My First Ever Cruise Experience

I was very excited and looking forward to a great vacation. A long time coming.
After I went through the gate to get on the boat, I was greeted by the cruise director and other staff members. I found my cabin easy enough. I stowed my gear (as they would say on the ship) and decided to take a look around and get orientated.

I went on the top deck to have a look around. I saw lots of different people rushing around. Some of them seemed lost and others were dressed like old-fashioned tourists with flowered colored outfits and cameras hanging around their neck. One little man wearing a black suite, a bowler hat and sporting a large mustache caught my attention. He was carrying around a large black binder and writing notes. It seemed he wrote something about everything and everybody he saw. I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing and why. Since I hadn't eaten in quite a while, I decided to find the cafeteria- known as the galley on a ship. They had more food than any human could possibly want. Actually, all I wanted was a good old P and J sandwich. Yep, a good old -fashion peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Of course the waiter thought I was crazy, but I insisted. He brought out a P and J sandwich which I quickly devoured as everyone sitting close to me stared at me. I would have spoken to them, but my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth, and I couldn't talk no matter how hard I tried.

After wandering around a little while longer, I felt tired so I decided to go to my cabin and rest. I always enjoy lighting candles. It can set a very relaxing atmosphere.

This time, however, something very strange happened. I took out my candles, lit them and then started to relax. Suddenly I saw an image coming from one of the candles. It looked like the little man I had seen earlier. He was still writing down things in his black book. I quickly realized that he was just outside my door. My door was cracked open just a few inches, and the little man with the bowler hat and mustache was really there.

"Hey," I called out, "what are you doing?" I jumped up and ran to the door, but he was long gone.

I decided to get up and go to the dance contest. I had noticed the flyer earlier when I was walking around. I didn't care about actually dancing, I just wanted to enjoy watching the contest. I sat down in a chair in the front row on the side. It didn't take me long to notice the little man with the black suit and bowler hat dancing with a very tall, thin lady wearing a red dress. As they got closer to me, I tried to reach out and touch the little man on the shoulder. He quickly squirted away, but I was able to get my hands on his hat. I looked on the inside and noticed a tag saying NADG. What did that mean and what was that? After a moment or two I remembered that there was a computer lab open to the public on board the ship. I decided to go there and search out some information on the NADG.

I sat down at a computer and prepared to search for information on the NADG. I learned that the letters stood for National Association of Do Gooders. As I was just starting to read the information, the tall slender lady in the red dress slithered over and sat next to me. "Hi there. I see you have my friends hat. I need it back Please."

"I was just looking up National Association of Do Gooders." What does that mean?

What is this organization?" "You don't need to know right now darling." She responded in a sort of low, beefy voice. For a moment I didn't know what to say.

A few seconds passed, and the short man came in. He tried to grab the hat out of my hand. We wrestled for a moment or two... his notebook fell out of his pocket. I grabbed it up quick letting go of his hat. I figured the notebook was more important.

I turned my back to everyone to protect myself and opened the notebook. I saw many names in there including my own. There were some notes written by each name. The notes mentioned times and days. I realized that these dates were occasions when I had helped someone or done something nice. "Well, I suppose you know now what this is all about" said the short man in the bowler hat. "Not exactly" I responded. "What is my name doing on this list along with all these other people?" "You see" he replied back, "we just wanted to get some information. We want to start a newsletter or newspaper about all the good things people do instead of all the bad news but we want to keep it quiet so people don't do good things just for the publicity."

Sure enough a few weeks later I received a complimentary copy of the Do Gooders Press. My name was listed in there for going to get a key for a mother who had locked herself out of the car and holding the door open for someone who was trying to get on the elevator with some big packages. Wow, I thought if only everyone would try to do at least one nice thing every day this world would be a much better place.

I am already thinking about taking another cruise. I don't know if it will be just as exciting as the first one.

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