customer service cruising style

When did I become old enough to think that sitting on a boat with 2000 people might be fun?

Each year in March - not coincidentally the same month we married - Frank and I head out for a vacation. The range has been from Snowbird to Santa Fe, from Quebec to the BVI. This year, Carnival came calling, luring me from Anchorage to Mexico.

I was cold the entire time. Prepared for sultry temps, I packed only sandals with shorts, t-shirts and some travel knits that qualified for formal dining room attire. I yearned for my jeans and long sleeved shirts until the right turn into the gift shop for a fifty buck sweatshirt emblazoned - in silver - with Carnival on my back.

But it wasn't the weather that really bothered me. In fact, us northern folks turn rather crispy in the sun. It's just that you feel so damned old covered up in your beach towel surrounded by spring-break-bikinis. Ahhh...youth.

Let's face it. I am a cruising neophyte. (Who knew there was a cocktail party for seasoned cruisers? The people we ate dinner with could discuss not only destinations but the differences in the ships they had cruised on...) There was the "Disneyland Factor." I wandered about the ship looking for something to dislike with eyes agape and couldn't find it. (Well, maybe the photographers trying to snap a memory for Frank and I to put over our mantel got annoying but only because I have never seen a good picture of myself.)

I know all this sounds like complaining, but the truth is I loved my big ship cruise. I loved the clean - I mean super-clean - sheets and fluffy comforter. I loved chocolates on my pillow, the towels shaped into cute animals each night, and the continuous offering of food from every country. (Even with the upper decks calling, what's not to like about free 24 hour room service?) I loved seeing Cabo and shopping in Ensanada. I loved unlimited ice cream cones in the casual dining room. More than anything, I loved the smiling service. Everywhere.

So no point here except an easy one. I am a sucker for a friendly smiling face reassuring me that there is nothing to do except relax. Once I moved passed the stress of being cared for, even in a very pedestrian Carnival cruise ship kind of way, I was fine. So let's toast the masters of customer service everywhere - and make sure there is an umbrella in the drink when we do!