A very big ship - Part II - Stories from the cruise

A cruise chip is actually a large, floating, resort hotel with all the amenities; 1,500 or so guest rooms, multiple restaurants (5 on this ship), art galleries (2), spas (9 of them), swimming pools (4 plus hot tubs), a front desk (where you can go - repeatedly - when your key card quits working), casinos, theaters, bistros, night clubs, video arcades, a gym, a golf course (!), a wedding chapel, numerous bars, a pizzeria, a BBQ grill, a Sundae shop, a library, an Internet Cafe, room service, and a picture puzzle table.

There are also large kitchens on the ship, churning out food 24 hours a day. Barb and I opted for the less formal buffet for our meals. They handed you huge plates and bid you Bon Appetite as you tried a little of this and a little of that, and ohh - that looks good. Pretty soon you needed help carrying your plate! And of course, you could always go back for more.

And you could come back later in the morning/afternoon/evening for cookies/desserts/sundaes.Or you could just order from room service and it would magically show up at your door. We did not, however, find any Tex-Mex on board. No chips and queso.

Waitstaff was omnipresent, bringing drinks, whisking away empty plates, and constantly replenishing your coffee or coke. For every few servers there appeared to be a manager, and for every few managers there appeared to be a supervisor.

The crew members were largely multinational; we met several from Peru, one from the Ukraine, many were Filipinos. The Captain was a Scot, the First Officer was Italian, and we never did place the accent of the person who made the public announcements (or understand him, either).

Each meal began with an obligatory Purell hand sanitizing; they wouldn't let you in the buffet line without one; Princess must buy the stuff in fifty-five gallon barrels - there were dispensers everywhere you turned. Of course, there's good reason for this; cruise ships are floating petri dishes and a boat load of norovirus-stricken passengers is everyone's worst nightmare. I think on average, we washed our hands forty times a day!

Leaving the ship, there was always a photo opportunity, with crew members dressed in costumes representative of the area (bear, moose, lumberjack, etc.) Security scanned your card and large signs informed you when to be back on board. That didn't always work out - we watched a tardy couple get left behind in Ketchikan. Later we learned six passengers missed the ship in that port.

When you returned to the ship, you went through security again, including an ID check and a pass through the metal detector. Some failed that part, and we saw the security staff confiscate some purchased items. For the most part, these seemed to be Ulu knives (I had to look it up) which were considered weapons, so security held them for you until your final disembarkation.

Some resort hotels have ocean views - on one side of the hotel. A cruise ship has ocean views on all sides, and the view is continually changing.