Sea Musings

One of the most off-the-mark comments to George and me when we return home is: "How was the cruise?" Why? you ask. Well this voyage is the furthest thing from a 'cruise' that you can imagine. Let me first define cruise as I see it.

1) A cruise is usually 2-3 weeks long at most and purely for pleasure and relaxation.
2) The food attempts to be gourmet and is usually spactacularly presented.
3) Meals are menued and 'served'
4) There are many lounges, reading rooms, bars and dining rooms, often an orchestra and entertainment.
5) Passengers are tourists and cruise lovers, there are no students on board to learn.
6) There is no faculty on board to teach
7) There are no classrooms
8) There is no Students Union
9) There is a grandiose spa and hairdressing salon
10) There is a comprehensive and spacious excersise room.

We on Semester at Sea have a somewhat different agenda.

1) The sea voyage lasts three and a half months and is primarily educational.
2) The food is wholesome but not gourmet and is self-served from a buffet cafeteria style.
3) Stewards assist but do not serve us. ie They often offer to bring coffee or dessert but do not serve us each course. They are rarely pompous and always cheerful! They address us all by our first names.
4) We have classrooms, an academic library with a tiny section for book swops.
5) We have one lounge solely for the use of faculty, family/hangers-on like me, life-long-learners and staff. Students do not have access on a normal day to day basis.
6) We have a piano bar frequented mostly by students with their computers working during the day and partying at night! You can get a great latte or espresso there.
7) We have a pool deck with a (minute by anyone's standards) pool, soft drink, snack and hamburger bar.
8) Passengers are for the most part students (400-600) with a faculty of about 35,
30 staff, on this voyage there are nearly 70 life long learners, faculty and staff dependents take their numbers up to around 100. Counting the crew and housekeeping staff the total number of people on board touches about 1000. Fewer on this voyage as we have only 450 students.
9) Because the whole focus of the voyage is educational our SAS excusions ashore often skip the shopping component.
10) We have a relatively small Wellness Spa including a hair dressing salon, sauna and exercise room....very crowded with fewer machines.
11) We have a Students Union which doubles as a large classroom. Everyone is required to attend Global Study lectures there, Logistical and Diplomatic pre-port briefings. It is used for theatrical performances and classes.
12) We stop in a number of ports for about 5-6 days as opposed to the one or two on popular cruises.
13) The students (and others) attend lectures for which they receive their university credits. This is a true floating university.

I wanted to explain Semester at Sea because the faculty and students work so hard and the latter receive credits just as they would during a land based semester.

Perhaps I have taken the word 'cruise' out of your greeting to us and replaced it with voyage, journey or even semester. That would make us very happy indeed!