RANDOM AT LARGE

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 24

RANDOM AT LARGE

A WORLD OF ITS OWN

The passenger vessel, a friend told us before departure, is the only place left on earth where you are not being told that you are putting on too much weight, or have forgotten to' mow the lawns, or should remember that the rates have to be paid by Monday. Certain it is that once the last rope has been cast off, the remoteness of the ship makes life on it quite unlike anything else. Anyone who, having read of the regular hijacking of aircraft flying anywhere within range of Cuba, has ambitions to commit an act of piracy on the high seas, had best forget them. A boat is too big. Moreover, he would run into stiff opposition from a crew hundreds strong, and particularly fierce defence from those taking part in the ship's whist drives. Large liners are often

referred to as floating palaces, floating hotels, etc., and such descriptions are not flights of fancy. Not many of the most elegant homes boast swimming pools such as these, with their tiles, submerged lighting, and overhead coloured lamps which at night transform the area into something like one of the more brilliant business areas in Las Vegas. About four large suburban homes could be fitted into the largest of the dining rooms, and the lounges, the ballrooms, the cinemas, the bars, the cafes and -the sports areas all seemed to have been designed by a -Texan gentleman. Little Wonder that, for the first few days, one keeps meeting people going in the wrong directions and searching at the wrong end of the ship for the amenity they are

seeking. They have elevators to help them, of course, in their hikes, but at least some have been tempted to blaze trails in coloured papers from cabins to various soughtafter parts of the ship. There is only one drawback about this life of indolence and luxury. It presents a stem temptation to turn one’s back on the hum drum tasks which have to be performed at the end of the voyage, and simply stay on board for another few weeks of freedom from the need to keep appointments, to be strictly on time for anything, and to use the telephone for anything more trying than a call to the cabin steward to bring to you more of the precious jewels from the gastronomic mine there seems to be on such a vessel.