Rating: 
Summary: An Indispensable Guide
Review: While Pam Kane's Happy Sails contains a good amount of advice, at times the book contains many irrelevant anecdotes. These little sidebars sometimes insult one's intelligence. For example, on page 136, she relates a story where a lady fell and broke one leg and two arms. According to Ms. Kane, the poor woman's husband wanted to know if they both could fly home "now". She ends this tale of woe with "Then he wanted to know why the cruise line couldn't fly her home so he could continue his cruise? And how much would it cost? Nice guy. Nice try." Honestly, what a bunch of tripe. Why does the reader need to know these wacky stories? Probably the most cheeky moment of the book is her advice to gay couples. I give her credit for being supportive but it is somewhat condescending. For example, on page 72, she writes " (Question) Is there anything we should or should not do?... (Answer)Other than have a great cruise? About the only thing that might cause some negativity is going overboard in the Public Display of Affection (PDA) area. Don't put your relationship into other people's faces...." Frankly, gays and lesbians do not need the author giving them advice on how to behave on a cruiseship. We manage to figure that out everyday in life. She later relates another anecdote where she and her sister where "adopted" by a "significant gay population" aboard the ship. While playing games and whatnot, they chose team names such as "Fruits Afloat" and "Queens of the Ocean" as retribution for some overheard remarks from some other passengers. While I do not question the veracity of this story, Ms. Kane acts as though she marched with Harvey Milk. I do, however, give her points for trying. Incidentally, Ms. Kane fails to mention that there are charters by Atlantis, RSVP and Olivia, which cater to the gay and lesbian market if a couple were to feel uncomfortable with the other passengers. Other than these annoying features, the books does manage to dispense some practical advice. Just remember, apparently she wrote it thinking her readers were a pack of Love Boat misfits.
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