My wife and I, along with all my in-laws, went on a one-day cruise this past weekend, courtesy of her parents. All we had to cover were a few drinks and gratuities, which totaled about $40. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s about $40 more than I earned last week (thanks for asking). Unemployed and living large is how I roll.

The boat was so huge that when docked, New York actually has a sixth borough. It makes the USS Intrepid – the battleship come museum docked just south – look like a Happy Meal toy. We left the west side of Manhattan in early afternoon, passed the Statue of Liberty and made our way along the south coast of Long Island during the evening before circling back. There were no stops, so passengers didn’t disembark at Fire Island or anywhere to explore the local culture through its gift shops.

I’d never been on a cruise before, of any length. Aside from Love Boat episodes and stories from my wife about her other cruise experience, I didn’t know what to expect. It turns out that the weekend version is a lot different from the Love Boat or the week-long Caribbean version. For starters, Isaac‘s been replaced. I didn’t ask, but I like to think that he earned enough from Ricardo Montalban‘s tips to retire to a beach bungalow somewhere. That story is much more comforting than the likely truth – that he lost his job to someone younger and willing to work longer hours for less money. Further, travelers on the boat weren’t terribly relaxed. They seemed anxious to cram a whole week’s worth of excess into one day.

If you’re imagining a P. Diddy commercial-type scene – with everyone wearing white suits, drinking champagne and acting beautiful – then you have the wrong idea. But people definitely were there to revel in excess, spend money and have a good time. Not being much of a drinker or spender (and essentially broke anyway), the whole thing made me a little uncomfortable. I felt like I was crashing a party and everyone knew. It also made me doubt humanity’s ability to not obliterate itself from the planet (but I digress).

From an economic standpoint, the whole scene was very curious. How can people afford to spend all this money? Or is the economy really not so bad?

One possible answer is that the current financial climate reflects the public’s panic more than it does actual employment conditions. People are worried but still gainfully employed, for the most part. Weekend cruise takers are just less worried or more financially secure. Economic conditions be damned, they’re having a good time.

Another possible answer – one that jibes better with current thinking – is that these were all people who would’ve taken longer, more expensive vacations. They’re feeling the crunch, but still want some enjoyment. They opted for a weekend cruise as a mini-escape.

Still a third possibility is that Americans still have no idea how to manage their money, even when faced with tough times. So they just keep doing what they’ve been doing.

As is often the case, the answer is probably some unknowable combination of the three. Some people are worried, but willing to spend money. Some people downsized their vacations. And some people just spend freely without regard to the economic climate. Everyone feels the recession crunch differently.

Feel free to disagree, of course. The comments link is right there…