Pompeii or Rum Punch

Pompeii Today

As I was into my third hour of tours this morning, a guest comes up to me and couldn’t decide whether she should go to Pompeii or do the Amalfi coast by boat tour. After going back and forth with herself, and me never being the one to let the guest come to their own conclusion I told the lady to go to Pompeii as there are several coastlines in this world, but there is only one Pompeii: Pompeii is a city that was buried in Volcanic ash and gasses from Mount Vesuvius which killed the town’s 20,000 population in just a few hours.

After the encounter I realized how much I take for granted. I get to go to these places once a week, but these guests only have one shot at seeing the best of these places. I always forget how much preparation goes into planning a cruise. From the time of booking until the second they step on ship could be an entire year. They buy cruise clothes, book flights and hotels, they research and order tours online, they post endless messages on Facebook counting the days until they leave.

My sister Tammy is one of those people that plans everything way too far in advance. She is very prepared for every major holiday. For example her Christmas tree goes up in November and she brings out the presents that were wrapped in the Summer from her attic; the second she found out what ship I would be on next year, she immediately planned her yearly cruise with me and has given me strict instructions as to what port activities she wants to do and has given her husband’s work the exact dates he needs off (which are for next July). She has found Daycare for her dogs and has gone on line searching for the best flights. I have cautioned her against such advance planning as I have no idea if my company will change my ship or not, but there is no stopping her. Good thing she gets flight insurance.

I am not saying that Tammy is completely high strung, but she is completely high strung, but for some reason when she is cruising she is a very ‘easy to please’ guest. If one of the shore tours don’t pan out, she is fine just sitting on the beach so long as she has a 5 gallon fish bowl full of Rum Punch perched on her lap with a huge straw leading from it so she won’t have to lift it.

Maybe using her as an example isn’t the best as she knows that she will always be able to come and cruise with me without a lot of out of pocket expense except for the flight as she stays in my cabin. But it does remind me how much preparation a person has to go through to get ready for a cruise, for some a Cruise of a lifetime.

My cruise line does have a number of guests that have travelled far over 25 times with us. Take Linda Powell. I have had the opportunity to cruise with her a few times, and am looking forward to seeing her again in November. I am sure her cruise preparation takes far less time now that she has done it for a while. She knows exactly what she wants to take part in (karaoke – cue eye roll), what tours to take, what she will not attend (she still has yet to see the Liars Club), and for a large part she knows the ins and outs of crew life, which is great because it allows me to sit down with her and get some crew drama off my chest.

Whether you are crew family like my sister, Tammy, or part of the carnival family, like Linda Powell, or someone who is prepping their first cruise ever a year in advance, just remember even if you are only drinking rum punch on the beach you are still not at work and you are not making your own bed.

** On another note the 'Perm Poll': 80% of voters say Jo's hair was a perm. Sorry Jo!