Star Princess: Back in '02, I had the pleasure of sailing on the cruise ship in the news today. Large cruise ships, as I wrote then, do not provide the same enjoyable experience as their more homey brethren.

The Princess line has about five comparable ships to the Star, with three dining halls, two smaller restaurants, a 24-hour buffet, a casino, about a half-dozen boutiques, a disco situated at the top of the ship, and bars everywhere, and can accomodate about three thousand people per cruise. There's an orientation before the ship "sets sail" where you're supposed to learn what to do and where to go in the event of an emergency, but it generally receives the same sort of attention from passengers as the obligatory recital from airline attendants of what you're supposed to do in the event of a drop in cabin pressure. Today's story will inevitably focus on the death of one of the passengers, of a heart attack, but someone dying on a cruise ship is actually not uncommon, largely due to the advanced age of many cruisers.