "it's only a couple more days".

If there is a 'jump party' (and I agree that something like this is likely), day five of jump
is the ideal day - late in the jump, but not so late that (misjumps aside) you risk leaving
jump with the booze half-finished and the crew lounge still covered in confetti and
chippie bags.

Absolutely!  That's why I chose day 5.  Enough time to practice a party piece, not too late to never get to perform it!

(The 'fun night' we would always have on voyage - essentially people's party pieces as I've suggested - were some of the highlights of our time aboard and very well attended.)  ("Packed" is probably the term.)

tc