People-watching on the ship

People-watching on this cruise is wild.

There are the people who clearly cruise a lot. There are the people who look out of place. There are the people who never stop jogging around the deck. There are the people who talk loudly about all the previous adventures they’ve had, as if they want everyone to listen and be impressed by them. I’m sure there are the super rich people whom I’ll never even get a glimpse of. And of course there are the people who work on the boat. There seem to be two types of those; the ones who don’t want to be seen or noticed, like ghosts… and the people who will joke with you and make it seem like they feel you’re important (perhaps they work on tips?).

All in all it’s quite the experience. Everyone seems to have an outfit. Not just, like, fancy clothes although there is a lot of that. But some people are always in workout clothes that don’t look like they’ve ever been sweaty in. There are people who look like they’re on a fancy yacht vacation. Legit saw two couples eating dinner and both the man had sweatshirts tied around their necks and they were wearing… what were they called? Izod shirts? I’m pretty sure they were dressed unironically, too. There are some people who are wearing nice clothes but do actually look like that’s their daily wear and not a costume put on to show off on the boat. You know how some people just look comfortable in their clothes, and some don’t? It’s like that. I’m not sure how to explain it but if you, too, are a people-watcher, you’ll understand.

It’s early afternoon now (I think… don’t get me started on how confusing the time is) and I’m in the bar waiting for the Crafternoon and there’s some sort of music trivia game going on. It seems like you have to guess the song title and artist? I’d kick ass at this game. Too bad I missed the first part, haha. They had a Squeeze song that I’m 100% betting not too many other people in this room got.

But apparently you have to club someone to get a drink around here. Weird, since if you’re eating, they come and whisk your plate away almost before you’re even done chewing the last bite.

Anyway; going back to people-watching.

Young people – very few. I’ve seen the same toddler a couple of times, a boy, running around the lounge where I hang out in the afternoon. And I’ve seen a girl of about nine or ten, who walks around with her mother a lot, and both tries to look dressed up but not snobbish – she’s scooted out from under me a couple of times with an “excuse me” and “oh, I’m sorry, you first!”. And I’ve seen a few people with babies in strollers. But either there’s a dedicated kid area that I don’t know about, or there’s just not that many kids on the ship. I’m fine either way!

Young couples – also very few. I’d say the average age of people on the ship is about sixty. I’ve met a couple in their maybe late 30s/early 40s who are also going to WorldCon, and I’ve seen a couple who are probably in their 20s.

I have seen a lot of single people in their 30s/40s. Well, I don’t know their relationship status, but I usually see them solo so either they’re traveling alone or, like Jeff and I, they’re traveling with a friend but not hanging out with them during the day.

Older couples – lots. And very… shall we say, ‘alabaster’. Oh, wait, I’m not writing this on Facebook – White. This ship is overwhelmingly White. I’ve seen one Asian family and two or three Black families, and other than that? The guests are almost entirely White. Pretty even mix of American/British/German (the ship continues on to Hamburg after the stop in Southampton). In fact, where I’m used to important announcements being made in English/Spanish, they do everything here in English/German.

Of the older people (I know, I know, I’m old! I mean older than me; not in their sixties but closer to seventy if a day) there are… adorable ancient people hobbling around on the deck holding hands… older couples who look at each other as if they’d like to throw each other overboard… and single old folks. Many of the single Olds are traveling with who I’m assuming are their children – most of those look my age or even a little older. I don’t see anyone in a scooter (I’ve seen a few wheelchairs) but there are loads of canes, and a couple of walkers. Come to think of it, I’ve only seen a couple of walkers. I wonder if they’re not encouraged?

Some of the very, very old, look terribly confused at everything, and that makes me a little sad. Mostly near the buffet, which, y’all, I get it. That buffet is super overwhelming. I’ll describe that in a different post (note to self, remember to take a few pictures of the buffet area for reference). I saw a very old man with a walker, standing in a sea of people in a hurry, and he was just standing there looking around him as if he didn’t know where he was or didn’t know where to go. I was on the fence about asking if he needed help finding anything but just when I was getting to the “maybe I should be that weirdo that checks on strangers” someone came up to him with a plate loaded with food and ushered him to a table.

There are also people (mostly of the Older variety) who will pull anyone into their orbit and talk at them. Not with them; at them. I’ve seen so many people “holding court” to a small group wherein most everyone is looking sideways as if trying to find an escape. And two people who have flagged down some of the service workers on multiple occasions and told them at great length how yes, they can in fact adjust the temperature in the ship… or how this is NOT their first voyage and all the OTHER times they’ve been on the ship they’ve been allowed to do whatever so it’s terribly unfair that they’re being told they can’t do it NOW. People, I swear. So amusing. So frustrating. So beautiful. So heartrendingly lonely.

What else…? Dog people. There are a few people with dogs on the ship – there’s a kennel on Deck 12 and you’re required to spend a certain amount of time with your dog in the kennel area every day (hah! if I were here with my dogs, TRY to get me OUT of the kennel!) and I’ve overheard a few people in elevators talking about going up there. And one of the people in the craft group that’s sprung up went to the… oh, I forget what they called it, all the dogs were lined up on the boardwalk on Deck 12 with complimentary “QM2” coats on, so that people who needed to pet a dog could come get some Lovins. I wish I’d known about that one! (Also, now, do I want to come back and take a cruise with my girls just so they can get a special QM2 coats? Yes. Yes, of course I do.)

In spite of the overwhelming Whiteness and Heteronormativity on the ship, I have seen a few queer couples. Men, mostly (including a couple pushing their baby in a stroller, both of them wearing suits and strolling on the deck living their best Transatlantic Voyage lives). I don’t know that I really grokked how most of my friend circle is Queer, or Queer-adjacent, until I was thrust into a boat full of people that I am suddenly unsure of how “normally” to talk to. If I am just myself, and I say something about how some days I wake up in Florida wanting to leave, but also wanting to stay because I’m privileged enough to own property and who knows when I’ll have to start my safe-space commune…. and the people I’m talking to don’t turn out to be allies? That’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation. For them, anyway, as I stan the defense and uplifting of marginalized voices.

Anyway.

Mostly what I notice is a lot of people wandering around looking for something or someone. Looking for a place to sit that isn’t already taken, looking for their people who said they’d go early and stake out a table, whatever. Lots of people getting off of elevators looking for which way to go. All of the immediate elevator lobby areas look the same, so it’s not until you take a few steps in either direction that you know if you’re headed the right way or not. Heck, I’ve done that more than once, myself! So many people (including me) muttering “where the fuck am I” as they bumble back and forth in the hallway, haha.

All in all, it’s very much like being at a self-contained science fiction convention, in a hotel in a city where there’s nothing to do outside of the con area. You kind of start to see the same people, you kind of start to know where the things you do most often are, you kind of start to get into a routine. For as much as I felt out of place in the Alaska cruise I took with Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe two years ago (a lot of my disconnect on that was probably more that Tim had just died five months previously, and what would have been our anniversary happened on the ship) (and yes, that what would have been our anniversary is also coming up next week)… I think I would do this again. The Alaska trip was very much “you’re on the ship! Now you’re off the ship! Now hurry up and get back on the ship!” and I never really had a full sense of “I’m on a cruise” vs “I’m off the ship seeing Alaska from the ground” because it seemed you were always rushing to be where you weren’t. This is more settled. If I had my dogs with me I’d probably never leave whatever couch we were near!