I was sitting in an airplane and my legs ached from being bent for nearly eight hours of travel. My head felt heavy from lack of sleep. This flight was necessary because I was due in Calcutta in another two hours.

Sitting next to me was a man who I can only describe as the Grinch. He had the same squinty eyes, the same diabolical smile and even (shudder!) the same grasping, long fingers.

‘I hate flying!’ he exclaimed suddenly. I looked at him briefly, nodded and closed my eyes. ‘I was supposed to be on board a cruise ship, but the office called and said they needed me back to sign some bloody paper in three to four hours!’

I felt a twinge of sympathy for the Grinch, who should have been sunning his Grinch-like body on the deck of a Princess Cruises liner.

‘Airplanes squeeze me,’ he continued. ‘They squeeze the air, they squeeze time and that’s why I was going on this cruise. I wanted to slow up a bit.’

I thought about time. The only reason I was flying was that I, and the people who needed me, were in a hurry.

A cruise ship does not rush. It does not hurry. It is built for slow pleasures: to sit in deckchairs, to look at the endless expanse of water and to wake up and not know where you might have floated to during the night.

A cruise ship is an outdated experience in today’s fast-track oriented world. Yet, people flock to this experience now more than ever. Cruising is as fashionable as ever. You can go on a Royal Caribbean Cruise, a Carnival Fun Ship adventure or a Costa Cruise.

Why are cruises so popular?
In part, it is because more people can afford the pleasure of a few days of slowness. Additionally, it might also be because people want the chance to remind ourselves that such an experience still exists. We would like to believe that there is a life that does not require us to punch a time-clock and get paid by the hour.

Cruising, gently rocking amidst vast masses of water, affords us pleasure that nothing else can seem to give. This form of holiday or travel is a one-of-a-kind experience.