Live Long and Prosper – And Don’t Swim With the Dolphins

Star Trek: The Cruise and the Trouble with Swimming with Dolphins

If you’re a trekkie, this is the cruise for you. There won’t be any tribbles and if William Shatner’s message gets across, there won’t be any dolphin swims, either.

William Shatner, alias Captain Kirk, and PETA, alias People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have contacted Norwegian Cruise Line to remove the “Swim with the Dolphins” shore excursion on next year’s Star Trek: The Cruise voyage. The reason:  it’s cruel to the highly intelligent dolphins,

There are two Star Trek: The Cruise events planned for January 2018 aboard Norwegian Jade. It’s a six-day cruise, round-trip from Miami. Loaded with stars and guest stars from past iterations of the iconic TV series, these two sailings will be hosted by none other than Sulu, alias George Takai, helmsman for the USS Enterprise.

To further his commitment to leaving wild animals in the wild and not used for human entertainment, William Shatner, in collaboration with PETA, wrote a letter to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank J. Del Rio. In it, Mr. Shatner, who will not be aboard the Norwegian Jade, urged the cruise line to rethink its dolphin swim excursion option.

Here is the letter from “Captain Kirk”:

Dear Mr. Del Rio,

I’m so happy that Star Trek fans have the opportunity to climb aboard Norwegian Jade’s Star Trek: The Cruise and experience their own interstellar voyage of sorts. However, so long as your company offers “swim with dolphins” experiences, what should be a futuristic voyage will be set back light years.

Never before has public opinion leaned so strongly against marine mammal captivity, presumably across all galaxies. Dolphins are highly intelligent, socially complex animals who travel great distances in the wild, often in large family pods. In captivity, they’re confined to pitiful, barren makeshift lagoons, often after being captured from the wild and torn away from their families in violent ways or after being bred into captivity for profit. There’s no justification for condemning animals to a lifetime of suffering in the name of entertainment.

Aboard the USS Enterprise, it was Captain Kirk’s duty “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations” in order to advance and diversify our own. The exploitation of any species for profit and entertainment would have violated the Prime Directive. I’m urging you to go where compassionate companies—such as TripAdvisor, MasterCard, and more—have gone before by removing “swim with dolphins” encounters from the Star Trek: The Cruise voyage, as well as from all other cruises offered through Norwegian Jade. Surely, Star Trek fans would appreciate the decision to allow dolphins to remain in the wild—and prosper.

Thank you,

William Shatner

TAKE A LOOK at new Harvest Caye, included on this cruise.

Photo: TrekCore