My son received a reply to his "message in a bottle" from Cuba

[lady_cruiser]

Thanks for all the positive comments. As I said off the top, I'm not planning here to continue the debate about the appropriateness of launching messages in bottles. I will tell you how we did it.

 

We usually used plastic 16 oz water bottles. I chose plastic because I thought the risk of broken glass ending up somewhere was worse than the problems that plastics could cause if they don’t reach a destination. We always used clear plastic bottles with the labels removed. I thought a tinted bottle would be much less likely to be recognized as having a note included inside. I think we had one or two bottles with us when we boarded and made sure we either bought a water bottle in port, or found an empty bottle lying around the ship. One day, the only bottle we found was a larger 24 or 32 oz bottle, but otherwise they were always the smaller size.

 

We prepared the notes and labels at home, in advance. We created a label for the outside of each bottle, which said “Message in a bottle” in English, Spanish and French. We laminated the labels and fixed them to the bottles with clear packing tape. We laminated the messages (in case small amounts of water got into the bottles), which contained a greeting (in all three languages), my son’s name and email address, our home address and a unique date for each message.

 

I appreciate that the 8th deck might not have been the best place to throw the bottles from, but I really wasn't sure where else we could do it without drawing attention. The reasons not to throw things from a ship are related to trash and safety. Trash was not an issue (unless you’re anti-“message in a bottle”) and we were careful not to hit anyone.

 

I’ll post again to answer questions and to update on our correspondence with our new Cuban friend.

 

I love what you and your family did. Imagine how excited the person that found the bottle was. This would make an excellent school project for your son. Even though I won't do it I would love to know how you knew the coordinates of exactly where the ship was.

[cruise_pirate]

While this might be really cool and a great educational experience for you and your son, imagine if everyone did this. There would be thousands of bottles floating and sinking in the oceans, gulfs, bays and seas every day. This act is polluting the waters:mad:. It's bad enough you can't walk on our beaches and national and state parks without litter, now we won't be able to go diving without encountering litter. There are many reasons why one should not throw objects off a ship and I wish you would be teaching those lessons instead of the lesson you chose to teach (It's OK for us to do this even though it's against the rules).

 

LOL better not ask what the NAVY throws overboard at night..:eek: A few bottles would be the least of your concern..

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

I think you did an excellent job of making your vacation a teachable moment! I love how well you prepared for by laminating and writing the messages in triplicate languages and date/ times/ locations! Well done!

 

As to throwing it from your 8th floor balcony... plastic probably wouldn't hurt anyone... but maybe the back of the ship would have been a better choice? I've been there by myself many times. Just a thought...

 

Your son could probably do a report in school detailing all of the plans & results!

[rjnaz]

I launch a bottle in 1963 of the ship Independance ...placed a letter/coins/stamps in it...haven't heard back yet.....:confused:

[cruzn0909]

WOW!!! That's awesome. I know your son is very excited...Cool Idea :o

[Upandadam]

I launch a bottle in 1963 of the ship Independance ...placed a letter/coins/stamps in it...haven't heard back yet.....:confused:

 

I'm pretty sure the postage is insufficient by now.:rolleyes:

[kyrisong1]

You're not permitted to throw anything off the side of a ship and you could be put off the ship for doing so. Not a good idea at all.

yeah well I wish they would reinforce that to the dumb bunnies that throw their cigs off the side, also have seen kids throwing stuff off their balconies.

I think this is an awesome experience for the child and I am so thrilled he got a response, what a great idea to put the coordinates on, wtg mom and dad!!!

Carole

[matt314hew]

Those saying throwing the bottle off the boat with a note is litter, what do you think of those who toss cigarettes butts out of their cars/trucks? Or even just throw them on the ground outside? That is littering, friends of mine got pulled over and fined for that (guess the cop was just grouchy). But if you throw cigs out the car and think tossing a bottle is littering, then you are contradicting yourself. Just something to think about.

[cathyoo]

Your son must have been so thrilled. What great memories.

[bigdaddyvoges]

I guess I'll be one who disagrees that this was a good idea. It's one thing to throw ONE bottle over the ship, but every night?????

 

I still disagree with one bottle being thrown over. Sorry, but this is the same as throwing trash overboard. More than likely the bottles will never see another human.

 

One of the reasons I love cruising is the untouched nature that is the oceans.

 

 

Lemur is that you??? ;)

[LemurCat]

Lemur is that you??? ;)

 

Nah, and I was avoiding this thread like a plague until now.

 

Again ... why do people assume that because people pollute it gives *them* license to pollute as well?

 

*Sigh* I picked ten bottles off of my beach this Saturday morning to make up for you miscreants. I didn't find any messages, just some cigarette butts and a used ... well, you can imagine.

 

Y'all can thank me later. ;)

[Upandadam]

Nah, and I was avoiding this thread like a plague until now.

 

Again ... why do people assume that because people pollute it gives *them* license to pollute as well?

 

*Sigh* I picked ten bottles off of my beach this Saturday morning to make up for you miscreants. I didn't find any messages, just some cigarette butts and a used ... well, you can imagine.

 

Y'all can thank me later. ;)

 

Thanks;)

[morganboys]

thats awesome.

[T. Advisor King]

I guess I'll be one who disagrees that this was a good idea. It's one thing to throw ONE bottle over the ship, but every night?????

 

It was the Friday night bottle (i.e., bottle #6) that reached a destination. If we'd only sent one ...

[ERICnLISA]

Settin sail on Thursday :D. Better get my bottle ready :eek:.

[T. Advisor King]

I love what you and your family did. Imagine how excited the person that found the bottle was. This would make an excellent school project for your son. Even though I won't do it I would love to know how you knew the coordinates of exactly where the ship was.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions for turning it into a school project for my son. That's such a great idea, we'll have to look for an opportunity to do it.

 

As for the coordinates, I am a fairly serious runner (2006 Boston Marathon, among others) and have a GPS watch that I use for running (it calculates speed, distance, etc.). It has a navigation function that provides coordinates in longitude and latitude. I think the map channel on the cabin TVs also scroll through various screens including one with the ship's coordinates.

 

Each time we threw a bottle, I went up to the Lido deck with my watch and got a fix. Unfortunately, from our balcony, the Lido deck overhang cut off the GPS watch's line of site with the requisite number of satellites and it wouldn't give me a position.

 

We had a giant map of the Caribbean taped to our wall. We were charting our position 2-3 times a day anyway for fun. All we did was post the location of each bottle launch on that map, which we brought home with us.

[dan40]

Thanks for all the suggestions for turning it into a school project for my son. That's such a great idea, we'll have to look for an opportunity to do it.

 

As for the coordinates, I am a fairly serious runner (2006 Boston Marathon, among others) and have a GPS watch that I use for running (it calculates speed, distance, etc.). It has a navigation function that provides coordinates in longitude and latitude. I think the map channel on the cabin TVs also scroll through various screens including one with the ship's coordinates.

 

Each time we threw a bottle, I went up to the Lido deck with my watch and got a fix. Unfortunately, from our balcony, the Lido deck overhang cut off the GPS watch's line of site with the requisite number of satellites and it wouldn't give me a position.

 

We had a giant map of the Caribbean taped to our wall. We were charting our position 2-3 times a day anyway for fun. All we did was post the location of each bottle launch on that map, which we brought home with us.

 

There are 13,900,000 people expected to cruise in 2009. Do EACH of them have the 'throw the bottle' privilege? 90%, 50%, 10%, or is it just your PRINCE that is singularly ENTITLED to pollute the Earth?

 

His long term lesson will be to ignore rules that he finds inconvenient, nothing else.

[Upandadam]

There are 13,900,000 people expected to cruise in 2009. Do EACH of them have the 'throw the bottle' privilege? 90%, 50%, 10%, or is it just your PRINCE that is singularly ENTITLED to pollute the Earth?

 

His long term lesson will be to ignore rules that he finds inconvenient, nothing else.

 

All of them.

[Greytgrey]

Hope you haven't cheated on your taxes lately......:eek:

 

That's right... those government officials like to have a monopoly on this action. :p

[Crusin6]

There are 13,900,000 people expected to cruise in 2009. Do EACH of them have the 'throw the bottle' privilege? 90%, 50%, 10%, or is it just your PRINCE that is singularly ENTITLED to pollute the Earth?

 

His long term lesson will be to ignore rules that he finds inconvenient, nothing else.

Dan,

I don't have time to check all of your posts...but here is my question......have you ever given a nice, civil response?

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Cute :-) To the OP, how old is your son and what prompted the idea? Im just curious since you never mentioned. Although I'm not sure id promote the idea, I do think it's adorable (well,for some) but why every night, why from deck 8 and why would anyone pick up anothers trash (re: found empty bottles around the ship)

[dan40]

Dan,

I don't have time to check all of your posts...but here is my question......have you ever given a nice, civil response?

 

 

Hundreds, maybe thousands. But not to a XXXX teaching his kid that no one else counts for anything.

If its OK for his kid, is 14million bottles PER YEAR FLOATING IN THE OCEAN ok WITH YOU?

 

Have you ever asked a nice civil question?

 

And I could not possibly care less about your answer.

[glrounds]

Dan,

I don't have time to check all of your posts...but here is my question......have you ever given a nice, civil response?

 

Although Dan's posts can sometimes be BLUNT. He seldom ever becomes uncivil. And if the general consensus in any thread is that he is being uncivil, he'll be the first to apologize.

I'm opposed to the TOSSING of message bottles off cruise ships, much prefer the TRADITIONAL method which to many is just inconvenient

enough to cause the exercise to be extremely limited:

Launched never tossed from a SAILBOAT less than 25 feet in length. The bottle containing one's name, address, and, if desired, phone #. Included in the bottle must be a semi-precious stone.

[Disneycruisers]

We have done the note in a bottle on a few of are cruises. We make a project out of it by weighting down the bottom of the plastic bottle so that it floats up right. we also paint it with different color stripes to set it apart from "trash". I have even rigged some with a small flag that is secured to the cap.

[T. Advisor King]

Cute :-) To the OP, how old is your son and what prompted the idea? Im just curious since you never mentioned. Although I'm not sure id promote the idea, I do think it's adorable (well,for some) but why every night, why from deck 8 and why would anyone pick up anothers trash (re: found empty bottles around the ship)

 

I'm not sure what prompted the idea. It was just an idea!

 

He is 11 years old, in grade 5.

 

By sending a bottle a day, we thought it would be fun to discover where each one was taken by the currents, assuming they were all found. We also thought it would be faster to get a response with one a day. Plus it was fun to do one each day and chart the launch on our map.

 

Our balcony was on deck 8, so it seemed like the natural place to launch.

 

We used bottles we found (rather than buying them just to launch) because it seemed like a good way to recycle.