Coronavirus: Cruise Ship & 250 square feet

[Ray Eklund]

The Wall Street Journal had a lengthy writeup: Fear, Boredom Aboard the Virus Cruise by Suryatapa Bhattacharya. February 15/16, 2020. Page A1 and A10.

Fear, Boredom Aboard the Virus Cruise...sub title.

I can understand the frustration and the fear being aboard, not knowing when this is going to end. You second guess if you might have been in the same room or dinner table with someone infected.

A typical Cabin with a balcony is about 250 square feet. Nancy and I had our First Cruise on an inside cabin. No windows, down low so neither of us even knew the ship was moving, or rough water. Probably offered less than our Airstream for living space.

Our trailer, with a quick calculation, 25 feet exterior, 8 feet exterior... less than 200 square feet of living space... then add the appliance, cabinets and accessories.

We get 'Rain Cabin Fever' if stuck inside the trailer for 24 hours with steady rain... 48 hours would be getting close to pushing insanity to a higher level for myself.
The 'comfort foods' and Pinochle can only give a partial relief. Nancy is an excellent Pinochle player. Reading a Geology/Paleontology technical publication becomes pure... torture... the second time reading. So I bring a small carton full of well illustrated technical material... just in case.

What do YOU do when a steady rain keeps you indoors, when you want to be outdoors? Boondocking OTG is one thing. Being near a City/Town is maybe a step up.

The 2016 Wyoming Adventure in August north of DuBois, Wyoming at Double Cabin (look it up, it is on the map) it rained, drizzled, sleeted, snowed on the 10,000+ peaks, fog... no wind, cold, humid, muddy... A Coronavirus sort of experience.

If Forum Members want to explain how you manage to retain sanity... let us hear it. I will happily explain how we manage to survive a change of plans.

[Daquenzer]

Last year we went camping in October for a week. Hoped to do some biking. Didn’t happen. It rained about every single day. Fortunately we were close to a town, but it was small with not much to do. Basically did a lot of reading and binge watching on Netflix. Went to local library and downloaded movies. Also went to a movie and out to eat. Took knaps. I did go running each morning despite the cold rain. That got my blood flowing. Otherwise I enjoyed the down time. But then I was working full time and it was good to decompress. The day we left the sun came out

[Caffeinated]

Sudoku on the iPad is your friend. When I get bored with that I can argue politics on a guitar forum I frequent. Facebook, I just posted photos of the kitchen knives I use in the airstream. Then there is Air Forums. After that it’s back to Sudoku.

Mike

[rmkrum]

Got stuck in a winter storm in West Texas hill country at a KOA on the way back from an extended trip. Rather than risk driving in the heavy weather, I put the stabilizers down, plugged in the cable tv wire, and relaxed.

We watched a little tv, played with the dogs, cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner and basically took a chill-out break. Was a nice day to stay inside and listen to the wind and rain. Casual conversation and watching the weather was kinda nice. We got back home a couple days lat, but no big deal.

[Fly at Night]

I am not making any comment or suggestion because I may get banned again, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28NcvcfqoBg

[rmkrum]

I spent a lot of my Navy “career”, such as it was, with only 18 square feet of private space only 2 1/2 feet high. My interest in even setting foot on a “Cruise Ship” with even more people aboard than an aircraft carrier is vanishingly close to absolute zero. It doesn’t help that I’m somewhat claustrophobic as well.

I’m quite safe from spending any money of cruise shops, no matter how fancy. I’ll stick to traveling with our Airstream, using our annual pass at Disneyland and occasional trips to Disneyworld. At least most of that is outdoors...

[SnooMc]

I clean everything, and reorganize the cupboards.

[ROBERT CROSS]

3000 humanoids on a floating Las Vegas that can sink, and now this, oh the humanity...

Bob
🇺🇸

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Ray; We have been on 3 Ocean Cruise Ships and 1 River Cruise Boat. We always pick the smallest rooms like you described. Only our River boat had small windows in it. The River Boat holds about 30% as many people as the Cruise Ships. I was due for surgery and opted to do it after our River Cruise. In the last few days of our cruise, people started to get sick. Trying to avoid sick people on a River Boat was next to impossible. We told everyone that I was going to have surgery four days after the cruise was over so the sick people would stay away from me. But on the last day on the boat, I also got sick. Leaving the boat, we were taken into town on a bus. OMG I think everyone on the bus was sick. I had to cancel my surgery and reschedule it for a later date. I was having a stomach tumor removed and was quite concerned. We went to a lot of places in this World and saw a lot of great things, but I think we are done cruising forever.

[dnas]

We have body rainsuits, and go out an explore regardless of the rain. And if it is really disagreeable outside we take long rides in our Tundra looking out the window at stuff. We come back when it is dark, play dominoes, or Milles Bournes, and/or listen to our downloaded music. The only "cruise" that I have been on is when we went on a Galapagos Tour, which you really can't access without being on a boat. Cruises don't appeal to me. Too many people, too many planned activities, too many forced smiles and niceties. LOL

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Fly at Night

I am not making any comment or suggestion because I may get banned again, but...

Gog...I love the 60's.
Who'd-a-thunk-it, momma's little pill in the mainstream.

Bob
🇺🇸

[judyjudy]

We love to cruise. Have a 60 day TransPacífic cruise coming up in April. We do love Airstreaming more. We love sudoku, bing watching Netflix or Amazon Prime, hubby loves playing 10 10 and spider solitaire on his IPhone and NY crosswords on his MacBook. We are both addicted to Audible books and electronic books from the library. I love knitting. We love down time!

[SouthForkAS]

I was in So Fl a few years back and it was raining.. and raining.. and raining...
it wasn't cold so I put on swim trunks and rode my mountain bicycle around camp. (knobbies are like mudders).
West Texas storms seem to stall and stay put... for days. That will tax the imagination.
As a working musician, I refused Cruise ship gigs for many reasons not unlike the ones stated above. Its the silliest thing in the world.
You'd be surprised how much room you have in gutted Sovereign ;-)
That and a randy partner makes being stuck inside not so bad (Im 65 and still very healthy).
Hope this helps :-)

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I have a Kindle that is "pre loaded" with a whole bunch of "I should read this one ..." books. It will take a *lot* of rainy days to make it through everything that is on there. One thing I have found is that they need to be from a range of interests. You may "max out" on a single interest area after a few days.

How expensive is it? Well they run sales from time to time. If it's not selling at a steep discount, I generally don't put it on the Kindle. When they do run some sort of sale, I may indeed splurge and buy a couple dozen books at < $3 each ....

We don't let the dogs out without a leash being involved. They see to it that the rain gear gets pulled out and we go for a hike every couple hours. Even in crazy weather "shut in" really does not mean "never go out".

Bob

[Ray Eklund]

Interesting conversations. We caught Spring Fever in Boulder City and the cure will be a late March boondoggle to New Mexico.

Alaska. We took the Cruise to Alaska, both to and from. Lots of trees. Lots of moss. Lots of Salmon that appeared a bit beat up. Obviously we were there at the wrong time of the year... it did not snow. It drizzled and rained most of the time. When I hear some are driving to Alaska and back... did you pan for Gold? Or the Experience?

Although it reminded us of London. We did see the Sun, or what appeared to be the Sun.

[dnas]

For you Kindle readers, check out Bookbub.com. Cheap books. I, too, have a Kindle preloaded with tons of books. We were tent campers before our Bambi, so weather events don't dampen our adventure, well maybe hurricanes, but other than that...no.

[bibbs]

I pack up and drive, somewhere else,

[Ray Eklund]

Great posts.

We live just east of Las Vegas. We get $5 Free Play on our favorite nickel video poker machines. We like to sit together... in the event we win something and want to let the other see that miracles do happen in 'Vegas'. Well Henderson, Nevada but close enough.

If our machine(s) are taken, we sniffle and I blow my nose. A cough as if a fish bone is stuck is also an option.

We get to play our 'Favorite nickel machines' sooner than later

(Not really. But it just might work in a pinch. People do read the newspapers, here.)

Vacations: We did a 'Three Year Bucket Tour'. That is, we made up a check list and went to everywhere we thought could be interesting. It was a short list as it only included Europe and South America. No hotel or transportation reservations. Sure... some of the places people were trying to get into the shower when you were in, kind of places. Some Castles as well.

We back pack the World kind of old people. Get a Eurail Pass in Europe and the best deal going. That is another story. We did go to Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and understood what they were saying to us... but thought we were in Texas and had to ask since they had a Texas accent.

I nearly forgot... The Caribbean. It is hot. They charge you for the salt, pepper and sugar packets. Found out on the first Adventure when they counted the packets used in our coffee. A US Dollar's value changes like the hour hand on a clock. Not like a Casino in the USA. Loved the markets there, as well. Make my day complete.

Did not know why we would want an Airstream, or any trailer... but figured it out after the trip.

Did not go to Tahiti, but almost did. I do not surf or swim very well. I am a 'sinker'. Found that out on a Grand Canyon Float trip. Since the river is shallow, you could easily float with a life jacket. My tan... looked rather weird for awhile.

Once the Revolutions and Conflicts were settled among Chile and Peru, we did an extended trip to Machu Picchu and general area, went to the fresh produce and meat markets... which I enjoyed with the animal heads in buckets. Guinea Pigs were cute. ... we lost weight on this trip.

But... Easter Island was rather interesting. All of those Moai and... well, Moai. The hotel asked how long, we said a week. They asked 'why?'. I was not expecting that response.

I read both of Thor Heyerdahl's books when I was 12 and thought it would be a true adventure. Not rafting, but flying to this remote island. It was. I get Sea Sick... motion sickness just in the bathtub.

We rented a car to explore the Island. The Tour Bus had an Italian guide who met another Italian and they chatted in the back of the Tour Bus. They may have become a couple and married.

We asked and did get a refund after the trip.

We rented a car. The car was very small. A go cart size with windows and no engine coolant. We drove around the Island a number of times. Probably a record for any tourist. The gas station was at the Airport built for the Shuttle for an emergency landing. When a plane was arriving, most of the locals were rushing to pick up tires, supplies, ice cream... When the plane left, dead silence.

Climbed the two main Volcanoes. Went into the 'Forest of Eucalyptus', not native, but the Easter Islanders that first arrived ate their pigs and chickens on their lost voyage. By the time they ran into this desolate desert island they may have eaten a few friends.

I found a nice Eucalyptus stick. Peeled off the bark, borrowed a hack saw cutting down to five feet, made it into a walking stick, carved my name onto the handle. Use it on every camping trip since then. Nancy's walking stick was pulled out of a Beaver Dam in Montana. They cleaned the bark off very well. I carved her name on hers.

We have thought about going again. We negotiated and bought the 2006 23 foot Safari. A wise choice, I say.

I do miss the markets in Chile and Peru. Never seen buckets full of organs and chicken feet before. I am a real hick.

Now. If no one can add to this... you need to be on the same trip. That car may be still running and the price... negotiable. Unless someone stole it.

[coasttocoast]

I almost went to grad school for maritime history. I took another path, but more or less got it on my own after having been a Divemaster and Captain and boat owner. I spent 10 years reading and collecting books on anything do do with ships, navigation, wrecks, pirates, history, etc. I'm not getting on a cruise ship. Too many things can go wrong.

If I see inclement weather in the forecast, I try to drive around it. I avoid campgrounds as is possible and stay closer to cities where there are indoor activities. I also have rain gear if I can't escape.

[Fly at Night]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Gog...I love the 60's.
Who'd-a-thunk-it, momma's little pill in the mainstream.

Bob
����

Love your "Lost in the sixties" sticker.

And don't forget to put some flowers in your hair. Maybe on the back of the Airstream too?