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We took a cruise on HAL some years back and had an officer at our table. He was gracious and charming and helped us when we had a tour mixup. Towards the end of the cruise I asked him to tell me how he and the other officers managed to stay so charming and pleasant week after week. In a rare (I'm sure) moment of candor he said, "Well, we go to a quiet deck sometimes and scream a bit." Then he smiled that charming smile and winked. Those were the days! I think what's happening now is that as ships get ever larger with ever more amenities, that nice chummy feeling among passengers and crew is fast disappearing over the horizon. I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon here, but there was a time (not that long ago) when passengers and crew got to know one another quite well because they were thrown together so much of the time--with none of this personal choice dining and in-room movies. I agree that having these choices is great, but it also means that the opportunities for getting to know fellow passengers--and crew-- are slowly eroding.

<blockquote data-quote="sailboat" data-source="post: 729494"><p>We took a cruise on HAL some years back and had an officer at our table. He was gracious and charming and helped us when we had a tour mixup. Towards the end of the cruise I asked him to tell me how he and the other officers managed to stay so charming and pleasant week after week. In a rare (I'm sure) moment of candor he said, &quot;Well, we go to a quiet deck sometimes and scream a bit.&quot;&nbsp; Then he smiled that charming smile and winked. Those were the days! I think what's happening now is that as ships get ever larger with ever more amenities, that nice chummy feeling among passengers and crew is fast disappearing over the horizon. I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon here, but there was a time (not that long ago) when passengers and crew got to know one another quite well because they were thrown together so much of the time--with none of this personal choice dining and in-room movies. I agree that having these choices is great, but it also means that the opportunities for getting to know fellow passengers--and crew-- are slowly eroding.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="sailboat, post: 729494"] We took a cruise on HAL some years back and had an officer at our table. He was gracious and charming and helped us when we had a tour mixup. Towards the end of the cruise I asked him to tell me how he and the other officers managed to stay so charming and pleasant week after week. In a rare (I'm sure) moment of candor he said, "Well, we go to a quiet deck sometimes and scream a bit." Then he smiled that charming smile and winked. Those were the days! I think what's happening now is that as ships get ever larger with ever more amenities, that nice chummy feeling among passengers and crew is fast disappearing over the horizon. I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon here, but there was a time (not that long ago) when passengers and crew got to know one another quite well because they were thrown together so much of the time--with none of this personal choice dining and in-room movies. I agree that having these choices is great, but it also means that the opportunities for getting to know fellow passengers--and crew-- are slowly eroding. [/QUOTE]