I met a guest called Barbara Manners last cruise and she has an addiction. We chatted about it………in confidence……..and even though she would not reveal how much she has spent on this thing that has taken over her life since her first foray three years ago, in case her husband reads this blog thingy. Though, with a bit of pushing, she does admit to having blown around $600 on it during a recent Holland America 14 day cruise. “During the first year I got into it, I spent more than $2,000 buying stash.”
I wanted to help her but it seemed her addiction had taken over her life……………….it was too late……………..and I felt as helpless as a deodorant salesman in Paris.
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It’s a tough job this blogging thing and tonight it was extremely difficult as I had to force myself to go to the supper club…………..actually……..lets get one thing correct …………… we must all get used to calling them steak houses now………not supper clubs. The menu is the same and the service is still the best at sea but steak house seems to represent the product better ………………..so steak house it is then.

Anyway, armed with my corporate sail and sign card (thanks Gerry for paying) I headed up to the steak house here on the Carnival Freedom which is called The Sun King ……. Steak House…………..so I could tell you all about the experience …………… tough life eh?
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Last night we held the Remember Michael party in the Dance Club. It started at 7:30pm – 8:30 pm and was scheduled at this time as it falls between the dinner sittings. I had expected it would be reasonably popular…………….I was wrong……………………half the ship turned up………..I have never ever seen a ship dance club so busy. OK, I must admit that over the years I have spent more time in the gym then I have in the ship’s discos as being dragged on the dance floor by a group of well lubricated female guests is my idea of hell. However, I did go last night and was shocked at just how many people came to pay homage to the gloved one. I said a few words on the microphone and although I had not planned what to say in advance I found myself spouting words of love and devotion for MJ…………and as I cued the DJ to play Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough and Michael Jackson’s image appeared on the multi screens……………I saw people were crying………..not just one or two but dozens and dozens………………….and as one people of all ages started to dance…………they were crying and they were dancing.
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My geography teacher’s name was Mr. Alistair…….or Glass Eye as we would cruelly call him out of ear shot…. due to the fact that he only had one eye. I also sat next close to a girl called Louise whose breasts were the size of the Alps and thus my interest in old Glass Eye’s lessons amounted to bugger all. Therefore I never had any idea of the location of the Cayman Islands until some 20 years ago when I first sailed there on the Holiday. It turned out that these islands were not where I had imagined them to be — somewhere in the Pacific — but were tucked away in the Caribbean, just below Cuba and not all that far from Jamaica.

I suspect that my ignorance was shared by many. But, these days, the Cayman Islands have become much better known thanks to the only film apart from Top Gun that the dwarfish and slightly strange Tom Cruise starred in……..The Firm. Thanks to books by people like John Grisham and others the Caymans have become very well known as an offshore financial. Most people now know that the islands are associated with international finance. Indeed, say the word banks and I imagine that quite a number of people would say “Cayman Islands” just as quickly as they might say “Switzerland” ………or “bastards that lost all my money.”
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