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Day VII, 9:30am
[Some people work for a living. Some people work for fun. Girl I just work for yewwww…] [The Love Boat theme may have finally left my head, but what kind of consolation is it to wake up to Wham! on a mental loop?] [Note: The following is not a paid advertisement. I'm genuinely impressed and enthused with this week to wax rhapsodic.] Well, this is it, our final full day. Tomorrow morning is an early departure from this ship o' dreams, this ship o' folly, this ship o' fools. It has been nothing less than a magical experience, and even if we hadn't won the cruise and were paying retail for it, I should say it was money well spent. For those interested in the details for their own future holiday research, I'll break it down, yo: What would it cost for a trip of seven days to three Caribbean cities, including travel expenses (air, car, taxi), meals and hotels? Easily $2000, and probably more — a daunting number for a week's respite. Our week on Royal Caribbean, with all these things included, plus numerous activities, a barrage of shows, and a hundred extras I can't think to name, is about $1000 (and that's a deluxe stateroom with a balcony), or, in other words, less than $200 per day. A decent hotel costs as much and includes nothing but the room itself. I can't think of a better holiday deal. I'm impressed that this can be pulled off so flawlessly for the amount quoted. The only incidentals on top of the admission fee are cocktails, some gratuity at the end for the excellent service you've received all week, any pre-packaged tours you wish to join at ports of call, and of course your duty free liquor, smokes, etc. The rest of the trip is covered: 24 hours of food available in one place or another, a steady swarm of waiters with trays of nibbly things everywhere you look, and efficient and clever cabin service twice a day (we've come 'home' in the evenings to find our fresh towels folded like terrycloth origami into different animals). I've always ignorantly thought of cruises as a wonderful, but very expensive extravagance — certainly something everyone should do, but you have to scrimp and plan for years to do so. That's simply not true. I think if more people knew what they were getting for their money on a full-service luxury liner like this, there would be a lot more cruising going on. I can't recommend this enough. It's a week that will live with us forever. It would be well worth twice the price for the strange, exotic, exciting, relaxing world that is created around a week like this. Ben and I consider ourselves converts. I think we'll be doing this once or twice a year now. As actual paying customers, even! But, ha-ha, not this trip. Besides being comped to the cruise by Harrah's, who went the further step and paid all gratuities, gave us an open bar in the casino, and managed to score us white tags for our luggage so we can be the first group called for departure in the crowded mess that is going to dominate tomorrow morning. All that was left for us to shell out for were cocktails not procured in the casino, some bingo cards that Ben indulged me in, further gratuities that we wanted to dole out, and of course all our booze and smokes. But, ha-ha again, even those costs are going to be covered, because yesterday Ben and I entered another blackjack tournament, this time with a $100 entry fee, and this time we won it. Well, he won it, but we had a split deal arrangement, obviously. So the $1200 jackpot will first cover our cruise bill, and then be split into profit for the trip. Ben laughs: "I can't believe we're being paid to go on this trip!" I've never felt so pampered by such a well-trained and happy crew of service industry, and I make it a point to be pampered wherever I go. The down side? Well, you get stuck with luck-o-the-draw dinner partners, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your draw of luck. Also, there's a bit much of the ole' reggae, but I suppose if it's germane to anywhere, a boat in the Caribbean would be the place, so I've suffered through all the 'sheriff shooting', the 'buffalo soldiering' and the 'red red wining' with nary an exodus. Life is very, very sweet. And you can slap me any time you wish. Just, please, join us on our next cruise to administer the slap. |
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