ESCAPES ESCAPES backs occur, as they often do, we put on our “happy faces” to muster a little Christmas cheer. Aah, “the most wonderful time of the year.” Last year we decided to be holiday dropouts. No family visits. No towering spruce in the living room. No evergreens around the door. No candles in the windows. Thanks to gift cards (we were far from Ebenezers) we didn’t wrap one gift including the one we gave to each other: a posh 12-day Caribbean holiday cruise aboard the Crystal Serenity. Sure I had my doubts about a family-less, friendless Christmas. Would we be the only two-some on board a ship packed with happy families? Or worse, would we be surrounded by a bunch of loners (losers?) sharing a ship full of people who had no family at all? Would it feel weird or wonderful ringing in the New Year with hundreds of strangers instead of our usual intimate dinner with close friends on New Year’s Eve? Worse yet, would we feel lonely? It is 82 degrees in Miami as we board the ship.
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BC The Magazine // November/December 2011
Christmas carolers clad in fur-trimmed red velvet coats sing “Joy to the World,” oblivious to the heat. In shorts and flimsy tee shirts, we wipe our brows and seek shade. On board the scene is far from Bah humbug. A 30-foot Christmas tree dazzles us with 2,000 white twinkling lights, sea foam green ribbons, crystal snowflakes and sparkly musical instruments. Lifesize Santas in red velvet and faux ermine-trimmed robes are dotted about. Oversized candy canes line staircases and mountains of cookies surround a gingerbread house edged in gumdrops and fruit slices. “Did we just get off the Polar Express,” I ask my husband, referring to the animated film about a trip to the North Pole. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” he teases. So much for being Christmas escapees. Call me shallow and superficial but I chose this holiday trip based on snob appeal. We had cruised on several fancy cruise lines but never on Crystal, perhaps the name droppiest of them all. It’s been