Department of Wrong Priorities

Even though several esteemed members of my family have an adoring penchant for cruise ships, I've never understood the impulse to go float in the middle of the ocean with thousands of strangers, regardless of the all you can eat nature of the adventure (which I suspect is the main reason my esteemed relatives get on those boats).
I kinda feel vindicated by the now ironically named Splendor, where passengers are having the vacation of a lifetime:

The cruise ship, the Carnival Splendor, set sail from Long Beach California on Sunday. It was 200 miles south of San Diego when an engine fire all but stopped it in its tracks on Monday. No one was injured in the blaze, but the flames stripped the ship of its power, knocking out its operating systems and leaving its 3,300 passengers and nearly 1,200 crew members without air conditioning, internet, or hot food or water. 

So that's the way the cookie crumbles nowadays. Air conditioning and internet first, food and water last. And this is The New York Times.