Greetings Kort,
How very good of you to do a report on the recent AGA. With your writer's gift, you brought the experience to life. Though I've spent lots of time on boats - power and sail - I was never part of an official cruise so I was especially interested in your on-board adventures.
Alas, as with Vegas casinos, it seems the time of something for nothing has passed. In the old days, as long as you played at the tables or paid at the dock, everything after was gratis. Now a buffet along the Strip can cost $30 while ships issue Sail & Sign cards.
But you mentioned the constant rolling and I wondered that you didn't also mention any related queasiness. Because I'm subject to the same, I can tell you from personal experience that ginger is a great cure. Indeed, it's one of only two home remedies that I know that really work.
And too, you mentioned the marked change in passenger attitudes from the start to the finish. Such behavior (along with shipboard romances) has been so frequently noted that one researcher investigated the same and came to the conclusion that - bottom line - it was the rolling. The constant back and forth takes people to an earlier time in their lives and, like a mother's lullaby, both sooths and delights.
Interesting - No?
Steve Mason
PS I always enjoy Greta Olsson's book reviews and would suggest to her and to anyone else who might be interested in Alexander McCall-Smith's work that they give his Professor von Igelfeld series a try.