Let's be honest - the cruise industry is all about the cheese.
For despite the ships' grandeur, there's also much that's garish and gaudy, tacky, kitsch, lava-lamp opulent and other things a cat would hiss at.
Thus, it's a mode of travelling that draws a wave of criticism.
Years ago I was invited to write a piece aboard a palatial liner that docked in Napier. It was a sunny, balmy, ideal day for passengers to walk the gangway into Napier.
To my horror, hundreds of middle-agers remained aboard, next to the pool, sipping cocktails and eating buckets of nachos. A tour of the different levels revealed the ship was in fact a floating food court.