What happens on the cruise no longer stays on the cruise … as if you didn’t know. In fact, what happens on the cruise might get back home quicker than you can say "cell phone pictures."

When the Fantastic Voyage first set sail nine years ago, technology was nowhere near what it is today. A few people had cell phones, and they didn’t work outside of their neighborhood, let alone on a Caribbean beach. Nobody had laptops; camera phones hadn’t been invented, and there was no wireless anything. When those 2,000 black people boarded that ship in Miami, we might as well have been getting on a submarine. No one could reach us, and we couldn’t reach anybody. All you could do is wait until you got to Jamaica and risk calling home on a pay phone.

Oh, oh, oh, how times have changed. And everybody better recognize. I can’t help anybody any more. Everything and anything you do may become front page news, depending on who you are and what your job is. I hope you hear me.

A lot of people -- deservedly and undeservedly -- have gone down over the past couple of years because of technology, mixed with a combination of stupidity and ego issues. If you’re on the cruise, add Hennessey to the equation, and you’ve got a scandal waiting to happen.

I’ve seen it, believe me. Politicians, preachers, teachers -- great people who, on land, carry themselves like the pillars of the community that they are. But once they get on that ship, something happens and they get caught up. They’re in Studio B booty dancing. They’re at the water gun fight wearing Speedos. They’re naked in the hot tub sipping champagne with strangers. They’re tipping back to their cabins at 4 a.m in Power Ranger costumes. And I didn’t say a word.

I never told you that comedian A.J. Jamal’s wife met another man on the cruise, and it led to their divorce; I only talked it about it after A.J put it in his act. You never heard from me that Earthquake and a bunch of others -- including a gospel singer’s husband, who owed back child support -- were detained when we docked in Puerto Rico. I tried to pull the coattail of a state senator who led the dark-skinned water gun team to victory, then jumped on stage and chanted "Shaka Zulu!" And what about the celebrity mayor who's been in the news lately? He used to book five cabins for vacation. Yes, they were together, and now he's on lockdown. I was not the one who publicized the alleged affair between Bobby Brown and an "America’s Next Top Model" contestant ... not to mention all the domestic disputes, drunken brawls, pimp slaps, and cheating from our regular passengers.

I’m warning you all. What happens on the ship no longer stays on the ship -- at all. In fact, we’re the main ones putting the stuff out there.

It’s a new day. BlackAmericaWeb.com will be on and poppin’ on the cruise, with daily news reports, gossip reports, my daily blog, etc. so that you’ll know everything that’s happening on the cruise up to the minute. And if you’re on the cruise, you’ll be able to visit our Internet café and communicate with the people back home as often as you’d like.

So, here’s my point: If you’re high profile, you need to either slow your roll or be prepared to take the heat if your stuff shows up on the web.

If you’re not high-profile, and you want to keep it that way, watch yourself. The freakiest night of your life could be documented and in major circulation with the push of a button.

If you’re a player or playette who’s telling somebody back home that once you get on the ship, you won’t be able to communicate with them for seven whole days, I’m bustin’ you out. The Internet café is available to everyone.

The good news is it’s no longer like we’re going into the abyss. BlackAmericaWeb.com is your link to the Fantastic Voyage, and I hope you visit the site early and often.

Now, for everything true that happens on the cruise, there are about 500 rumors. What have you heard? I’ll tell you if it’s true or false. Don’t forget to read my special cruise blog all next week.

Bon Voyage!