On the allure (or not so much) of mega cruise...

With some interests, I read the New York Times article on mega cruise ship.

Going on cruise has never been my kind of thing. I'm not sure if I can stand being bound on a ship for a period of time, however finite it might be. Perhaps I'm too high-strung in work that I don't normally take a step back and relax, in a more conventional sense. One time, the kids and I went to Florida with my husband when he's attending a trade show. While he's away at the exhibition center, the kids and I were relaxing in the swimming pool at the hotel, then stroll down to the long stretch of beach to enjoy the sun, water, and blue sky. Nothing can be more picture-perfect than that. But while I was watching the kids by the pool side while they're having fun, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of boredom. Right there and then, I realize I'm born a working woman, and I most likely won't enjoy a conventional retirement. In fact, I probably work till I drop. No doubt some people would consider that a curse, that's not the case for me because I enjoy it.

A few months ago, my brother and sister-in-law announce that they're going on a world-wide cruise lasting for the next five months. I'm sure they go on the world-wide cruise because they enjoy it. For most Chinese (like my parents), it's the all-you-can-eat free food that appeals them. While I enjoy food, I'm not one of those who eat too much anyways; hence, this appeal is moot to me. These days, there are tons of activities on cruise to distract and engage. But as my husband aptly puts it, we can as easily have those activities, without paying tens of thousands (in the case of wordwide cruise, hundreds of thousands) of dollars, just so that we can do it on a ship, as if we're on land. It doesn't make sense to us.

And so, I read the article on mega cruise with interest, not only because it's well written, but it also covers what the biggest cruise might be like these days. I must say, it only reconfirms my belief of how illusional it all is. For all that it claims, the bigger the cruise ship is, the more it masks the fact that passengers are at sea because they are offered the illusion of all the land-based activities. So then, one would ask, why getting on a ship? Maybe, as one Chinese acquaintance has once put it, it's the appeal of this kind of handicap cruise, ie. that you don't have to think or do anything, that all there is to do is to eat, sleep, and seek pleasure.

One thing I do find in the article that is interesting to me, is her reference to the smaller cruise yonder - "cozy dinners with the ship’s officers, quiet afternoon teas and thoughtful lectures by foreign correspondents" - which holds certain appeal to me. I always like a certain explorative and adventurous side of things, that I can get to learn and enrich myself in any way, and not just eat, sleep and play. Sure, one would say, there are tons of classes in bigger cruise. But mega cruise would never afford the kind of coziness and closeness that smaller cruise or tour can afford.

Perhaps, just perhaps, one day I might consider small cruise. But mega cruise, definitely not for me.