At sea, mid-Atlantic, East-bound

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23 April 2009

Tomorrow the Canary Islands, but time to talk about being on board a cruise ship.

It’s a curious mixture of spa and resort combined with goods hawking and special services that cost extra. I presume an art buyer went out and chose the pieces they keep trying to auction off. If so, he or she has vastly different taste than I, but people attend these auctions and buy stuff—so what do I know.

A haircut and beard trim runs $40, including a gratuity, better known as the tip, that you are more or less forced to pay. This is true of every drink you get other than what is served at the food services. Coffee is available around the clock at one of the ship’s dining cafes, but costs at an expresso bar.

You can have all sorts of spa services, including skin peels and hydrotherapy, massages, manicures and pedicures, but they can cost as much as half of what you pay for the ticket for the cruise. On the other hand, if you don’t like paying six to 12 dollars for an alcoholic beverage, you can buy huge bottles of booze at an onboard shop for lower prices than at home. The same goes for pocket cameras and some other goods—no tax, either.

With 2000 people on the ship entertainment runs almost around the clock. The live shows are quite good. Movies tend to be stuff that didn’t do well at the box office. Games and organized activities abound and one can take classes in art and in photo editing—some at extra charge.

On one deck is a casino that extends the width of the deck, so you often find yourself passing by the one-armed bandits and games of chance—and someone is always playing. Up to this point in the voyage the slot machines have paid out more than $90,000. They do not publish how much has been taken in, however.

Room service is quite good. Beds are made as soon as you leave the room in the morning and turned down while you are at dinner in the evening. Despite the cruise line saying that you should hang up your towel if you want to reuse it, towels are swapped out by the attendants every time they check the room. Loose change and valuable little items seem to be completely safe if left out.

Luxury is a given.

You meet a lot of interesting people and a few that leave you shaking your head. One sweet old man we met was just about the size of a large leprechaun, but had been assigned to use flamethrowers in the Pacific during WWII. He was a hale 94 years old.

I found a woman staring at people playing a game of Wii bowling. She asked me how they were doing that—making the pins fall on screen? I said, “Wii.” She said, “What?”

Before it evolved into who’s on first, I explained the game system to her and told her it was a game available at many electronics stores, even for using as a personal workout.

A Canadian gentleman that we sat by at lunch one day was talking when we met him, talked all the way through lunch, talks every time we see him and we’ve never seen him when he wasn’t talking. I think he said that he lives way out the sticks in the northern woods—likes the isolation, he said.

Stop coming up.

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Photos

short putts
Golfers can compete in a sort putt contest

Yes, I got a haircut
And I paid the price

Summit's All Stars
The singers and dancers are superb.