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On the last day of our cruise, we had some—unscheduled—excitement courtesy of oppressive social and political conditions in Cuba.

Debra and I were enjoying the late afternoon (me at the blackjack tables and Debra relaxing in the cabin) when the captain came over the loudspeaker informing us that the ship was turning around since we had spotted a boat of Cuban refugees headed towards the United States. The Empress had immediately reported the sighting—per U.S. law—and been asked by the Coast Guard to stay in sight of the boat so when they arrived, they would know where to find it. This meant two things: everyone rushed to the top deck to try to catch a glimpse of the unfolding drama and we were going to be late into port the following morning.

Both Deb and I searched the web to find articles about the situation, but only came up with this link from a South Florida NBC television affiliate.

(1) (2) (3)

We never got closer than a mile or two, so the photos aren’t the best given I was taking them with my little Canon digital camera. But photo (1) shows the crew members trying to re-locate the boat after we turned around and got back in the vicinity of where it had been originally sighted, (2) is the closest shot I got of the Coast Guard boat as it passed our bow on its way to the refugees and (3) shows the little dinghy deployed by the Coast Guard making actual contact. (By this time, we were already resuming our trip back to Ft. Lauderdale, so we didn’t see if they actually brought everyone on board the Coast Guard ship or how it was all “resolved.”)

The last we heard of it was when the captain came back on the loudspeaker informing us the Coast Guard had “thanked” us and were unwilling to share more information given the “sensitive” nature of the situation…

We actually talked about it at dinner that night with our table mates and had somewhat similar reactions to our fellow passengers’ reactions as we listened to the conversations among those on the top deck watching. I thought it was fascinating—and an interesting object lesson—how people’s professed politics (”don’t let any damn illegals in the country—they’re taking our jobs and costing us money!”) don’t always play out when faced with a “real life” situation. The general sentiment seemed to be of sadness for the Cubans who were so close to getting to the U.S. and were now apparently going to be sent back. Ask many of those same people a week before the cruise what their feelings about illegal aliens were and you would likely have sparked some vitriolic comments about keeping “them” out. But when you put them in a situation where the humanity is unavoidable, it appears more (morally?) challenging to be as absolute on the topic. Interesting.