- 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
Great Weather
Another great day at sea, as we continue to head towards Nuku Hiva. The weather has been fantastic; blue skies, a few puffy clouds, and calm seas with temperatures in the 70s.
Judy started today with her Tai Chi class while I signed up for Texas Hold ’em at 9 o’clock and went on to Coffee with Hamish in the Explorers lounge. Judy is enjoying the Tai Chi class. There are still one or two new people in each class. The instructor is teaching at an easygoing pace and they are able to catch up.
Coffee Chat
Fred Moore was the guest at the Coffee Chat this morning. He provided some interesting insight about how he got started in the magic business as well as what it’s like to be a performer on cruise ships. The coffee chats are well attended and if you want a close seat you have to get there at least 15 minutes early. But even arriving at the last minute, seats are available in the back where you can still hear clearly and pretty much see what’s going on.
Knitting
At 10 o’clock Knitting in the Crow’s Nest, I am continuing my knitting career. I’m at about 14 rows now. I have a pretty good feel for the basics of the knit stitch, but I have a difficult time evaluating my own work in determining whether or not I have made a mistake. Fortunately, Judy is always close at hand to provide expert instruction. I stayed longer than normal today because the Texas Hold ’em game at 10:30 filled up before I could sign up so I wasn’t scheduled to play Texas Hold’em until 1:30 PM.
Lunch
After knitting Judy and I headed back to the Lido Market for lunch. I discovered that the Ramen bar that I enjoy is located on the other side of the Lido from where we normally go. It always pays to scope out both sides of the Lido Market as often times there are different food offerings on either side.
Judy enjoys getting a Panini sandwich made to order. The turkey and swiss panini is becoming her go to lunch. They also have premade sandwiches which are quite good and if you’re in a hurry it’s convenient to grab one. The food in all the restaurants continues to be outstanding.
Ukulele class
After lunch, Judy headed up to her Ukulele class where the instructor, Kane, is doing wonderful job. The class has thinned out some so you can easily find a seat at either session.
Casino
While waiting for the Texas Hold ’em game to start, I donated $20 to the casino for the Slot Tournament. I know this isn’t a very good bet but I always seem to get caught up in it when they have one. They have yet to have a blackjack tournament and I’ll be looking forward to the first one of those.
No luck for me today at Texas Hold ’em. I played two games and I didn’t finish in the money in either one.
Drawing Class
Judy remains busy as she went directly to Drawing Class after her Ukulele Class. The Drawing Class is well attended but not so crowded you can’t find a seat if you come right at the start time. The class is also structured in a way that if you join after the classes have already started you won’t be completely lost and you’ll be able to catch up and still learn. Today Judy learned to sketched movement and gesture from images projected on the screen.
Pub Trivia
Our dinner table mates met us at Pub Trivia at 5 PM in the piano bar. The piano bar is crowded for people playing trivia with 6-8 teams already formed. Our team was able to find an open spot in the corner next to the bar. The assistant cruise director is the master ceremonies and she did a wonderful job. After all the questions have been read we exchange answer sheets with a nearby team for scoring. There is no prize for first place other than bragging rights and every participant receives a certificate with a notional value of $.10. You can see a copy of one of certificates on the blog under 2018 world cruise reference. At some point towards the end of the cruise you will exchange your pile of gifts certificates towards real Amazon gift certificates valued at five dollars increments so if you played the trivia every day for a hundred days you would get an Amazon Gift Certificate for $10.
There was a little controversy at the conclusion of the game regarding the final question and answer. The question was to name five countries in Africa that bordered on the Mediterranean Sea. One person in one of the groups wrote down Israel, which was not one of the countries that was listed as a correct answer. Afterwards I overheard some discussion between the person and the assistant cruise director as to whether or not this was actually an acceptable answer. He went on and on debating the point even though the outcome of the game had no significance towards anything as everyone gets a $.10 gift certificate regardless of who finishes first or last. I didn’t stay around to observe how this ended. Our group had a score of 12 which is probably in the top third of everyone present but we had a great time and will probably do it again throughout the cruise.
Dinner
We were joined for dinner tonight by Fred Moore, the magician and comedian who we saw perform a few days ago. He grew up in Northeast Ohio not too far from Cleveland where I am from. As soon as he could, he headed south to Florida, near Orlando, due to the better weather and the better prospects for getting work in his field. After a few years he was able to earn his full-time living in his chosen profession. He will perform once more before we arrive in Tahiti and we are looking forward to the show.
Queens Lounge
Tonight in the Queens lounge was a violinist from Budapest named Tom Suha. The show opened with his rendition of one of my favorite songs from Phantom of the Opera; Music of the Night. He put on an excellent show playing many popular genres from Rock to Classical to Gypsy to Broadway shows. The entertainment on this Grand World Voyage continues to excel and we always enjoy the opportunity to see performances that would not come near our home.
Towel Animal
Hair Dryers and More
There have been some questions about the hair dryers and make-up mirrors in our state room. I’ll let Judy answer those questions:
Hi, Judy here. Let me start by saying that last Spring, Pete bought me one of the expensive new Dyson hair dryers. I love it a lot, but it’s too big and heavy to take on our travels. There is a hair dryer in each cabin that is a 1600 watt dryer. It plugs into the outlet at the desk. I’m not a fan of drying my hair in the ‘living area’ of our cabin – who needs my stray hairs flying around the sofa, chair and table. I use the dryer installed on the wall in the bathroom. The motor/fan isn’t that strong and it takes a little longer to get my hair dry. AND, the area where you hold it becomes so hot that I wrap it in a wash cloth to make it more comfortable to hold. I have a small travel hair dryer I could pack, but it takes up ‘valuable’ room in my suitcase.
The mirror provided has one side at normal magnification and the other side is 5x. There is also the mirror that is attached to the desk. It has the normal and 5x magnification sides and has light ring around both sides to give extra illumination. I pack my normal / 10x magnification hand mirror and use it exclusively, but that’s just my preference.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
Enjoying your blog. Wow, I can’t believe they still have those old hairdryers in the bathrooms! They never worked well when they were new! LOL!
Maybe they will upgrade them during the overhaul scheduled in May