- 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
Only one more day at sea before we start a string of port visits through the French Polynesian islands. The weather remains remarkably mild and we are hoping it will stay this way during our upcoming port visits.
We are fully settled into our daily routine. Judy starts her morning with Tai Chi, followed by knitting and lunch then drawing class and arts & crafts. I start my day by attending the coffee chat when scheduled, then I join Judy for knitting in Crow’s Nest before I head down to the morning Texas Hold‘em game at 10:30 AM. We have been having lunch by the pool and Judy usually hits the sandwich bar while I move around between Dive-in burgers, the Ramen Noodle bar, or whatever may look good on the buffet line.
During Tai Chi the instructor is continuing to introduce the 24 steps. Today the instructor introduced the move called “Stroking the Pheasant”.
Coffee Chat
While Judy was at Tai Chi, I stop by the Explorer lounge for Hamish’s Coffee Chat. Today’s guest was Helen Wilding who performed a few days ago for the first time and will perform again this evening. Hamish does a wonderful job interviewing the guests. It’s always interesting to learn more about the background of the various entertainers.
Helen is a Mezzo Soprano and she explained that female vocalist’s voices may change in their mid-20s which makes it difficult for women to train as a Mezzo Soprano before that age.
Texas Hold’em
I had a good day with Texas Hold ‘em; losing in the morning but finishing second in the afternoon. Our group of regular Texas Hold ‘em players are very collegial and we’re having a lot of fun.
Knitting
I’m still waiting for my knitting to get relaxing. My progress is slow, and I emphasize the word slow, but I am getting the hang of it. I am going to have to do more than four rows a day to ever finish this project.
Drawing Class
The piano bar singer, Jamm, was the featured model during the Drawing Class this afternoon.
Blackjack Tournament
Before my second Texas Hold ‘em game this afternoon I took part in the first Blackjack tournament of the cruise. The Blackjack tournament consists of several qualifying rounds with each player starting with $1500 in tournament chips and playing seven hands. The total value of your tournament chips is recorded on a board and after all the qualifying rounds, which take place over three days, the people with the seven highest cash totals will reassemble for the finals. I was second highest after the qualifying rounds with $4800. During most cruises you usually need $7,000 to $8,000 to make it into the finals. Due to the light traffic in the casino this cruise, the amount of money needed to qualify was much less than normal. I expect that this will pick up as the cruise continues and we’ll see more participation during future tournaments. I finished second during the finals which earned me a consolation prize of a “Club 21” T-shirt. The winner received $500.
Crafts
Judy was able to make it to Crafts in time do the project. Crafts attendance remains high. Today she made bracelet out of climbing rope that she macraméd to a plastic clip.
Adagio
I had a chance to listen for a few minutes to a wonderful duet that is very popular on Holland America Ships: Adagio. Adagio consists of a violinist and pianist as the featured performers in the Explorer’s Lounge at 6:30 PM, 7:30 PM and 8:45 PM. They are incredible musicians and play a wide variety of classical tunes.
Moulin Rouge Dinner
Tonight, the main dining room featured the Moulin Rouge dinner, which was advertised as French infused and seductively styled. The dining room was decorated in a red and black theme with each table place set with a black or red hat. The waiters were also dressed to fit the theme with red and black outfits. The menu was filled with a variety of very tempting French dishes. You can see the menu with all the choices on the blog where the menus for each day are posted.
Helen Wilding
Helen Wilding was the featured performer in the Queen’s Lounge this evening. This was her second performance this cruise. She again dazzled the crowd with her incredible vocals. My favorite was a very moving rendition of a Les Misérables classic “On My Own.” She shared an interesting story with us about her visit to a small village in the Amazon rain forest while she was on another cruise. She met some young girls who love to draw a have a difficult time getting colored pencils. Helen remembered this and on her subsequent visit to the Amazon she brought 54 kg of colored pencils and other school supplies to give to the children of the village. She sang a beautiful song while photographs of her visit were displayed on large screens.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
Wow I took a moment to read your blog so far. You are doing an amazing job so far. Thanks for all the information. We miss not being on the ship.
Glad to hear from you! We miss you guys!!!!
We followed you via Jeff’s blog the K-dam