Cruising

 We have learned that about 240 passengers onboard are part of an around-the-world trip (out of 677 max. passengers).  We talked to a gentleman from Michigan who is a part of this group.  He and his wife sold their home and are using a relative’s home address while embarked on this lengthy trip.  I like travel, but we also really enjoy where we live.  These one-day stops, port after port, would get repetitive after a while.  I have a kayak hull, framed and waiting to be completed, in my shop at home.  We have trails to ride on our mountain e-bikes.  We have Spring yard maintenance to complete.  After our visit to Japan, we are interested in getting one of those heated, multi-function Toto toilets installed at our home; they are ubiquitous in Japan.

Although Dawn and I do cruises, we aren’t really ‘cruisers’, we don't quite fit in.  We seldom go to the lectures or attend the evening entertainment.  We don’t sit at the bar, play games in the game room, and seldom participate in classes.  We do frequent the library, which has an extensive and neatly filed inventory of recent books, and we hit the fitness center (but not enough).

Walking the top deck on our cruise ship for exercise on most evenings, I was able to witness the gradual change from no moon to a full moon shining across the waters.

Ship pools by necessity have to be small.  When the ship is rocking in swells, the pool water splashes out onto the deck.

Formal meals at the restaurants onboard start about 1830 in the evening and reservations are quite often later than that.  Those rich meals will kill you.  All the expensive dishes you have yet to try, they are there for the asking.  With plenty of alcoholic drinks as well.  You will be at that dinner table for 1 1/2 hours if you include dessert (and why not?).  This was the longest cruise we have experienced, and I came home slightly heavier(!) because of it.  Dawn and I ultimately cancelled the remainder of our dinner reservations and instead ate an earlier and quicker meal at the buffet cafe.  We always used the stairs and walked laps on the top-level walking track after sunset to get some exercise.

So many excellent food items are available that we must consciously refrain from trying to sample it all, a real “first world” problem.  My lactose intolerance actually makes it easier for me to pass up many of the rich foods.  A drawback of cruising is the widespread obesity encountered among passengers.  It may not be contagious, but it is scary to observe.

As a comparatively small ship on a world cruise, this ship stops in ports that are off the usual cruise itineraries.  Who has ever heard of Kaohsiung, Kota Kinabalu, Muara, Semarang, Surabaya, or Waingapu?  These are some of our ports visited.  

The most profound issue we faced was mentally dealing with the disparity in the quality of life for the hundreds of millions of people who live in these third world countries.  US citizens who criticize the United States should live in one of these countries for a while to experience firsthand the struggle entailed in basic life there.  People, as individuals, have the same aspirations and concerns everywhere, but all cultures are NOT equal.  I see these people ‘trapped’ in their traditional, backwards, discriminatory, short-sighted ways of living that will never change.  The obstacles are too great.

These people are not stupid, and they are not lazy.  They only lack opportunity.  We, in the United States, have hints of the same problems that these people experience daily.  We need to be educated, informed, and jealously guard our responsibilities and freedom.