June 17, 2017

Tampa Bay, Florida

OK. Here’s the deal. I was in the Air Force for 4 years. One of the things I liked about the military was their sense of discipline. For example, at the base movie theatre , if a movie started at 8 PM, they shut the doors at 8 PM. If you showed up at 8:01 PM, you were out of luck. I liked that. I don’t believe I have ever been late for work or any appointment or meeting in my life. I always show up on time.

I have noticed that the Cruise Lines (at least the ones I have been on so far) have that same kind of discipline. They publish a schedule every day and, by golly, they strictly stick to that schedule. Today, the schedule said we were leaving Tampa Bay on our way to Key West at 4:00 PM. At precisely 4:00 PM, you could feel the engines starting up and you could look out the window and see we were moving.

Here is a picture of us leaving Tampa Bay and heading for Key West (at precisely 4:00 PM).

Before any cruise starts, they have a mandatory meeting of all passengers to go over the safety procedures. Here is the staff monitor for my area showing how to put on the life vest in case the ship hits an iceberg and you end up in freezing water hanging on to a door next to Kate Winslet. Oh wait! That was another ship. Never mind.

Channel 14 on your TV shows you where you are in the world: