Even before this most recent disaster where a Norwegian cruise ship with some 300 people aboard struck an Antarctic glacier, I was cruise-phobic. This also pre-dates the November 23rd accident where a Canadian ship struck an iceberg in the Antarctic's icy waters, forcing all 154 passengers and crew to leave in lifeboats.
The possibility of imminent disaster is not the primary reason I don't go on cruises. Nor is it the fact that cruise ships are famous for returning with a shipload of sick passengers, who are compensated by being given a follow-up free cruise. No, what frightens me is the fear of being confined.
We've been at resorts when ships have docked and I've had to avoid being trampled by hundreds of people determined not to return home without a new watch. Cruise people appear affable...to an extreme. They eagerly share anecdotes about previous vacations and need no urging to pull out small photo albums titled, Grandma's Brag Book.
Not only am I not intrigued by playing shuffleboard, but I don't want to have forced friendships with strangers at mealtimes, let alone in a lifeboat.
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