Hey Bill. How goes it? Give me a holler when you get a chance. Your old comrade in arms. Royal

I saw the regular reg on my RFs but not the IAS.
When I went to Flag in the early 2000s, the IAS Reg was on the RF. You were expected to donate $1000 per visit to Flag. I am sure this became much more aggressive later on.

I bought something minor from the Freewinds reg for $200 or something like that.
They did take my passport but then again, when I went on a regular cruise with Cunard they did the same thing.

It seems like I did a lot better than you on excursions, at least on my first trip.
Don’t remember the heat being too bad but I went early in the year on both occasions and so maybe I missed the worst of it.

Nope!
Nothing like that at the time.

The scuba diving I booked directly with the provider and the other tours I did.
Walked around Aruba and Willemstad in Curacao on my own.
Wasn’t told anywhere was off limits.

I visited the Freewinds in the 90’s. The “routing in” form and the “routing out” form both took me through the registrar gauntlet. The same was true of Flag during that period.

They did take my passport and held it until I completed the “routing out” form to their satisfaction.

I was able to get out on one island for half a day of recreation. The rest of my time was spent on course, trying to finish in time.

That was my first tropical cruise experience. Temps and humidity stayed in the sweltering 90’s with no relief, day or night. The Freewinds is so small that it’s not practical to stay in its air conditioned interior (and you spend enough time there on course). I’ll never go on another tropical cruise.

Why is the Freewinds restricted to the Caribbean? Is it prohibited from docking in the U.S. or Canada? Or does it stay in such a small area to conserve fuel? From talking to an ex-Freewinds crew member, I know that operating expenses have always been a problem for the Freewinds, partly due to Hubbard’s self-serving financial policies.

Kat offered:
“And Im pretty sure that first cruise is to prime locations to try to get people to forget about the measles.”

At THOSE prices AND the required IAS donations, it’d be far cheaper and less stressful to go for a “morning constitutional”(Walk or run) and just keep going. In my experience, a passport wasn’t needed in the major Caribbean destinations; just to get back home by public carriers. A good picture ID (Driver’s License) worked fine for most folks, I saw. A Passport just got us through more quickly as they didn’t ask us anything more than “Have a good time?” as they stamped the passport. ‘Course, most ‘Mericans who just got passports to go to get fleeced won’t know that, nor that they can get replacement passports at the local US Embassy. Trapped by belief and ignorance.

freebeeing asked:
“So are they persona non grata in Bonaire now?”

Is that where the infected person boarded? If so, I see no reason that the PORT would reject the boat, though the airports and airline that brought her from wherever MIGHT tighten up passenger screening for communicable diseases. I dunno, just spitballing. I DOUBT any place will blanket exclude scientologists just in case one might be an anti-vaxxer who is infected.
No such luck.

Cindy offered:
” I hate calling someone “my 2D” because it doesn’t tell you if they are a girlfriend or a wife, a husband or a boyfriend.”

I deal with that by saying she’s my wife, typically, OR sometimes, “My lovely Lady”, which is even more non-discriminating than 2D, which IMO, just means “lover” if it’s unqualified, AFAICT. Scientology was SO lacking in descriptors for the 2nd Dynamic. AND MustSavage , or someone, has been trying to change 2D to mean ANY act of creation. Hubbard tellingly first called it the ‘sex dynamic’, only weakly connecting in child creation or rearing at the time.
I suppose that’s because he was never much more than a sperm donor, getting HIS gratification without regard to the possible outcomes. Thinking a bit more, that pretty much describes his life, as I see it. It’s good that many men take SOME responsibility in such matters. Certainly Ron didn’t seem to be much involved in his kids’ lives unless they were working for him — a purely business relationship. The non-blood messengers got more fatherly attention from him than his offspring, as I recall.
LOVE isn’t considered, except by those of us who remembered that quaint emotion from our wog days

Very true.

I’m REALLY surprised that Fleecewind visitors get any chance to see the ports they stay in. I would expect that any excursions arranged through the boat would be marked up something fierce, perhaps even amounting to the cost of a a ‘donation’ to the IAS or some such thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the vultures charged heavily to get down the gangplank to WALK around the port — undoubtedly sending along a ‘handler’ to keep you from stopping in an unapproved store or bar/restaurant, just to “keep you safe”. ‘Course, that would expose the ‘handler’ to the real world, possibly allowing them to realize that the real world isn’t nearly as scary as they portray, particularly on small Caribbean islands who depend on tourism.