Discover the Fountain of Youth?

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Age has its privileges.

It also has a few small negatives, if you haven't noticed.

Sure, when you're young you may lack the funds for everything you have the energy to do, but when you get older, the reverse may be true.

Or at least, that's what I've heard from people who are getting older.

I prefer to regularly return to the Fountain of Youth.

Rather than hunkering down at home, Julie and I break out of the hypnotizing spell of digital reality to take a cruise when our energy levels drop.

Other travel can be great, but there's nothing like a cruise to restore vim and vitality.

Several times, I've boarded a cruise telling myself I will make this a spa cruise, with regular exercise and careful adherence to a low-carb diet like I'm an old Beatle.

I figured out long ago that celebrities benefit from having private chefs who serve them delicious food that is exactly what they need nutritionally, avoiding hidden hunger with perfectly balanced diets, not to mention probably never setting foot in their own kitchens where they're tempted by some chips or cookies they'd bought as special treats for their grandkids.

I heard Goldie Hawn once say that she always goes out for meals and orders anything on the menu, but she only eats half of it.  She gets the full flavor but half the calories.

On a cruise, we all have the opportunity to eat exactly what is healthy for us, including purely vegetarian fare, if that's the path we choose.

I like to think of myself as perpetually on a modified low-carb diet.

It should be easy to skip carbs by simply informing our waiter of that at the outset, when he tries to leave that basket of warm, delicious dinner rolls made from scratch by some of the best bakers anywhere on the planet.

Okay, maybe just one or two, with butter. 

And a little fried dough of an egg roll appetizer certainly can't do that much harm, can it?

I wouldn't want to hurt the chef's feelings by not trying --- and usually finishing --- the rice pilaf that goes so perfectly with my Trout Almondine.

Then at the end, I'll just look at the dessert menu for the sugar-free option, although that Death By Chocolate looks kind of interesting.

And yet, somehow, I lose weight on a cruise, and that's without actually ever starting the spa routines I imagine I might at the outset.

I'd rather walk around the ship than hit the treadmill.

I'm too cheap to buy spa services like herbal wraps, massages and the newest Medi-Spa treatments like Dysport and Botox.

Yes, you read that right.  If you've considered doing Botox like one of those seemingly ageless TV talking heads, you can do it on a cruise ship.

When people ask what you've done to look so great, just say, "Oh, I was just cruising to Hawaii, and that fresh sea air and sunshine does it for me."

But, as Juan Williams likes to ask, "Guess what?"

Even if you don't do Botox or any of the "for-fee" spa treatments, you probably will come back with a glow of health exactly because of that fresh sea air and sunshine, not to mention exercise and excitement of walking around ports or strolling down hallways to world-class entertainment venues on board.

Are you ready for a Miracle?

Visit the Fountain of Youth on board a cruise ship departing close to where you live!

And if you don't live on a coast, remember you're at least halfway to one coast or the other.

"Better service leads to better trips!"