Another surprising thing to look at were tatoos…I never knew so many people have them. On their arms, legs, backs, torsos, hips, you name it! One man had a very realistic picture of his wife tatooed on his breast, a small girl had huge wings tatooed on her back, I saw many flowers, animals, oriental symbols and letters, a lot or arm bands and cuffs, one man had such a circle around the thickest part of his calf…it looked as if it had slipped from somewhere else. Some men had enough to cover their shoulders and arms almost completely. One woman was so wrinkled and tanned that her skin looked like old leather and the design of her tatoo was totally lost in the folds…that is the fate that awaits most of those wearing tatoos…it won’t get prettier…
Surprisingly there were not as many piercings. The belly button ones seemed popular with young girls…and one or two tongue ones but that’s it…multiple earings do not count anymore as they are so common.
All these astute observations were carried out during the day when people were wearing bathing suits, but when night fell and people had retreated to their staterooms to dress up there was another venue for people watching: the photographers stands! Everyone knows there are photographers on board cruise ships. They are there to snap your picture when you first board the ship even if it is one in the morning! And afterwards they shoot you everytime you get off the ship, they roam the decks to catch you in every possible position, they ambush you in the dining room, and around the pool. All that is predictable, but what I had not expected is that every night the 6 photographers would set up different backdrops to take studio shots of the willing passengers. You had the New York city landscape, the cruiseship background, the roman arch, the grand staircase, the jungle, the orange feather arch, the red zigzag, the fake flowers, the blue, the grey, the white backgrounds. But the funniest to me was the beach decor. It made sense in a way as we were cruising to islands that have great beaches BUT why would anyone want to pose lying on their belly on a fake sandy beach wearing nylons, high heels and an evening dress…or a navy suit???? I still don’t get it… Those photos were expensive too! $20.00 each! yet every night people would stand in line to pose and smile for the cameras. Some people even went from one to the next to have pictures taken with each background… The gallery of horrors (as we called the photo gallery) was always packed with people searching for their photographs…what a narcissic activity…and they were not all cover girl material…I assure you!