Posted on 11/16/2004 6:17:38 AM PST by nerdgirl
You may like to read yesterday's entry before this one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1280916/posts
Hola Freepers - greetings from St. Thomas. Before I go onshore, I thought I'd add a few things. First the cruise is Ft. Lauderdale - Bahamas - St. Thomas - Tortola - Bahamas - Ft. Lauderdale. NR has been doing the cruise for something like 10 or 15 years - many of the people here have been on a bunch of them. William F. Buckley has also been on a lot of them, but he's not on this one. They've also cruised all kinds of places - Malta, Bermuda, Alaska, Mexico, etc. Apparently at 400, this cruise has twice the number of the last, which means NR is doing a great job of attracting new readers, mostly via their online site. I was a little disappointed that the cruise wasn't just for the online community, since as per my handle I think nerds are more fun! This is my first cruise ever - so far it has been a blast, while a bit busier than I usually like my vacations.
Before arriving I wondered what it would be like, and came to a tentative conclusion that I would probably enjoy the fellow cruisers as much or more than the "notables." They have a rotating dinner seating arrangement, where every couple of days you are supposed to get one of these guys or gal at your table. They've also had a couple of cocktail parties, and I guess there's a breakfast thing but at some ungodly hour like 7am or something (I'm on WEST COAST TIME and then some!) Basically this assumption has turned out to be mostly true.
Some buddies I made from the good ole blue state of CA had Romesh Ponnuru as their notable one night - and thought he was super friendly and had great conversations with him. I noticed at a later cocktail party that when he saw them he didn't hesitate to come and over and spend some time talking with us. Boy these people love to talk about politics 24/7. I mean here on FR it seems like we interject plenty of real life into our threads. So far about 90% of all conversation I've had with either cruisers or notables has been about politics and only politics (Caramba, get me off this boat for a few hours!)
But since there are 400 of us, unless you get lucky and the guy you want ends up at your table, you pretty much have to walk up to the notable and go "hey I'm so and so from whereverville" and then figure out something intelligent to say. So since I figure this cruise wasn't exactly cheap, and I'm hanging out in places reaaallly far from DC most of the time, when else am I going to meet people like this? So I've actually gone up to a few of them out of the blue to give them an hola - and got in about 2 or 3 minutes before moving down the road. Not entirely fulfilling on that front, I must say - but like I said there are just too many people here - but then we're only a couple of days into it. I'd say the best vibe I've gotten has been from Stephen Moore - who was super approachable, down to earth, and has some of the best ideas I've heard. Plus I agree with him on several fronts were some of the others on the panel & audience disagreed (he thinks we should have avoided the Iraq war - not in a Kerryesque "wrong war wrong time" way, but more of a "let's get the hell out as fast as we can, would have been better if we hadn't gone in, but I'll support it since we're already there" kind of way). He also doesn't assume Condi Rice is the best possible candidate for 2008 - which several of the others like Dick Morris were harping on today. He offered the divergent view that Jeb Bush is the best we've got right now, although he isn't likely to run in until at least 2012 or later.
We had the pleasure of eating w/ military & intelligence analyst John Hillen & his wife - who were awesome, and MAN is that guy a mover & shaker or what. I don't watch ABC for news, but I guess he's on contract as an analyst there, among other equally impressive things. It's a bit odd to be sitting next to a guy at dinner who casually mentions how he did Good Morning America & had lunch w/ Dick Cheney last week, and visited Porter Goss in his office recently…it may sound a bit pretentious to some, but he doesn't come off that way at all. The guy is undeniably intense, and just really FOCUSED. And damn accomplished for somebody his age (38 but looks several years younger). I sat there kind of wondering how one would feel to be the stay at home wife for a guy w/ all of that going on - has to be a hard balance. "Hi honey how was Cheney? Do you mind taking out the garbage, I think it's your turn this week…" A bit surreal if you ask me. But I guess the moral of the story is that behind the faces on TV you basically have regular people who often times have normal lives when not doing extraordinary things. John Hillen is one to watch - if you haven't read anything by him, check out NRO (www.nationalreview.com) and search for his articles.
Ah and I'd be remiss not to mention Jack Fowler - the associate publisher of National Review. I told him he's like the Ricardo Montalban of this trip (w/out the romance) - trying to make sure all of the guests are happy. He's running the show, but takes the time not only to get to know the guests, but to run around making introductions to people from your state. I think if I told him I need use of a global sat phone for my hike tomorrow, he'd go out of his way to make sure I had it asap. Or he gives off that impression anyway, which makes you feel awfully welcome. If some of the folks on the cruise come off as somewhat aloof, Jack is anything but. I had never heard of this guy before - but if you see his name on the NRO blog, know that he's good people.
Ok enough for now! Be back tonight.
Hi Nerdgirl;
Look for my Mom, she's on that cruise - Susan King is her name and she's also from CA. She and I did the spring cruise together, Wm. F. Buckley was on that one. Jay Nordlinger and Rich Lowry are also very nice.
And, I agree with you about John Hillen - he's so cute!
Great! I was astounded when a couple National Review guys asked me "what's a freeper" - still reeling a bit from it in fact :) - I'll look for your mom, glad to know she's onboard.
Would love to hear some commentary from when Jonah Goldberg speaks. :-)
St Thomas was the best. It's green mountains, great people, and a laid back attitude, all combine to make it immensely appealing. Jamaica was lacking the same cordiality, and the poverty was appalling to us not-so-rich 'Mericans...
My wife, 15 yo daughter, and I had no reason to go, but just felt like the warmth would be good. EVERYONE needs to cruise these days. It is the best way for us to vacation, and get pampered (Celebrity does that well!).
Next year, we will travel on the Galaxy from civitavecchia (rome), italy - malaga, spain - funchal (madeira), portugal - nassau, bahamas - key west, florida - galveston, texas, on a 14 day jaunt.
If anyone cares to join us, go to the Celebrity website, and look at the transatlantic bargains! From $925 pp up (for the ship only, air is extra)(for insides, but you can even get a suite with your own butler for a little over 2 grand each)... $450 each will reserve a spot, and they will allow you up until 70 days out to pay the balance... they can include air for you, as well...
Maybe we can get a FR cruise to fill the ship! It holds 2000 folk, and has great entertainment, food, and ambiance. Surely there are enough speakers to fill our heads with conservative thought, and then use the chocolate on our pillows to sweeten the dreams of a truly Free Republic!
What about it, Jim?
Ah, I envy you, nerdgirl. I'm well acquainted via e-mail (and one meeting) with Jay Nordlinger and John Derbyshire, who are very nice. If you play cribbage, take it up with Derb -- he's volunteered to take on all comers. If you're a musician or a golfer, see Jay. He's expert on both subjects.
Keep posting,I'm really enjoying reading everything you're experiencing.
Been to St. Thomas many times and just love it. Tortola is an interesting island but very different than St. Thomas.
Enjoying your reports. Thanks!
Well, you must have missed all the FReeps Ahoy cruise threads. This past may we had our third FReeper cruise, here's url of the after-cruise thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1144309/posts
We had a blast, and will probably start talking about what we're doing next year pretty soon.
Mykdsmom mentioned on the other thread that you're on the same cruise as the FReeps Ahoy 3 took last May on Holland America. Have you made your stop at Half Moon Cay yet? We took over the green cabana, and I wondered if the FreeRepublic bumper sticker was still there on the roofline. 8^)
Hola guys - sorry yesterday was St. Thomas - I did this Ecohike & swim near Keneel (sp?) Bay on St. John's - it was quite fun. I'm usually not all that interested in hearing about the history of every tree & nest I walk by...but the guide was entertaining and made it interesting. Better than sitting on the ship at the all day buffet :)
I have spoken several times w/ Jay N. - he has a real sincerity to him and strikes me as a very sweet sort of guy. He moderated one of the panels the other day and added yet another humurous touch to the event. One thing most of the NR guys have in common is a good sense of humor, and the ability to laugh a little at themselves as well.
I heard Dick Morris is staying on the boat - which is good news, as it makes the trip more interesting. The other guy you mentioned - Derbyshire - gave a top 10 of why Bush won, then another one about why Kerry lost - and the top of each list was "he was himself." The candidates' wives were also each on the list - presented in the typically British style, to much laughter I might add.
I'm going onshore to Tortola now but I'll see if there's anything worth writing about later - if so I'll do a new writeup & post the thread here. Haven't seen Susan King yet but will keep my eye out.
Thanks for the update.
;o)
Hola freepers - here's my writeup from yesterday, which I didn't get a chance to post:
Spent the day in Tortola, touring the island w/ a guide for a few hours. Lovely water, beaches & distinctly Caribbean architecture, but after you've seen 1/2 the island, you've pretty much seen all you need to. No reason to delay heading back to the ship. It's amazing to be freeping while on a boat looking out at Tortola & Peter Island with yachts right & left! So tomorrow the panels will be starting up again - there's one on terrorism in the morning. Jonah B. should be here, and I'll find out what happened w/ the Dick Morris thing. The only gossip I have on that is from some people I met the other night who said that Dick in his wife are friendly & personable. Maybe one of these nights I'll be able to give you my own opinion!
Today is the first day I actually FEEL like I'm on vacation - the time difference has been killing me (staying up till like 5am, then having to get up 3 hours later…) so last night I crashed at 9pm, so today I finally feel normal. For any of you W. Coasters who end up taking cruises from FL - I'd recommend making yourself get up at least an hour or 2 earlier each day for a week or so before the cruise - that way it won't be such a hard adjustment. Ah and if anybody tells you that in such a big boat you "hardly notice you're at sea" - they must have been cruising on a placid lake! Sure, when you're in port or in calm waters, there's not much movement. But when you get into moderate seas - the boat does indeed sway quite a bit. I've found that during the land excursions yesterday & today I could still feel the motion of the boat - making me pretty wobbly!
So back to the NR element…it's fun that most people wear their nametags around the ship, even when not attending NR events (tonight there is a party at 6 or so). To recap writers & speakers I've actually met so far: Ed Gillespie, Pat Toomey, Jay Nordlinger, Stephen Moore, John Hillen, & just a brief handshake w/ Rich Lowry. Toomey was not particularly personable, nor did I find his presentation at the panel all that great. There's another "notable" guy who was on our ecohike tour - some Victor something Hansen? A professor from CA who recently moved to the Stanford think tank (shows how much attention I paid to the bios they gave us in our packet). Several fellow cruisers have gone on and on about how brilliant this guy is - some kind of academic sage or something. To be honest he seemed as unfriendly as they come - reminded me why I never got a Phd.
We all went swimming at a nearby beach after the hike, and despite the grand time everyone was having in the water, this Hansen guy did not crack a smile once. The good news is that in that regard he doesn't fit into the NR mold at all - most of the guys seem quite jovial. Could be a warm guy once you get to know him though, who knows. He'll be on the panel tomorrow and perhaps my view of him will change.
Alright I'm writing mostly about nothing here, so why don't I come back when I actually have something of substance to write about!
later footnote - I finally met another freeper! (3 hurrays). Freeper Aritai is here on the cruise - great to have another nerd on board!
other late footnote: Dick Morris left the boat yesterday, and believe it or not we were slated to dine w/ him! Oh well, we had John Hillen & his wife again, which I enjoyed a lot as they are cool folks & I'm beginning to really appreciate getting to know a few people really well rather than meeting a ton of people for just a few minutes.
Appreciate your reporting, nerdgirl. Has Michelle recovered from her seasickness? Haven't seen you mention her today.
Yes Michelle appears to be quite bubbly now - although I didn't make it to the panel yesterday morning on terrorism where she was a speaker. I can only say that she's quite pretty in person and has adorable kids as well.
I did have the pleasure of hearing Hansen speak yesterday and he is indeed fantastic - he's extremely academic and tends to stuff a lot of complex vocabulary and historical references into each sentence...but after listening to him speak I definitely want to read some of his articles.
Thanks for your interesting reports. FR has its own wire service now!!
Your reports were thoroughly enjoyable, both the political and travel components! We're jealous! Thx.
We did get to eat with Dick Morris and his wife the last night he was there. I enjoyed the evening and found both to be interesting and friendly. His wife is quite accomplished and intelligent, too.
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