Sea Travel - Luxury on the High SeasA Popular Way to Vacation
Cruising is a major segment of the tourism industry and a popular way to vacation.
Unlike other means of transportation, where the vehicle is simply a means to get to one's destination, on a cruise, the ship is the destination as one's entire vacation centers around the ship.
My wife and I recently took a cruise on a recent vacation. Like other cruise ships, our ship, the Royal Caribbean Lines vessel the Serenade of the Seas, was basically a floating resort.
On board was every amenity imaginable including eight dining rooms, pool, spa, climbing wall, miniature golf course, theater, lounges, casino, mini shopping mall, art gallery and more. It had more things to do and, with up to 2,490 passengers and 890 crew, a population larger, than can be found in many small towns.
Serenade of the Seas anchored in harbor of Icy Point Strait in Alaska
Cost Can be Very Reasonable & Fare is All InclusiveWhile the total cost of a cruise varies depending upon the type of accommodations and extras one chooses, the range of prices varies from what an average income couple or family would reasonably expect to pay for a week's vacation to very expensive luxury travel.
As with other types
of travel, taxes (including port fees in this case) figure
significantly into the price and, depending upon the ports of call, the
taxes can, and sometimes do, exceed the lowest cruise fare. However,
the cruise price is all inclusive in the sense that one can take a
cruise and not incur any additional expenses from the time they board
the ship until they leave the ship at the end of the cruise. In fact,
the only additional costs of such a vacation besides the cost of the
cruise and taxes which are paid at time of booking, would be
transportation to and from the port of departure and return. Once
aboard, other than cabin size and location, there are no real
distinctions between passengers as the crew goes all out to pamper and
treat everyone as if they were all nineteenth century aristocratic
tycoons.
Passengeers are Welcome to Spend As Much Money as they WishOf course, the cruise line spares no effort in giving those who wish to spend additional money every opportunity to do so. First
of all, passengers are not only asked but also given a list of
suggested amounts, to provide a gratuity (tip) at the end of the cruise
for the staff who clean their cabin and the serving staff in the
restaurants. Given the service received, it seems more than reasonable
to show these people your appreciation for their outstanding efforts in
this area. While access to most dining areas is included in the
cruise price, there are some specialty ones in which you pay extra and,
of course, there is a charge for any wine and cocktails you have with
your meal.
Then there is the mini shopping mall which is
stocked with expensive cameras, liquors, jewelry and designer clothing
among other things. Our cruise included an art gallery stacked with art
supplied by a major art dealer, a representative from which was not
only on the cruise selling the art but also giving free workshops on
art collecting and conducting two or three auctions during the cruise.
A Lecture on Marc ChagallI
attended a workshop conducted by the representative of the art dealer
on the artist Marc Chagall and his friendship with and collaboration
with Walt Disney. The workshop was fascinating as was the auction that followed. Given
that many of the bids were well in excess of the cost of our entire
vacation of which the cruise was only one part, I did not raise my hand
to bid. However, that was ok and I was still served free
champagne and everyone else seemed to assume that I must have owned
enough of what was being offered that day and was looking for something
else. Spending Money in Ports of CallOptional
excursions and activities in the ports of call are another opportunity
to spend money. These are sold by the cruise line and you can sign-up
and pay for them when you purchase your cruise or sign-up and pay while
on the boat.
We took one bus excursion in one of the ports we visited as that excursion provided an interesting tour of a large area well beyond where we could make it on our own in the time we were on shore.
In addition to commercial excursions on shore, there are numerous opportunities to spend money in the local economy on shore.
Many
high end jewelry and similar stores provide coupons and free offers to
the on board activities director to hand out and direct people to their
establishments.
The activities director or cruise line
usually receives a commission on purchases made by people from the ship
from these establishments. Other retail establishments simply take
advantage of the traffic coming off the cruise ships of which there is
are usually more than one in port at a time. Photos to Remember Your TripFinally,
there are photographs. Beginning when you first step on board and
continuing at various points throughout the cruise, there is one or
more ship's photographers whose job it is to snap pictures of you. Some
are candid, some are posed, some can be avoided and others cannot be
gracefully declined. A few hours after being taken, the photos are
available to view and purchase. Regardless of whether you wanted
your photo taken or not, you are under no obligation to purchase it.
But they are available for purchase usually starting at $10 to $20 for
a single 5 x 7 to packages of varying sizes ranging up to a hundred
dollars or more. Part of the Ship's Mini-MallSpending Made EasyThe cruise line makes purchasing on board easy for buyer and seller. As
the passengers tend to be multi-national and ports of call usually in
foreign nations, the ship obviously wants to avoid having to stock and
deal in multiple currencies let alone get involved in having to
exchange currencies. To avoid this, part of the pre-boarding
paperwork includes a form where you provide credit card number for use
on the ship (I think that you can deposit cash in lieu of a credit
card). An account is then set up for each family and their
ship ID cards are used to pay for all purchases (including the tips
unless you want to give cash to your serving staff). The sum of your
charges are applied to your credit card at the end of the voyage. My
point here is not to criticize this extra commercial activity but
rather to explain the process. While there are plenty of opportunities
and inducements to get passengers to spend money, I found less direct
sales pressure than I encounter in a regular store at home. All of the
staff went out of their way to be polite and put passenger comfort
first so I never felt any pressure to buy anything. An Equalitarian Environment Where Everyone is Treated as if They are RichIn fact one can say that cruise lines do a much better job at income redistribution than do governments. Obviously
the opportunity to generate large amounts of revenue from the sale of
expensive art, jewelry and other things along with high priced wines at
dinner enables the line to be able to afford to provide every passenger
with a level of comfort and luxury that only the very rich could afford
in the past. In this way big spending wealthy travelers
subsidize lower income travelers while the crew makes no distinction
between passengers and simply assumes everyone is rich. And, as pointed out in the book, The Millionaire Next Door,
it is difficult to know now days if the couple in the small inside
cabin is there because that was all they could afford or because they
are rich with frugal roots and would much rather spend their money on
some expensive jewelry or art rather than on a place to sleep for a
week.
Entrance to ship's theater with live entertainment every evening (a movie theater is next to it)
A evening's entertainment in the theater
Welcome Aboard food sculpture
One of the formal dining rooms
Buffet style dining room with every type of food imaginable - a minefield of food for dieters
Glass elevator in central area of ship.
Since it is easy to lose track of time in the relaxed environment, all
of the elevators have a removable plate in the floor in which the
current day of the week is displayed.
Since she is registered in the the Bahamas, the Serenade of the Seas
always flys the Bahamian flag (her national flag) in the stern when in
port. The host nation's flag is flown in the bow when in port)
Pool and other water activities on the top deck
Other Cruise ships entering harbor in Juneau, Alaska
Another cruise ship entering Juneau harbor
Lowering a lifeboat while docked in the bay of Icy Strait Point,
Alaska. When there are no docking facilities for large ships, the
lifeboats are used to ferry passengers between ship and shore.
A lifeboat in the water ferrying passengers
Loading passengers on to lifeboat to ferry them to shore.
Looking down upon elevator and main floor lounge.
Our ship back in Port in Vancouver.
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