Sounds like fun, huh?

The Western Standard Cruise which ended on Sunday (the participants sailed from Dec. 4 to 11 on the Holland America Line's MS Westerdam) took a knot of about 75 right-thinking people (they had been hoping for 100) on a short jaunt from Nassau, Bahamas to St. Maarten, Tortola and back to Half Moon Bay in Bahamas.

Scheduled to entertain the cruisers were speakers including Publisher Ezra Levant, Western Standard Chairman Lyle Dunkley and a number of other starboard-side commentators:

• John O'Sullivan, the Editor-at-Large of the National Review
  
• Lorne Gunter, columnist for the Edmonton Journal and the National Post
  
• Andrew Coyne, a National Post and Western Standard columnist
  
• Colby Cosh (ditto)
  
• David Warren, a columnist for the Standard and the Ottawa Citizen
  
• Rounding out the entertainment was John Williamson, the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation and Ted Byfield, founder of the late Alberta Report, described as the "great granddaddy of Canadian conservatism".

The WS got the idea for the fundraiser from a similar event run by the National Review. No word on whether the cruise, which cost C$3,303 per person double or C$5,026 single, made money.

If you visit the Western Standard's website, check out the Shotgun Blog. But bring your asbestos gloves, since the blog is apparently unmediated and the most outrageous postings are commonplaces.