I had been on two cruises in my life. When I was 15 years old, my grandfather took me on a two week Caribbean cruise which I thoroughly enjoyed. I recall the first night sailing from Florida to Jamaica and being out on deck in a strong wind with waves crashing far below, there was something so exhilarating about that.
A few years later, I went on a one week cruise also in the Caribbean. I recall on the second cruise noticing the big fancy casino with many slot machines. There was also a spa on the boat. I thought how interesting it was that many seem to look for happiness by doing things that almost always don't lead to lasting happiness like gambling, drinking, overeating which seems to be a cornerstone of the cruising industry. One friend recently said that he'll often go on cruises with his wife because she often ends up in the casino and at times wins another cruise.
On that second cruise, our first stop was Jamaica where I embarked on a bike journey down from the mountains to the coast and ended up jumping off a cliff into the sea at Chukka cove. I had filmed this video there.
When I returned to the boat after that days adventure in Jamaica, I recall seeing a couple standing in the art gallery looking at a painting and a thought came to me, "People looking at art but missing the beauty in people." I had booked a two hour spa treatment which began with a scrub, a warm sea weed wrap where I was laying on a water bed for some time followed by a shower and a full body massage. I recall coming out of that experience feeling so relaxed seeing the sun setting behind the green hillside as we sailed away from Jamaica.
I wasn't aware at the time that, in many ways, the cruise industry is not so favorable to the environment or to the people who are on board who are often enticed by the free drinks, casinos and often lots of food that isn't necessarily conducive to a healthy diet. I also heard stories that those who worked on the ships didn't have the best living conditions or quality of life.
For years I thought of the idea of a health and wellness cruise line. Getting someone out of their environment in itself can be so healing and when we add to that having healthy food/drink, activities, lectures, etc. it's a great opportunity to help a person have a better experience of life.
In doing some research, I found a company who has been working on creating the world's most environmentally sustainable cruise ship ~ The Ecoship. The Eco Ship costs about 500 million dollars. I look forward to the day when all that money budgeted for weapons and war can go into building more boats like this.
Here is the website for this boat:
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