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We have had a rough week, losing our friends. I remember my Dad some years ago saying, “Son I’m losing all my friends.” When we get older this happens more and more as we all know. A passenger fell off a Carnival cruise ship last week near Tampa, but was rescued by one of the port’s pilot vessels. Carnival says it happened as the 2000 passenger ship was returning from a 4 night trip to Mexico. The passenger told the authorities he had been climbing on a railing for a better view when he slipped. No one on the ship immediately reported the passenger missing until the ship got word from the port’s rescue boat. He was very lucky to have slipped at that time when the port’s boat was so near. The unlucky guy that slipped from a Carnival ship a couple weeks ago has never been found. There have been an unusually high number of incidents this year of people slipping off cruise ships. One was off a Norwegian Cruise ship that was not rescued and one was off a P & O Cruise that was rescued. It seems that too many times people seem to drink and party too much on these cruise ships. We just returned from a cruise on Carnival’s new ship, Splendor. We go to bed early, long before the partying starts, and since the ship is so large we don’t get involved with the partying folks. Matter of fact you wouldn’t know that any partying was going on unless you looked for it. One night I went down a couple of decks and there they were, drinking and listening to the loud music. I hurriedly walked on through that area. We enjoyed the cruise very much, but we did not purchase their expensive drinks, and we did not walk the rails of the ship, ha ha. These cruise ships have very high railing and it’s impossible to fall overboard unless, you are stupid, drunk, showing off, or ignorant. Now it’s a good thing these cruise lines are registered outside the United States, otherwise, the government would require safety nets to protect these idiots from themselves. Thanks for your time and God Bless. Harold Castleman www.llanotravel.com