All in a Morning's work

My Mother is pretty awesome. I woke up to sunlight streaming in our portside window and joined her on our deck. She told me that she had just redecorated the entire ship.

For example, she (and everyone else) got confused every time when exiting the elevators. Which direction were we to go? What side of the boat did we want? So, why not help everyone while also subtly signal this is a ship and not a floating hotel?

The strip of anonymous carpet running along each corridor, the one that looked like a crate of blueberries and bleach had been spilled and then squashed into it, could be replaced with one on the port side that included red tones, and one on the starboard side could include green tones. Boats carry red lights on their port side and green lights on their starboard side, so why not educate and illuminate at the same time?

In the middle of each bank of elevators there could be a circular carpet in a compass design indicating which direction was to the bow and which pointed to the stern.

Glitzy staircase? Gone! Replaced with polished wood and brass railings from the golden age of travel. Fake floral still-life ho-hum posters? Why not blue Dutch tiles, with ship designs. It is Holland America, but Dutch trading vessels are so much more apropos than tulips.

And don’t get her started on the art! It is truly awful and has no connection with where we’ve come from and where we are going. Donald Duck watercolours and abstract cocktail parties in glow in the dark paint. Really? Why not even a hint of local art and artists? Perhaps indigenous art, which could also because a serious of lectures.

That was on our second morning. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with by day 42!