So far in life I just haven't been that interested in vacationing on a cruise ship. Did look into some Windjammer cruises once upon a time but that's a whole different experience.

http://www.windjammercruises.com/

This Italian disaster wouldn't make me less likely to go on a cruise but I'd surely do more research into a cruise line's safety record and practices. As important, I'd do what we do on ETS after disasters happen and consider what items and strategies I could reasonably deploy in certain situations (power outage, capsizing).

This disaster will make me more more cognizant of safety, at least for awhile, on any size boat. Most of my big boat experience has been Greek ferries in the Aegean (one of which was especially creepy because it listed the entire time -- as if the vehicles were not evenly loaded -- and for hours we watched the railing in relation to the horizon with considerable trepidation) and a boat that took me and some others on a work-related excursion in the Panama Canal (a decade ago and I had given zero thought before or during to safety and EDC).

My most recent commercial vessel experience was a ferry from Ocracoke Island, NC to Hatteras Island. That was just a few months ago. If we'd had to abandon ship on that excursion I'd have had two big dogs to get into the lifeboat with.

But if it had simply been a mechanical malfunction that left us drifting we'd have been in pretty good shape because I had my Honda Element there and it is extremely well outfitted with gear and food for a couple days.

What's going to be most interesting to me as the Italian disaster investigation unfolds is the Captain's actions and the crew's reactions which may have led to the wreck and which affected the evacuation. I'm wondering if this is all due to the recklessness and hubris of this one captain or if there is a culture in that cruise line that had failed to put passenger safety #1.

We'll see. Meanwhile and possibly for the rest of his life, that captain is going to experience the hell of infamy.