Cruising 101

I was invited to assist/observe a cruise course to understand how the cruise industry operates and fill in for future trips.   Although people chuckle and think, what a great class…you go on a cruise; however, it’s much more than that.  We meet in the classroom before the trip during the Spring semester to learn about the industry, understand expectations, and read an industry textbook.  The study abroad visits Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel offering a variety of backdrops and cultural experiences for students while living on the second largest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet.   For many students it’s there first time on a plane or international experience and they value the adventure, for others it’s a time of celebration after graduation, and for a few it’s a party.  Regardless, the students gain insight into the largest commercial recreation and tourism sector in the industry with over 20.3 million passengers and $33.5 billion dollars.  We met with every director of the cruise ship including entertainment, sports, hotel, cleaning, chef, etc.  Our ship carried over 4,000 passengers, 1,200 employees, and served over 20,000 meals a day.  The service sector of the ship was unbelievable!  I have never experienced such personalized and courteous service.  In fact, these people work 12-14 hour days, which made me feel bad in one way, but happy in another that is was a safe job that paid cash, tax free, and provided housing/food.  On the other hand, the amount of waste a cruise ship creates is alarming even though they have sustainable practices to minimize their environmental footprint.  The excursions on land were a lesson in mass tourism, one most students have not experienced.  Mass amounts of cruisers would all gather to kiss the stingrays, drink on a private beach, or hike up a waterfall.  You can see from my pictures below the large amounts of people that tolerate this type of crowding and enjoy the experience.  I viewed this from an academic lens since I teach tourism courses; however, as a traveler I prefer solitude, peace, and tranquility in the outdoors.  Overall, it was a great trip and I was fortunate to share it with awesome faculty in my department and fun students.