Buying art on a cruise ship could get you in deep water

I know you’re going to make fun of me, so let’s just get this over with. I bought art on a cruise ship. OK, laugh.

While gallery owners and art appraisers will mock you for this, you could do worse. My husband and I faced an unusual situation at our house: a blank wall. I had moved some art around, leaving a glaringly empty wall in the entryway.

This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but DC and I have different tastes and different philosophies about acquiring art. I like to buy art from local artists. He likes art from “known” artists.

We also both work, so we don’t have the luxury of strolling through art galleries or going to art auctions at Sotheby’s. So, the wall stayed bare. “We’ll look on our cruise,” DC said a couple months back, referring to a long-planned vacation coming up.

I sighed. He’s a bigger fan of cruises. The thought of these oversized ships with their central parks, ice rinks, massive buffets and free-flowing alcohol used to make me want to climb into a tent with a granola bar and read a book by flashlight.

But he convinced me to try. I have come around. And that’s marriage.

He has also convinced me to attend the ship’s art auctions, which I used to think were cheesy, because, in fact, some of the art for sale is cheesy. Park West, the company that runs art auctions for many cruise lines, knows what their cruising customers like. They also know that when vacationers are out to sea with all their cares on a distant shore, they are pr.