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Cruise, Day 4...
Dec. 7th, 2006 06:25 pmThe internet café aboard ship is in a small compartment off of the cigar bar, equipped with 10 stations and a desk for those with their own laptops. Folks with wireless access can sit in the bar area, though there are no outlets available out there for those who need to power their machines. I can't speak for the overall traffic through the place, as I haven't spent a lot of time in the café, but I've never observed more than two or three other patrons. Either folks generally don't care, are really good about disconnecting themselves, or have been scared off by the steep prices.
Today was our day at Grand Cayman. Though I actually found a grouping of three cruise ships offshore using Google Earth, when we went out and about this morning, it turned out the "parking area" was more to the west, off of Georgetown. As it turned out, there were five cruise ships visiting the island today. (And yes, I am aware that the imagery in Google Earth is nowhere near real-time in nature; my comment relates more to where the ships are anchored than to their number or what ships they might be.)
Selling stuff has been a high priority of our hosts pretty much since the start of the voyage. An alien stepping off of a spaceship onto the deck of a cruise liner would easily come away with the impression that the main purpose of the trip was to buy, buy, BUY stuff. And admittedly, some of the things on sale via "duty free" do recall my earlier experiences, where the prices did actually represent a bargain (I'll mention only that a liter of Blue Sapphire gin goes for about $15, for example, as opposed to $18-$22 for 750 ml back home.)
There are other subtlties at work here, too. You see, the cruise line makes a hard charge to instill the fear of God in us passengers. If you want to buy something, says their spokesman, make sure you go to one of our approved shops, where we will guarantee your purchase. Otherwise, you might get ripped off! The same for excursions: Approved operators are licensed, insured, and are acutely aware of how important it is to get you back to the ship on time. Others may not actually be licensed, may not be insured... You get the idea.
Today, Galina and I went ashore and piled aboard a small bus - similar, if not identical in configuration to yesterday's vehicle in Jamaica - for a tour of the peninsula we were on, which included stops at a place called "Hell" (owing to a unique and strange rock formation), a Tortuga rum and rum-cake outlet, and a turtle farm (where, besides holding one of the cute critters up to my shirt, I did my best to walk through a plate glass window... owwww!!!). The total charge for the whole trip was a reasonable $20 per person (plus $7 per person for entrance to the turtle farm).
Grand Cayman left a better impression with me than did Jamaica. The place looked less oppressive, from the perspective that there were no gratings over the ground-floor windows everywhere, nor was every fence topped with concertina wire. The shop area immediately next to where the tenders docked was... well, your typical shop area: loud, with every conceivable product advertised in garish colors and clashing styles. While waiting for Galina to browse her way through one of the many shops offering jewelry, watches, perfume, etc., I observed a pair of local young men industriously putting up a billboard-sized ad for the local Margaritaville bar/restaurant. Life goes on.
After returning from shore, something about our tour tickled my memory, so I went through the promotional stuff that had been left in our stateroom, and it turns out an officially sanctioned excursion with virtually the identical description could have been bought through the ship's ticket office for... almost $60. And who knows? Perhaps we would have ended up in the same bus.
Never underestimate the power of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. FUD is one of the fundamental and most powerful tools in the marketing business.
Enough philosophizing. On the practical front, I've been taking a lot of pictures, but I've not had the patience to sit down and deal with them. One thing is for sure: there have been more pictures taken of me and Galina over the past few days than, I think, over the past few years! maybe decades!
Tonight is our second "formal night" at the restaurant. Tomorrow, we'll be at Cozumel for basically the same schedule (ship arrives at 7 am and departs for Galveston at 3:30 pm).
Cheers...
Today was our day at Grand Cayman. Though I actually found a grouping of three cruise ships offshore using Google Earth, when we went out and about this morning, it turned out the "parking area" was more to the west, off of Georgetown. As it turned out, there were five cruise ships visiting the island today. (And yes, I am aware that the imagery in Google Earth is nowhere near real-time in nature; my comment relates more to where the ships are anchored than to their number or what ships they might be.)
Selling stuff has been a high priority of our hosts pretty much since the start of the voyage. An alien stepping off of a spaceship onto the deck of a cruise liner would easily come away with the impression that the main purpose of the trip was to buy, buy, BUY stuff. And admittedly, some of the things on sale via "duty free" do recall my earlier experiences, where the prices did actually represent a bargain (I'll mention only that a liter of Blue Sapphire gin goes for about $15, for example, as opposed to $18-$22 for 750 ml back home.)
There are other subtlties at work here, too. You see, the cruise line makes a hard charge to instill the fear of God in us passengers. If you want to buy something, says their spokesman, make sure you go to one of our approved shops, where we will guarantee your purchase. Otherwise, you might get ripped off! The same for excursions: Approved operators are licensed, insured, and are acutely aware of how important it is to get you back to the ship on time. Others may not actually be licensed, may not be insured... You get the idea.
Today, Galina and I went ashore and piled aboard a small bus - similar, if not identical in configuration to yesterday's vehicle in Jamaica - for a tour of the peninsula we were on, which included stops at a place called "Hell" (owing to a unique and strange rock formation), a Tortuga rum and rum-cake outlet, and a turtle farm (where, besides holding one of the cute critters up to my shirt, I did my best to walk through a plate glass window... owwww!!!). The total charge for the whole trip was a reasonable $20 per person (plus $7 per person for entrance to the turtle farm).
Grand Cayman left a better impression with me than did Jamaica. The place looked less oppressive, from the perspective that there were no gratings over the ground-floor windows everywhere, nor was every fence topped with concertina wire. The shop area immediately next to where the tenders docked was... well, your typical shop area: loud, with every conceivable product advertised in garish colors and clashing styles. While waiting for Galina to browse her way through one of the many shops offering jewelry, watches, perfume, etc., I observed a pair of local young men industriously putting up a billboard-sized ad for the local Margaritaville bar/restaurant. Life goes on.
After returning from shore, something about our tour tickled my memory, so I went through the promotional stuff that had been left in our stateroom, and it turns out an officially sanctioned excursion with virtually the identical description could have been bought through the ship's ticket office for... almost $60. And who knows? Perhaps we would have ended up in the same bus.
Never underestimate the power of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. FUD is one of the fundamental and most powerful tools in the marketing business.
Enough philosophizing. On the practical front, I've been taking a lot of pictures, but I've not had the patience to sit down and deal with them. One thing is for sure: there have been more pictures taken of me and Galina over the past few days than, I think, over the past few years! maybe decades!
Tonight is our second "formal night" at the restaurant. Tomorrow, we'll be at Cozumel for basically the same schedule (ship arrives at 7 am and departs for Galveston at 3:30 pm).
Cheers...
