Marring the Grandeur of the Seas

This summer Linda and I will be taking a cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship:

Yup, we've become staunch cruise people. Our love of these vessels is, no doubt, helped by the reality of free food and 24 hour room service. Few things are as nice as popping a bottle of Riesling on a private balcony, ordering the fruit and cheese platter, and staring out over pitch black oblivion and a clear starry night.

So we were more than a little surprised to hear that our cruise ship had struck a pier yesterday that put a 43 foot wide by 5 foot high gash in her bow.

They will fix the damage in port and the April 23rd cruise will be delayed by 2 days. Fortunately, we are not on the April 23rd cruise. Those poor people are only being refunded $300 per stateroom for losing 2 days off a 7 day vacation! That's not really the correct amount of compensation and many are having fits about it. Staterooms ain't cheap!

-Ed "Don't Rock The Boat"