The High And Low Life

Our cruise was quite cheap. It only cost about a hundred dollars a day each. Considering that they have almost as many crew as customers, plus adding in what their food expenses must be, they must barely be breaking even with the stated cost of the cruise. My guess is that they make their profit with the alcohol, shore excursions, alcohol, photos, alcohol and gift shop.

I did contribute my fair share to the bar, although, I did later start smuggling booze on board. Their prices were outrageous for watered-down drinks.

The drink in my hand was the exception. It was a black martini and poured by a great bartender. When shaking the drinks, he danced for the ladies. His pouring technique was also unusual. He placed the glass on his side of the bar and filled the glass to the top. It was not possible to pick up the glass without spilling it, so it was necessary to lean over the bar and sip from the glass. The bartender would then hold the ladies' hair to keep it out of the drink. What you drank with the first sip, he quickly replaced with more hard liquor. That one drink was my limit for the day. The business at his bar was brisk, especially amongst the ladies.

While living the high life, it was hard not to feel a little guilty. The crew lives a hard life. It borders on being indentured servitude. Out of the nearly two thousand crew members, only three were American. That is usually an indication that the pay and/or working conditions are bad.

The vast majority of the crew comes from third world countries. I spoke with one crew member who said that he signed a ten month contract and works seven days a week, twelve hours a day. His English wasn't that great, so I may have misunderstood what he was saying, but if that is true, it is inhumane. The crew lives down below, three or four people to a room and does nothing but work and sleep, for ten months.

It would be nice if the cruise ships that go to American ports had to comply with American labor laws, but I don't see that happening. If you are having a bad day, think about the kind of life that others live just because they were unlucky about the circumstances into which they were born.