I could easily refer to this column as one entitled, “Voyage of the Darned.” This is due to the fact that The Blonde and I are scheduled to take a supremely long cruise of fourteen long days. We have been on three other cruises in our married life, but the main principle was that they were not to exceed seven days. (I held out for some time for no more than five days, but lost ignominiously.) Now I am faced with fourteen, if you can imagine that number, on a cruise from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale. I will admit that we will see some nice scenic places on this cruise, especially Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia.
Nevertheless, three whole days of this cruise will be at sea, including the last two. I have asked lots of people whose chromosomes are apparently messed up what they do when there is no port of call, and they are stuck on a slow moving small floating island. The answer I normally get is that they read or they walk around the ships outside decks, or they go and exercise in the gym. My thought on that is that I can read at home quite a bit cheaper than what they charge per ship day! I can also go down to the John Rohan Recreation Center and walk around their walk area, or I can exercise as well at the center. Besides, when I walk around Rohan I don’t need to worry about a rogue wave plucking me off the deck!
Apparently, there are all kinds of people in this world, including in The Villages who actually enjoy cruising on a small blob in the middle of a gigantic ocean. We have friends who even go on forty or sixty day jaunts. True, they come back confused and can’t believe how many homes have been built here while they were gone. Eventually, they do catch up and then they head off on another cruise and the cycle starts again. We have a great home in The Villages with all sorts of things to do. Thus, I see no compelling reason to leave to go on something where you can’t even play a round of golf. My golf game is really lousy anyhow, so if I went on a forty day cruise I probably wouldn’t even know how to drive my golf cart let alone play the game.
It is quite possible that my antipathy to cruising is in my gene make-up. My family history shows that on my father’s side I am Welsh. Now the Welsh used to spend a great of time digging for coal or mining slate among other honest jobs. They did not have the time or desire to go sailing – unless they were headed to the Colonies. My relatives made a considered decision that moving to Pennsylvania was worth being seasick for a few weeks, although by the time they got to the America, they were not as certain. According to family legend 99% of them vowed that they would never get on a ship again. I am certain that vow is embedded in me somewhere. Unfortunately, The Blonde in the house does not have a Welsh background, but rather is of the stubborn Irish clan. The latter explains why I am facing fourteen long days on a sea full of hurricanes, gales and lord knows what else.
We just received a note from a friend who has just completed the same cruise. She indicated that she loved the cool weather of 35 degrees in Nova Scotia. The Blonde hates cold weather like that, and it will most likely be even cooler when we get there.
With that in mind perhaps, I can get the next cruise down to a more livable five days!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
