Cruise in review

I’ve just returned from a 7 day cruise in the Western Caribbean – great fun, I’ll admit, but I’m not convinced it’s something I’d do again soon. The food is great and abundant and available 24 hours a day, the entertainment is slightly canned but mostly pretty enjoyable regardless, the shopping is duty free and the drinks are not light on anything that counts, the service is like stepping into a whole different world-basically, as a guest, one is required to do nothing but eat, play and sleep in whatever combinations one desires. Everything else is handled by the army of people behind the scenes that make it all possible and it’s phenomenal to be able to do nothing but what pleases. Nevertheless, there’s something about being waited on hand and foot that, while extremely appealing in many ways, is vaguely repulsive at the same time. I don’t know whether this is due to my upbringing, but being so totally catered to doesn’t always sit well with my conscience. It’s not that I think I should be the one doing the catering – it’s more that I don’t think anyone should be required to cater to that kind of level – you know? I found myself at odd moments throughout the trip thinking these people must hate us, if only for our decadence. Maybe that’s just me, feeling guilty….whatever…Here follows an outline of the week.

Saturday 10-8-05:

Fly to Miami
 American Airlines –long ass flight! What is it about flying that stretches time too almost unbearable lengths??

Hotel:
 Holiday Inn-South Beach-Miami Beach, FL-not the greatest but serviceable – humidity and heat were like a slap in the face. Realized at this point that I had forgotten to bring my bathing suit so went shopping…apparently women in Miami only wear bikinis…one piece swimming suits are extremely rare but I just managed to hunt one down that wasn’t either hideously bright or have any extra ruffles – who wears neon orange, ruffled bathing suits?? Paid far too much for a bathing suit I didn’t end up even removing the tags from…still, I guess now I have another bathing suit to make my swim-free life easier to live…or something. $20 cab ride to the hotel we were supposed to be staying at except for my usual procrastination…anyway – had a reception-type dinner that night at the hotel we were supposed to be staying at – got to meet everyone going on the cruise as well as people who were just coming to the wedding and not sailing – it was a nice evening, food was good, company was great.

Sunday 10-9-05:

Board Royal Caribbean: Explorer of the Seas
 Good god! This is basically a process of ‘hurry up and stand in line for hours’ before you get anywhere near the ship…bleh…we were even given preference because of the wedding and I believe we still stood around for a couple hours after checking in just waiting to get on the boat – apparently this is the most efficient way to run people through the whole disembark, embark routine…

 Also had a wedding this day – beautiful, simple – extremely well organized – I don’t believe I have ever been quite so well managed…it was kind of eerie…I think the bride and groom were pleased – at least they seemed so and I haven’t heard anything to the contrary…cake and drinks afterward – ended up doing a toast I hadn’t prepared for (think it went alright in any case), non-sailors got off the ship and we all went separate ways to do the safety muster (required by law-pretty much resulted in me, still in wedding finery, standing in line on the deck wearing a bright, orange life jacket and sweating like every pore in my body had sprung a sudden and total leak…something that became a more-or-less constant state as the trip progressed…). After muster, we had about an hour to relax before dinner.

 If you’ve never had dinner on a cruise…well…remember that decadence I mentioned earlier? Here is where it becomes almost unbearable – you start by having your napkin placed in your lap and it goes from there. You can whatever you want on the menu – you can have everything on the menu…and the food is – as I’m sure you’ve heard before – incredibly tasty and beautifully presented…

Monday 10-10-05:

At sea:
 Lovely day – spent my time mostly on the deck reading my book, and people watching…sorry to say there was a Speedo-jogger…other than that – lovely day…lounging around, eating, lounging some more…then getting dressed for a formal dinner (which just means you have to get a bit more dressed up to go to dinner)…over the course of the day it became increasingly apparent how very international these things actually are – all announcements are made in 5 languages and you hear even more just wandering around the ship…very cool…show that night was a singing and dancing thing that was fun – I think it was called ‘History Repeating’…about dance through the centuries…after that we went shopping on the main promenade – bought a watch (I haven’t owned a working watch for going on 5 years now) and a really cute little evening bag…oh, I think this was also the night I fell down the stairs – that was fun…have some really colorful bruises to show for it but not much else…

Tuesday 10-11-05:

Belize- City & Sanctuary tour (10:15 am):
 First excursion day and my general impressions of Belize are mainly that it looked like a fair portion of it was actually falling down more than standing up. It was very green and the people there are more than a little proud of their country. Apparently 80% of their lobster exports are sold to Red Lobster…I really liked the sanctuary – it gave me less of the icky feeling that I get in most zoos – I think this is because the enclosures were basically fences around areas of forest rather than designed, sterile looking cages…still ended up feeling bad for the jaguars and the birds – I always do in zoos. Extremely hot and humid and, by the time we got back to the ship, it was really too late for lunch but we were starving so we ate anyway and a nap was entirely out of the question…my suggestion here is, when planning excursions, go for the early morning ones so you’ll be back on the ship in time for lunch and an afternoon nap.

Wednesday 10-12-05:

Costa Maya - Chacchoben Mayan Ruins (6:30 am):
 Really nifty trip to the ruins here – it was excessively fun to tramp around in the forest looking at Mayan ruins…even if climbing their damn stairs is mostly a painful activity (I'm not kidding - they must have had some seriously strong legs). Being around structures that have existed since before my ancestors left their mud-huts, by a civilization that was in decline before Europe was out of the tribal stage was a truly, ummm…interestingly humbling feeling.

 Also, did my first bartering with the vendors stationed there – it was fun to see how low the price might go...it was also interesting to be constantly referred to as 'amiga' and to be told they'd been waiting all day for me to get there. My most lasting impression of the vendors in all but our last port is one of being pestered incessantly in a good natured sort of way…it took some getting used to but I ended by being mostly amused by it. I think we may have lost something in our modern malls by getting rid of the whole barter system, by becoming slaves to the price listed on the tag. Most things don't even have tags in these places. There’s something much more personal about dickering back and forth for the purchase, often with the person who made the thing to begin with…makes it mean more or maybe just makes it more of an experience or something…I don’t know really what I’m trying to say here but…there it is.

 This is the day I discovered the beauty and necessity of the afternoon nap…whatever it is about this lifestyle that requires an afternoon nap, I never have figured but it was a blessing that I figured it out! That and this was the day I finally gave in to the fact that I am a solitary person by nature and extended periods of time without solitude make for an irrationally irritated me…after my nap, I was in a much better mood and enjoyed my evening far more than the previous two. I think this was the night of the ice show? That was pretty nifty...have I mentioned the mango dacqueries yet? Whew! Those things are just...marvelous!

Thursday 10-13-05:

Cozumel - Highlights & Shopping (8:00 am)
 Ummm, well – Cozumel does have some really lovely areas (mostly the beaches and water beyond them) but, other than the endless streets of vendors selling mostly the same set of junk, my only real impression of the place was the absolutely marvelous fish tacos we had for lunch – I’m seriously regretting that there isn’t a chance in hell that I can look forward to finding anything similar here at home. Ah, well - there's always Wahoo's, right?...sigh...

Friday 10-14-05:

Grand Cayman - Highlights & Turtle Farm (10:30 am)
 This was my favorite port primarily because of the turtle farm – we actually got to hold a couple turtles-which was way fun, and watching the bigger ones swim around in their tanks was really nifty too. They had a whole take of baby ones that were only a couple inches across - very cute. I've never really taken much notice of turtles before but I'm thinkin' that may have changed. So, going with the turtle theme-there's something about the fact that this is the place that was once called Tortuga that captures my imagination – I'm not sure yet why I’m so taken with the idea of pirates and all the ideas that go with them but I was charmed enough to pay far too much for a couple pirate t-shirts and I've been finding an excuse to where one or the other every day since...This is also where we got to go to Hell – I bought a t-shirt and a bottle of ginger-beer, took some pictures and laughed at the thought of sending a postcard from Hell...then I got back on the bus and started looking forward to my afternoon nap again...

Saturday 10-15-05:

At sea
 Our second day at sea and I really, really needed the break. I can't quite express how good it felt to be able to sleep until I felt like getting up and, once I had, to know I didn't have to do anything at all for the whole rest of the day. I find those kinds of days so incredibly wonderful I can't begin to do it justice with any of the words I know for such things. I got up, dinked around for awhile, went to lunch, went back to my room, dinked around some more before heading out to the balcony to do some writing-most of the day entirely to myself by myself...I'm smiling just thinking about it...lovely day, it really was. It was the only day on the whole trip were the sun stayed behind clouds more than not and the wind had a bit of a bite to it. We were heading north ahead of a tropical depression that would later develope into something we know of as 'Wilma' these days.

Sunday 10-16-05:

Return to Miami-
Miami Highlights tour (8:30 am)
 Because we had this last excursion scheduled, we were able to get off the ship in the first waive. It still took almost 2 hours before we were off, through customs, collected our luggage and gotten on the bus. The only exciting thing about this process was the fact that I somehow managed to pack my passport rather than keeping it somewhere I could actually get to it. So, the only day I actually needed the damn thing - I didn't have it. Fortunately, they let me back in the country with just my drivers license and a few questions (though I did have a couple nervous moments waiting in that damn line). Because we flew American Airlines, we were able to check in for our flight and check our bags right there at the port rather than having to haul it around with us all day – that was lovely. Our city tour ended about 11:30, not much to say about that other than we did get a tour of Coral Gabels with is a very pretty part of the city (actually, the only part I saw that didn't seem somehow dirty - Miami just looks run-down and dirty to me for the most part). We were then stuck at the airport trying to entertain ourselves until our plane left at 8:00 that night! Let me tell you, there just isn’t all that much of interest in the airport! The flight, like the one to Miami at the beginning of all this, felt far to long and left us arriving home around 10:30 pm (which, by the time we’d been living it was actually 12:30) and didn’t actually get home, home until just about midnight after which I managed to drag only the smaller of my two suitcases up the stairs before falling in to bed.

To sum up – I had a great time on the trip but was strangely ready to come home at the end of it all. Aside from having to go back to work (which I’m still regretting) I was happy to be home and see my kitties and sleep in my own bed…you know – that sort of thing ;-). And, I think I’ve probably gone on long enough! There will probably be pictures in the day or so…

portrait

Not one I can take credit for...just one I like. There's something about owls that I love - I don't know if it's their faces or that they come out mostly at night or that they're silent when they hunt or that they're not known for their intelligence...whatever it is, they always make me smile when I see them...

When is it enough to know what we're losing?

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Ben Franklin -

essential
• adjective 1 fundamental; central. 2 absolutely necessary

liberty
• noun (pl. liberties) 1 the state of being free from oppression or imprisonment. 2 a right or privilege. 3 the power or scope to act as one pleases. 4 informal a presumptuous remark or action.

safety
• noun (pl. safeties) 1 the condition of being safe. 2 before another noun denoting something designed to prevent injury or damage: a safety barrier. 3 US informal a condom.

Am I the only one who learned you can’t use the word itself when defining a word??

safe
• adjective 1 protected from danger or risk. 2 not causing or leading to harm or injury. 3 (of a place) affording security or protection. 4 often derogatory cautious and unenterprising: a safe choice. 5 (of an assertion, verdict, bet, etc.) based on good reasons or evidence and not likely to be proved wrong. 6 informal excellent.

In mulling this idea over (thanks, Rob) it occurs to me that far too few people have even a vague understanding what these words actually mean either for themselves or for the greater community they live in. With the Patriot Act and Homeland Security (what a joke) becoming a permanent part of our lives, I feel compelled to point out what I believe should be obvious and apparently isn’t…at least not to the majority of people I run into from day to day…at least in as often as it comes up in conversation (not all that) most of the opinions (if indeed any are held) I have encountered lean towards the ‘well, if it’ll make us safer then I’m for it’ brand of stupidity.

There is no such thing as safety! Neither on the grand nor on the common levels and, the sooner you accept that and move on, the sooner you can start paying attention to the things you can actually have some impact on. Let me repeat that – there is nothing you can do to keep the crazy person from killing you if that is what he is intent on doing, nothing you can do to keep the drunk idiot from running you over, the fanatic suicide bomber from blowing you up, the hungry sea monster from eating you, the nasty storm from destroying everything you hold dear, the random acts of god that make puddles into death traps – nothing but sheer blind luck and luck cannot be used to plug the leaks in any boat-it will desert you as soon as save you and you’ve just got to accept that’s how it’s gonna be. If it’s your turn to go to the bottom – you’re gonna go, accept that and move on…it’s not really all that difficult. Do what you reasonably can and don’t think about it anymore. In other words – don’t be stupid but don’t dwell on it.

That we have been systematically beaten into a state where we’re told and we accept that it makes sense to allow our government to arrest people and hold them indefinitely on nothing more substantial than suspicion – doesn’t even have to be a reasonable suspicion…makes me very, very scared - what is this supposed to save us from again?

Safety is an idea as much as anything, an intangible – an illusion-and illusions only have power if you believe in them. None of us can say we know what the future holds (I’m sorry; I have to say I like to believe in the possibility of prescience but I have rarely seen anything to suggest it really exists in any useful form), we can’t predict disasters (outside some very limited parameters), and we certainly are incapable of convincing people it really is a good idea to get out of the way when something bad is coming – and that’s fine, it’s their choice to take the risk– I’m just saying – you can’t make everyone, indeed anyone, safe no matter how hard you try and no matter how many liberties you trample while you're at it.

As for ‘essential liberty’ how many Americans would say that’s something they’d be willing to give up? Our freedom is our catch-phrase, right? Isn’t that part of what this country is supposed to stand for? And yet we’re trading it in every day for the illusion of safety (and it’s not even a convincing one) with every vote that keeps our current regime in place…every voice that isn't raised against the stupidity is a silent vote to support it. An this is not to say a different regime wouldn’t continue to try chase us to ground and, having cornered us with dire pronouncements, use our fear of the possibility of pain and destruction to convince we made a good trade…hmmm, one illusion for another I suppose, when it comes down to it. The point is, we sit back quietly and take it and when does that stop? What is liberty if not an idea? What does it mean to say an idea is essential to our way of life? What does it say when we allow our lawmakers to systematically destroy an essential part of that life? How will we know when the last pieces have been sacrificed to the illusion of safety? When will we notice that we can't get it back? When will the illusion shatter and leave us with nothing?