- The Journey Begins – The 2018 Grand World Voyage
- Leaving San Diego for Fort Lauderdale
- Arriving in Fort Lauderdale and our first day
- Fort Lauderdale – Day 2
- Day 1 – The Adventure Begins
- Day 2 – Our First Sea Day – Abba Fabulous!
- Day 3, Georgetown, Grand Cayman
- Day 4, At Sea En Route Puerto Limon (San Jose), Costa Rica
- Day 5, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
- Day 6, Transit the Panama Canal
- Day 7, Fuerte Amador, Panama
- Day 8, At Sea
- Day 9, At Sea
- Day 10, At Sea
- Day 11, At Sea
- Day 12, At Sea
- Day 13, At Sea – Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 14, At Sea, Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 15, At Sea – Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 16, Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia
- Day 17, At Sea
- Day 18, Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia
- Day 19, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
- Day 20, Mooera, French Polynesia
- Day 21, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
- Day 22 – At Sea
- Day 23, Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
- Day 24, At Sea
- Day 25 – Alofi, Niue
- Day 26 – At Sea – Crossed Dateline – Jan 29th GONE!
- Day 27 – At Sea
- Day 28 – At Sea
- Day 29 – Auckland, NZ
- Day 30 – Tauranga – 3 Feb 2018
- Day 31 – Napier
- Day 32, At Sea – Super Bowl Monday
- Day 33, Port Chalmers, Dunedin
- Day 34, Fjordlands National Park – Milford Sound
- Day 35 – At Sea – Enroute Sydney
- Day 36 – At Sea
- Day 37 – Sydney, Australia
- Day 38 – Sydney, Australia
- Day 39 – At Sea
- 2020 World Cruise Possibilities
- Day 40, Hobart, Tasmania
- Day 41, At Sea
- Day 42, At Sea
- Day 43 – Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
- Day 44 – Adelaide, South Australia
- Day 45 – At Sea
- Day 46 – At Sea
- Day 47 – Albany, Western Australia
- Day 48 – 21 Feb Perth
- Day 49 – Perth Yarn Crawl
- Day 50 – At Sea
- Day 51 – At Sea
- Day 52 – At Sea
- Day 53 – Benoa, Bali
- Day 54 – Benoa – Bali
- Day 55 – At Sea
- Day 56 – At Sea
- Day 57 – At Sea
- Day 58, Puerto Princesa
- Day 59, – At Sea
- Day 60, Manila, Philippines
- Day 61, Manila, Philippines
- Day 62 – At Sea
- Day 63 – Hong Kong
- Day 64, Hong Kong
- Day 65 – At Sea
- Day 66 – At Sea
- Day 67 – Phu My, Vietnam
- Day 68 – Siem Reap (ms Amsterdam at Sea)
- Day 69 – Siem Reap
- 2020 World Cruise – w/detailed dates
- Day 70 – Singapore
- Day 71 – At Sea
- Day 72 – Phuket
- Day 73 – At Sea
- Day 74 – At Sea – Enroute to Sri Lanka
- Day 75 – Columbo, Sri Lanka
- Day 76 – At Sea – Enroute to the Seychelles
- Day 77 – At Sea
- Day 78 – At Sea
- Day 79 – Victoria, Seychelles
- Day 80 – At Sea
- Day 81 – At Sea
- Day 82 – St Denis – Reunion Island
- Day 83 – At Sea
- Day 84 – At Sea
- Day 85 – At Sea
- Day 86 – Maputo – Safari Day 1
- Day 87 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 2
- Day 88 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 3
- Day 89 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 4
- Day 90 – Cape Town, South Africa
- Day 91, Cape Town, South Africa
- Day 92 – At Sea
- Day 93, Walvis Bay, Namibia
- Day 94 – At Sea
- Day 95 – At Sea
- Day 96 -Luanda, Angola
- Day 97 – At Sea
- Day 98 – At Sea
- Day 99 – Crossing the Equator
- Day 100 – At Sea
- Day 101 – At Sea
- Day 102 – Banjul, Gambia
- Day 103 – Dakar, Senegal
- Day 104 – At Sea
- Day 105, Praia – Cape Verde
- Day 106 – At Sea
- Day 107 – At Sea
- Day 108 – At Sea
- Day 109 – At Sea – April 23, 2018
- Day 110 – At Sea
- Day 111 – San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Day 112 – At Sea
- Day 113 – At Sea
- Day 114 – Fort Lauderdale
- 2018 World Cruise Entertainers
The Adventure Begins
A little before noon we were down in the lobby ready to check out of the Embassy Suites and call an UBER for the short driver over to Terminal 26. The lobby was empty and there was no line to check out. I pulled up my UBER app and requested an UBER XL which is guaranteed to be capable of carrying 6 people or lots of luggage. We fell into the ‘lots of luggage’ category. Three minutes after I pressed “Confirm” a large SUV arrived. After our bags were loaded, we were on our way arriving at Terminal 26 eight minutes later.
The area outside the terminal was empty of any other arriving guests and we were greeted by several porters who took charge of our bags. A few minutes later we were in the terminal and cleared security without difficulty.
Once past security we headed over to some tall tables, that were being used by about 20 people filling out the standard health questionnaire and an expanded questionnaire that required self-certification that our required Yellow Fever shot was in order and write in the expiration date. We wrote in INDEF for the expiration date. Based on the wording of the questions it seemed that you wouldn’t be refused boarding if your Yellow Fever situation was not quite right, but you may be refused entry into the affected countries. No one inspected our yellow fever booklets in our presence during the check in process, but they were retained by the ship along with our passports.
The form also asked if we had already obtained any VISAs that weren’t in our passports so we wouldn’t be charged for them twice. We got the Australian ETA on our own so we circled that block and indicated we already had the Australian ETA.
After we had filled out these two forms we headed over to the 4 star and above line, which seemed to be about the same length as the 3 star and below line. However, the 4-star line had about 7 people processing guests and the 3 star line had maybe 5 people so our line did move a little faster.
We got into line at 12:22 and were at the counter at 12:50 – and on the ship and in our cabin at 1:05.
Along the way we stopped for our traditional sail away photo – always fun.
Our Cabin
We are in a Vista Suite on Deck 6, starboard side. The room was ready on arrival and we met our Cabin Steward, Darma, shortly after we arrived. There was a note from the Hotel Director asking everyone to give the crew until 6 January before inquiring about the many special gifts and packages that were ordered because processing so many orders would take some time.
Our bags from the FEDEX shipment were first to arrive and we started to get unpacked. After we got most of the FEDEX shipment opened, we went out to get a snack at the LIDO and visit a few friends we had met on our 2016 GWV. Five of the 7 people from Table 52 are back and we are now at table 303 along with 5 other wonderful folks who we will share many dinners with in the days to come.
Lifeboat Drill
During the routine muster drill at 4:15 we ran into several folks from the 2016 cruise along with our favorite entertainers – Terry, Anne and Kat from Abba Fab and the Piano Man. They will be aboard thru Panama City and we are looking forward to their wonderful shows.
The Casino
I took a quick spin thru the casino and was pleased to observe that the Amsterdam still has live dealers for Texas Hold’Em and is scheduling 2 $30 tournaments a day vice the $60 tournaments on other ships. This lower buy in should get more people involved. We were pleased to learn later that many of the old regulars from 2016 were back and ready for more Hold’Em action.
The sail-a way party, complete with a live 3 piece band, started at 7:30 by the Lido pool – It was very lively and fun to walk around and bump into more people we had met from previous cruises. We couldn’t stay long as we had to get to dinner at 8pm.
Our First Dinner
The first dinner was fabulous – we had the prime rib and our 10 top was filled with engaging conversations. We were pleasantly surprised to see Presty, the assistant dining room manager, swing by our table for some quick hellos and to pass out roses to all the ladies. Presty is an outstanding manager and brings energy and enthusiasm to the dining room and makes sure everything run smoothly.
The menus will be posted on the blog along with the When and Wheres every day – internet permitting.
There wasn’t a show tonight, so we headed back to our cabin to finish unpacking.
PS Internet is blazing tonight – 5.6 mbps!
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, North America, Sea Day, USA
If ‘your’ Darma is the same soft spoken well mannered very efficient Darma ‘we had’ on the Grand Asia just finished, you’ve got a good ‘un ?
Enjoy your cruise – looking forward to all your updates.
Thanks…Darma is really outstanding.
After seeing all of your bags, I’m eager to see your cabin AFTER you’ve unpacked! I imagine you have to get creative.
Safe and happy travels!
Melody
We will try and post an “after” picture soon…
I’m really excited to be travelling in spirit along with you ! Great introduction to the cruise..you are all set for a wonderful time.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for your blog. Really enjoying your photos!
Thanks for following…..Be sure to subscribe and follow on twitter for other updates…
Very much looking forward to following your blog on this world cruise. My husband and I will be on next year’s world cruise. Have a great time, and thanks for “taking us along!”
Appreciate the comment – you are going to love the world cruise!
Will be following along on your blog!
Thanks. Will be posting updates on twitter as well
We were on the 2017 wc…we love, love, love Presty. So happy to see his picture. He was leaving for home after fort Lauderdale this past year. I hope he had a great visit.
He is outstanding – a real superstar
Well we are off again. I followed your first GWC and will follow this one and also Captain Who’s Driving the Ship. I have no urge to do a World Cruise but love following others. Thank you for all your hard work on your blog.
PS I will skip over the “hands” dinner photos this time lolol.
Thanks for following!