I truly never wanted to go on a cruise, as I point out below, but you do what you have to do…and sometimes a story comes out of the experience, as happened a couple of years ago.

 

The whole thing started because of a disagreement with my wife that began soon after she let me put that ring on her finger, 27 years ago.

Reg had always wanted to take a cruise. She wanted the glamor of a luxury vacation at sea, the enjoyment of professional onboard entertainment, the first-class service, and the excellent dining.

I, a lifelong fisherman, saw it more as being stuck on a floating city with people I didn’t know. What was the point?

But Reg had brought up the idea of a cruise for our honeymoon in 1989, and as a vacation every couple of years since. By the summer of 2009, my argument had fallen flat and I was out of excuses. So we agreed on a compromise: I’d be in Florida on business later that summer, so Reg and the kids would fly down to meet me afterward and we’d all go on a short three-day cruise, from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas and back.

But the agreement hinged on one condition: I’d have time to fish from the ship. Yes, this would be a family vacation, but I’d be in one of the greatest stretches of fishing water in the world for 72 hours. I’m going to at least make a few casts. Right?

So before I left for Florida, I put a pack rod and reel and a small box of tackle in Reg’s suitcase. “I’m doing carry-on for the business trip,” I said, “and this won’t fit in my bag. Can you take it?”

“Sure,” Reg said.

A week later we walked into our stateroom on the Carnival Imagination. I opened her suitcase and felt around. Where’s the rod?” I asked.

“Oh *%#@,” Reg replied.

So I didn’t get to fish, but unexpectedly, I had a terrific time. We all did. Not only were the meals fantastic, the shows terrific, and the service excellent, but I also had a chance to relax (no cell phone service, and no Internet unless I wanted it, and I didn’t) and have some fun. The trophy that I was awarded for winning a big Scattergories contest on board—a six-inch gold plastic Carnival cruise ship on a pedestal—is quite special to me. If not to anyone else in my family.

Since then, Reg and I had always wanted to take another cruise, just the two of us. So earlier this month, as a delayed 25th-anniversary celebration, we boarded the Carnival Sensation in Miami, with stops in Key West and Cozumel, a four-day cruise. And this time, I put a rod in my suitcase.

Reg disembarking the Carnival Sensation in Key West.

Pros and Cons

I’ve fished on a lot of boats over the years, from cartoppers on New England bass waters to bluefish party boats out of New Jersey to big-game charter boats trolling the Gulf Stream for dolphin and sailfish. But for the past several years I’ve been fishing almost exclusively out of my Hobie Outback kayak. It’s a wonderfully designed craft that I first used on a kayak-fishing trip in the Florida Keys a few years ago, and which I’ve since been using since to fish Barnegat Bay for summer flounder and striped bass.

I’ve caught more fish out of an Outback than any other boat I’ve fished from, by far. It gets me to water that shore fishermen can’t reach, that many fishermen in bigger boats can’t access, and it allows me to use lighter and more effective tackle.

A 24-inch summer flounder I caught from my Hobie Outback in Barnegat Bay.

Of course, the Outback requires some effort to use and operate. Not that the Hobie is uncomfortable, exactly. It’s just that Advil is near the top of my permanent checklist of kayak fishing gear these days. And climbing out of the little seat after beaching the Outback is a 30-second maneuver that requires a bit of thought first.

The Carnival Sensation, on the other hand, has masseuses on board to massage your neck after you wrenched it by trying to cram an entire crème brûlée tart into your mouth.

This is not an approved activity onboard a Carnival Cruise ship, as I found out. No 24-inch flounder down there, either.

I was pondering about these contrasts one evening when I was watching a barmaid on the Sensation prepare a margarita for me, which has never happened on my Hobie. Here are some other key differences between the two craft:

Read the rest of the story at Field & Stream.