I think I'd eat myself to death. Or drink myself into oblivion. Maybe both. And/or I'd hole myself up in my cabin and read myself to sleep.
Truly, there is nothing about getting on a cruise that appeals to me. Basically, if I'm going to eat and/or drink myself to death, or flop on my bed for a day of read-snooze-read-snooze-read-snooze, I can do it all at home for free.
All that said, I have friends and family members who absolutely love to go on cruises. One of my cousins has been just about everywhere, and, years ago, on one of those trips to just about everywhere, she met the man who is now her SO. And stalwart cruising companion. When the pandemic hit, they had to cancel a major cruise - they take at least one biggy a year - that was going to take them to Fiji, Tahiti, Australia. Places they've already been, but what the hell. They also had a lesser European cruise planned for late summer. That's been canceled, too. At least they got a cruise that took them around the Caribbean and to New Orleans before things got bad. They were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but it doesn't look like the acquired COVID-19 while there, unless it was of the asymptomatic variety.
Nothing like a pandemic to take the wind out of your sails.
With the cruise industry shut down, most passengers have made land fall by now. According to the US Coast Guard, there may only be 18 passengers still on board cruise ships that were plying their trade around Florida.
And yesterday, the Costa Deliziosa, which was on a round-the-world cruise that began on January 5th in Venice, docked in Genoa, and began disgorging its more than 1,500 passengers. This was the last big-time cruise still at sea. In addition to all those passengers, who I'm sure were none to thrilled to be spending time in still-shut-down Italy, the Costa Not-So-Deliziosa also had nearly 900 crew members.
Wonder what's happening to them?
Guess that would be Italy's lookout. What our Coasties are looking out for are the:
Guess that would be Italy's lookout. What our Coasties are looking out for are the:
...nearly 65,000 crew members are still on 87 cruise ships in Miami’s USCG 7th District, which includes the Bahamas and the Caribbean...
About 30,600 crew members are on 43 vessels in and around US ports, while 34,300 crew are on 44 cruise ships in and around the Bahamas and Caribbean, per the USCG. (Source: CNN)Boy, if I never had any desire to go on a cruise, I haven't had any desire to work on a cruise ship since I was a little kid watching the I-Love-Lucy style antics of Gale Storm and ZaSu Pitts on the lame-o sitcom Oh, Susanna.
By the time I was watching the Love Boat, I may not have known quite yet what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew it wasn't going to be working shoulder to shoulder with Gopher, Captain Stubing, and Julie.
Of couse, the crew members stuck on those ships are obviously folks who actually wanted to work on cruise ships. But just what do they do when there are only 18 passengers per 65,000 crew members. Do they serve each other in the dining room? Perform for each other in the caberet? Are they being paid? Have they been tested for COVID-19? Do any of them have it? And what about shipboard romances???
Not sure where all these people will end up landing. I know that at one point the Governor of Florida was only going to allow passengers who were residents of his state to get off the boats. He must have relented, if there's only 18 stray passengers still onboard.
While on the one hand, he has pretty lax standards when it comes to shutting down his state - social distance/social smistance - I'm sure he wouldn't be welcoming 65,000 possible disease vectors.
I hope they're okay. I hope they're getting paid. I hope that at some point they get to walk themselves down the ship's gangway and get to wherever it is they want to go.
Sounds like a pure hellscape to me.
At least the crew of the S.S. Minnow was on solid ground on Gilligan's Island.
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