Just speaking in generalities (not as a pilot but just as a guy on a boat).....
The boat is another one of those things that you hated but are glad you did. Spending months straight at sea looking at the same bunch of clowns every single day, things start to get a little tense....i.e. "Hey, man, what time is it?"....."*** YOU! GET A WATCH, YOU LAZY ****!"
I mean, I grew up working on a dairy farm, and on deployments I ended up going places like Egypt, Canary Islands, Spain, Malta, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and one or two others. I was on two LHDs, Kearsarge ('97) and Bataan ('99-'00). Plenty of different exercises in different countries, pilots were loving life because they were flying all the damn time. The techs were working incessantly but making up for it in port (the pilots were, too, for that matter).
Also depending on your hobby, being on a ship is somewhere you can really bury yourself in a hobby to occupy what little free time you have and make things less miserable. I play drums and was fortunate enough on both boats to meet other people who played, so we put together crappy little cover bands that played in different ports. All we got out of it was our own enjoyment and a little free beer. In both cases, the guys I played music with came back, wrote some songs, recorded CDs, and asked me to record with them. So that worked out for me. If you're a golfer, we had people taking clubs and playing in different places. Weightlifters love having a 24 hr gym and not much else to occupy their time. Runners, not so much. So there are things you can do to entertain yourself while you're gone. It just depends on the situation, boat, squadron, etc.
If you have any more specific questions than, 'what's it like?' there are plenty of people 'round here who have done time on different ships and would be willing to help you out. Good luck.
