Political Thoughts While Cruising

I’ve recently returned from a Caribbean Cruise on the Emerald Princess. Even during a vacation in the sun, it’s difficult for me to look at the world I find with rose-colored glasses, so let me offer what I found most revealing.

1)    My sympathies to Italian Captains (we had one), who work in the aftermath of the Costa Lines’ Concordia shipwreck. Our Captain held a full-scale lifeboat drill before we left Port Everglades, Fla. We passengers noted that a) the Princess Line is owned by Carnival, owner of Costa (and Holland-America, P&O, Cunard, etc.); and b) we had what looked like the same model ship, as Carnival has had Italy’s Fincantieri Shipyards build ships for their P&O, Holland America, and Princess brands. Needless to say, everything went just fine. We stayed within recognized sea channels at all times!

2)    Cruise lines continue to be the ideal American job outsourcing machine. Our ship had officers, staff, mechanics, and cabin people from all over the world, except the USA. The only Americans I met who were part of the crew were the entertainers. Not a single Carnival Company ship flies the U.S. flag. In fact, no line flies the U.S. flag on a passenger vessel anymore, except the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pride of America, which cruises the Hawaiian Islands. Who and what killed American flag cruise and passenger ships? That’s a subject for a rather lengthy essay. With unhappy answers.

3)    The economy is terrible even in St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, our first port of call. The stores were near empty, and what clerks I talked to bemoaned the economy and the lack of spending, even by cruise passengers.

4)    The Chinese are Coming, The Chinese are Coming, and so are the Chavez Venezuelans. A port call to the tiny (population about 75,000) island of Dominica turned up the (for me) interesting news that whatever decent roads they had on the island were being built by the Communist Chinese government, and 60% of their energy needs (the other 40% comes from hydro-electricity) were being met with oil from the Chavez regime in Venezuela, whose new buddies are the Mullahs in Iran. Question: Why would the Chinese and the Venezuelans be interested in a tiny island in the Caribbean? Answer: Because in this insane international political world of ours, Dominica is independent and therefore a member of the U.N. General Assembly, with one vote (the U.S.A. has one vote in the U.N. General assembly too). And when the Chinese or the Venezuelans have the need of political support in the U.N., guess whom they’re going to call? Bingo. And you can throw in a passel of other Western hemisphere and African and Asian states as well.

5)    What Big Time Business Do Grenada and Dominica Have in Common? If you have a relative who could not get into any medical school in the U.S.A. or Europe, and was desperate to be an MD, you’d probably be visiting them at Ross University in Dominica or St. George’s University in Grenada. Whether or not you’d want one of their graduates to be your family doctor is the subject for another dialogue. (And yes, our ship stopped in Grenada too.)

6)    Our final port calls were in the Netherlands Antilles, Bonaire and Aruba. I confess to being partial to the last vestiges of the Dutch seaborne empire. I will say this about Aruba. Aside from their magnificent beaches, modern infrastructure, and thriving tourism, if you fly to Aruba, you can clear U.S. customs and immigration IN ARUBA AT THEIR AIRPORT. Politically, think about it this way: Aruba is 15 miles from Venezuela. If you were in the Aruban government and wanted the halo of U.S. protection (the Dutch provide official protection but their home bases are a bit distant), wouldn’t YOU want U.S. Customs and Immigration set-up on your island?

7)    Enough Said. I’d welcome similar thoughts from YOUR cruise.