One of the most relaxing ways to travel is by cruise ship. A cruise ship is like a floating hotel with several restaurants, sports courts, swimming pools, exercise rooms, theaters and many other modern conveniences.
There are some people who choose to live on a cruise ship because the cost of some four-week cruises can be comparable to the monthly rent for an apartment and food, but a cruise makes it possible to visit many exotic destinations.
Cabins, Electricity and Internet
The size of the cabins varies by price. Cabins along the interior do not have a sea view. Cabins that have a sea view may have portholes or, as an upgrade, larger windows. Still at a higher price, some rooms have balconies where you can sit on a lounge chair and enjoy fresh air and an intimate ocean view. Large cabins are available for families. The restrooms are compact but well designed. The toilets use a vacuum system that requires putting the lid down for flushing. The shower stalls are small, but you can extend your elbows with room to spare.
Luxury cruise ships feature staterooms ranging in size from 750 to over 1000 square feet. These rooms are lavishly decorated and comparable to a nice furnished apartment on land. Of course, all these perks cost much more. The passengers on the cheaper cruise lines are usually retirees or people taking vacation from work. The passengers on the luxury cruise ships are wealthy and usually they don't need to work at all.
Internet rates may be expensive and slow. The cost of unlimited Internet access at $29.99 per day costs over $330 dollars for an 11-day cruise, which is about the cost of a brand-new laptop computer. You can choose a 100-minute plan for $75 or a 250-minute plan for $125, but what they don't tell you is that the Internet speed is only 56 K/s, which is the speed of a dial-up modem from the 1990s. The very slow connection from the satellite communication network makes it difficult to do any real work. Some cruise lines have modernized their Internet access and have cheaper rates and faster speeds. Experienced sea travelers wait until the ship lands at a port and use WiFi at a restaurant or Internet cafe with modern facilities.
Towel Monkey
Staff Services
Approximately one fourth to one third of the people on a cruise ship are members of the crew. A ship with a capacity of 2000 passengers may have from 700 to 1000 crew members. The crew includes the navigation team that takes the ship from port to port, and other members in charge of security, entertainment, meal preparation, waiting tables, laundry services, cabin cleanup and everything else that is necessary to run a hotel.
On the first day of a cruise, there is always a mandatory safety drill. Everyone must go down to the main deck to receive instructions on what to do in case the ship runs into trouble. Maritime safety is taken very seriously since the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground on a shoal off the coast of Italy in 2012 and foundered. Of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew, 32 died because an order to abandon ship was not issued until over an hour after the initial impact. There is some consolation in knowing that a shipwreck is more survivable than an airplane crash.
Room service and wake-up calls are available like in any good hotel. The person in charge of cleaning your room usually gets to know you by name by the end of the cruise. Your room is usually cleaned after breakfast, and the beds are turned down in the evening. Sometimes, the attendants call attention to their service by making towel sculptures in the shapes of animals.