Hotel @nyware

The Honeymoon continues with another 21 DAZE at sea-My bucket list for  Infinity Pools  is getting  shorter-with three pools down this month- Curacao, St Maarten yesterday and today in St Lucia.Love illusions? Swimming? The Jade Mountain Resort in St. Lucia  has an infinity pool in every room. Weighing in at $900 bucks a night...and it goes like this-  .

From Zerox To Infinity Smooth Operator. No Chalk.Just Talk for the Sage on the stage Tourism is taking something out of nothing and selling it.  Il Dolce Far Niente – The Sweetness of Doing Nothing. Coventional wisdom says, there is no such thing as a good  island hot spot about nothing. I disagree, In fact,  St Maarteen doesn't imitate life, it imitates episodic TV, think  Seinfeld, a show about nothing;  Dutch Jerry's the engine, and  French Kramer does the steering.

When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging--- From Playing Poker in Macau to playing Terry O'Quinn's  Body Double in Hawaii, it's all been about LOST, Heads Up!  Now 3 years  traveling around the world on Cruise Ships. Paradise Found because  The older I get the better my past gets

I like writing about Mexico, I just don't like the paper work. So here is a picture from one year ago this month in Cabo San Lucas. Time flys when you're having rum.

Every day I get to go to work---on a cruise ship! It is the In to my Sane-Doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. The actual quote is: Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results. Like poker---sometimes making the right mistake pays off. I rather be lucky than skillful. Remember , The Color of Money lyrics, " It's in the way that you use it..It comes and it goes..."   I think of Paul Newman's  statement "The extraordinary role that luck plays in all our lives..." " Luck is an art . Luck just marches by any number of people, and they're looking in any direction but where luck is. I guess I know how to look in the right direction." Paul Newman I wrote about this in relation to Poker in 2008, The number #1 thing I hate about the game I love . The MS Noordam and I are starting another 21 Daze in Ther Carribean Highlights From The past 21 days: ▼  From Zero To Inf...

 The Rolls Royce of the  Swimming Pool Universe Found the God Molecule in Curacao. in this Zero Edge optical illusion of seemingly endless water.Visually stunning and always located on amazing locations, Infinity pools are surely the most beautiful man-made pools in existence. They take their inspiration from the island of Bali-where you can see  the dramatic effect created by the ubiquitous terraced rice paddies. Bamboo Cotton T Shirts-Why Pay Less? Some Incredible Views-From Zero To Infinity Bora Bora With Bob Reif US Virgin Islands Frenchman's Reef   Barbados  Waikiki, Hawaii      Singapore Santorini    St Lucia Los Cabos  Bali   Maldives   Burma  

Playing the game of staged authenticity in the tourist themed spaces of  The Renaissance Curacao Resort .It's got Caribbean charm combined with European sophistication. Built around the historic setting of the Rif Fort, the copy is better than the original . Set amidst the color and beauty of the historic Dutch Caribbean city of Willemstad, the power of new is in full view. H8 the game,not the player(s).

Action Sustains Hope Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying Besides The Godfather , Shawshank is my favorite movie- It is about Hope and Action going  hand in hand. Andy worked on his wall for 19 years and in the mean time made improvements to his surroundings that benefitted not only himself, but the lives of everyone around him. If you are going through hell-keep moving in a positive direction.Hell is not just other people; it is other people's thoughts about you.

As good as it gets, all of these Caribbean islands  have white sandy shorelines with the same New Yorkers you might be fighting with for parking spaces back home only this time it's beach chairs.  ABC Aruba Bonaire and Curacao  Actually BCA- that is the order we are sailing. Little Amsterdam, or Willemstad  in Curacao on  Thanksgiving.  I always like sailing to the Netherlands Antilles.Ten Years ago I came here with fifty dollars and left with $300. Now that's how they vacation in The Netherlands or is this Venezuela? They sell the paradise experience real well here.   Last year, on Crystal was amazing. Two years   before on MSC.  A is For Aruba  They speak a lot more Dutch here (in Aruba) than I expected. There's a lot of casinos, and a lot of the online poker/sportsbook sites who set up -offshore-shops. B is for Bonaire, and I  haven't been there yet. So tomorrow I am looking forward to a  Life Is A Beach day ...

The view from the Noordam.

Tendering today in Samana, a place Columbus called the fairest place n Earth.Now it is just a plastic beach.

Freedom Without Restraint The Caribbean White Sand/Coral Beaches with that signature  clear & warm turquoise water away from the masses of tourists, palm trees swaying in a gentle breeze- OK I'm sold. Check please.   Mr Ed  and Ed- the symbols of travel, movement, and desire.

This is the islands idea of cheap insurance Geiko. There are iguanas all over this place

I often joke when asked " What cruise line do you work with?"- Everyone just about except Holland America. I can no longer say that.

Let the Orinoco Flow After M,T here on Sunday  comes WTF!  OMG LMAO TTUL8R K

Do you smell that? naPalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of naPalms in The Caribbean.

Hello old friends. Last time I swam in these Caribbean blue waters of Bridgetown  was 2009. Same shirt different day! The key ski Guy and waiter are still working their jobs-it is island time and one long day for these folks.

Ah St Lucia! Procrastinate Now! All you can eat of the upside down fruit. The locals are co co for coconuts too and all here because they are not all there.  Island time (manana) takes a New York minute to come into focus. Seinfeld is a show about nothing and the vibe in this vacation spot makes this the Island about nothing. The espresso I had on the ship makes me want to do nothing faster but instant gratification takes too long around here. Oh wait...the Guy with the machete is chopping coconunts.Nothing like the water from one of those to act ad the natural Gatorade.

Holy Cow After my trip to India, a place rife with professional thieves, beggars,  con artists , and skinny cows, a  vegetarian is only as lactose  intolerant  as his options.The happy go locals   will eat anything with wings except airplanes, and everything with legs except tables. Cultural Anthropologist   Margaret Mead said "It is easier to change your religion than your diet". After further  study, you don't have to change your diet or your religion to live in America, just keep an open mind and an open mouth. It took Picasso 10 years to paint like Rafael , and a life time to paint like a child. Children are, after all,  completely gullible: they will believe anything and, more than that, will eat anything. I am eating like a child again!!!  It's not as important what I eat as how I eat-in my case frequently (6-7 small portions per day) with the 24/ always on, always  available cruise ship food options. The Apprentice- "Everythi...

2012 The number one thing to do on a cruise ship (and off it in the ports of call) is not just EATING. It's Shopping. I am about to go to the zoo, and see all the stuffed animals in their cages. What I mean is the Disneyland effect--bring in tons of white sand, add a backdrop of palm trees and colonial shops; like Vegas' Venetian, the copy is better than the orginal- It's beautiful and predicatble, like plastic surgery. The statue's not the saint, but the menu is the meal. Yet, Sint Maarten has a retro Carib-vibe going on in that magical strip of land called Phillipsburg beach.  2009  I wrote about this before , The Merchants of Venice , and can say the same for The Caribbean "Season": It's not just visited by tourists, AKA Americons,but inhabited by them. Even though I am hitting it and quitting it, it seems in the gaze of locals that "we" are just one critical mass, and more than that, from their POV, "always here" and "Her...

The MS Noordam is starting its Caribbean season this week.21 Daze for the first leg

By Mid-November 2011, I was in Maui I am not smart enough to be wrong all the time but whether I  geographically move(d) to Hawaii or psychologically just were  reminded of what I (could) feel when I am t/here, I keep breathing and keep #winning over death, not by living forever, but by living timelessly, right here, right now.  To live in this vastness is to bathe in the ocean that mystics call one taste. Trip Reports An I For an Island Makes You Blind Kailua Kona- Vog Index Big Island-Walking On the Moon Waikiki -Banyan Tree Hugger Honolulu- Be(ing) There. Aloha! Life of PIe-πhe United States of Unconscious Eatin... Mele Kalikimaka -Write About Here The Aquatic Life-Dolphin Swim Club It Just Dawned On Me Maui-With the Right Flip Flops You Can Do Anything... Ka'anapali-Maui Grown verses Starbucks Own Lahaina-Same Shirt Different Day Here Today,Gone to-Maui

Last Year in November I was in  Baja, Mexico After Monday and Tuesday, all that's left in  Cabo was W T F, eh? The Importance of being Ernest (Hemingway); his life of adventure and his public persona would go on to influence later generations Cabo Again- The Synesthetic Experience @Sea-Emperor's New Suit Midnight Cabo Happy Go Local Puerto Vallarta-Ship Happens Occupy Mexico-Hola Coca Cola Santa Monica - The Epiphany Chair Mind,Body and Cabo-Deja Vu @Sea 4 Two Days- Same Ship Different Day San Pedro-Hotel California