Interesting and I added a bit of "lawyerspeak" to my vocabulary. Fungible.
Much of this article is old news and written from the perspective of someone whose career goal is to make money from the cruise lines for their employees and guests.
I contacted a firm similar to the author's after I got a staph infection following acupuncture on an RCCL ship. They were not interested because I only wanted actual expenses covered and was not looking for "pain and suffering". I finally settled with the Spa concessionaire for the exact amount I was asking but only after signing a release absolving them from blame "from the Creation until the End of Time." More "lawyerspeak".
I've had some pretty open and honest conversations with staff on a number of cruise lines and the vast majority are VERY happy to have the jobs they do and can often triple or quadruple their wages from tips for exceptional service. Crew members who are not in direct contact positions with the passengers are included in the gratuity "pool" and, generally, work hard to develop the skills to move up.
On the subject of safety I've never been on a cruise -- even short ones -- where there haven't been a series of "Crew Only" exercises. On our last cruise all of the tenders and lifeboats were lowered and circled around the harbor. This happened in two ports -- one for the Port and one for the Starboard boats.
We always have a stash of energy bars with us and tend to hoard water bottles. Perhaps we now should add baggies and air spray.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)