One of our dearest friends, Jean-Guy Pelletier, passed away suddenly a few weeks ago, but he will live in us forever, for too many reasons to explain here. One reason, however, will be with us every time we set foot on a cruise ship.
Our friend was proof that you can have fun without drinking. He belonged to AA. The last time he’d had a drink was 22 years ago. The last time he made somebody laugh was two days 
before he died. He laughed a lot, and he had fun. Always.
He’d been on a cruise ship and easily managed to avoid the constant flow of alcohol. He may have even gone to a “Friends of Bill W” meeting, because they’re on all cruise ships all the time, and he had been to hundreds of such meetings over the last two decades.
It’s likely that not all AA members were so fortunate. On cruise ships, alcohol is more than just prevalent. Walking the deck during drinking (waking) hours means being asked to buy a drink, because booze is a big profit center for cruise lines. The unspoken inference is that you can’t have fun without it, and perhaps cruise lines should educate waiters who could be encouraging those who are vulnerable.
Yesterday we read about a woman who went on Cunard’s Queen Victoria a couple of months after she quit drinking. She was astounded at how often she had to make that decision. She went to a Friends of Bill W meeting and was there by herself, she never gave in to her demons…and she had fun.
Our friend Jean-Guy would have liked that.