They are big, they are not particularly beautiful, and they dominate the landscape. They deliver hoards of tourists, who flock up and down the main streets like mill-mucky pigeons on an outing to Harrogate. They turn travellers into tourists and then tourists into trippers.
All this may be true, but so what? At least they sail away rather than leaving a permanent blot on the landscape like some concrete-posh boutique hotel. At least they allow people, who in the past had to be satisfied with a week in Skegness, a chance to see some of the wonders of the world. They may be phoney structures, but they are full of real people who are just as entitled to a couple of weeks in the sun as any landed lord. And this particular cruise ship – the MV Britannia seen here at St Vincents – facilitated a lovely holiday in the Caribbean, so my last photograph is dedicated to her.
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