This cruising life...

Laura and I were invited to a "repeat" cruisers reception last night. As we have now done four cruises with Royal Caribbean, we're a prime target market for them. So they ply you with a few drinks and appies, and then tell you all about the exotic destinations they carry 3000 people at a time to. They also reward and recognize their "really frequent cruisers"  at this same event.

They count your "reward" level based on the number of nights you've been aboard a RCI ship. So a 7 night cruise would net you 7 points. When we're done with this cruise, Laura and I will have 40 points or so each. The winner last night had 650. That's almost two years aboard a ship! Apparently their "top" cruiser has 1700 points! When I sat back last night and saw all the people at this reception, I thought again "you are such a hypocrite".

Rewarding someone that can spend money on a cruise ship is a great business strategy - but it should hardly qualify you as someone exceptional (except, of course, to the cruise company). Applauding this achievement is lunacy (except for the cruise company - spend, spend, spend!). The fact that I was there witnessing this lunacy is even more absurd.

So I'll chalk this all up as "I did it for my wife" ... Laura loves the cruise ship life. I was the one who said "sure" when she suggested the trip, and I appreciate the destinations we're heading to - I just wish that I was with a couple of friends instead of 2450 strangers. Then you might stand a chance of really seeing the destination instead of some commercial derivative. I can see doing this with no regrets if I was the age of Laura's mom and Frank - late 70's and early 80's. 

I was thinking last night that the most memorable, fun vacations we ever had were with our kids - and the Mitchener's and Devall's - in a tent on the beach. No money for fancy food or anything but a canvas roof over our heads. Laura and the kids have traveled with me and stayed at fancy hotels and eaten at nice restaurants - I would work while they would vacation - but they still all admit that the tenting days were the ones they most fondly remember.

OK - enough griping about the 5-star life I'm leading for the next couple of weeks. When we start planning the next one, though, I think it will be a bit more towards the tenting end and less toward the floating hotel.

PS on the Aussie thing from last post - I still maintain everything that I said with one caveat: individually, they are all wonderful, interesting, polite people. But when you get a gang of them together - watch out.