The Secret Life of the Cruise

I have never been on a cruise, I've never really wanted to. But I did wonder what goes on. This documentary, which I found on Amazon Streaming, only gives the shortest glimpses of the passengers and their activities. Its focus in the 20-story ship itself, how it operates, the precisely choreographed arrival of supplies to begin the 7-day trip, the behind-the-scenes activities to make the trip successful and entertaining.

Some of the gee-whiz items for me. The four engines generate 80,000 HP. They propel the ship plus they generate enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. The ship carries 5,000 guests plus 1000+ crew - cooks, entertainers, bartenders, laundry workers, servers - everything to operate a small city on the water during its week-long, 2000-mile trip. They have a water desalination plant for the swimming pools and other fresh water needs. A sewage processing and disposal system. Wasted food is processed to feed marine life while cans and bottles are compacted for later recycling. A theater that holds over 1000 and does three shows a night. Based in the Port of Miami, upon its return a Port Captain actually boards the cruise ship by ladder to safely steer it into its special berth. (I later found out this is a pretty standard practice for ports, and Port Captains are very well paid.)

The only two things I wondered about but were not mentioned. What happens when an machine breaks? Do they have mechanics and other repair persons onboard? And what about police? Surely there must be the occasional altercation onboard, how do they handle that?

Overall this is a superb, fascinating look at the aptly named "secret life" of one of the largest cruise ships.