The return of the class system - on cruise ships

[Liberal_in_LA]

The Return of the Class System
Cruises Offer Private Areas and Perks to Lure New Passengers; Everyone Else Still Crowds by the Pool

On a recent Saturday afternoon onboard the Norwegian Epic cruise ship, Dennis and Julie Solet peered into a luxurious lounge outfitted with velvet couches and gauzy curtains. But after the Solets told an employee they weren't staying in a suite, the couple was turned away. The lounge, a small sign said, was reserved "for suite guests only."

"Money has its privileges," said Mr. Solet, a 62-year-old retired teacher from Windsor, Ontario. "One day we'll be suite people."

A number of cruise lines are building lavish--and separate--cocoons for their biggest spenders. As Andrea Petersen explains, ships-within-a-ship are a departure from the egalitarianism that used to reign on cruises.

There is a new cruise ship class system. A growing number of cruise lines have built lavish—and separate—cocoons for their biggest spenders. It is a departure from the egalitarianism that had reigned on most ships for the last several decades when everyone from the humblest inside stateroom to the most luxurious suite would rub elbows in the same bars, dining rooms and pool decks. In a way, the trend is a throwback to the heyday of trans-Atlantic crossings in the 1920s, when first-, second- and third-class passengers were assigned separate areas of vessels. (Though no one would mistake today's cheapest stateroom for the gloomy steerage dorms of centuries past.)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208662079704894.html

[Duer 157099]

1. Wait. A retired 62-year old says "One day we'll be..."

Right there is the problem.

One day? When? Is your income going up now that you're retired?

Even retired people think that "one day" they'll be rich, magically?

JFC.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. lol. That comment caught my attention also. The retired teacher is NEVER gonna allowed thru the

fancy curtain unless their richer kids pay for them.

[hlthe2b]

3. That way they need less "life boats", right?

I wonder when the populace will have had enough, but when you have idiots like the retired teacher "One day we'll be suite people," I guess, never.