After a Week of Boldly Going

Thoughts and Observations From My Fifth Star Trek Cruise

For the fifth time, I waited in the early morning in front of my house for my ride to the airport. Two suitcases stood next to me, packed for a nine-day voyage on a giant floating hotel. I had my phaser and tricorder, my mobster suite, science officer pajamas, engineering officer shirt, and our now well-known planet suite. I was ready to embark on Star Trek: The Cruise XIII.

Let me remind everyone that I'm 61 years old. I am a serious professional with serious thoughts and responsibilities. Yes, I'm a big Star Trek fan, but I'm not "that" type of fan. I enjoy the convention portion of the trip immensely, hearing from the actors and the occasional writer or producer. Every time I get on an elevator, I hope one of the stars gets on with us, and I can try hard not to say something stupid to them. Diving into Star Trek Voyager and hearing Kate Mulgrew speak was fantastic.

I also have to admit that I like the vacation aspects. Decent (not great) food whenever you want it, sea and sun, short excursions, beaches and warm water, and visiting places I've never been before. We stay in a cabin on the back of the ship with a big balcony, and there is something very special about looking out over the back of the boat at the endless ocean horizon.

Now that I'm back, I have fond convention and vacation memories. But the memories I hold on to the most, the ones that give me energy, are those of the people I spent time with. Some were people we met on the cruise. Others I've known for multiple years now. It is a group of humans, so none of these people are perfect. However, I don't know of any group of people I've ever spent time with where you can sit down next to at the start of a meal and be fast friends by the end.

This was brought home on the last full day when we invited some of the people we spent time with to our balcony for a sunset. They were from Florida, Georgia, Texas, Nevada, England, and Scottland. The youngest was not yet 30, and the oldest was 64. We sat there on the back of that ship and the sun moved towards the blue water and we talked about work and life and the cruise and our kids and the crazy world we live in now. At some point, the sun had turned orange and was dipping below the water, and everyone had to go and get ready for the last show of the cruise. Then I remembered that my friend and cabin mate had brought his guitar and we had forgotten to use it. Minutes later, there we were, the night before returning to reality on a balcony, looking at the sunset off the coast of Florida, singing "Faith of the Heart."

I was reminded that this is why I take this trip.