So it is that we return to the Virgin Islands. Having only just been here a week or so ago (though granted, it was a slightly different port), I can’t say I had the urge to get off the ship today. I’m quite enjoying being able to sleep in the afternoons, I’m so tired these days.
Of note today though, is the fact that we’re in port with the biggest cruise ship in the world. The Oasis of the Seas, Royal Carribean’s monster mega-ship, is quite possibly the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. She’s also not the prettiest thing in the world. Take an apartment building, turn it on its side and put it in the water and you might have a general idea of what she looks like. In all honesty I find her rather frightening, as I said to a guest earlier today “she gives me the eebie jeebies”
My parents asked me once, while we were watching a documentary on the Oasis, if I had any interest in working a ship that big. My response? You couldn’t get me to work that ship if you threatened me with a crow-bar. At least not as anything other than an entertainer, and even then I’m not particularly keen on the idea. The Oasis has about 2000 crew; you’d never get to know anyone! Moreover, with 5,000 passengers, how on earth would you establish any kind of connection with your guests? Half the charm of this crazy life for me is the people I get to meet and connect with…and I’m not a big crowd person.
No, a ship so big that she can’t get through the Panama canal, and has to dock using side-thrusters like something out of a sci-fi movie (seriously, she comes in absolutely parallel to the dock), uses 4 gangways and blots out the sun with the sheer bulk of her superstructure is not for me.
Not even if you can zipline across Central Park in her atrium.
One of my co-workers made a very interesting and valid statement while we were sitting at the window looking up at that behemoth that’s sitting next to us: she said we’re pushing too far again. We’ve once again gone so many steps up the ladder in our constant battle against nature that it’s about time for Mother Nature to up and slap us in the face again.
When I was doing research for the job I wanted at the local museum, back when the Titanic exhibition was running – I came across an article written just after Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage. I don’t remember the exact wording, but the message was something like this:
That which we built to be bigger, stronger and more powerful than nature, has only proved that the forces we sought to conquer will still – and always – conquer us.