Gladys Knight Defends Singing National Anthem After Don Lemon Suggests It Could Hurt Her Career

Mediaite ^ | February 4, 2019 | Julio Rosas

[grania]

I was in Curacao in early November, a one-day stop on a cruise. At the time, they had re-opened the floating market so Venezuelans could sell their produce and fish and the island would have access to reasonably priced food. The island was clean, well supervised, and didn't seem impacted by refugees. Curacao is a bit too far from the mainland for it to be an easy trek for refugees.

Aruba, on the other had, was having a noticeable problem. They're very close to the mainland, so lots of refugees are there. Their only industry is tourism, so they can't absorb a lot of people. Actually, a lot of the reliable islands are having problems which make them unpleasant. One of the problems is overcrowding, with idle residents and with people from the mega ships. For me anyway, I'm thinking the combination of higher prices, ships too large for a pleasant environment....either on them or ports they visit, and corners they're cutting on what included (and its quality) on an all-inclusive cruise have reached the tipping point.