Soaking In The Hot Tub – The Reality
The cruise hot tub is a totally different reality than the one fantasized about above. For one, you are and will never be alone. That’s right. If you decide to spend some time in the hot tub, you will be soaking, more often than not, with multiple complete strangers. And forget about having room to stretch your legs out. With more than one in the tub that is not even a consideration. Also, there is no room to lay back, to even start to relax, and enjoy the peace of the moment. There will be people moving, talking, and pretty much making a commotion all around you.
Image: Sea Star Academy
Pool Side – The Fantasy
When you see an ad for a cruise, one of the areas they will play upon the heaviest is the pool onboard the ship. The area will appear massive, with lounge chairs, large pools and in some case colorful umbrellas. You begin to daydream of lounging by the pool, under an umbrella, sipping your favorite beverage. The feeling of a tranquil, relaxed afternoon plays over you time and time again. The thing to keep in mind is that the picture you are given has no people in it. Once your fellow cruise-goers are added in, the entire atmosphere will change.
Image: Roaming Around The World
Pool Side – The Reality
The pool area of a cruise ship is one of the most continually used areas as most of the passengers congregate there. Although at first glance the area appears massive in size, once you add a few hundred people, well, the size isn’t quite what you think it was. For most of the trip, the pool area will remain packed with people, in some cases making it very hard to even find a place to set down. The entire reason for taking a cruise mainly to relax, however with these many people squeezed into such a tiny place, relaxation is very difficult to come by.
Image: LA Times