“I suppose if I had an essential goal on the cruise right now, it would be to exhibit the fact that I’m thrilled to be alive and to still be respected. I suppose the soulful of the Buddhist out there might ask, ‘Why do you need respect from others? The thrill to be alive, that’s your own business. You can do that in your living room. But that’s not what the cruise is for me. The cruise is about the searching for everything worthwhile in existence.

I mean, I will appreciate the beauty of a flower, and then likewise, I will stand exhibitionistic and have the flower appreciate the beauty of me. Well, that’s how I feel about cruising right now. And I would say having a ‘intimate love affair’ with a flower is far more psychotic and riveting than having an ‘intimate love affair’, with some of the banal creatures of the human race. Although I’d be into that too.”