Deck Chairs

Where is everyone?

Deck chairs are one of the biggest problems on many cruise ships. Going to Alaska - not as much of a problem, but going south, passengers want to get out into the sun. To hell with the health warnings about the deadly “SUN”; by the time that February rolls around and you have shoveled several tons of snow, you want nothing more than to spend some time allowing your body to absorb some vitamin D. On some of the cruise ships, you have to get up early in the morning, take out your special “deck Chair Saving” equipment (A bag from another ship containing cheap flip-flops and a book) and put it on a good deck chair to save it for later when the sun comes out. If you do not do this the only deck chairs available are those with broken supports, and sitting in the shade. It is so bad on some ships that I have heard of fist fights ensuing when someone removed the material from an unoccupied chair and heaven forbid, actually used it. The problem has an inherent catch 22. If you do not reserve a chair, you cannot get one and because of this procedure, there are many chairs sitting unused for most of the say, just waiting for the time that the person wants to sit in the sun. During prime sunshine hours, the chairs are pretty much full, but other times most sit with cheap flip-flops and unread books gently simmering in the heat.

The ship crew do what they can to help alleviate the problem, by clearing chairs containing just a towel, and they cover as much surface area as possible with as many deck chairs as they can. It is difficult however to remove someone's bag, flip-flops and comfortably dog-eared book. Of course if they actually picked up the book and flip-flops they might notice that the day-glo pink of the unworn sandals does not really match the “Woodworking Tips for Retired Plumbers” published in 1956. Both items are “throw-aways” just in case someone is bold enough to remove them after they have sat there for four hours from 6:30 am to 10:30. Signs go up advising passengers that items will be removed from unoccupied chairs after 20 minutes, but I have yet to see any crew actually do this. Most ships have not figured out the fine line between annoying one person who reserved the chair or the 20 people searching for a chair.

Lots of chairs here

My favorite was once when I found a couple of chairs both unoccupied and in a nice quiet section of the deck. The only problem was that the good chairs were in the sun, and Regis wanted a chair in the shade, although I wanted to catch a few rays. I was able to move things around so we were comfortable with one in the shade and one on the sun, but I had to move a set of four chairs all with the usual assortment of “Chair Saving” items. Those chairs sat for two hours unused but occupied by someone's “things”. As the day progressed and the sun moved I had to move those four chairs a number of times to preserve our nice Sun/Shade combination. When the chairs “Owners” finally arrived their precious chairs were all in the shade, and I was occupying the sun such that it was really not easy for them to move them. They knew their chairs should have been in the sun, and they knew I had probably moved them, but I just sat there ignoring them through my “Gangsta” sunglasses (Regis hates these glasses, but they have their uses). They stood, fumed, looked around, stared at me with no result, discussed things among themselves, and finally picked up their “stuff” and moved on terribly annoyed that the system had failed them. Me, did I feel guilty? No, I just felt I was doing my part to free up some deck chairs, and someone came along a few minutes later and were overjoyed to find four nice shady unoccupied chairs.

Now on this Holland America ship, this is never a problem. The most popular deck chairs are the nice teak “Titanic” styled chairs down on deck three on the walk-around deck which is always in shade. There are always lots of chairs anywhere on the upper decks. If you want a chair in the sun, there are lots of them. The 80+ crowd is not as much into suntanning as the younger demographic is, and the tropical heat drives most of them into the AC equipped library or card room.

Medical Emergency . . .

Have Walker will Cruise.

If you look at the demographics of the “Cruising Crowd” you might notice that it is an older group. Holland America historically has appealed to a more “mature” cruiser; in fact I e-mailed mom from our last Holland America cruise to tell her she would fit right in because the subtitle for the cruise could definitely have been “Cruisin' with a cane” - mom was really suffering with her knees at that time, and found the last cruise with us difficult (I was not just being mean . . . . .). It was so bad that the dining room had a parking area for the scooters, motorized chairs, and walkers. A table next to us had one passenger dependent on an oxygen tank, one with a walker and another driving a motorized scooter.

Now with an aging clientele, there are going to be health issues, and I think it is wonderful that people with these issues can actually get away for a vacation, and I admire people with health issues that make an effort to get out and around, making the best of the situation. Many of them have realized that cruising is the one vacation option that is well equipped to support them. Most modern ships are very accessible, and have medical facilities and personnel that are actually better equipped than some of the countries the ships call on.

With a lot of people who have health issues, it is very possible that these facilities are gong to be called upon when people develop complications, have accidents, or conditions worsen. The cruise lines of course would like you to believe that everything is always perfect on their ships; nothing bad happens, no one gets hurt, and certainly no one ever dies. We have been on ships where people have been seriously hurt in traffic accidents while visiting ports, and there was a trip where a passenger died while on the cruise. In these incidents we happened to be sitting at dinner with someone who was there, or who knew the person, otherwise we would not have known anything at all had happened. There is no announcement made, and if you ask the crew, they “Do not know”. It is obviously a policy on cruise ships not to worry passengers about bad things; probably a good policy in fact, since they do not want folks to worry, but if we have seen three such incidents, they have to be more common than the lines let on.

On this ship however, it became unavoidable, as they had a serious medical emergency where a passenger had to be med-vacked from the ship. A coast guard helicopter had to be sent for, and the passenger had to be lifted off the ship and taken to hospital. An operation like this is kind of hard to hide from 1200 people, so the captain had to make an announcement. Of course it was kept very general, and rumours spread; he had a heart attack, he was drunk, fell and hit his head on the piano. Again, we had sat with a man who had been there and assisted as he had some pre-med training, and he told us the gentleman just collapsed while walking into the theater to join his wife for the evening performance. It was serious, because he was not breathing for a time, and was in pretty serious distress. It could have been a heart attack, but he did not appear to be drunk, and there was no piano involved.

The ship turned around, headed back closer to land, and a helicopter was dispatched to meet us. As the helicopter circled the ship, we could feel the ship slow, and full stabilizers activated. The Crows Nest Lounge and the theater were evacuated, as these rooms are at the front of the ship, and people were warned not to use flash photography which might distract the pilots.

We did not see the actual operation as our cabin is towards the back of the ship, and I figured there would be too many people up aft rubber-necking, trying to get a look at the emergency, but people who did see it claimed it was pretty amazing. As the ship steamed ahead at about 12 knots, the helicopter hovered overhead as if attached to the ship, and over a twenty minute period, the helicopter lowered emergency medical personnel who stabilized the patient, and airlifted him into the copter.

It was then back to business as usual. No announcements were made updating his condition, and the gentleman who had assisted him initially could not even get information from the crew. This sort of thing does not happen on cruise ships. . . . . it's not good for business. Go back to having fun, eat more food, order another “drink of the day”.

The Details

Valve to where?

Bright Sunny Ocean View

We are on this cruise to see the full transit of the Panama Canal, but for the cruise line everyone on-board is a bonus, because they are moving the ship from a summer taking vacationers up to Alaska to a winter of cruising the warm aquamarine waters of the Caribbean. Called a repositioning cruise, it does not stop at the regular 'Cruise Ports', perhaps trying out some newer locations for future cruises. There are also more “sea days” or days where we steam all day without stopping. Some people avoid these cruises, finding them boring with all the days at sea with nothing to do (Even though the cruise directors always load on varied 'fun' activities). Having seen, done, or actively avoided these 'fun' activities, I will often take one of the sea days to really explore the ship with my camera, taking pictures of the many details that the rest of the passengers rush by on their way to the Spa for a special deal on some miraculous treatment, the daily bridge tournament, Rhumba classes, the 75% off sales on Alaska merchandise, or just to get those choice seats for the show.

Sweet Music of the Ocean

Lots of deck chairs

I look for the interesting shots, the water beading on the polished woodwork, the utilitarian hardware necessary to keep the ship running blending into the tourist glitz and glamor, the sun gleaming across the newly painted surfaces, or just the interesting shapes and patterns. You miss all these when you are rushing here and there, and taking a day just to look for them is a worthwhile endeavor. It is always easier to take your camera, as it help you focus on looking for the worthwhile photo, and the cruise ship is designed to focus your attention on the latest “Drink-of-the-day”, the latest not to miss activity, or the “too good to pass up” sale in the shops. They don't actually hide these interesting details, they just distract you from them to towards ways for you to hand someone your all purpose “cruise card” allowing you to spend some more money.

Ready for Dinner?

Patterns in the Teak

It is also interesting to watch people watch me taking pictures of interesting things. More times I have seen people look at me crouched down focusing a picture, and go back when I move on to see what I was taking a picture of. On one ship I found a wonderful picture of the setting sun glistening on a newly varnished deck chair, and as I left I saw a number of people look and then take a similar shot to be added to their vacation album. I know that one fellow never did understand why I was taking a picture of a pipe and control valve. I don't think he saw the same interesting contrast between the brilliant newly painted white wall on the green tint of the copper pipe and yellow rubber handle.

Morning Rain

Take time on you next vacation to try this. It works anywhere; just go for a walk looking for the details you do not have time to see when you are busy. It is one of the great things about retirement; you have time to spend a day on the details.