Seeking a sanctuary: On the Grand Princess

I had been searching for it for two days, and I think I have finally found it. Eighteen decks above the Caribbean Sea is a disco-nightclub called Skywalkers, and from 9:30 p.m. until about 2-3:00 a.m., it is throbbing to the pulse of loud music and young people drinking and dancing. My wife and I have come up at night just to check it out, but before we even stepped on the 50-foot-long moving stairway that propels you from Deck 17 to Deck 18, the loudness of the music drove us to reconsider our decision and leave.

I am in Skywalkers Nightcluub as I am writing this. The chairs here are all living-room-style, overstuffed comfortable, the view of the ocean is panoramic, there is virtually no one here, and the view of the ship’s wake spreading out into forever is both mesmerizing and hypnotic as it follows us at 17 knots toward Aruba.

Yesterday, my wife and I found chairs along a hallway outside of Explorer’s Lounge on Deck 7, the Promenade Deck, but they were having an art auction, and the voice of the auctioneer was loud and distracting — even though we were not seated in the Lounge itself. Besides, a hallway on the Promenade Deck is more for people who want to be seen, are waiting for others, or who don’t mind the numerous distractions.

Another location we tried was the piano bar area at the atrium on Deck 7, and although there were few people seated in the area, the distractions came from people moving through and around the atrium, bar rats talking boisterously at the bar, and bartenders blending customers’ fruit drinks. There are bars located throughout the ship.

Our third attempt to find a convenient, comfortable, quiet location was the library just off the Atrium on Deck 5. Now, you would think the ship’s library would be a perfect location, and on all three of our Celebrity cruises the libraries were excellent. In the Grand Princess library there were many visitors, computers for use by anyone interested (for a fee), uncomfortable chairs, and no convenient writing tables. I know what I like (Celebrity spoiled me), and this was not it. The one thing I liked about the Grand Princess library was the outstanding bronze bust of Albert Einstein at the exterior door of the library. Unfortunately, Albert Einstein was a bust as far as contributing anything to my writing experience there.

The fourth attempt to find a quiet, comfortable, and convenient location for writing was successful; however, I do not recommend it for the feint of heart. I’ll explain that in a moment.

Skywalker’s Nightclub, with the exception of the smokestacks about two-thirds of the way back on the ship, is the highest location. During the two weeks of sailing, few people discovered it during the daylight hours (they preferred the pool areas at the center of the ship). The nightclub, however, tended to fill up around 4:30 through 5 p.m. when we were leaving a port for the view was outstanding. I watched as we left Granada, for example, and not only did the Nightclub provide a remarkable view of the port area and island terrain. Ominous rain clouds embraced the center portion of the island, and the setting sun cast enchanting rainbows over Fort Frederick just above the dock from where our ship departed. The departure was truly stunning — a scene I couldn’t wait to capture in words!

Getting back to Skywalkers Nightclub: picture a cocktail lounge full of numerous seating areas designed for four people — furnished with a couch for two, two comfortable lounging chairs, and a coffee table — with a large floor-to-ceiling picture window through which you see bright blue water extending to the horizon, and you create a vision of where I am. Then, throughout the club there are places for two people to sit in big, comfortable chairs with a small round table between. It is at one of these places for two, not directly overlooking the water, where I found my writing sanctuary. It is a place to ponder, think, reminisce, and write, and for many days on this cruise I retired to this location — whether for one, two, or three hours during the day. I finally found my writing place.

I mentioned convenience as a prerequisite. There are two elevators out of seven at the back of the ship — one on each side of the ship — that will take you directly to the 17th deck. Most only go to the 14th deck where the Horizon Court breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets are located.

When you get off at the 17th deck, there are bathrooms conveniently located in a hallway connecting the elevators, and when you turn and enter the center of the ship, there is that 50-foot moving ramp (not moving during the daylight hours) and angled pathways on either side of the escalator that take you to the 18th deck. (Just an aside about these angled pathways with full glass windows on both sides: they pass over somewhere between 30 and 50 beach chairs on each side of the rear of the ship — and a whirlpool — where sun worshipers spend their days in the sun. This adds some additional pleasure — or interest — in walking from the 17th to the 18th decks.)

Our room (Emerald Deck Room 614) is located toward the rear of the ship, and because Skywalker’s Nightclub was at the extreme rear of the ship, adding significantly to the impressive and imposing silhouette the ship casts when in port, this made getting from the room to the club extremely efficient.

(The Horizon Court buffet is located at the rear of the ship as well. This is where two flavors of ice cream are served at 3:30 p.m. every afternoon — a convenience to room, club, and me!)

I want to mention a loss that took place between our first voyage on the Grand Princess in 2000 and this one in 2009. Occasionally I enjoyed writing in a room at the very front of the ship — on Celebrity, that location was called the Fleet Bar — and on Grand Princess they have created a new area called “The Sanctuary” which, I think, would be ideal.

To create “The Sanctuary,” they removed the jogging track entirely, which, in 2000, I used almost daily! The only problem with “The Sanctuary,” which I find totally objectionable, is that Princess Cruise Lines charges passengers $10.00 for a half day for permission to sit in this area! I do not believe passengers should be charged for this privilege, because they are already paying dearly for their trip.

I mentioned earlier in this essay one problem with the Skywalkers Nightclub, and I said I would return to it in a moment. For those who get carsick or seasick, or who find reading in a constantly moving environment, Skywalkers will be uncomfortable if not upsetting. Because it is so high, when the ship is sailing, Skywalkers is in constant motion. When the seas get the least bit rough, Skywalkers is likely to be one of the first places on the ship to reveal it. I found it soothing, even comforting, on most days, even though on one of them, my pen would move radically on the paper as I composed. For me, cruising gives me a chance to read and write, but I must find my sanctuary.

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At the Itinerant Librarian, there is a brief, interesting essay by Angel Rivera entitled, “A writing sanctuary: wish I had one of those back when.” In this essay she writes about having a writing sanctuary (although her “sanctuary” is a bit different than the one I talked about in my essay.) She writes, “I certainly did not lack imagination, so I had a chance to explore that. I am thinking now that a place like the Kelly House earlier in my academic career would have been good for me. It's a writer's sanctuary blending the formal and the informal.”

At Julie Unplugged, Julie Jordan Scott writes an essay, “Sanctuary Musings (Exercise from Christina Baldwin's Life's Companion, p 82).” In the essay, Scott defines a sanctuary as, “My writing sanctuary – all sanctuaries – have that feeling of ‘Safe place.’ Sacred, set apart. My writing sanctuary is separate and yet it is together with the rest of the house. I can watch the neighborhood as it comes and goes, the characters that play a part. I can be a witness to the beginning of each day, sitting at my writing desk.” Any serious and consistent writer searches at some time for that special place. That, indeed, is what my experience on the Grand Princess was all about.

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Copyright March 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.