The pleasant mindlessness of cruising

Sharon Plan Chan learns to enjoy a family cruise. From the Seattle Times:

I was definitely liking it. The days had a pleasant mindlessness to them. People who don't like cruises say there's nothing to do on the ship, but, in fact, I felt like my days were quite full.

I woke up, I went to breakfast. After breakfast, I read on the pool deck. After lunch, I would return to my room and would maybe catch a movie on TV. My family would get together for mahjong in the game room. Before dinner, I went to the gym and did Stairmaster with a view of the Pacific Ocean.

Then I'd get to wear a swanky formal dress that I never got to wear in Seattle. I would fetch my mom and we would go browse the same six stores each night. We would order all the food we wanted at dinner, drink wine and laugh at each other's lobster faces.