CRUISE NEW
“We Paid to See the Ocean!” — The Cruise Couple Who Wanted a Submarine to See the Coral Reefs
Sep
PART 1 — “We Can Only See the Top!”
By the third morning of their cruise, Earl and Loretta Jackson had developed a problem with the ocean.
Not the weather.
Not the waves.
Not even the ship.
Their problem was that the ocean, in their opinion, wasn’t showing them enough.
Earl was seventy-two, broad-shouldered, gray-bearded, and stubborn in the quiet way of a man who could stare at a broken lawn mower for forty minutes before admitting he might need the manual.
Loretta, sixty-eight, was considerably less quiet.
That morning, they stood on the ship’s open-air promenade beneath a cloudless blue sky.
Beyond the glass railing, the Atlantic stretched toward the horizon.
Loretta squinted at it.
“Is this really all there is?”
Earl leaned against the railing.
“Sure is a lot of water.”
“I know it’s water, Earl.”
She pointed toward the horizon.
“I mean, where’s everything else?”
Earl frowned.
They had seen photographs before the trip: tropical fish, brilliant reefs, turquoise water.
Yet after several days aboard the ship, most of what they had actually seen was blue water from above.
Loretta stepped closer to the railing and looked down.
Nothing.
“Can you see any fish?”
“Nope.”
“Coral?”
“Loretta, we’re moving.”
She stared harder.
“Well, there’s supposed to be stuff down there.”
A nearby passenger overheard them and smiled.
“If you want to see coral reefs, you might want to check the excursions at one of the ports.”
Loretta turned.
“Excursions?”
“Snorkeling, diving, things like that. Depends on where you’re going.”
The passenger continued walking.
Loretta looked at Earl.
Earl looked at the ocean.
Then something clicked.
“Hold on.”
“What?”
Earl pointed downward.
“If all the good stuff is underneath us, why don’t they take us down there?”
Loretta’s eyebrows rose.
“That’s what I’m saying!”
Neither of them laughed.
Within minutes, the two were walking across the promenade looking for a crew member.
They eventually found Daniel, a cruise employee helping passengers near an outdoor information area.
Loretta marched up first.
“We need to ask you something about the ocean.”
Daniel smiled politely.
“Of course. Are you looking for an excursion?”
“No.”
Loretta pointed dramatically over the railing.
“We’re already on the ocean.”
Daniel waited.
Loretta continued.
“We’ve been looking at this thing for three days, and all we can see is the top.”
For a moment, Daniel thought he had misunderstood her.
“The…top?”
“The surface!”
Earl stepped beside his wife.
“We want to know how we’re supposed to see what’s underneath it.”
Daniel’s expression brightened.
Now he understood.
“You mean snorkeling or a diving excursion?”
Earl shook his head.
“No. We mean from the cruise.”
Daniel paused.
“The cruise?”
Loretta folded her arms.
“Yes. We booked an ocean vacation.”
She pointed at the enormous blue expanse behind him.
“So when do we get to see the rest of it?”
Daniel’s smile slowly disappeared.
He was beginning to realize this was not a joke.
PART 2 — “Then Get Us a Submarine!”
Daniel tried the simplest explanation first.
“Ma’am, the ship stays on the surface.”
Loretta stared at him.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Daniel blinked.
Behind them, the sea stretched uninterrupted to the horizon.
Loretta threw one hand toward it.
“We paid to see the ocean! All we can see is the top of it!”
A couple walking past slowed down.
Earl remained completely serious.
Daniel carefully explained that a cruise vacation could include ports, shipboard activities and separately booked shore experiences.
If passengers wanted to see marine life beneath the surface, there might be snorkeling, diving, glass-bottom boats or other options at certain destinations.
Availability depended entirely on the port and excursion.
Loretta was unimpressed.
“So we have to leave the ship to see the ocean?”
“To see underwater, generally you’d need an appropriate excursion.”
Earl suddenly lifted one finger.
“Then take us down in a submarine.”
Daniel stopped.
Earl pointed toward the water.
“We wanna see the coral reefs!”
Daniel stared at him.
There are moments in customer service when an employee has a response ready.
This was not one of those moments.
Loretta nodded vigorously.
“Exactly.”
Daniel glanced toward the sea, then back at Earl.
“You’re asking if this ship can take you underwater?”
“No,” Earl said, sounding almost offended. “Obviously this whole ship isn’t going underwater.”
Daniel felt a brief wave of relief.
Then Earl finished.
“I’m saying you ought to have a submarine.”
The relief disappeared.
“A submarine?”
“For passengers.”
Loretta stepped in.
“You advertise an ocean experience, don’t you?”
Daniel carefully avoided agreeing with wording he couldn’t verify.
“You are traveling across the ocean, ma’am.”
“Across it!”
Loretta slapped one palm lightly against the nearby counter.
“That’s my point. We’re just riding across the top!”
A few nearby passengers were now pretending not to listen.
Daniel explained again that being on an ocean cruise did not mean the ship provided underwater sightseeing.
Loretta asked why.
Daniel explained that they were entirely different activities.
Earl asked why again.
Daniel tried an analogy.
“If you take a train through the mountains, the train doesn’t necessarily take you inside the mountain.”
Earl frowned.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because nobody wants to see inside a mountain.”
Loretta nodded.
“Exactly.”
Daniel briefly closed his mouth.
There was no winning that argument.
He instead suggested that the couple visit the shore-excursion desk and review activities available at upcoming destinations.
But Loretta had moved beyond solutions.
Now she wanted accountability.
“So you’re telling me nobody explained that we’d only see the surface?”
Daniel remained calm.
“The cruise description would explain what is included in your booking.”
Loretta’s face tightened.
“No submarine?”
“No, ma’am.”
“No underwater viewing?”
“Not as part of simply sailing on the ship.”
Earl shook his head with profound disappointment.
Loretta pointed toward Daniel.
“Then get your manager out here.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Ma’am—”
“Manager.”
Earl crossed his arms.
“We’ll wait.”
Several minutes later, Daniel returned with his supervisor, Melissa.
He quietly explained the situation.
Melissa listened without interrupting.
Then she approached the couple.
“I understand you’d like to see the coral reefs.”
“Yes,” Loretta said.
“And you expected the cruise to take you underwater?”
Earl nodded.
Melissa remained perfectly composed.
Then she asked one question.
“When you booked the cruise, where did it say the ship would take you underwater?”
For the first time all morning, neither Earl nor Loretta had an immediate answer.
PART 3 — The Ocean Was Never the Problem
Loretta opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Earl looked toward her.
“You saved the booking stuff, didn’t you?”
“I saved everything.”
“Then check it.”
Loretta pulled out her phone.
What followed was the quietest several minutes Daniel had experienced since meeting them.
Loretta searched her booking confirmation.
Earl looked over her shoulder.
They found references to dining.
Entertainment.
Their cabin.
Ports.
Optional excursions.
Plenty of photographs of blue water.
But nothing promising that their cruise ship would take them beneath it.
Loretta scrolled again.
“This picture has fish.”
Melissa looked at the screen from a respectful distance.
“That appears to be destination imagery. It doesn’t necessarily mean that activity is included with the cruise.”
Loretta enlarged the photograph.
There were indeed colorful fish.
Earl pointed triumphantly.
“And coral!”
Melissa nodded.
“Yes. And depending on your itinerary, there may be excursions where you can experience something similar.”
Earl looked suspicious.
“But we’d have to book that separately?”
“If it isn’t included in your fare, yes.”
Loretta slowly lowered the phone.
“So nobody is bringing a submarine?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Not even a little one?”
Daniel suddenly became very interested in the horizon.
Melissa somehow maintained her expression.
“No.”
The anger began draining from Loretta’s face, replaced by something worse for a person who had spent twenty minutes arguing loudly:
embarrassment.
Earl scratched his beard.
“So you’re telling me we booked an ocean vacation…”
He looked at his wife.
“…but forgot to book the part that goes under the ocean?”
Daniel pressed his lips together.
Loretta shot Earl a look.
“You booked it.”
“You told me which one.”
“You had the computer.”
“You had the brochure.”
Melissa interrupted before a second dispute could begin.
“If seeing marine life is important to you, we can help you review appropriate options for your upcoming ports. Just check exactly what’s included, the physical requirements, timing, and whether the activity suits you both before booking.”
That sounded considerably more useful than continuing the argument.
Loretta glanced toward the ocean.
It looked exactly as it had twenty minutes earlier.
Huge.
Blue.
Beautiful.
And completely indifferent to her complaint.
“Fine,” she said. “We’ll look.”
Earl wasn’t quite ready to surrender.
“But you have to admit a submarine would be nice.”
Melissa smiled.
“It would certainly be a different vacation.”
That was the closest anyone came to agreeing with him.
There was no refund.
No emergency submarine.
No captain summoned to explain why the Atlantic was inconveniently keeping most of itself underwater.
Instead, Daniel showed them where they could review excursion information.
The couple spent the next half hour reading descriptions far more carefully than they had apparently read their original booking.
For the first time, they paid attention to phrases like included activities, duration, transportation, and physical requirements.
Eventually, Earl and Loretta returned to the open promenade.
The horizon had barely changed.
Loretta rested her hands on the railing.
“You know, it is pretty.”
Earl nodded.
They stood quietly for a moment.
Then Earl leaned forward and stared down at the water again.
Loretta noticed.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking.”
“For what?”
“Coral.”
“We just went through this.”
“I know.”
He continued staring.
Loretta sighed.
“Earl.”
“What?”
“You’re not seeing coral from up here.”
Earl straightened.
“Still think a submarine would’ve been nice.”
Loretta stared at him for several seconds.
Then she adjusted the purse on her shoulder.
“Next time, you read what we’re booking.”
Earl turned toward her.
“Next time?”
Loretta was already walking away.
“Come on. We’re checking those excursions before you start asking somebody for a helicopter.”
Earl followed.
Behind them, Daniel watched the couple disappear along the promenade.
Then he looked out across the enormous blue ocean.
For the rest of his shift, every time someone approached and said, “I have a question about the ocean,” he had to stop himself from asking:
“The top of it…or the rest?”
