After you've played your twenty-seventh game of shuffleboard . today, and one more lobster dinner is going to force you to grow claw crackers, find a quiet place with a comfortable deck chair. I've heard people say that a cruise ship is exciting and boring, riotous and relaxing, and they'll either never travel any other way again or move to the desert. Nevertheless, everyone seems to agree-the ships are always packed with enough people to make single-file a lifestyle. Here's a book to take with you when you do locate an unpopulated corner of your floating pool deck. Two dozen ways to escape from anxious deckhands laden with fresh towels, single women and men seeking a night, a cruise, or a bankroll, and those wonderful toddlers who think every solid object is a drum. The stories are grouped together in groups of three with some obvious, well maybe not always obvious, connection. Read them slowly, alone or with a friend, if that's your reason for taking the ship in the first place. Take your time, though, don't rush; save a few stories for the lifeboat.