In contrast, saw this little guy last night: Probably just a couple of inches - haven't seen one before Four lined tree frog if google serves me right.
At a couple of inches the scale of that Monstera plant would be a half inch thick? That little amphibian looks seriously tiny! ? I like the feeling of a hand gripping the edge of the building at the top of that picture, the plant I mean.
Those latest cruise ships look like apartment blocks that have toppled over into the harbour. I'm lucky enough to have experienced a 21 day 'cruise' home from Singapore to Southampton, when I was a kid.
Not on that ugly crate. Nowadays I love testing my sea legs on the ferries to France on the way to Italy by car, or to Jersey to visit my daughter that lives there. I worked for quite a while on Royal Caribbean Cruise ships, and I always found that huge ships are soulless I enjoyed my time on the "Song of America", "Song of Norway" and "Nordic Prince" but the moment they moved me on to the "Sovereign of the Seas" I made a song and dance to return to the much smaller "Nordic Prince". I must admit that the new giant "Icon of the Seas" is a marvel of maritime engineering, but I don't see many ports able to welcome her in, due to the draught and sheer size. So, I see in future lots of disgruntled passengers having to board tenders a mile offshore to be able to get to land. I am not saying that I will not take a cruise as passenger. I would not mind a long trip down the Danube and the Rhine. Anchors aweigh !!!!!!!!!!!!
I do agree with you in a broad sense. But I cannot include the old lady of the sea, the QE II into that statement. I had the pleasure and honour to be part of the crew for a number of years, as Sommelier and still miss the life onboard 35 years later.
I did a Mediterranean sea cruise a few years ago, 5 stops around the Med and what a cost trap that was, no food or alcohol could be took on board unless souvenirs and these had to be surrendered till the end of the cruise, bussed about timetabled events you ran up a credit at the bar having given them your card details, no cash could be paid, so to some the bar bill came as a big surprise, and shock.
my idea of solid misery would be floating around on the sea in the company of 100s of gluttons stuffing their faces round the clock.
Years ago I always wanted to do a merchant ship voyage, I think you could pay at the time to eat, sleep and work with the crew! Not sure if they still do these trips and In my case I think that ship has sailed long since.
In 1970 I worked a summer season on board one of those Rhine Cruise vessel (then a glorified Barge, really) as waiter, porter, potato peeler, washer upper, deck hand... with a broom up my jac**y brushing the floor as I did other tasks.. Sleeping on a hammock... Nice experience, as I was young, and I must admit, now, in retrospect, I did enjoy it, while moaning like mad at the time... On my first Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Ship, "Song of America" I did 5 10 day cruises to Cozumel departing from Miami. Took 2 diving lessons, but my need to smoke put paid to the rest..... Of drunken, arrogant, obnoxiously ignorant american tourists have seen enough to last me a lifetime.
I did about 10 dives off Cozumel, Dom, and they were quite exciting as they were drift dives (I don't whether you remember this fact?) as the current under water was very strong. I had a sealed plastic bag with cooked rice inside and was going to feed the little fishies when in their "home". A huge wrasse wanted in on the action and kept on banging it's huge head on my torso to try to have lunch. It was almost as big as me and very powerful: It caused me to go "a*se over t%t" and I rotated away with the current, trying to right myself and regain my dignity. It was quite an experience but one I didn't want to re-live again in a hurry You realise in moments like that, that you are in their world. I do miss crazy moments like that though and wonder if I will dive again as I am now in my late 60's and the "boss" would probably ban me from such crazy pursuits.
My wife and I did QE with Cunard in October 2023 around western Europe. We were with my parents and aunt and uncles. It was our first cruise. Food was amazing and some not bad talks and night shows on board but the average age was like 60+ I think. My wife and I are only 38 and 33. It was okay though, we’re not much of party people and enjoyed everyones company a lot. The ship and decor on board are very traditional-looking with wood and red carpets and art Deco-type styles. My wife was only Filipino passenger on board, but she was talking to all the kabayan staff and by the end of it asking herself why she did not think to work on a cruise ship instead of going to UAE… Not sure I would be in a rush to do other cruise. I prefer slow travel, rushing into port for 8 hrs with all the other cattle is not much fun. But I enjoyed the relaxing pace of days at sea and having food and drink anytime. Trying to keep the asawa away from the free soft serve ice cream tap was my daily challenge.
