How come DU doesn't have a cruise?

[hang a left]

I mean why couldn't we have a nice vacation all together too? DU doesn't have any cruises.

[bowens43]

1. Why don't we just

go on the freeper cruise? That would be fun.

[tatertop]

6. They would hang me which I would not care for

Actually, a cruise with freepers might be fun if
you were with lots of hip Dems.

[SoCalDem]

10. The SS Ship of Fools

:)

[cantstandbush]

40. Get us all in one place, and the Bushbots can blow up the ship

and blame it on the Al-qaeda.

[tatertop]

2. I'm in

[Wilms]

3. Do cruise ships have web access?

:)

[kaygore]

4. Most of them do now

[Wilms]

7. Then we're set! n/t

[wakeme2008]

13. And most have WiFi in parts of the Ship

:)

[Tace]

5. We Could Do A Circle-Line Tour At The Next New York DU Meetup

That would probably be about most DU'ers' speed. : )

(Circle Line tour is a boat that sails around the island of Manhattan in an hour or so.)

[catmother]

17. do they still have "the spirit of new york"? i went on that 2x when

i lived in new york and they had really good food. it's probably a little expensive though. one time my company took us and the other was my husband's company.

[Cleita]

8. Why don't you organize something?

Many of us though don't have the dough or would rather spend our money and vacation time to go to protests or maybe to Louisiana to help habitat for humanity. I'm thinking of doing the latter if I can scrape up the moolah and a place to leave my kitty.

[MADem]

9. Hell, we go to protests!!

Bring your own food, and get some good exercise! Meet interesting people!!!

[hang a left]

15. Can't we do it all.

You know donate to victims of Katrina, donate money to our own personal causes and candidate, volunteer our time to our own worthwhile causes AND have a vacation/party amongst like-minded individuals?

[MADem]

16. I've done my share of cruising, but without a lot of amenities

I'm at the stage in life where I kinda like hanging around the house and listening to the exploits of the young whippersnappers! When I do take a vacation, I usually like to go off somewhere for several weeks and just go native, either by myself or with someone who "gets it" if ya know what I mean--not an "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" type holiday--I just don't like those at all.

I'm thinking about going to live for a month or so amongst the cheese eating surrender monkeys, motivated by the fact that the real Monkey and his crew hate them so!

[ET Awful]

11. Because most of us work for a living and can't take the time off

to go on a cruise while the Freeper Elite in their unemployed bliss can go any time they like :P

[DiverDave]

29. I thought the very same thing!

Yeah, if I was getting money from some other source, and didnt have to work, sure.
But, since the middle class is being squeezed (read my family) I have NO time, and LESS money to go on a cruise.
So, you folks that can do it, Have fun...I'll be the one working and thinking about the endless shrimp cocktails...with lots of sauce.

[wakeme2008]

12. Did somebody say Cruise...

:evilgrin:

[niyad]

14. okay, who is going to organize this PARTY?

[DBoon]

18. The Nation sponsors cruises!!!

http://www.nationcruise.com/

December 16-23, 2006 - Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, etc.

[Starlight]

26. That cruise is expensive, though.

[northzax]

19. because cruise ships are incredible polluters

and are in the process of helping to destroy coral reefs and delicate ecosystems, while using near-slave labour imported from developing nations?

boy that does sound like a place for a bunch of liberals, don't it?

[wakeme2008]

20. As a cruiser I would take exception to most of what you say.

"destroy coral reefs" :rofl:

The lines with a couple exceptions do not pay well but with tips the ppl make good money for their country.

Radisson Seven Seas has team up with Jean-Michel Cousteau's Oceans Future and Jean-Michel or one of his other lecturers will be on a number of cruises. I have a pretty young thing on my Radisson cruise and she gave 4 good lectures. :)

From her bio:

Estelle Davies - A quantitative investigation of the density and sex ratio of the sponge-inhabiting brittle star, Ophiactis savignyi on a fringing reef flat. (MAppSc)

[northzax]

30. uh huh

Cruise ships never collide with delicate ecosystems, like coral reefs. never. oh wait, it happened last year! but I'm sure that in 20,000 years or so that reef will be back to normal!

And the 18 million dollar fine that Holland America paid for dumping raw sewage in 2004? you know, the one where they built a ship with a pipe bypassing the water treatment facility completely? your toilet flushed to the ocean! fabulous!

and the million dollar fine that Norwegian paid in 2002 after dumping photoprocessing chemicals overboard? wonderful! let's see, 50 cruises a year, 200 gallons a cruise...that's 10,000 gallons of toxic chemicals a year! good for the dolphins, no doubt?

When a vessel is in international waters, do you know who's envrionmental laws they follow? the country in which the ship is flagged. That's usually Panama or Liberia, both known for strong government regulation on envrionmental issues.

And next time you go on a cruise, ask to see the crew's quarters. Ever wonder where they put the 1000 staff on a large cruise ship? think tenements. I've seen them, it's not pleasant at all. Talk to the Filipino who signed a 6 month or year deal, and gets paid at the end in one lump sum, you don't finish the contract, you don't get paid, anything.

I suggest you go pick up a copy of Cruise Ship Blues and visit the Cruise Ship Pollution campaign at Oceana.

[wakeme2008]

33. A Ross and I email each other all the time

and he does still take cruises.

As for "you don't finish the contract, you don't get paid," that is BS, if you do not finish your contract you have to pay your air home. And per a Princess hiring manager, they get 90% returnees not bad.

[northzax]

34. I doubt that 90% number, frankly

that would be unheard of in any short term hire industry.

I must confess that I find it amusing, to say the least, that people who won't shop at WalMart because of abusive labor practices will gladly take cruises, where the practices are even worse, after all, I'm sure they follow every labor law they are subject to, those of Liberia or Panama. That people who disparage SUV drivers for envrionmental damage will board cruise ships that follow the environmental regulations of the lowest bidding country.

And, for an individual without a passport, buying a plane ticket home isn't much of an option, is it? They hand you $500 and drop you off in Grand Cayman. Now what do you do? How do you get to Manila, exactly? Think Grand Cayman will even let you on the island without proof of your ability to leave?

[wakeme2008]

35. LOL you have NO clue what you are talking about

all cruise ship employees have passports. And all cruise ship follow international environment laws.

[northzax]

36. yes, they follow international envrionmental laws

of course, since there aren't any that apply, that's pretty easy to follow, ain't it? can you link to an "international envrionmental law"?

really, right here, right now, link to an international environmental law that applies. please, I'm really interested to learn about this. In fact, if you can do this by midnight EST tonight, I want an international environmental law that a cruise ship company operating outside the Antarctica Convergance has to follow, while in international waters, I will make a donation to the charity of your choice.

in fact, I'll give you a double chance, please cite a case in which either the Liberian or Panamanian government, the responsible entities, enforced either an envrionmental or labor charge against a cruise line operating in the western hemisphere.

point out what 'laws' they are actually following.

[wakeme2008]

38. Solas and other

good bye

[northzax]

39. SOLAS?

what, no UNCLOS? I think you'll find, if you go to the IMO website and review the ratification procedures, that Panama has not approved any amendments to SOLAS (those dealing with environmental impacts) since 1988. http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?topic_id=257&doc_id=647#amends

http://www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id%3D13820/status.xls

also, by reading SOLAS, you will notice that individual countries are responsible for passing appropriate legislation to enforce the laws. Simply put, international conventions aside, a ship in international waters is required to follow the legal code of the state in which it is flagged. no other.

[hang a left]

21. Oh for crying out loud....

Can't we do anything fun without destroying the ozone layer or coral reefs and condoning slavery.

[greenbriar]

22. I am going on a cruise March 2007

join me?

[mtnsnake]

23. Cuz we'd probably end up in a brawl on 1 side of the ship & tip it over!

:evilgrin:

Actually, I think a DU cruise would be a good idea as long as it was a short affordable one, like 3 days. You organize it and I'd be interested. ;)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Fear of mutiny?

:shrug:

[meisje]

25. It would never get out of port- too many arguments on which way to go!

[hang a left]

28. LOL

Aint that the truth.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Money and no time off or time off(laid off, out sourced) and no money?

:shrug: Meanwhile the overpaid and useless celebs presenters at the Awards tonight are getting freebies to the tune of $100,000. It's good to be appreciated! :sarcasm:

[BringEmOn]

31. We're already up a creek...

[Poiuyt]

32. Does it have to be a cruise? How about just having a convention in

Fort Lauderdale or Miami or Hawaii? Maybe we could get Will Pitt to speak!

[Bill McBlueState]

37. we could ride a raft down the mississippi

then do charity work in NO

It would be like a cruise for people who aren't elitists.

[helderheid]

41. I still think we ought to have a convention in Salt Lake City.

[stop the bleeding]

42. I have often thought that a gathering, or series of gatherings would be

really cool - thanks for suggesting!

[helderheid]

45. :) There are a lot of misconceptions about SLC - we have a

progressive Mayor (Rocky Anderson - keynote speaker at the Anti-Bush rally last year), Salt Lake County Mayor is Howard Dean's 1st cousin (Mayor Peter Corroon), Senator McCoy is our 1st openly gay Senator, Rep. Biskupski is our first openly gay member of the House, and we're home to many progressive groups:

http://udpc.org/links.htm

[hang a left]

46. I think you were replying to me....I am guessing anyway.

I just thought because you live there was the reason you suggested SLC. I live in SD, I was being selfish....and cheap. :)

[helderheid]

47. oh that was part of it. :) I live in a suburb of SLC :)

[hang a left]

44. How about San Diego

:evilgrin:

[mopinko]

43. it would be cool, but- CHICAGO

is the place for a nationwide get together. but i could go for a cruise. let's go to alaska while it is still there.