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Seas the Day: The true story of fear, friendship, and faith while stranded at sea during Covid-19
FEAR. FAITH. FRIENDSHIP.
On average, around 350,000 U.S. students, and nearly one million students worldwide, study abroad every year. Yet since its inception in 1963, only about 73,000 total students from over 1500 colleges and universities have participated in Semester at Sea. It is a truly unique, exclusive, and intimate experience, where students and faculty study, work, and travel to the farthest reaches of the globe.
But what happens when your ship is out to sea when a pandemic hits the world, rumors run rampant, ports begin closing, and thrills turn into turmoil?
Seas the Day is the true story of one students first-hand account of being stranded at sea during the most intense time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through detailed daily journals, Johnny candidly captures the fears, confusion, comradery, and, ultimately, his personal transformational growth and the rediscovery of his faith.
On average, around 350,000 U.S. students, and nearly one million students worldwide, study abroad every year. Yet since its inception in 1963, only about 73,000 total students from over 1500 colleges and universities have participated in Semester at Sea. It is a truly unique, exclusive, and intimate experience, where students and faculty study, work, and travel to the farthest reaches of the globe.
But what happens when your ship is out to sea when a pandemic hits the world, rumors run rampant, ports begin closing, and thrills turn into turmoil?
Seas the Day is the true story of one students first-hand account of being stranded at sea during the most intense time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through detailed daily journals, Johnny candidly captures the fears, confusion, comradery, and, ultimately, his personal transformational growth and the rediscovery of his faith.
- GenresMemoir
316 pages, Paperback
Published April 9, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 2, 2024
An amazing and thrilling memoir filled with tales from a semester at sea! Johnny illustrates a vivid tale of the turbulent voyage across many continents at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. His faith showed through and persisted when nothing else did, and in the process he found himself.
November 12, 2024
My Rating:
Writing: 2 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars
Purpose: 1 Star
My Personal Enjoyment: 3 Stars
(All Out of 5 Stars)
Total: 2.75 Stars
Summary:
Johnny Vrba is the definition of a stereotypical frat bro. He loves to party, hang out with girls, drink, and engage in all the other frat behavior. However, when he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, Semester at Sea, his whole life changes. His patience, faith, ideals and so much more are pushed when Covid-19 hits on his voyage changing everything he envisioned this program to be.
My Review:
I wasn’t initially going to write a review for Vrba’s story but after thinking for a while about it, I thought I should give some input. My negative comments are meant to be more constructive, and if you're reading Johnny feel free to contact me, as I believe you have the potential to be a really great storyteller with some work. Another preface to this is I did go on Semester at Sea. I was on the Spring 2024 voyage or voyage 133, so my experience reading this will likely differ from those who did not travel on the MV World Odessey. Now onto the review!
“Our foreheads were pressed against the window, this was real poverty.”
Overall I thought Seas the Day: The True Story of Fear, Friendship, and Faith While Stranded at Sea During Covid-19 was charming. I think Johnny comes off as a confident outgoing guy. He’s the type of person that everyone wants to know and for good reason too. It shows fully in the voice which just pulls the reader to keep going. Personally, it was this strong personality in the voice that made this book so appealing. I appreciated the heavy dialogue that brought us into the moment with you and included many of the jokes that I’m sure hit during his voyage. This book was also very nostalgic to me as the stories on the ship were so relatable. People on the boat have all kinds of reactions to bad news (my voyage was also diverted though not as much) so I especially enjoyed the details and the gossip that was going around during his voyage. It was a nice touch.
“‘Do you know what her poem was about?’
‘Um, no, actually I don’t,’ I replied with a confused face.
‘That’s what I hoped because her poem was about racial injustice.’
Oops!”
I do think the title is misleading. In fact, I was quite confused about what the book was supposed to do. Was this supposed to be a travel memoir? A coming-of-age story? Was it supposed to convince the reader to follow their faith? I’m still a little unsure. The title and the description on the back make this story feel like it’s supposed to be about Covid-19 but a majority of the book was not set in the pandemic. I also think that this book could have gone through another round of editing. The flow didn’t really go right, and the paragraphs often felt cut off. Not to mention there were a few comments that I found mildly offensive that didn’t really add anything to the story. Some comments degraded women, blatant classism, and some racist comments persisted throughout. While I don’t think this was meant to come off as hurtful many times it did and if I wasn’t feeling such a nostalgia rush from reading I probably would have quit reading after the first comment. Finally, I wish this book was more descriptive. Johnny goes to so many cool places and just glances over these amazing parts of the world. I want more to place me as a reader, who has likely never been there, in that moment. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t do that.
“We were both going back and forth, lamenting about the lack of testosterone on board. We were trying to determine if the scarcity of men was a pro or a con. Jake and I turned our heads in a circle, casually making eye contact with about forty girls in a matter of seconds, ‘It’s a pro.’”
Overall I would give Seas the Day the True Story of Fear, Friendship, and Faith while stranded at Sea During Covid-19 a 2.75 out of 5 Stars. While the writing could have gone through another edit, the book was a charming read.
“I hope you enjoyed Seas the Day, but I also hope it's not the best book you’ve ever read (if it is you need to read more).”
So who would I recommend Seas the Day to? I think someone who is looking into Semester at Sea is wondering both what it can do for them and what it’s like to be a student on board. Johnny completely transformed as a person just like I did aboard the ship so it’s a good example of how this program is transformative. I’d also recommend this book to alumni who want to go back to their days on their voyage.
Writing: 2 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars
Purpose: 1 Star
My Personal Enjoyment: 3 Stars
(All Out of 5 Stars)
Total: 2.75 Stars
Summary:
Johnny Vrba is the definition of a stereotypical frat bro. He loves to party, hang out with girls, drink, and engage in all the other frat behavior. However, when he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, Semester at Sea, his whole life changes. His patience, faith, ideals and so much more are pushed when Covid-19 hits on his voyage changing everything he envisioned this program to be.
My Review:
I wasn’t initially going to write a review for Vrba’s story but after thinking for a while about it, I thought I should give some input. My negative comments are meant to be more constructive, and if you're reading Johnny feel free to contact me, as I believe you have the potential to be a really great storyteller with some work. Another preface to this is I did go on Semester at Sea. I was on the Spring 2024 voyage or voyage 133, so my experience reading this will likely differ from those who did not travel on the MV World Odessey. Now onto the review!
“Our foreheads were pressed against the window, this was real poverty.”
Overall I thought Seas the Day: The True Story of Fear, Friendship, and Faith While Stranded at Sea During Covid-19 was charming. I think Johnny comes off as a confident outgoing guy. He’s the type of person that everyone wants to know and for good reason too. It shows fully in the voice which just pulls the reader to keep going. Personally, it was this strong personality in the voice that made this book so appealing. I appreciated the heavy dialogue that brought us into the moment with you and included many of the jokes that I’m sure hit during his voyage. This book was also very nostalgic to me as the stories on the ship were so relatable. People on the boat have all kinds of reactions to bad news (my voyage was also diverted though not as much) so I especially enjoyed the details and the gossip that was going around during his voyage. It was a nice touch.
“‘Do you know what her poem was about?’
‘Um, no, actually I don’t,’ I replied with a confused face.
‘That’s what I hoped because her poem was about racial injustice.’
Oops!”
I do think the title is misleading. In fact, I was quite confused about what the book was supposed to do. Was this supposed to be a travel memoir? A coming-of-age story? Was it supposed to convince the reader to follow their faith? I’m still a little unsure. The title and the description on the back make this story feel like it’s supposed to be about Covid-19 but a majority of the book was not set in the pandemic. I also think that this book could have gone through another round of editing. The flow didn’t really go right, and the paragraphs often felt cut off. Not to mention there were a few comments that I found mildly offensive that didn’t really add anything to the story. Some comments degraded women, blatant classism, and some racist comments persisted throughout. While I don’t think this was meant to come off as hurtful many times it did and if I wasn’t feeling such a nostalgia rush from reading I probably would have quit reading after the first comment. Finally, I wish this book was more descriptive. Johnny goes to so many cool places and just glances over these amazing parts of the world. I want more to place me as a reader, who has likely never been there, in that moment. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t do that.
“We were both going back and forth, lamenting about the lack of testosterone on board. We were trying to determine if the scarcity of men was a pro or a con. Jake and I turned our heads in a circle, casually making eye contact with about forty girls in a matter of seconds, ‘It’s a pro.’”
Overall I would give Seas the Day the True Story of Fear, Friendship, and Faith while stranded at Sea During Covid-19 a 2.75 out of 5 Stars. While the writing could have gone through another edit, the book was a charming read.
“I hope you enjoyed Seas the Day, but I also hope it's not the best book you’ve ever read (if it is you need to read more).”
So who would I recommend Seas the Day to? I think someone who is looking into Semester at Sea is wondering both what it can do for them and what it’s like to be a student on board. Johnny completely transformed as a person just like I did aboard the ship so it’s a good example of how this program is transformative. I’d also recommend this book to alumni who want to go back to their days on their voyage.
July 24, 2024
I’ve had books signed by authors before, but this one was special because I had the pleasure of witnessing Vrba serving the LORD & the local community on my college campus for two years before reading his book written in his voice! Pretty wild to be honest. It was very cool to read Vrba’s variety of abroad stories, learn more about what makes him the person he is, and to reflect on my own experiences in the process.
October 25, 2024
I remember when Johnny cane up at mass to announce his book, his parents where sitting in the row in front of me and he was wearing his purple suit from Vietnam. Reading this felt like getting closer to a person in the truest sense. It can be a bit disorganized at times but whose life isn’t? This is personal and real, and it’s a fun and enjoyable read.
October 3, 2025
3.5 stars! I found this book because I saw Johnny’s artwork on EWTN for Carlo Acutis’ canonization and was obsessed with it. I love a memoir and this one did have me page turning, but mostly because I had never heard of “the semester at sea.” The immaturity annoyed me at times/there were things that made me cringe, BUT maybe I think his honesty and authenticity is what also made it good. Great quotes. Good lessons.
April 27, 2026
Johnny - the vulnerability you share and great story telling is not just entertaining but convicting. Thanks for the courage and your friendship.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews