Won't you let me take you on a sea cruise?
Sailor. Skipper. Cruiser. Crew. A man for all seasides. Disney Wonder, at port in Nassau, Bahamas A few personal nicknames, all reflecting my interest in nautical pursuits. None of these, however, makes me an expert on cruise lines. Experience on watercraft provides only modest preparation for events that can threaten even the most casual of seagoing experiences: I've taken two commercial cruises on those giant floating hotels masquerading as "ocean liners." The Disney Cruise Lines ' crew on the Disney Wonder did a better job than Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Dawn. Both were mostly trouble-free but I helped prevent a potential shipboard fire on one trip. I sailed the Abacos with a Boy Scout troop aboard a 20-year-old Beneteau whose skipper struck a submerged rock on our first night at sea. We limped through the rest of the week-long cruise. I've skippered a small sailboat and a powerboat, wrecking the powerboat engine's prop on a semi-subme...