I second the DFW recommendation. He wrote a long-essay for Harper's on the experience of traveling on a cruise ship. You can find a free pdf of it doing a goog

I second the DFW recommendation. He wrote a long-essay for Harper's on the experience of traveling on a cruise ship. You can find a free pdf of it doing a google search for "On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise". I highly recommend that essay. ---- The link to the free pdf is the first search result in the query above.