Well there are plenty of multi day festivals, but another user pointed out that the staff and interaction with the staff is something unique to cruises. Packed staff quarters means no escape from illness, and then close interaction with guests is a recipe for quick transmission. 

The difference is closed environment, time and especially the employee conditions. You are crammed to a closed space with thousands of other people for weeks at the time, while the people who serve you live in cramped conditions and won’t get paid if they don’t work, sick or not. Subsequently, just one sick kitchen…

incubation period that counts in days and not hours like a festival

Yep, she was friends with the group because she had been Monica’s roommate, and she was loyal.  But she was clear-eyed about them too.

Plus Phoebe seemed like she had other social circles outside of the group, like she wasn’t as dependent on them to define her as a person. 

I did once, I didn’t want to and was just like I thought. Imagine going to a packed mall and locking the doors for a few weeks, after about three days I knew everyone’s face

Phoebe was by no means dumb, and one of my favourite things about her was that she was this little seditious voice that pointed out how spoiled everyone else was by their social class, and she reminded the audience of this. She was a friend, but she was capable of taking the approach of, “oh, you’re worried about…

Ya Prima donna! I’d swim through liquid COVID for a million bucks. That’s got to be pretty close equivalence, right?

I did, I once won a Carrabin cruise by throwing a football through the window of a pickup truck at halftime of a Indoor Football League game in Wichita.

no matter who the best Friend is, Ross will always be absolute fucking worst.

I share the sentiment, but upon further reflection, there is most definitely a dollar amount that would get me onto a cruise. I don’t know what that dollar amount would be, but if anyone reading this really wants me on a cruise ship, I’m taking offers.

Maybe this will be the death knell of the mega cruise ship, which based on either previous Boatlopnik or Earther reporting, I can’t remember which, seems like an unequivocal net positive for the earth. From labor, human rights, and environmental perspectives, the cruise industry can't die fast enough 

You couldn’t get me to go on a cruise if you paid me.

i am completely here for hidden fish puns

Phil. He’s the worst. 

Albumin—not to be confused with albumen, the protein in egg whites

Okay, I was half-watching this and when it happened I thought it was a new dance move. I honestly said to myself: “is this what the kids are doing these days?”

this performance was everything

In court docs obtained by the outlet, “Watson acknowledges the candle comes with a “limited warning” on Goop.com — including cautioning not to burn the candle for more than 2 hours at a time — but he says that warning is insufficient.”