Jeff Blogs

First off, thank you Liz for this blog.

It is 100 steps from our cabin to the Golden Lion, which is a Pub with Guinness and Harp on tap. Suffice it to say that from that and every other point of view, this new Queen Victoria is laid out beautifully. It is a great ship.

We left the North Atlantic together with Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2, first on our starboard beam, then later on our port beam. In addition to these two ships extending their cruise together, they acted as moving break-waters for each other along the way. We had 20+mph breezes on our beam for most of the run to Fort Lauderdale.

After Fort Lauderdale the ships split-up, with ours headed south towards the area of the Trade Winds. All the way through the Caribbean and into the entrance of the Panama Canal it blew stink from a bit south of east, never less than 20+ kts, day and night. There was relief from some of the banks of islands. After turning west, we used the tail-wind to our advantage. On deck, it was like a scow going down-hill. There was noise from the waves breaking, but still air while we went almost as fast as, and the same direction as the wind.

Upon reaching the Pacific, the winds calmed remarkably. On the Caribbean side of the isthmus, there is a constant blow from the east. The wind blows moisture from the Caribbean up the slope of the continental divide, and that feeds moisture to rain forests. However, here on the Pacific side, only 50 – 100 miles away, the winds are “normal”, and the local climate is all but arid.

Acapulco was interesting. It is beautiful from the 10th floor of an ocean liner. 1 ½ million people. At one time it was a vacation destination for gringos. Now it is a resort city for the 25 million people that live in Mexico City. Jeanne organized a great tour, including a $14 lunch right at the cliff-diving venue. As a veteran high-diver from St. John’s Summer Camp (30’ max.), the highest dive was impressive at 105’. Our guide, a single parent mom, went to the States to have both of her kids, but then raised them in Acapulco. As US citizens, the kids are now on the dole, attending the University of Florida. She did the best she could for her family, and they all love America.

Sport fishing in Manzanillo, Mexico was a bust. 5 hours of listening to a pair of droning, 2 cycle Detroit diesels. One strike from a big Marlin, but the captain couldn’t get the hook set. Anyway, the sea was calm, the weather was pleasant. Conversation during the fishing trip yielded the following. With satellite TV on the ship we were able to hear about the $600/$1,200 checks being sent to everyone in the US. With China funding the US national debt, this “Wal-Mart rebate” completes the circle: consumer-to-Wal-Mart-to-China-to-the-US-government, and now finally back to the consumer.

Presently we are off of Cabo San Lucas, which is a few hundred miles south of San Diego, CA. We thought of Jimmie and Maria’s trip – volley ball anyone? The winds are calm, but there is a gentle swell to the sea. That seems to be a difference between the Atlantic and Pacific. In the Atlantic, when it’s calm it’s like a mirror. So far, on the Pacific, even when there is no wind, there is still a swell.

A few more comments before wrapping up -
Our cabin has been renamed ‘The Cave’ by us and our friends, Stirling and Clare. It has turned out to be what we wanted and what we hoped for. No daylight whatsoever, but extremely well ventilated. At 207 sq ft, it is roomy. With the help of Vince and Debbie, who drove over to Fort Lauderdale from Marco Island, a huge (Wal-Mart) chest of drawers was added. All 13 or so suitcases were unpacked. It is on the lowest deck, which means that we are subjected to the most minimal ship’s movement. Our lifeboat drill was simple. This is the deck where they just lock all of our doors so that there is more room in the life boats for the rich and famous.

The best lecturer so far has been Ben Cameron. The subject matter, the future of live theatre, was interesting and timely for our family. Cameron was the head of the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently the president of a multi-billion dollar, grant giving foundation. I tried to get a redacted version of his comments, but he claimed that his 5 lectures were made from notes on napkins. Anyway, a couple of general comments followed by some pointed, reasoned prognostications: More money is spent on computer games than movies and music combined. Movie attendance and revenue went down for the first time in decades. The typical theatre audience member has not changed in decades – which is a 48 year old white woman with an average income of $63k. That as youth ages, the theatre must figure out how to change from “linear narrative” to “visual interpretative”, and from “created content” to “co-created content” – meaning that since younger people are making their own content, that live theatre needs to come up with a way to have that happen within/during a production.

As with any cruise, over-eating is the permanent problem. It is made even more difficult by the quality, which really is exceptional. Skipping a course here and there, even an entire meal when possible, helps. We’ve been using the stairs, and have gone to the gym on most days.
Last month Errol and I went to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. I bought a pair of Sebago deck shoes for the voyage. At first thought, that may not seem to be remarkable. But for me and the people I hang with, it couldn’t get any more Thurston Howell the 3rd than that. Put another way, if you actually need deck shoes on this boat, you’ve got a problem that the shoes aren’t going to solve.

Actually, the deck shoes do go with a particular vest that was given to me by Linda’s Jeff D. It’s this Ralph Lauren Polo, really nautical, really well made, over-the-top, nice red vest. Jeff told me that he didn’t know what he was thinking when he bought it, but that maybe I would get some use out of it someday. Anyway, between the deck shoes and the vest, nobody touches me on the ramp.

For my retired brethren having difficulty in coming up with a reason to know what day of the week it is, you’ll be happy to know that you are in good company. Yesterday, Captain Paul Wright, in giving the weather forecast, said what “tomorrow’s” weather would be. Then, instead of saying something like ‘and the day after that’, he tried to spit out what day ‘day after that’ was. He stumbled a bit, chuckled, gave up, and finally said, “well, whatever day that is”, and then gave the forecast. If there is no purpose in knowing . . .

There are “unhosted” gatherings posted in the daily activities. Unhosted means that no one from the ship is involved. Passengers just show-up and make something of the theme. The first one was “Rolls Royce and other English cars”. Too many people showed-up and we all became immediately willing to let the most outrageous anecdotes dominate the discussion. Suffice it to say that listening to English gentlemen speaking in-depth gear-head lingo about their cars was truly impressive. Especially the ones that had the new BMW Rolls Royce. They were very pleased with what BMW has contributed to their brand, more as if it were a purchased option, than a failure of their homeland in being able to support the technical and market requirements of their car maker. As an impromptu discussion, really an amazing discourse.

Another “unhosted” activity is “Yachts and Yachting”. If gas outside of the US is expensive, stand-back for the cost of diesel fuel for boats in Europe: $10/gal. The gear-head speak was, again, impressive. There were only six of us in this group. My 32’ was by far the smallest, but they were kind to the upstart. Everyone came at it from different directions – the trawler guy from England, but keeps his boat up a river in France; the cruising sailor from the US that sailed over to the Med and back; the couple from Sydney that have cruised their trawler everywhere; an authentic “yachtee” who keeps his 85 footer on the island of Palma de Majorca, Spain. Anyway, during the session we all gave and got good technical advice from each other. We’ll be meeting regularly during the cruise.

My first book for reading on the trip is “The World is Flat” - thanks to Sharon B. (“Aunty Sharon” takes care of us on a lot of levels.) It talks about outsourcing. Here on the ship we have the usual Eastern European, Philippine, but also a lot of Indian staff. From discussion on-board, Tata Industries, in India, is set to buy Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford very soon. Another Indian paid Ford a billion for Aston Martin a few months ago. The transition from stand-alone British companies to Ford was a big deal for the Brits. Going from Ford to India now seems more like an accounting event than a further change in their sovereignty. My guess is that the Brits are about a decade ahead of the US on the globalization thing. The on-board meaning of that might go something like: our great-grandchildren will be serving the grandchildren of our Indian servers. And all of their combined descendants will end-up serving the Chinese. Anyway, the book is timely for me, especially in the context of what are seeing on the voyage.

In a few days we see our friend Betsy in Los Angeles, and then on to Carl and Carla in Honolulu.

All the Best!
Jeff