Enroute to Nagasaki, Japan, China; Cruise Day 97
We had such a great time today. I think that the World Cruisers are starting to feel like we only have about a month left. Interestingly, people are actually getting extra close, and a bit sad.
Mark Conroy, the boss, has joined us, and this morning we had a town hall meeting. Of course, many people who spend time the entire cruise complaining, now fell all over themselves saying how great everything is. That doesn’t do him much good or us.
We didn’t go that route. Allyn asked some tough questions about food cutbacks, security, and swine flu. I brought up the gym and Internet. All of his answers were legitimate, and he seems like a very straght shooter. He pointed out that for their business, security perception is the most important issue. If people become afraid to travel, it doesn’t matter how good the food or entertainment is.
Then we learned that Japan (where we will be May 4 – 11), has just passed a new anti-porn law. This has banned our sattelite access, which cuts off both the phone and Internet while within Japan’s boundaries (12 miles from shore). That is brutal.
Another interesting thing is that we are at about 35 degrees latitude (same as Southern California) and it is already getting cold. The ocean is quite cold here and it impacts the temperature. We are done with warm weather for the balance of the cruise.
Tonight they had a special shabu shabu dinner for all of the World Cruisers, along with kareoke. It sounds hoakey, but I must admit it was fun.
