Last March, a cruise ship carrying 2,650 passengers was allowed to dock in Sydney, Australia. The country had around 250 cases of COVID in the days prior to the Ruby Princess’s arrival and the nation was alarmed by the mounting case numbers overseas. Nevertheless, all passengers were allowed to disembark and to travel on to other parts of the country, including 110 passengers with flu-like symptoms. Within five weeks 662 passengers had tested positive for the virus, seeding COVID through the community.
As the virus took hold and lockdown orders snapped into place, all I could think was, why would anyone ever go on a cruise?
Cruises are terrible. They are gaudy, tacky, gauche. They take their aesthetic cues from two of the more objectionable built environments on land: casinos and malls. Terrible things happen on cruises. Hedonistic guests indulge in debauched, bacchanalian behaviour. Crews labour under conditions resembling indentured servitude. Gastrointestinal illness is rife. It’s a bad time. Have I ever been on a cruise? No, but like so many things I have strong opinions about, I’ve seen enough to make up my mind.
When it became apparent that COVID would shut down the cruise industry for the foreseeable future, my reaction was twofold: this should never have been a thing in the first place and nothing of value has been lost. It was with this same smug, self-righteous certitude that I approached the Me Too revelations beginning in 2017:
Dustin Hoffman? Mediocrity on a stick.
Michael Jackson? If he’s not the most overrated star in popular music, then I don’t know who is.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2021 من Esquire Singapore.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2021 من Esquire Singapore.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
THE MILD HANGOVER
Hangovers get a bad rap. We know. If you’ve gotten this far in the magazine, you’ve surely divined that we’re mildly hungover most of the time.
AN ELECTRIC FUTURE
Polestar, the minimalist electric Swedish car brand, turns the voltage up on its competition.
LET'S GET REAL (ESTATE): LUXURIOUS LONDON
Royalty, shopping, the best tea and scones the world has to offer, and a lifestyle worthy of what you're working for. Here's why London is ripe for your next investment
NEXT UP....ZARAN VACHHA
As Co-founder of the events and talent agency Collective Minds and Managing Director of the Mandala Masters, Zaran Vachha is definitely not new to the culture scene, but he's certainly shaping what comes next.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED...
I DON’T WEAR SOCKS except in January.
The Body Is a Language
A bad handshake is such a turnoff; we feel irked when someone rolls their eyes at us; we can't stop pacing when we're nervous-ever wondered how certain body language has the power to change how we feel instantly? We explore why.
EYE OF THE TIGER
Hailing from Singapore, Japan and Brazil respectively, Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) athletes Darren Goh, Hiroki Akimoto and Alex Silva are proof that the ring demands as much from mind as it does from matter.
THE ADONIS COMPLEX
With the rise of superhero culture making a return and bringing with it the celebration of the classically ‘masculine’ body type, can men really overcome the pressure to conform when culture keeps getting in the way?
FUNNY BUT TRUE
A comedian, an iconic Singaporean, and now a man much evolved. After overcoming two years of pandemic limbo, unlocking career milestones one after another and undergoing a life-defining physical transformation, Rishi Budhrani is ready to emerge into the world renewed-and anew.
LIKE NO OTHER
With its horological triumphs, Hermès has truly come into its own as a watchmaking maison. In this exclusive interview with Esquire Singapore, CEO of Hermès Horloger, Laurent Dordet sheds some light on his timepieces' rising stardom and the importance of being different.
