It is true. You can gain 10 pounds per week on a cruise, if you don’t pace yourself. I look around at the buffet and wonder sometimes just how many times someone can eat (and still live and breathe) every day.

Earlier this week, for example, this very overweight lady had a plate in her hand just about every time I saw her. My “liking” of her was probably not enhanced, either, because although she spent 4 hours in the pool and sitting at a table – wait for it: eating – she saved two of the only shady spots on the whole pool deck and NEVER sat in the chairs the whole 4 hours. We were not only roasting like lobsters, but as our stomachs don’t take away or distract from the pain of sunburn like hers does apparently, we didn’t really want to sit at a table and constantly eat like she did, either.

I fumed silently as I watched her mosey to her shady lounge chair three or four times the whole afternoon, in between stops at the buffet. I wanted to ceremoniously remove her huge beach bag and deposit it by the table at which she was seated, just to give her a small hint that taking up TWO chairs in a crowded place was rude. I thought about sitting down some cheesecake or a slice of pizza, telling her she could only have it if she removed her intrusive beach bag from the chaise lounge first.

Of course I did none of this because I’m more socialized than that, but I certainly considered it!

Some people you see on the boat in various locations – at the piano bar, at Guest Services, or even lounging on top deck. For this one, though, like some of the others we always see, you only see them eating. It’s a shame, really. It is sad to see that food has such a draw to people that it becomes like a drug.

The first day of the cruise, at lunch, we saw a lady with two huge plates full of food. There was no way she could eat it all. Her salad, well-made but filling the bowl and looking like it had snow on top due to too-much dressing, went untouched. When her daughter, most likely told when at home to “finish her food before dessert” told the mother that she was full, but she still had more left to eat. The mother, in true backwoods style, said, “Don’t worry about eating everything; it’s free.”. What a way to teach your children to behave and be respectful of themselves and others.