While On Board, Get Ship Shape

To hear Porthole magazine readers tell it, a major assist to keeping their weight down when cruising might very well be a ship with no elevators.

Last spring, the bimonthly publication, which covers all aspects of cruising, surveyed its readers to determine the shipboard eating habits of passengers.

The results, which include strategies for staying slim while sailing, are in the magazine’s September/October issue in an article titled “Does Bon Voyage Mean Sayonara Waistline?”

Of course, just about every ship has an elevator, but many of the several hundred respondents to Porthole’s survey indicated they prefer using stairs.

Still, when it comes to eating aboard ship, 88 percent of the respondents admitted gaining weight on their last cruise.

The Porthole survey, which posed 19 questions, revealed most of you apparently eat more when you cruise than you do at home. (What a surprise.)

Respondents reported gaining an average of 3 to 5 pounds every time they sail. Undeterred, a whopping 90 percent said they plan to indulge just as much on their next cruise.

In fact, nothing seems to hamper the hunger of some cruisers: Sixteen percent admitted getting sick from overeating.

For many cruisers, the main justification for overeating is there is lots of already-paid-for food. (Ten percent of respondents reported eating five meals a day; 2 percent eat even more than that but didn’t say how much more.) There are cruisers who do exercise restraint, however. In fact, Porthole’s survey even may signal the decline of the midnight buffet. More than three-quarters (78 percent) said they do not sample it.

Of the 22 percent who do, 18 percent merely nibble. A stalwart 1 percent of midnight buffet-goers admitted eating what amounts to a second dinner.

The majority of the respondents seemed to be of the indulging ilk. One summed it up this way: “The food is usually too good to resist, even though I am health conscious and try to stay fit.”

But another group of cruisers, while in the minority, said it is possible to keep the tonnage off by exercising restraint and themselves - using ship’s exercise facilities.