Cruise'n

[Ebby]

Well, I may not be around for a few weks; the "real world" finally caught up to me. I leave Thursday to take a cruise with my family from Texas to Cozumel, to Belize, to Roatan, to Cancun, and back to a port in Texas. Yea, tough life, I know.:p I'm taking my trusty Pismo and WiFi detector ;) and my iPod with the entire TV show Firefly and the first season of Futurama ripped in avi. You know, just the essential technology to get by. :D Oh yea, I'll also be bringing my Canon D60 for some snapshots.

If anyone has been to any of these places, is there anything you recommend I do, see, or bring? (Got Mosquito repellant!) But any comments are still welcome.

Later guys;
-Ebby

[billybobsky]

cruises are the bane of beach goers existence... they unceremoniously dump their sewage and trash when they enter safe harbor (yay clamidia)... they are perhaps the worse way to actually travel and see things...

[Ebby]

Hmmm... :\ Guess I didn't think about that. Although I didn't actually pick the mode of transportation. The clamidia suff... are you sure? It seems kinda stupid to dump untreated waste in the ocean, but they gotta treat it first. Right? :err: If you think about it, I'll be snorkeling in fish-poop all day. HA! I'm grossing myself out! :lol: Anyways, I've always been a recycling fanatic (at work I am known as the person to give dead batteries to because I recycle them) so nature owes me one. Well, J/K, but I thought the biggest problem was introducing foreign animals to new habitats by carrying them in the ballast water and releasing it. Last I heard they have solved that problem by adding a small electric charge inside the tanks, preventing animals from growing.

[kretara]

Doing the cruise thing is fun.
For my honeymoon the wife and I cruised from Istanbul, Turkey to Rome, Italy -- hitting Mykonos, Crete, Sicily and France on the way. It was frigging great.

I've been to Cancun. Its a pretty fun place as long as you stay in the touristy area. The bars are alot of fun and its pretty easy to hook up with someone there.

Remember, you will be visiting third world countries and all the fun things that come with them.
Suggestions: bring lots of sunscreen. Don't drink the water. Wash off any fruits/vegitables that you might buy. Be alert. Use a money belt. Keep all money and identification in the money belt NOT your wallet.

Enjoy the cruise. Most of them have great food and enough activities to keep most anyone happy.

[billybobsky]

these countries are technically second world. cancun is completely false. it is as different from mexico as the coney island fair areas are from manhattan. it freaks me out to think that a state would subject itself to the will of the tourists, but i guess that is life...

as far as sewage is concerned... cruise ships are exempt from the standard ecological protections even in the us -- they can dump their untreated sewage as close as three miles from shore... they also have a nasty habit of throwing their trash over board....

ah the ocean -- one giant trash can...

as far as traveling -- if you want to see central america don't trust a cruise ship tour to show you the quirks that these nations have -- the shipping lines make certain that you don't get to...

[Ebby]

as far as traveling -- if you want to see central america don't trust a cruise ship tour to show you the quirks that these nations have -- the shipping lines make certain that you don't get to...
When I went to Costa Rica a few years ago, that's exactly what we did. We found all sorts of cool little restaurants and hotels. One hotel had HUGE frogs all over and I snuck up on one and caught it (it took both hands) and it pissed all over me. Think "waterfall". I mean this frog must have lost half it's body weight! Fine I said, I'm covered in frog piss and your empty. (Talking to the frog) But I was so wrong. That big'ol frog has 2 more shots in the barrel.

The Manager of the hotel saw this and between laughs, he warned me not to rub my eyes. I took that very seriously and hit the showers.

Good times. :smokey:

[Windswept]

Once upon a time, my friend and I took a freighter from Norfolk, Virginia, to Santos, Brazil. It was *not* a passenger ship, so we were listed as crew members. You might hate me when I tell you that we got this trip for free, because my friend's sister had married into an export/import family. :D It was truly an incredible adventure.

The freighter was old, so the voyage took 12 days, as I recall. The captain was Egyptian; 1st mate, Lithuanian, 2nd mate, German/Chilean; 3rd mate, from Spain; chief engineer, Italian; crew, Brazilian and Portuguese. My friend and I ate with the ship's officers in their dining room. The second mate taught me to navigate the ship, using all those cool instruments and charts you see in the movies; whereupon I proceeded to fall madly in love with him. heh. :D

Contraband goods (clothing - fur coats, blue jeans) were smuggled on the ship (in *our* closet!!!) into Brazil. My friend and I were given the sailor's initiation upon crossing the equator for the first time. Very elaborate, fun, messy.

Our trip was almost the complete 'opposite' of a luxury cruise. The freighter had NO amenities. To wash our clothes, we each had a bucket of water. We put our jeans in it to soak for a few days. Fresh water was at a premium, so showers could only last about two minutes. But I had *absolutely* the best time in the world.

I 'would' like to take a luxury cruise some day, just for the heck of it. I think a long cruise on a large luxury yacht would be nice, combined with time spent on one of those clipper sailing vessels where the passengers are part of the crew, and time spent on a "tall ship" - one of the old 18th century sailing ship replicas, also as part of the crew.

Since the vessels are small, we could put into port in all kinds of places. I'd like to sail a circuit of the Pacific Rim islands and countries, all the way from Australia/NZ, visiting every exotic port possible, all the way up to the Bering Sea; along the Aleutian Islands, through the Inside Passage to Vancouver, British Columbia. Then I'd fly home. I would say the duration of that trip would be 4-6 months. I'd write a travel book about the voyage, make a small fortune in royalties, and live happily ever after. :)

[kretara]

You will need that small fortune to pay for the cruise. :D

In the Fall of 1998 (off season for European cruises) we paid ~$14,000 for the 2 week cruise above (Istanbul to Rome) not including airfare.
It was damn expensive but worth it since we knew that we would not be able to go on a decent cruise for the next 8-10 years or so because of kids. :devil:

[Windswept]

You will need that small fortune to pay for the cruise. :D

In the Fall of 1998 (off season for European cruises) we paid ~$14,000 for the 2 week cruise above (Istanbul to Rome) not including airfare.
It was damn expensive but worth it since we knew that we would not be able to go on a decent cruise for the next 8-10 years or so because of kids. :devil:
$14,000 for two weeks, huh? (*gasp*) Hmmm.... Well, let's see. To help fund my passage I could get up on stage and do my dust-mite imitation. I could read palms; do stand-up comedy; vacuum the cabins; bake my world-class, top-secret cheesecake recipe; navigate the ship ( :D ). I'm not proud. I could do all these things.

No, see, the point of having a *dream* is that all the details - like finances - are assumed to be magically worked out in advance. Royalties from my previously-written books would be more than adequate to pay for this lengthy voyage. And then, in the end, it would be tax deductible, since the entire trip would be essential for the writing of the book. heh. Always gotta have an angle, right? :D

[Windswept]

Hey Ebby. Funny story about the frog piss! It really made me laugh to picture you holding that frog - first with your look of triumph at catching him, then with your look of shock and dismay as he let loose the waterworks. :lol:

Sounds like you have a great sense of humor. :)

Have a wonderful time on your cruise! Bon Voyage!

[kretara]

Big pissing frog. I wonder if it was a cane toad
http://www.fdrproject.org/images/TDbigmama.jpg

[Windswept]

Yikes!

[Ebby]

They were these:
http://www.ssba.com/lad/CR-Frog.jpg
This is actually from a my video. I chased the frogs with a my GL1 (at a distance) after that.
I put a ruler on my desk to estimate the hight, but I remember when I grabbed it my fingers would barely touch themselves underneath.

[Bryson]

they unceremoniously dump their sewage and trash when they enter safe harbor
cruise ships are exempt from the standard ecological protections even in the us -- they can dump their untreated sewage as close as three miles from shore... they also have a nasty habit of throwing their trash over board....

Actually, they go to enormous and expensive lengths to avoid doing so, because the associated fines are Gigantic. And they can't dump untreated sewage anywhere. I've watched the chief engineer drink the treated sewage before it's discharged.

And yes, I work on one.

[drewprops]

I always knew that Scotty was drinking the hard stuff!

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I always knew that Scotty was drinking the hard stuff!

Wouldn't it be kinda soft and mushy after it's been treated? :confused:

[bassplayinMacFiend]

You will need that small fortune to pay for the cruise. :D

In the Fall of 1998 (off season for European cruises) we paid ~$14,000 for the 2 week cruise above (Istanbul to Rome) not including airfare.
It was damn expensive but worth it since we knew that we would not be able to go on a decent cruise for the next 8-10 years or so because of kids. :devil:

Wow, holy expensive honeymoon, Batman! My wife & I spent two weeks in Europe in the Fall of '98, but we did the Eurorail/2-3 star hotel route & I thought we broke the bank spending $6K!

[Brad]

:| I thought this was going to be a discussion about

http://www.vidcheats.com/ScreenShots/1000/1452.jpg or http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002STGZ.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

[GSpotter]

I'm taking my trusty Pismo and WiFi detector ;) and my iPod with the entire TV show Firefly and the first season of Futurama ripped in avi.Good idea ;) As a boy (i.e. 20-25 years ago...), I did some cruises with my parents (caribbean, eastern and western mediterranean see, norway). A problem with these cruises was the average passenger age: Well above 50 years. Apart from that: There are worse moments than a sunset on a deck chair on the ocean deck of a cruise liner ... :)