Don't Try This Yourself

Rick Ehlert is a 44 year old California man who owns a 50-ft yacht and has boating experience. Last November he was aboard the Holland America Ryndam, enjoying several cocktails.  In this frame of mind he stepped through a door that was clearly marked "Authorized Personnel Only" and found himself at the stern of the ship where the mechanism to raise and lower the 18-ton anchor is accessed.  Ehlert then spent the next 12 minutes going through an elaborate process that he knew would result in a free-fall for the anchor.  

Ehlert didn't know what was going to happen after the anchor dropped, but it could have been catastrophic. The anchor could have caught in hard ground on the ocean floor and caused the ship to turn suddenly - tipping radically and causing furniture, glassware, china and people to topple over throughout the ship. Or the ship's hull might have ripped open, flooding at least one compartment and doing millions of dollars in damage. The anchor could have destroyed miles of coral reefs, or it could have just reached the end of its chain and broken off.   

Everything Ehlert did was caught on a surveillance camera - and so there is no way for him to deny his actions. His only excuse is that he was drunk, but he knew what he was doing.  Now Ehlert has thrown himself upon the mercy of the court by agreeing to plead guilty to a felony charge of attempting to damage the ship. The plea agreement means that Ehlert could face as many as 20 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000.  (How about some court mandated alcohol counseling?)

Fortunately there was no damage to the ship, which carries 1260 passengers and 560 crewmembers. Crewmembers were able to restore it to its proper position within a matter of minutes. 

Is being drunk an excuse for his actions? It took him 12 minutes to accomplish this deed. He wasn’t too drunk to protect himself with gloves, find a wrench and operate the system.  But he was drunk enough not to consider the possible catastrophic consequences, in terms of both lives and property, of his actions. 

What do you think? 

Here We Go Again - Hurricane Season

Okay, one more time... 

The official Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30. Hurricane season is not a reason to cancel cruise plans or to slip into panic mode.  Here's why a cruise may be a better choice than an island destination during hurricane season:

Suppose you have chosen a lovely Eastern Caribbean island on which to vacation in say, September.  To your regret this lovely Eastern Caribbean island winds up in the direct path of a hurricane while you are enjoying your week in a tropical paradise.  Unfortunately, resorts and islands tend to remain fixed objects (at least prior to the hurricane) and can not pick up and move to a safer location.  Two things may, and probably will, occur: 

1.  You will be evacuated home - end of room service and frothy drinks with pineapple slices, umbrellas, fancy glasses, maraschino cherries and little plastic swords or
   
2. Your resort will batten down the hatches, usually the island will lose electricity, experience coastal flooding and sustain significant wind damage.You will enjoy the remainder of your vacation without air conditioning, hot meals, icy drinks and running water.  The roof of your room may leak. 

On the other hand, rather than limit your vacation to one island, for your vacation you choose to take a week long cruise to the Easter Caribbean, visiting several islands. Once again, that nasty old hurricane comes barreling towards the Eastern Caribbean, presenting an unsettling forecast for your itinerary.  In this case, ships having a tendency not to stay rooted where they are, the captain and cruise line will make a decision to change the itinerary to avoid the storm.  You'll still be on board a beautiful luxury cruise, the drinks will continue to pour, the a/c to work and wonderful meals will be served in the dining rooms. You will have top class entertainment, the casinos will remain open, shops will be selling souvenirs and sunblock and the ship will function as usual.  True, you may not get to visit the islands on your original itinerary, you may spend an additional day or two at sea rather than in port. But 99% of the time your vacation will not be cancelled, you will not be evacuated home and you will not spend the remainder of your holiday wearing a garbage bag that has been re-purposed as a rain slicker. 

Now let's say you've made your choice to cruise but you can't get to your cruise or island destination, (which it turns out was not in the way of the storm, but the storm is heading for your home state of New York or North Carolina) because your airline or cruise line stops offering service for at least 24 consecutive hours due to severe weather.  This is very similar to Newark Airport shutting down at Christmas because of a blizzard - but that was soooo last year.  THAT'S WHY YOU BUY INSURANCE WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR BOOKING.

To maximize vacation protection from storms and hurricanes, travelers should buy insurance when they make their travel plans and before a storm or hurricane is announced.  Once the National Weather Service issues a warning for a storm or hurricane, it is considered a foreseeable event. Policies purchased on or after the warning date do not cover losses related to that event.

So continue to book, continue to travel, take advantage of some extremely good pricing available RIGHT NOW for this fall, winter and even next spring.  Don't panic.  Don't hide in the closet. 

And if the above still doesn't reassure you, book a European River Cruise - the Danube is lovely this time of year!

Proving to Myself That Cruising is Still a GREAT Value

As cruise lines have begun to "unbundle" services and found ways to charge additional for some services that were pretty much included in the days of yore, I've gotten to be a bit cynical and wondered if passengers were still really getting great value for their money. 

Recently I went on a road trip from Jacksonville, FL to Syracuse, NY with my Mom to bring some family heirlooms to one of my nephews.  Think basic road trip with a geriatric parent in tow (well, actually I didn't tow her, I let her ride in the front seat).   Here are cost breakdowns for just the northbound leg of the trip (yes, I did bring her back too):

• Holiday Inn:  $95.15
• TownePlace Suites  $151.51
• Residence Inn $165.39
• Grand Total $412.05

Add in fuel costs (the automobile of choice we drove gets about 30 mpg) of $170.26 and it cost us $582.31 for the oh-so-fun experience of driving across America's interstates and listening to books-on tape.  Note I am not including meals, entertainment (well, books-on-tape were from the library) but I promise there were no showgirls, comedians, trapeze acts, room service, sexy legs contests or other activities.  I even had to make my own sofa bed in some of the above hotels (rather than share a King with Mom - where's my cabin steward?!).  Three days of driving with Mom essentially came to $206 per person.  Not including Diet Cokes and Cheetos.

So I think I can stick with the argument that cruising is still a very good value given that you can get three night cruises starting from $249 (depending on the season).   Sign me up for the next 3-night cruise to Syracuse (or Denver for that matter).



      

Real Questions, Asked by Real Passengers

Here are a few honest-to-goodness questions from passengers to onboard staff collected by Cruise Directors over the years (the answers were not actually spoken, but it was difficult not to laugh).   

Q. Does the crew sleep on board?
A. Of course not, late at night a water taxi picks them up and takes them home!

Q. Do these stairs go up OR down?
A. Yes!

Q. Does the ship make it’s own electricity?
A. No, don’t you see the long extension cord trailing behind the ship?

Q. Why doesn't my cabin look over the ocean?  I paid for an oceanview!
A. Because we haven't left the dock yet.

Q. Which is the sunny side of the ship?
A. The captain spins the ship around daily so everyone gets an even tan

Q. Which elevator takes me to the front of the ship?
A. Ask the elevator operator when you get on, he will take you anywhere you want to go.

Q. What do you do with the ice carvings after they melt?
A. We re-freeze the water and use it for frozen drinks.

Q. What time is the midnight buffet?
A. Usually around 11 PM or so. We tried doing it right after breakfast but most people weren’t real hungry.

Q. How do we know which pictures are ours?
A. The people who look totally clueless . . . . those are probably yours.

Q. Is this island totally surrounded by water?
A. No, part of it is surrounded by sand, but it’s all clearly marked