A Sign You Need A Cruise

I have a bit of an admission to make:  for whatever reason, I find myself completely out of things to write about.  I've been staring at a blinking cursor for thirty-five minutes, and it just blinks back, mocking me.

Normally, I don't find it difficult at all to write about cruising or cruise ships - on the contrary, I love it, and the words pour out of me like water from a cup.

Today, that cup is filled with molasses, grudgingly trickling out.

Sure, I could write about the fire onboard the MS Deutschland while the ship was docked in Norway, but every media outlet seems to know about as much as I do - which is not a lot, other than it occurred in the engine room, was brought under control, passengers evacuated and accounted for, and the cruise canceled.  The ship will be towed to Bergen, Norway for assessment, but in the meantime, voyages up until June 7th are canceled. 

Moving westward a little, Unite, the organization representing British Airways cabin crew, have begun their long-promised strike, which stands poised to affect almost half of all domestic and international flights out of London's Heathrow airport.  Good news for Gatwick-bound travelers: as of right now, you're not affected.

Heading west still, we come to the little Caribbean island of Jamaica, currently experiencing a state of emergency in the capital of Kingston, after the extradition of a suspected drug kingpin by the United States resulted in brutal fighting between gangs and police.  Some reports say as many as 1,000 officers are involved in a gun-battle on known drug ground, and that the violence is spreading.  For the moment, cruise lines slated to call at Ochos Rios or Montego Bay are not affected - the areas are located well away from the capital city - but cruise lines are monitoring the situation.

Moving westward still, we come to San Francisco, home to the Friends of the Earth organization, which has released a so-called "cruise report card" blasting the cruise lines for their collective - and alleged - environmental destruction.  It's findings, the majority of which are tenuous at best, have irked the cruise lines to the point that Crystal Cruises felt compelled to respond with a press release of their own, arguing against the findings.

Apparently, no one told Friends of the Earth what BP was up to down in the Gulf of Mexico...

So, now that we have all of the unfortunate news out of the way, that clears the slate for some more excellent articles for the rest of the week.

Time to go fill my writing cup up again...