Rolling along

My company had a great convention aboard the cruise ship Mariner of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean line. It was fun to have the whole ship filled up (3,400 passengers) with Nature's Sunshine distributors. Half of the group had never cruised before so it was a new experience for them. We had been working on this cruise for 2-1/2 years and we were able to "brand" the ship to help celebrate NSP's 35th anniversary. Our logo was everywhere--flags, banners, menus, napkins, ice sculptures, fruit carvings, desserts, etc. Our normal conventions are four days long with only a few of the meals provided, so this week-long extravaganza to the Western Caribbean with all the food you could eat was a big hit. Speaking of hits, an unexpected bonus occurred when one of the entertainment acts booked for the cruise was "Beatlemania". They made quite a splash. Susan loved them so much she went to both the early and late shows.


The only problem was the high number of casualties we had during cruise. Just before the ship sailed out of Port Canaveral, Florida a lady slipped on the pool deck and cracked her skull. She had to be taken off the ship. During the next two days we had two broken bones and several twisted and sprained ankles. After that we had a heart attack! At least no one died... that's happened three times before during conventions in my 26 years with the company--kind of embarassing for a health-oriented company.