Mass tourism sailing too close to the wind

HAVING long sworn I'd never be caught dead on a cruise ship, I’ve been obliged to swallow my words to board the 20-deck, 170,000-ton, 6,000 people-carrying NCL Encore in Seattle to watch my son Henry Shine performing in the musical The Choir Of Man.

- Vanessa Feltz is away

We sailed the Alaskan coast, watched for whales and visited the threatened Glacier Bay National Park.

It was was both thrilling and my worst nightmare. My 4,000 mostly wealthy and loud American fellow passengers aside - I wilt in crowds and am not partial to feeding-time buffets — I was forced to confront facts of life that left me uncomfortable.