Above: On the Celebrity Mercury.
Today we were at seat making our way towards the Inside Passage off the coast of Alaska. That gave us the opportunity to fully explore the ship and all it had to offer.
It’s an endless buffet on board … apart from restaurant meals, there’s buffet meals at the cafe … then there’s a continuous sandwich, salad and stirfry bar in addition.
Many of the restaurant crew are from Indonesia (amongst other countries). I’ve had special treatment eg. a dollop of icecream on my dessert simply for speaking to them in their language!
Economics of Cruising
A cruise is actually very good value … the price of a 7 night cruise compares well with one longhaul flight (oneway or return, depending on seasonality etc). But what you get is completely different …
Flying vs Cruising
- 2 ho-hum meals per flight vs 3 quality meals a day for 7 days.
- 1 crew to 50 pax vs 1 crew to 2 pax (yes, recruiting from lower wage countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America helps).
- Precooked food vs Freshly prepared gourmet meals.
- Cramped seating vs private state room plus pools, Jacuzzis etc
- Inseat TV entertainment vs Nightly live performances.
- Means to getting to a holiday vs Being on holiday.
Additional expenses on a cruise can be quite reasonable eg. drinks are very comparable to establishments on terra firma. However, some services like spa and massage are horrendously expensive. I worked out that if each of us were to have two massages on board, it would have been the same as paying for my regular masseuse to join us for the cruise (excluding airfare)!
However, I read that cruising is very environmentally unfriendly compared to flying in terms of the carbon footprint.
In any case, those of you who follow my travels will know that cruising like doesn’t fit with the adventure I normally seek. There’s a time and place for everything!
Meet the Officers
As a prelude to tonight’s entertainment, the Greek Captain toasted his crew of 850+ from over 50 countries, then introduced his senior officers. A few of his senior officers are Greek and most of them had the same name, Costa (Constatinos)! It could get confusing!
Crew introductions.