Did these pilots break any regulations by hand-flying an A320 for most of the cruise?
I think they were humouring you Cloud.  Hand flying a jet at level cruise speed is not fun.  It takes a lot of concentration and the novelty quickly wears off, and there is a high risk of getting busted for an altitude deviation due to a little bit of inattention. Even if you are able to find a sweet spot with the trim where it holds altitude perfectly with no stick pressure, making you think you can relax a bit, all it takes is a temperature change or running into a bit of mountain wave and airplane will climb or descend and if you are distracted.. and drift up or down a couple hundred feet... busted.  RVSM legalities aside, I can't believe even a bushy tailed FO would hand fly more than a few minutes in cruise.  

Plus with AP on, just one pilot has to be monitoring the AP, and the other one can do paperwork, sleep, do handstands, play video games or whatever.  When hand flying, the pilot not flying has to be monitoring the pilot flying. For an entire hour plus?  No way.  Just too much work and risk to your livelihood.