The thing I hate most about cruises is the amount of selling that is done to captive passengers. Everything is about getting us to spend money and to buy shit. The daily events include numerous seminars in which products of all sorts – from teeth whitening to weight loss to jewelry and watches – are pitched. You can’t go anywhere without some crew member trying to take your picture, which they will gladly sell to you for a mere $19.99 later that day. Small maps of the shopping areas near the ship are distributed when we pull into port. Earlier today, we were at the private island owned by the cruise line. Even there, “locals” were selling souvenirs, hair braiding, and other crap. What fucking “locals” live on NCL’s private island? Do they import people just to sell crap, or worse, are people actually unfortunate enough to have a cruise line as their landlord?
It’s buy, buy, buy, and it disgusts me. I seriously doubt that most of the people on this ship can afford all the crap that they are lining up to buy like suckers. Very sad.
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If not for crap, what would distinguish Americans from the rest of the world? If not for credit card debt, what purpose would Americans have to work? I applaud the cruise line for helping to mainain the American Way.
ReplyDeleteAll that selling, all the ways to get their hands on your money, all the greed. That's the American way. It kind of makes your heart swell doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThere's a Paul Theroux book, The Happy Isles of Oceania, where the crazy bastard basically kayaks between all these different islands in the Pacific. He sometimes stays and hangs out with the locals, and he describes that practice from the other end. Basically, on the day the cruise ship is set to arrive, everyone takes a break from eating spam and chewing betel but, dresses up in their "native" gear and runs down to the docks to sell shit. He tells it better than I do.
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