Cruising into Milford Sound is truly a breathtaking experience, as evidenced by the video below, which still doesn't do it justice. We arrived in the morning a couple of days after leaving Sydney, and the clouds were lifting but still covering the peaks of the mountains.
Technically, Milford is not a sound at all but a fjord, with the difference being that sounds are wider and formed by running water while fjords are carved by glaciers, according to our onboard expert announcer.
Between Sydney and Milford Sound, we dined, took ball room dancing classes, went to shows, swam, climbed stairs, and read by the pools. I'd bought a used book by Carl Hiaasen called “Tourist Season” at my local library for a quarter before leaving, and it proved to be a great read, in no small part due to the fact that it turned out that my pal Jimmy Buffett 
had released a song about one of the main characters in 1995, ten years after the book was published. If you own and love “Barometer Soup” like me, then you know “The Ballad of Skip Wiley,” and it will make sense after you read this book. For whatever reason, I seem to be a sucker for that South Florida literary hokum.
As our first day at sea happened to be Sunday, we also went to church. “Blessed Trinity. Father, son and holy spirit also apply to our personal lives as little bits of God. We make lives of our children and the Christ within others easier as Jesus gave us the example.” 
That is the exact note I made after attending the Sunday church service aboard the ship, which actually hadn't been about that subject at all. It seemed so perfectly clear to me, as if the earthly veil had been punctured temporarily and allowed me to view the vast cosmos of a far greater reality, that I apparently didn't think any further explanation was necessary. While I remember thinking I had some kind of breakthrough, I can't say that I see it as clearly now, or that I can explain it. Just as well, I suppose, since the subjects of religion and politics are so controversial that they were noted as taboo in conversations with clients when I trained to be a Cruise Planner. 
Nonetheless, I will expound a bit more on the subject of church at sea. Julie and I like going to church on the ship generally better than on land. Why? For whatever reason, most churches seem to spend too much time on commercials and not enough on the subject, if you know what I mean. 
By the time they're finished, a half hour has passed, and everyone is invited to greet people sitting around them. This goes on another five minutes, and at some churches, handshakes won't do. All kinds of people you've never met are hugging you. Then, a soloist sings a song, which depending on the luck of the draw can be outstanding or excruciating. By the time the preacher takes center stage, he speaks for about ten minutes and passes around the collection plate. On a cruise ship, the service last about a half hour, but more seems to be accomplished. Anyway, check it out next time you're on a cruise. The services are usually non-denominational.
Now, back to my glimpse into eternity, I believe what occurred to me is that we all prepare a place in the future for our children, just as our ancestors prepared a place for us, and that our spiritual presence will live on to comfort our children, just as our ancestors comfort us when we visualize them and re-experience the lessons and love they shared with us when we were in their physical presence. Namaste.
